In the Eternal Waves of the Divine Will
In a letter addressed to “My good daughter Sister Remigia,” who was also the niece of the Little Daughter of the Divine Will, in 1938, Luisa Piccarreta wrote:
“May dear Jesus reward you by forming His life in you. However, it takes great attention: first of all you must try to have the necessary food in order to nourish dear Jesus and let Him grow. The first necessary food is peace. Disturbance is not food for Jesus. Peace forms the day, and converts everything we do into love. With it, we form abundant and divine material in order to form Jesus, nourish Him, and make Him grow.
Once we have formed the necessary substance, the divine Will invests it and forms the Life of His Will. Oh, how happy He becomes then! Jesus finds in us His Will that loves Him, courts Him, and keeps Him in feast. And then what happens, my daughter? Our breath, our heartbeat and motion become the breath, the heartbeat and the motion of Jesus; we receive His life, we make of It our model, and all our acts are modeled by the Life of Jesus.
Therefore, be attentive; love peace and everything will smile at you, also Jesus Himself. This is my wish: be good, make yourself a saint, let all things be Will of God for you. With this, having a Divine Will in your power, how many beautiful and good things will you not be able to do? Everything. Pray for me; and leaving you in the eternal waves of the Divine Will, Your most affectionate aunt, Luisa, the little daughter of the Divine Will.”
I love how Luisa uses the analogy of food to growing in holiness. We eat food for sustenance, and the right food give us energy, health, and vitality. The wrong type of food can literally harm us over time, and makes us feel weak and sluggish. So on the spiritual level, there are virtues that we can use to nourish our souls, and then there are vices which erode our sanctification.
The first necessary spiritual food for us to consume is peace. In Hebrew, the term is shalom, and it signifies true and lasting harmony, completeness, wholeness, and tranquility. As Our Lord so beautifully expresses in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.” This is also the prayer of St. Paul, when he writes, “Now the Lord of peace himself give you everlasting peace in every place” (2 Thessalonians 3:16).
St. Francis de Sales said, “Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, not even if your whole world seems upset. If you find that you have wandered away from the shelter of God, lead your heart back to Him quietly and simply.” According to St. Paul of the Cross, peace proceeds from humility. “From humility of heart proceed serenity of mind, gentleness of conduct, interior peace, and every good.”
Luisa writes, “Disturbance is not food for Jesus,” because a mind and heart that is unsettled does not proceed from the Divine Will. In the Divine Will, there is only peace in all its supernatural perfection. Disturbance indicates that something has shifted within the soul, and the self will has been given an unnecessary priority. All things in life proceed from the Will of God, through the hands of Mary. Whether He actively causes them or passively allows them, He knows they are intended for our holiness and our true genuine happiness. So we must always guard ourselves in trustful surrender, and sustain the life of grace at work within us so it can grow as God intends.
When we sense something off within the soul, let us immediately turn to prayer. Whatever is the cause of the disturbance, seek to utilize it as an offering to God, an act of reparation. In all things, trust God through it, even through dry spells and dark nights. Pay no heed to the whisperings of the enemy trying to distract us. He tries to take our attention away from the glory of the Cross and the certitude of trusting God through evoking our feeble emotions. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
When we begin our day by nourishing ourselves with the peace of God, then Our Lord is able to form His Life within us. And “our breath, our heartbeat, and motion become the breath, the heartbeat, and the motion of Jesus.” This is most truly what St. Paul means when he uses phrases like the “Body of Christ” and “temple of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus wants to continue His work in the world through us as His hands and feet, His eyes and ears, His Heart and Soul. When we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done,” this is actualized here and now insofar as we allow Jesus to do His work within us.
In the eternal waves of the Divine Will, there is boundless grace and virtue, infinite peace and holiness. These are the waves in which we desire to be submerged, so that we can radiate the light of God to the dark and broken world around us. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14).
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We love you. Save souls. Amen.
