Be Faithful and Attentive* — Book Two An Exchange of Love for All Things in Creation "My daughter, the First-born Daughter of my Supreme Will, I want you to know how all Creation carries my 'I love you' upon the wings of Our Eternal Volition to creatures; and creatures, upon the same wings of my Will, by making It theirs, ought to give Me the exchange of their 'I love You.' "Look at the azure sky. There is no point of it where there is not an 'I love You' sealed in it for the creature. Each star, and the twinkling that forms its crown, is studded with my 'I love you'; each ray of the Sun, as it extends itself toward the earth to bring light — each drop of light, carries my 'I love you.' And since the light invades the earth and man sees it running above, my 'I love you' reaches into his eyes, into his mouth, into his hands and extends itself under his feet. The murmuring of the sea murmurs 'I love you, I love you, I love you'; and the drops of water are musical keys which, murmuring among themselves, form the most beautiful harmonies of my infinite 'I love you.' The plants, the leaves, the flowers, the fruits, have my 'I love you' to man. "And man, how many of my 'I love yous' do you not have impressed in all your being? Man's thoughts are sealed by my 'I love you'; and the palpitation of his heart that beats in his chest with that mysterious sound, 'thump, thump, thump,' is my never-interrupted 'I love you' that says to him 'I love you, I love you, I love you....' His words are followed by my 'I love you'; all his motions, his steps and all else contains my 'I love you....' Yet in the midst of so many ways of my Love, he does not know how to raise himself and give Me the exchange of my Love. What ingratitude! How my Love remains sorrowing! "Therefore, my daughter, I have chosen you as the Daughter of my Volition so that, as my faithful daughter, you will defend the rights of your Father. "My Love absolutely wants the exchange of love with the creature. Therefore, in my Will you will find all my 'I love you's'; and as you follow them, imprint your 'I love You' in mine for yourself and for everyone. O how content I will be in seeing the love of the creature fused with mine! Therefore, I give you my Volition so that, through the power in you, the creature can exchange with Me the Love that I have given in Creation — thereby defending the rights of my Love." (Vol. 16: August 1, 1923) |
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Oremus Dear Mother Mary, Queen of all Creation, your first act after being born, which You repeated so often in life, was: to love and thank God, in the name of everyone, for all things in Creation (Vol. 15: Dec. 8, 1922); and dear Luisa, Little Daughter of the Divine Will, You too so often repeated this act which Jesus Himself taught You, having chosen You to teach the rest of humanity to make rounds in Creation too. Therefore, Mother Mary and dear Luisa, please come join me as I enter into the Divine Will to do my rounds, so that I may give the greatest possible glory to God and hasten the Reign of the Kingdom of his Will on earth. My sweet Jesus, I enter into your Holy Will: Then with Mary, the Queen of all Creation and Luisa, the Little Daughter of your Divine Will, we prostrate ourselves at the feet of your Supreme Majesty, and in the immensity of this Divine Will in which all generations are in act as if they were a single point, we come in the name of the whole human family — past, present and future — to adore You and to render You the homage which all owe to their Creator. We come substituting for each and every soul, to recognize You in the name of all as the Creator of all things, and to love, adore, praise, bless and thank You for each created thing, all of which You have created in your love for man. And as we go about Creation giving You this exchange, it is really your own immense and infinite Love which You have put into each created thing which we make our own to offer You, since only in this way can we offer You worthy and sufficient homage. And so we fly through the stars making the immense love and glory You put into each of them our own and we say: We love You, our God, in each of the billions of stars You created in the heavens to so beautify the night sky, making us ponder on your incomprehensible Greatness, your unfathomable Immensity, and on our own nothingness. We love You in our own star, the sun, which is a wonderful image of You and of the single act of your Most Holy Will. You do one single continuous Act, which is the source of all existence, love, knowledge, beauty and everything else. So too, the sun does only one continuous act of burning, which is the source of all light, warmth, life and beauty on earth. We love and thank You for all the beautiful effects of this single act of the sun which man so needs and enjoys, and we join with your Will hidden in the sun in glorifying the single continuous Act of God. Now as we head from the sun to the earth, we pause to place a "We love You" in each of the planets, asteroids and comets found orbiting the sun. Arriving at the earth we first make note of the moon, and we love and praise You for its beauty in each of its phases. We also place our love in every eclipse (both solar and lunar) and praise your perfections glorified in the perfect sizes You created the sun and moon, and the perfect distances You put between each of them and the earth, so that at every solar eclipse, the moon perfectly covers the disk of the sun, leaving only the sun's corona to be seen. We love You in the earth's atmosphere with its different layers protecting us from the dangerous rays of the sun and giving us a magnificent royal blue dome under which to live. We love and adore You in the many beautiful things seen in the sky. We place our love and adoration in your artistic work of painting the sky anew at every sunrise and sunset, in the magnificent cloud formations You fashion, in the brilliant colors of every rainbow, and in the spectacular aurora borealis that wonderfully lights up the night sky near the Arctic regions. We love You in the strong wind, the light breeze and the still air. We love You in the water absorbed into the air creating various levels of humidity and creating clouds and fog. We love You in each drop of rain, in each hailstone, and in each uniquely created snowflake. These tiny snowflakes, each created so beautiful and different from each other, serve to remind us of the special and unique love with which You create each human being in your image, and that therefore, we too must love and honor everyone. We love You in every flash of lightning and peal of thunder. With your Will hidden in the lightning and thunder, we glorify your Power and Justice. We love and adore You in those creatures You created for the air: the birds. We place our love and adoration in all their flights, in their nest building, in their scavenging for food and in their songs, warbles, trills and whistles. We also love You in every flight of the bees, butterflies, dragonflies, bats, pterodactyls and all other creatures that fly. We love You in all the waters of the earth. First we place our "We love You" in the fresh waters: We place it in the little trickle, the gathering stream, the tumbling creek, the breathtaking waterfalls, the mighty rivers, the whitewater rapids, the peaceful lakes reflecting the shoreline, and in the murky ponds and swamps. We also place it in every spouting of the geysers, and in all mineral and hot springs. We love and adore You in all the plant and animal creatures You created to live in the fresh waters such as: the algae, reeds, lily pads, and cypress trees; the water skippers, crawdads, tadpoles, water snakes, alligators and all the variety of fishes. And we love and praise You in designing fish gills to enable the fish to breathe under water. Then we place our "We love You" in the salt waters — the seas and oceans: We place it in the tides, the currents, the swells, the breakers, the whitecaps, the sound of the pounding surf, and in the smell of the fresh salt air. We love and adore You in all the creatures that make their home in the sea, such as the seaweed, barnacles, sea horses, oysters, crabs, jellyfish, sharks, octopuses, walruses, whales and all else that lives in the sea. And we love and praise You for the water cycle in which water is made fresh as it's drawn out of the sea, formed into clouds, blown over the lands, rained down on the earth to water it and then returns to the sea. We love You, O God, in the lands of the earth, in both the massive continents and the little islands. We place our "We love You" in all the high, majestic mountains (which glorify your infinite Majesty), in the deep valleys, canyons and abysses (which portray the unsearchable depths of your Wisdom), in the rolling hills, in the plains and in the coastlands. We love You in every boulder, pebble and tiny grain of sand. We love and thank You for all the useful materials found in the land such as iron, marble, diamonds, copper, slate, emeralds, gold, aluminum, pumice, rubies, silver, tin, mercury, granite, clay, agate, jade and so many more. We also love and thank You for the fossil fuels: oil, natural gas and coal. We love and praise You for the plants of countless variety You created to cover and beautify the land. We place this love and praise in every root, stem, branch, leaf, thorn, bud, blossom, fragrance, fruit and seed. We make special mention of the trees, loving and praising You for their beauty, for the shade they give us from the summer heat, for their nuts, fruits and useful sap, for their branches on which the children climb and in which the birds build their nests, for the fuel they give us for fire, and for their wood with which to build so many things, as Jesus did in his work as a carpenter and upon which He was hung for our Salvation. We also love and praise You for all the variety of flowers with their beautiful fragrances. We make our own the love and glory You have put in every flower and in their scents, and we go about offering them to You: We offer You all the lilies, violets, daisies, daffodils, snapdragons, tulips, orchids, carnations, marigolds, poppies, cyclamens, pansies, petunias, zinnias, roses, the beautiful variety of wildflowers and every other type of flower You have created — even the little yellow dandelion. I want to stop here for a moment to also place this offering of flowers in your arms, dear Mother, asking You to beautifully arrange them, and then to multiply this arrangement to the infinite so we can offer it in the name of everyone to Jesus in every tabernacle that exists throughout time — past, present Then, we love and thank You, O God, for those plants we grow and harvest, which help provide for the needs of man. Today we especially love and thank You for ( name a fruit ) and ( name a vegetable ). And as always we love and thank You for the wheat and the grapes from which we form bread and wine to place upon our altars, enabling You to continue your Sacrifice on our behalf. Finally, before we finish with the plants, we love and thank You for the healing effects of certain herbs such as Echinacea, garlic and goldenseal; for the spices to flavor our foods; and for all those plants which provide medicine and anesthesia, such as the opium we derive from poppies to comfort patients with extreme suffering. We love You in all the land animals and in their every movement as they go about doing that which You created them to do. In a special way we love and thank You for the domesticated animals such as the cattle and oxen; the horses, donkeys and mules; the chickens and geese; the pigs, goats and sheep; the dogs and cats; and the guinea pigs, bunny rabbits, hamsters and gerbils. We thank You for the good in food, work, clothing and companionship your Will brings us through these creatures. Moving up higher in Creation, we love You in your act of creating the Holy Angels. We love and thank You for specially making known to us the three Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. We love and thank You for the protection St. Michael gave to the People of Israël in the Old Testament, and now, as "Protector of the Universal Church," he gives to the People of God in the New Testament. We place our love and gratitude in all he does to defend souls from the frightful attacks and dangerous snares of the Evil One. We love and thank You for St. Gabriel, the Angel of the Annunciation. We place our love and gratitude in his work of clothing souls with the "Strength of God," helping them overcome weakness, weariness and discouragement, and leading them on the path of courage, firmness, and pure and heroic faith. We love and thank You for St. Raphael, the Angelic companion of young Tobias on his journey. We place our love and We love and adore your Goodness and Wisdom in giving every human being at least one Guardian Angel. We place our love and gratitude in their acts for the souls entrusted to them: in their praying for them, consoling them in sorrow, keeping guard over their repose, and in all else they do for souls. We love and adore You even in creating those Angels whom You knew would use their freedom to rebel against You, becoming devils, and we praise your Wisdom and Justice in using these devils to try and test man in order to make him grow in holiness, and worthy of your everlasting rewards. We love and adore You in each of the good acts of the myriads of Holy Angels that make up the Nine Holy Choirs, and offer these acts to give You all the love and glory denied You by the rebellious Angels. We love and thank You for the Creation of man and of each human being in particular. We love and thank You for the human body with all its many parts and abilities. We love and thank You for the feet and legs with which to walk, the hands with which to work, the mouth with which to speak, the eyes, ears and the other senses to perceive and enjoy what is happening around him, and with which to learn. We love and thank You for all the organs of the body, each one with its particular function, contributing to the good of the whole body and symbol of individual Christians contributing to the good of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. And we place our love and gratitude even in each of the very cells of every human body. Still more, we love and thank You for the human soul, made in your Image and meant to grow in your Likeness; and for the three powers of the soul: the memory, intellect and will, made to correspond with and be ordered to the Three Divine Persons (Vol. 19: Aug. 12, 1926). Most of all, we thank You for the Infinite Gift of your Divine Will given to man with so much love at the beginning of Creation, enabling man to please You and even enrapture You in all his acts. Since man lost this Gift by doing his own will — thus causing his acts to leave You with a foul taste — we offer You all the acts of Jesus' Humanity in which all the acts man should have done in your Will can be found. Finally, Mother Mary, Luisa and I love and thank You, O God, for all the ways your Will works in created things to benefit man. We love and adore your Will in the earth germinating the seed, your Will in the water sprinkling it, your Will in the sun making it fertile, in the wind to purify it, in the cold to make it put forth roots, and in the heat to develop it and make it reach proper maturity. Then, we love and adore your Will giving the virtue to machines to cut, thresh and grind it, and to the fire to cook it to make it into the substance of bread for man. And we love and adore all the other ways your Will works continuously in created things to serve man (Vol. 18: Jan. 10, 1926). Supreme Majesty, with Mary, the Queen of all Creation, and Luisa, the Little Daughter of your Divine Will, we together prostrate ourselves before You in profound adoration. Then coming upon your Paternal Knees we say: Supreme Majesty, our God and our only Good, we have run through all Creation to put our love on every created thing and on all that each thing does. In doing so we have wanted to give You perfect love, adoration, gratitude, praise and glory in the name of everyone for all the good there is to be found in your magnificent Creating FIAT. Therefore, with this offering, as three little ones upon your Paternal Knees, in the name of all your creatures, we beg You to send your Will down upon the earth, to quickly make Itself known, and to Reign in every heart. Amen. |
* Be Faithful and Attentive: A Handbook for Living in the Divine Will
The excerpts of Be Faithful and Attentive offered here may be copied and printed for one's own use and for discussion groups. The right to publish this book or any of its parts remains exclusively with the author, Robert T. Hart, and the Luisa Piccarreta Center for the Divine Will. back to top |