The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Luisa’s appointed extraordinary confessor and censor librorum St. Hannibal of Francia affirms that Luisa’s meditation on Jesus’ Passion constitutes a “new method” and “totally new approach,” which Luisa was the first [i] to introduce to the Church, as it offers reparations that “extend and multiply themselves to infinity.” Indeed, Jesus reveals to Luisa that as the soul meditates the “Hours of the Passion” that he dictated to her, it assumes his own humanity, [ii] intercedes for souls, [iii] offers the Father reparation and satisfaction, [iv] and averts his divine justice. [v] Such a soul procures “new graces,” [vi] a “new life of grace” [vii] and all the goods that Jesus desires. [viii]
The Luisian method of meditation is one of attentively and contemplatively assimilating the Lord’s Passion into one’s own life. [ix] It is not simply the act of recalling the sufferings of Jesus as something that occurred 2,000 years ago in a far away land; rather, it is primarily an act of the human will entering into the Divine Will, in which the lives of all creatures are present to us and “in act.” [x] Admittedly, Luisa uses the old scholastic expression “in act” to convey the timelessness of Jesus acts and sufferings on behalf of all creatures. By this she intends that the human being’s participation in Jesus’ interior life and sufferings may be present, concurrent and concomitant within each one of our acts, whereby we repeat his life in us, recover his “likeness” [xi] and, filling ourselves with God, [xii] communicate to all generations the infinite value, merits [xiii] and effects of his Passion. Jesus reveals to Luisa:
To repeat in the creature my Passion, in act, is different from one who only thinks of my pains and pities them. The first is an act of my Life, which takes my place to repeat my pains, and I feel I am given back the effects and the value of a Divine Life. In thinking of My pains and in offering Me pity, I only feel the company of the creature. But do you know in whom I can repeat the pains of My Passion in act? In one who has my Will as the center of his life. My Will alone is one Act which has no succession of acts. This single Act is as though fixed to one point which never moves, and this point is Eternity… Now, one who lives in my Will possesses this single Act, and there is no wonder that she takes part in the pains of my Passion, as if they were in act. [xiv]
As Jesus’ humanity lived in the Father’s Eternal Will [xv] and embraces the divine acts of all humans, the soul that piously meditates these Hours, “reenacts” what Jesus “did during his mortal life” and what he does “in the Most Holy Sacrament” of the Eucharist. To Luisa Jesus relates:
These Hours are the most precious of all, because they are nothing other than the reenactment of what I did in the course of my mortal life, and what I continue to do in the Most Holy Sacrament. When I hear these Hours of my Passion, I hear my own voice, my own prayers. In that soul I see my Will - that is, wanting the good of all and making reparation for all - and I feel drawn to dwell in her, to be able to do what she herself does within her interior. Oh, how I would love that even one single soul for each town did these Hours of my Passion! I would hear Myself in each town, and my Justice, greatly indignant during these times, would be placated in part. [xvi]
As the soul assimilates itself with Jesus’ Passion, it progressively [xvii] embraces all creatures of all centuries [xviii] - through the aforementioned ability to bilocate in creation - and restores to creation the divine harmony. [xix] Here the soul “co-redeems” [xx]with Christ with his own Divine Will in an eternal dimension between heaven and earth [xxi] that embraces all creatures of the past, present and future. By this means the soul that meditates the Hours vicariously immolates itself through, with and in Jesus for the sins of humanity, and aquires “the merit as if all were saved.” [xxii] Inasmuch as the soul of Jesus’ Blessed Mother was unceasingly united to Jesus’ soul through a continuous bilocation, the soul that mediates these Hours reenacts what Jesus’ Mother did on earth as well. [xxiii]
Furthermore, meditation on the Hours of Jesus’ Passion benefits the reader: “The sinner would turn to God, the imperfect would become perfect, the saint would become holier, those who are tempted would find victory, those who are ill would find strength, medicine and comfort.” [xxiv] Indeed, through the meditation of these Hours the soul attains the grace of “strength” to overcome all weakness. [xxv]
Additionally, the Hours influence and accompany all souls that pass through purgatory and enter Heaven, as “there is not a soul who enters Purgatory without carrying the mark of the Hours of the Passion… and there is not a soul who flies into Heaven, without being accompanied by these Hours of the Passion.” [xxvi] And if the soul’s domestic obligations do not allow it to continuously and attentively meditate these Hours, it may “substitute” the disposition of its good will with that of Jesus to “continuously” meditate them, and to intercede for the salvation of all souls. [xxvii]
Because each act of Jesus’ Passion produced a light within his humanity, each thought of the soul on his Passion causes that same light to invest it, [xxviii] and perfect within it God’s likeness. [xxix] Lastly, the angels that administered to Jesus during his Passion assist the soul that meditates on the Hours of the Passion. [xxx] Vestiges of this grace of participating in Jesus’ timeless Passion are discovered in the writings of scores of contemporary mystics and exemplars that bear witness to their having received the gift of Living in the Divine Will.
+ Rev. J. L. Iannuzzi, STD, Ph.D.
The Luisian method of meditation is one of attentively and contemplatively assimilating the Lord’s Passion into one’s own life. [ix] It is not simply the act of recalling the sufferings of Jesus as something that occurred 2,000 years ago in a far away land; rather, it is primarily an act of the human will entering into the Divine Will, in which the lives of all creatures are present to us and “in act.” [x] Admittedly, Luisa uses the old scholastic expression “in act” to convey the timelessness of Jesus acts and sufferings on behalf of all creatures. By this she intends that the human being’s participation in Jesus’ interior life and sufferings may be present, concurrent and concomitant within each one of our acts, whereby we repeat his life in us, recover his “likeness” [xi] and, filling ourselves with God, [xii] communicate to all generations the infinite value, merits [xiii] and effects of his Passion. Jesus reveals to Luisa:
To repeat in the creature my Passion, in act, is different from one who only thinks of my pains and pities them. The first is an act of my Life, which takes my place to repeat my pains, and I feel I am given back the effects and the value of a Divine Life. In thinking of My pains and in offering Me pity, I only feel the company of the creature. But do you know in whom I can repeat the pains of My Passion in act? In one who has my Will as the center of his life. My Will alone is one Act which has no succession of acts. This single Act is as though fixed to one point which never moves, and this point is Eternity… Now, one who lives in my Will possesses this single Act, and there is no wonder that she takes part in the pains of my Passion, as if they were in act. [xiv]
As Jesus’ humanity lived in the Father’s Eternal Will [xv] and embraces the divine acts of all humans, the soul that piously meditates these Hours, “reenacts” what Jesus “did during his mortal life” and what he does “in the Most Holy Sacrament” of the Eucharist. To Luisa Jesus relates:
These Hours are the most precious of all, because they are nothing other than the reenactment of what I did in the course of my mortal life, and what I continue to do in the Most Holy Sacrament. When I hear these Hours of my Passion, I hear my own voice, my own prayers. In that soul I see my Will - that is, wanting the good of all and making reparation for all - and I feel drawn to dwell in her, to be able to do what she herself does within her interior. Oh, how I would love that even one single soul for each town did these Hours of my Passion! I would hear Myself in each town, and my Justice, greatly indignant during these times, would be placated in part. [xvi]
As the soul assimilates itself with Jesus’ Passion, it progressively [xvii] embraces all creatures of all centuries [xviii] - through the aforementioned ability to bilocate in creation - and restores to creation the divine harmony. [xix] Here the soul “co-redeems” [xx]with Christ with his own Divine Will in an eternal dimension between heaven and earth [xxi] that embraces all creatures of the past, present and future. By this means the soul that meditates the Hours vicariously immolates itself through, with and in Jesus for the sins of humanity, and aquires “the merit as if all were saved.” [xxii] Inasmuch as the soul of Jesus’ Blessed Mother was unceasingly united to Jesus’ soul through a continuous bilocation, the soul that mediates these Hours reenacts what Jesus’ Mother did on earth as well. [xxiii]
Furthermore, meditation on the Hours of Jesus’ Passion benefits the reader: “The sinner would turn to God, the imperfect would become perfect, the saint would become holier, those who are tempted would find victory, those who are ill would find strength, medicine and comfort.” [xxiv] Indeed, through the meditation of these Hours the soul attains the grace of “strength” to overcome all weakness. [xxv]
Additionally, the Hours influence and accompany all souls that pass through purgatory and enter Heaven, as “there is not a soul who enters Purgatory without carrying the mark of the Hours of the Passion… and there is not a soul who flies into Heaven, without being accompanied by these Hours of the Passion.” [xxvi] And if the soul’s domestic obligations do not allow it to continuously and attentively meditate these Hours, it may “substitute” the disposition of its good will with that of Jesus to “continuously” meditate them, and to intercede for the salvation of all souls. [xxvii]
Because each act of Jesus’ Passion produced a light within his humanity, each thought of the soul on his Passion causes that same light to invest it, [xxviii] and perfect within it God’s likeness. [xxix] Lastly, the angels that administered to Jesus during his Passion assist the soul that meditates on the Hours of the Passion. [xxx] Vestiges of this grace of participating in Jesus’ timeless Passion are discovered in the writings of scores of contemporary mystics and exemplars that bear witness to their having received the gift of Living in the Divine Will.
+ Rev. J. L. Iannuzzi, STD, Ph.D.
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[i] Luisa Piccarreta, Volume 11: November 4, 1914.
[ii] Ibid., V. 11: April 10, 1913. [iii] Ibid., V. 11: October 1914. [iv] Ibid., V. 11: November 4, 1914. [v] Ibid., V. 11: September 6, 1913. [vi] Ibid., V. 11, November 4, 1914. [vii] Ibid., V. 7: 167, November 9, 1906. [viii] Ibid., V. 11, October 1914. [ix] Ibid., V. 12, October 24, 1918. [x] Ibid., V. 11, September 21, 1913. |
[xi] Ibid., V. 11, April 23, 1916.
[xii] Ibid., V. 11, March 24, 1913. [xiii] Ibid., V. 11, April 10, 1913. [xiv] Ibid., V. 18, October 24, 1925. [xv] Ibid., V. 11, March 24, 1914. [xvi] Ibid., V. 11: October 1914. [xvii] Ibid., V. 12, July 4, 1917. [xviii] Ibid., V.14, October 19, 1922. [xix] Ibid., V. 12: May 16, 1917. [xx] Ibid., V. 11: November 6, 1914. |
[xxi] Ibid., V. 12: June 10, 1920.
[xxii] Ibid., V. 11: October 1914. [xxiii] Ibid., V. 11: October 1914. [xxiv] Ibid., V. 11, October 13, 1916. [xxv] Ibid., V. 13, October 21, 1921. [xxvi] Ibid., V. 12: May 16, 1917. [xxvii] Ibid., V. 11: October 1914. [xxviii] Ibid., V. 11, April 23, 1916. [xxix] Ibid., V. 12, June 10, 1920. [xxx] Ibid., V. 11: October 12, 1916. |