Sr Josefa Menendez,
Spain 1890 –1923
Status: Cause for
Beatification Opened.
Episcopal Remarks: N/A
Corroboration by Other
Seers: -
Biographical Information: One of the
greatest mystics of the 20th century was Sister Josefa Menendez, who died in
1923 at the age of 33. This young Spanish sister, who had a short religious
life of great suffering, experienced revelations throughout much of her life,
compiled in The Way Of Divine Love. More than once, she was taken to Hell to
witness and feel the suffering first-hand. Sister Josefa was reluctant to write
on the subject of Hell, and did so only to conform to Our Lord's wishes. Sister
Josefa repeatedly dwelt on what she described as the greatest torment of Hell,
namely, the soul's inability to love.
Satan tried to fool her many times by appearing as Christ and the
Blessed Mother and when that failed, he attacked her bodily for years. Indeed Sr Josefa was a victim soul who was
given extraordinary visions of the events leading up to the crucifixion and who
suffered the pains of Christ’s passion. Like St Jude the apostle Patron Saint
of Desperate Causes, the life of Sister Josefa Menendez was largely eclipsed by
history and for that reason now she has been rediscovered, it seems God has
established her as a powerful intercessor especially against the temptations
and torments of the devil. Her short biography together with the notes she
wrote under obedience Christs Appeal For Love reproduced below are
extracts from the complete work The Way of Divine Love. They reiterate Our
Lord's consuming desire to attract souls to the merciful love of His Sacred
Heart, an appeal which began in the Gospel and which Our Lord has continued up
to the present time to renew through those He chooses for this purpose.
The Messages
The
Online Version of the Story and Writings of Sr Josefa:
Christ’s
Appeal to the World
“The
Way of Divine Love”
The Message of the Heart of Jesus to
the World
and
His Messenger Sister Josefa Menéndez
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
JOSEFA'S MISSION
I. Josefa as Victim
II. Participation in the Sufferings of Christ
III. Diabolical Persecutions
THE MESSAGE
I. His Substance
II. His Opportuneness
III. His Authenticity
FOREWORD
This new
edition of a translation of Un Appel à l'Amour, is an amplification of
the smaller book of the same name which was published in 1938.
On 13th
November, shortly before her death, Our Blessed Lord had said to Sister Josefa: "My words will be light and life for an incalculable number
of souls, and I will grant them special graces of conversion and
illumination." These words have been verified, for as soon as
the first small volume appeared it was eagerly seized upon, was reprinted
several times, while letters from all parts of the world gave testimony to the
profound impression created and to the signal graces that followed on the
delivery of the Message.
Within a few
months the book had been translated from the original Spanish into French, then
into Portuguese, Italian, English, Chinese, and Hungarian__thus
fulfilling Our Lord's wish that His call to the way of love shoul be heard as
widely as possible.
The Message,
providentially timed to appear before the general conflagration of nations in
the World War of 1939-1945, did not suffer any interrumption by it. In spite of
many difficulties, it passed from hand to hand and continued to be widely read.
At the same time, pressing requests for a more detailed biography which would
make the bearer of Our Lord's communications better known, were continually
being received and have resulted in the present publication.
The Message
of Our Blessed Lord, framed as it were, in the life history of Sister Josefa
Menéndez, consists mainly in excerpts from her notes. These notes, written
under obedience, and carefully preserved, are connected by a running
commentary, the testimony of those who day by day assisted at the unfolding of
a life which so amazingly carried out the designs of the Heart of Jesus.
In 1926,
after careful examination of the writings of Sister Josefa, a Consultor of the
Sacred Congregation of Rites concluded his report with these words: "I
pray God that these things may become known for the glory of God, and to
stengthen the faith of diffident and timid souls, and also that the holy
religious of the Sacred Heart who wrote them may be glorified." (From
the Italian.)
Without any
intention of pronouncing judgmentbefore Holy Church, to whom we submit
unconditionally, we think that readers of these pages will be glad to find
words of commendation from no less a personage than the Holy Father himself,
who as Cardinal Pacelli, and Protector of the Society of the Sacred Heart at
the time, gave his blessing to the first edition which appeared in 1938. A
facsimile or this letter is reproduced, with his express consent, at the
beginning of this volume.
INTRODUCTION
On 29th
December 1923, Sister Josefa Menéndez, when thirty-three years old, died a holy
death at the Convent of Les Feuillants, Poitiers. She lived as a sister in the
Society of the Sacred Heart only four years, and in so hidden a way thet the
world ought never to have heard of her, and even in her own community she
should soon have been forgotten.
Yet, only
twenty years after her death, she is known all over the world. In America,
Africa, Asia, and Oceania people are praying to her and are listening
attentively to the Message which the Heart of Jesus has given her for men.
In 1938 the
substance of the Message, under the title of Un Appel à l'Amour, was
published in Toulouse by the Apostleship of Prayer. Cardinal Pacelly, now
gloriously reigning as Pope Pius XII, wrote a foreward of recommendation in the
form of a letter. Five years later a complete biography was asked for with insistence,
since readers were anxious for all the details of a life so rich yet so hidden
and in which the very poverty of the human backround threw into relief the
splendour of Christ's divine action.
This second
and complete edition is the answer to that demand. It is drawn from Sister
Josefa's notes, written day by day, under obedience, its accuracy confirmed by
the very exact reminiscences of the witnesses of her life, namely the Superior
and Mother Assistant of the Convent of "Les Feuillants", Poitiers,
and her director, Father Boyer, O.P.
The reader
will feel a certain curiosity in opening these pages, but their contents will
fill him with wonder and admiration, and he will finish the book determined to
lead a better life and to love a God who manifested so intense a love for His
creatures.
For every
page tells of the wonderful providence of God's love for man. Holy Scripture
represents Him in the psalm as following the sons and answering their least
efforts to pray. Turning with love towards His rebel sons, from the beginning
He lets His voice be heard through marvels and through His prophets, until the
day when He Himself, taking flesh in the womb of the Virgin, tells men in human
language of the love that fills His Heart.
Jesus, the
Word Incarnate, has transmitted in all its completeness the Message He Himself
received from the Father: "Omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre Meo,
nota feci vobis" (John xv, 15). There is nothing to add to Our Lord's
words, and at the death of St. John, the last Apostle, the divine revelation
was closed and sealed. Later ages could do no more than draw out its meaning.
But its riches are unfathomable, and most men are too inattentive and
superficial to sound the depths of the Gospel teaching; consequently, just as
under the Old Law Prophets were sent by God to revive the faith and hope
of His people, so in the New Dispensation Christ has from time to time
given certain chosen souls the mission of interpreting His authentic words, and
of revealing their depths and hidden meaning.
Long ago, on
Easter morning, He charged Saint Mary Magdalen with announcing His glorious
Resurrection to the Apostles. In succeeding ages likewise poor and humble women
have been chosen out to transmit His most important desires to mankind.
To recall
only the chief instances: Through Saint Juliana of Montcornillon He revived
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and obtained the institution of the Feast of
Corpus Christi; through Saint Margaret Mary a new stimulus was given to devotion
to the Sacred Heart; through Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus He told a world
wich seemed to have forgotten it the merit and value of spirituel Childhood,
and now, He has given a Message to Josefa Menéndez.
The three
above mentioned have been canonized by the Church, and so have received, as it
were, an official recognition of their mission. Sister Josefa has not had this
honour bestowed on her, but while she is not yet called their Sister in glory,
she is indeed their Sister in grace, and God has been pleased to seal her
testimony. He who treats His creatures with such reverence, "Cum magna
reverentia disponis nos" (Sap. xii, 18), owed it to Himself to impress
a stamp marking His messenger clearly as the bearer of His words.
"His
ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts", and that there may
be no doubt that the comminications come from Him and no other, He chooses weak
instruments, humanly speaking unfitted for the task in view; so His strength
shines forth in their infirmity.
He did not choose the learned and the great in the
world's eyes to found His Church, Saint Paul expressly tells us, otherwise the
rapid spread of Christianity could have been attributed to their talents and
prestige … but He chose the poor and the ignorant, and of these He made vessels
of election.
And that the
greatness of their mission might not dazzle them and lead to vainglory, He
again and again reminded them of their nothingness, their innate misery and
their weakness. His gifts are only secure when bestowed on the truly humble of
heart. His Providence has always worked in this way. His glory is
manifest in man's nothingness. "If I had been able to find a creature
more miserable than you" He said to Saint
Margaret Mary, "I should have chosen her. …"
And Sister
Josefa repeatedly heard the same declaration: "If I could have
found a more wretched creature, I should have chosen her for my special love,
and through her revealed the longings of My Heart. But I have not found one,
and so I have chosen you" (7th june 1923).
Soon after
we hear Him say: "I have selected you as one utterly useless and destitute,
that none may attribute to any but Myself, what I say, ask and do" (12th june 1923).
As far as
appearances went, nothing signalized Josefa as in any way fitted for so high a
mission. If we remember her repeated delays in entering religion, we might be
justified in doubting the constance of her will; then, too, her humble rank in
the community, her status as a mere novice, her great love of retirement, and
the very real obstacle of her ignorance of the language of the country, all
these hindrances combined would at first sight appear insurmountable. (1) In reality they were tokens of God's choice.
Though but a lowly little novice, so tender-hearted as to be frequently on the
point of yielding to her sensitiveness, she would show later an unconquerable
strength of will. In the blinding light of divine revelations, she only crept
deeper into her littleness, and the closer God drew to her the more she humbled
hersel. In spite of the evidence of God's action, she was ever fearful of being
deceived herself and of deceiving her Superiors. As a matter of fact, they had
rarely met with a more obedient and docile subject, or one more deferential,
more eager to submit to control, more ready to sacrifice herself. In her
devotions, as in everything else, there was no exaggeration; she was perfectly
straightforward and simple. She was mentally healthy and had a well-developed sense
of order and proportion. The supernatural, whose weight was often crushing,
never disturbed her interior poise, though his equilibrium was kept only at the
cost of almost superhuman endurance. All this was in reality the best guarantee
to Superiors that her communications were divine in origin.
To Sister
Josefa Our Lord said:
"You yourself shall be My sign."
Though at
first suspicions and reserved in their judgments, both her Director and her Superiors
were forced by the evidence of her life to believe that her mission was divine.
JOSEFA'S MISSION
Only very gradually did
Our Lord unfold it to ber; several times He had told her that He meant to make
use of her to "carry out His plans" (9th February 1921) for "the
saving of many souls that had cost Him so dear" (15th October 1920).
On the night of 24th February 1921 He gave her a yet more explicit call during
her Holy Hour: "The world does not know the mercy of My Heart,"
He said to her. "I intend to enlighten them through you.… I want you to
be the apostle of My love and mercy. I will teach you what that means; forget
yourself."
And in answer to the fears she expressed: "Love and fear nothing. I want what you do not want, but I
can do what you cannot. It is not for you to choose, you have only to resign
yourself into My Hands."
A few months
rater, on Monday, 11th June 1921, a few days after the Feast of the Sacred
Heart, when she had received many graces, He said: "Remember My words
and believe them. My Heart has but one desire, which is to enclose you in It,
to possess you in My love, then to make of your frailty and littleness a
channel to convey mercy to many souls who will be saved by your means. Later
on, I will reveal to you the burning secrets of My Heart and many souls will
profit by them. I want you to write down and keep all I tell you. It will be
read when you are in Heaven. Do not think that I make use of you because of
your merits, but I want souls to realize how My Power makes use of poor and
miserable instruments." And as Josefa asked if she was to tell
Reverend Mother even that, He answered: "Write it; it will be read after your
death."
So by
degrees Our Lord unfolded His plan: Josefa was chosen by Him, not only to be a
victim for souls, especially for consecrated ones, but that through her
Christ's Message of love and mercy might reach the world. A twofold mission__Victim
and Messenger__and between the two missions there is a close
connexion. If Victim then Messenger, and because Messenger, necessarily Victim.
I. Josefa as Victim
To be a
victim necessarily implies immolation, and as a rule atonement for another.
Although strictly speaking one can offer oneself as a victim to give God joy
and glory by voluntary sacrifice, yet for the most part God leads souls by that
path only when He intends them to act as mediators: they have to suffer and
expiate for those for whom their immolation will be profitable, either by
drawing down graces of forgiveness on them, or by acting as a cloak to cover
their sins in the face of divine justice. It stands to reason that no one will
on his own initiative take such a role on himself. Divine consent is required
before a soul dares to intervene between God and His creature. There would be
no value in such an offering if God refused to hear the prayer.
Already in
the Old Testament victims of a certain sort only could be offered to God. To be
acceptible they must have special, clearly defined qualities: they were to be
spotless, without blemish, males of one year, and above all the offering had to
be made by a priest according to a prescribed rite which was to be adhered to
rigorously, and which symbolized not only the dispositions of the officiating
priest, but also those of the donor of the victim.
In the New
Testament a new sacrifice takes the place of the old; Jesus Christ is the sole
Mediator, sole Priest, sole Victim, and His sacrifice is no longer symbolic,
but real and infinite.
If, then,
Jesus Christ wishes to associate other victims with Himself, they must be
closely united to Him, and share His feelings, in order to enter fully into His
sacrifice; hence they can only be human beings, endowed with intelligence and
will.
He Himself
chooses these persons, and because they are free He asks them for their
voluntary co-operation. Those who accept put themselves at His mercy, and He
then makes use of them as by sovereign right.
Assimilated
and transformed into Christ, the victim-soul expresses the sentiments of Christ
Jesus to God the Father; and to Christ Himself her attitude is one of
humiliation, penance, and expiation, sentiments which ought to animate the
souls she represents.
And because
of this identification with Christ, the victim-soul shares in His dolorous
Passion and undergoes, to a greater or lesser degree, and in various but
generally superhuman ways, the torments and agonies that were His.
When the
suffering is borne for one specially chosen sinner the victim endures the just
retribution due to this sinner for his crimes. Every kind of trial is endured,
be it illness, or even persecution by the spirits of darkness of which the
victim becomes the sport.
With Sister
Josefa this was the case to an extraordinary degree. Victim at the express desire of her Lord, not only was her whole
being immolated, but the manner of the immolation itself varied according to
the particular attributes of God to which she had sacrificed herself.
Saint
Thérèse of the Child Jesus offered herself as a victim of merciful love; Marie
des Vallées, as a victim of God's Justice; Saint Margaret Mary, of both Justice
and Mercy, and so it was with Sister Josefa. Christ told her His wishes in even
more explicit terms than He had used with Saint Margaret Mary.
"I
have chosen you to be a victim of My Heart" (19th December 1920). "You are the victim of My love " (2nd October 1920 and 23rd November l920). "You are the victim of My love and mercy" (30th June 1921). "I want you to be the victim of divine
justice and the comfort of My Heart" (9th
November 1920).
For all
these reasons Josefa must suffer. "You suffer in your soul and body,
because you are the victim of My Soul and Body. How could you not suffer in
your heart, since I have chosen you as the victim of My Heart?" (19th December 1920).
As victim of
the Heart of Jesus she suffered in order to console the Heart that has been so
wounded by the ingratitude of men. As victim of love and mercy she suffered
that the merciful love of Jesus might overwhelm with graces the sinner He so
loved. As victim of the divine justice she carried the intolerable
burden of the divine reproaches, and expiated for guilty souls, who would owe
their salvation to her. Her mission exacted perpetual immolation on
her part, and Our Lord did not hide it from her. "Love, suffer, and
obey," He said to her, "so that I may
realize My plans in you" (9th January 1921).
On 12th June
1923 He corroborated the whole of this plan as it affected her: "As for you, you will live in the most complete and
profound obscurity, and as you are My chosen victim, you will suffer, and
overwhelmed by suffering you will die. Seek neither rest nor alleviation; you
will find none, for such is My will. But My love will sustain you, and never shall
I fail you."
But before
making her endure such piercing and keen agony, He had asked and obtained her
consent; for though He is Sovereign Lord and Master, He nevertheless respects
the liberty of the creature.
"Are
you willing?…" He said to Josefa, and
as she shrank at the prospect before her, He left her. She was heartbroken at
His departure, but Our Lady came, and suggested to her child: "Do not
forget that your love is free" (3rd March 1922). Several times Josefa tried to escape from the path before her,
then Jesus left her, and it was only after she had called Him again and again
that He came back to receive from her a willing offering of that which He had
suggested only as a possibility. Usually she accepted most generously. (2)
"I
offered myself to serve Him in any way He might choose." God knew Himself free to act in any way He chose, and He said
once again: "I am your God, you belong to Me; of your own free will,
you have handed yourself over. From now on you cannot refuse Me anything" (23rd July 1922). "If you do not deliver yourself up to My
will, what can I do?" (21st April 1922).
She
surrendered; like her Master she would be a willing victim: "Oblatus
est quia Ipse voluit." Like Him, too, she would be a pure victim. For
how can one expiate another's sins, when one has to expiate one's own? From her
birth God had enveloped her in purity, for there cannot be found in her life
any fault to which she voluntarily consented. Her greatest infidelities, as she
herself owned, were a certain reluctance to respond to the call of grace and
indecision in the face of a disconcerting mission; nothing therefore that was a
stain on her heart and soul. Jealously Our Lord guarded her: "I want
you to forget yourself so entirely and to be so completely given up to My Will
that I will not tolerate the slightest imperfection in you without warning you
of it" (21st February 1921).
Many times
when He wanted her to re-state that she was His victim He opened the question
by conferring on her a grace of still greater purification. "I want you
to suffer for Me, Josefa, but I will begin by letting the arrow of love which
is to purify your soul fall on you, for as My victim, you must be
all-pure" (17th June 1923).
In her pure
conscience on which suffering was about to descend there was found no taint of
sin, and consequently there was no work of expiation to be done, and that was
why the fruits of salvation could be transferred to other souls. Her sufferings bore a twofold character, as is indeed the case
with all true victims. As a victim chosen by Christ Himself to continue and
complete His redemptive work, she must be very closely united with Christ the
Redeemer, and share His Passion by enduring the self-same sufferings as His
own; as an expiatory victim for the sins of others, her pains would be
proportionate to the sins of the offender for whom she was atoning.
II. Participation in
the Sufferings of Christ
The Passion
of Christ being our sole salvation, if we are to be purified and saved, we must
of necessity come into contact with the Blood shed by the Lamb. The great cry
of the dying Christ is a pressing invitation to the whole human race to hasten
to the Saviour's fountains from which all graces flow.
This contact
with Christ's Blood is immediately secured by souls that answer His appeal.
Others, and alas! they are many, voluntarily keep aloof. It is these that Christ
will seek to reach through other souls whom He makes use of as channels of His
mercies. They are the most fruitful of all the branches of the mystic vine.
Loaded with the sap flowing from Christ Himself, and completely one with Him,
by their solidarity with the sinner they stand liable for his sins; so being
one with him and one with Christ, in them and by them, grace is communicated.
They are victim-souls.
How intimate
must be their identification with the Crucified if they are to carry out their
part of the contract fully! Full union with Him is implied, whilst He on His
part imprints on their souls, hearts, and bodies the living image of His
sorrowful Passion.
All His
sufferings are renewed in them: they will be contradicted, persecuted, humbled,
scourged, and crucified; and what man fails to inflict, that God Himself will
supply by mysterious pains, agonies, stigmata, which will make of them living
crucifixes.
How great
must be the power of mediation of such souls! How efficacious their
intercession, when they implore divine mercy, pardon and salvation for their
brethren; when in them and through them, the Precious Blood of Christ,
infinitely more powerful than that of Abel, cries to the Father!
There is
this, however, to notice with regard to some saints notably, Saint Francis of
Assisi, that the Passion, as it were, abides in them, God's ultimate plan
apparently being to shape them into finished copies of the Crucified. It is
God's response to their adoring love of His Passion, and He makes them share
both physically and morally in the torments of His Beloved Son.
There is a
further purpose with regard to expiatory victims: He seems to dispossess them
in favour of other souls, for the Passion of Christ, after marking them with its
sign, passes through them, in order to bring about in the sinner for whom they
suffer the graces of the sacrifice of Calvary.
They are
thus co-redeemers in the full sense of the word; love for their neighbour urges
them on, their mission is different from that of others. For whereas God is
pleased to allow those other souls of whom we spoke to remain in contemplation
of Him, giving glory to His infinite perfections by their love, it is otherwise
with victim-souls: when they contemplate Him, He unveils the immensity of His
love for souls and the grief with which the loss of sinners fills Him. The
sight of this breaks their hearts, and their longing to console Christ is not
satisfied with mere words of love; it stirs up their zeal. At whatever price, they
will win souls to Him, and He kindles this zeal still more. It is the love of
the Sacred Heart Itself, communicated to them, with which they love sinners;
love which gives them a superhuman endurance well described by Josefa's own
words:
"For
the last two or three weeks, I have felt an immense desire for suffering. There
was a time when the thought of it frightened me. When Jesus told me that He had
chosen me as His victim my whole being trembled; but it is different now. There
are days when I endure such agony that if He did not uphold me, I should die,
for no part of me is free from pain!… In spite of this, my soul longs to bear
more grievous afflictions for Him, though not without repugnance in the lower
part of my consciousness. When these pains attack me I shake with fear and
instinctively draw back, but there is granted to my will a strength that
accepts, that desires and wants to suffer yet more, so that if the choice
between continued pain and heaven were offered me, I should infinitely prefer to
remain in the throes of pain, if by so doing I might console His Heart, though
God knows how I long to be for ever with Him. I know that this change has been
wrought in me by Jesus" (30th June 1921).
She was
right indeed; the change had come not from herself, but from Jesus, or rather
may we not say that it was His strength, His feelings, His desires and
sufferings that He had passed on to her? (3)
"As you are ready to suffer, let us suffer together" (19th December 1920), and He gave her His Cross: "Jesus came
with His Cross, which He placed on my shoulders" (18th July 1920). "I come to bring you My Cross, thus unburdening Myself on
you" (26th July 1921). "I want you to be My Cyrenean; you will help Me to bear My
Cross" (23rd February 1922). "Let My Cross be your Cross" (30th March 1923).
Innumerable are the times He places it on her
willing shoulders for hours on end, even for whole days and nights. He
entrusted her with His Crown of Thorns, which He left in her keeping for long
periods, so that like Him she knew not where to rest her aching head. "I will leave you My Crown … do not complain of the pain …
for by it you share in My pain" (26th November 1920). "My Crown … with it I will Myself encircle your head" (17th June 1923). He made her feel the pain of His pierced Side.
Our Lady said to her:
"This pain is a spark from the Heart of My Son; when it is
at its worst, know that it is a sign that some soul is wounding Him
deeply" (20th June 1921).
He wished
her to feel the pain of the nails in both hands and feet: "I am about to give you a new sign of My love. Today you
will share with Me the pain of the nails" (16th March 1923).
Again He
associated her intimately with the agony of His Heart and Soul: "Every Friday, and especially on the First Friday of the
month, I will cause you to share in the bitterness of My Heart's agony, and you
will experience the torments of My Passion in a very particular manner" (4th February 1921).
On the 1st March
1922, He appeared to her, His Face all bloodstained: "Draw near," He said, "come
and rest in My Heart; and take part in Its grievous pain."
"He then drew me close to His Heart, and my soul was filled with
such anguish and bitterness of sorrow that I cannot describe it."
Like Him, she suffered for others: "I want your whole
being to suffer, that you may gain souls" (21st December 1920). "There is a soul that is grievously
wounding Me … be not afraid if you feel yourself totally abandoned, for I shall
make you share the anguish of My Heart" (13th
September 1921). "Keep My Cross, until that soul recognizes the truth" (24th March 1923). "Take My Cross, My Nails and Crown. I go
in search of souls" (17th June 1923).
These few
examples will suffice; they abound throughout the book. As an atoning victim,
Josefa shared in all the torments of Jesus, and her whole person, so to speak,
was saturated with unutterable anguish. United with Jesus on the Cross, she was
tortured by His sufferings, consumed by His desires; His burning thirst for the
salvation of souls urged her to attempt every kind of reparation and expiation
within her power.
II. Diabolical
Persecutions
And God
allowed trials of every kind to rain down upon her. If illness was not one of them (yet who knows, for she never
complained), nor persecution from men (for unlike a Margaret Mary, both her
religious and family life appear to have been exempt from these), yet on the
other hand, more than many another, she was given over to the fury of Satan.
And this is not surprising.
There are
few saints in whose lives his rage is not apparent. Christ in the glory of
Heaven is beyond the reach of Satan, who as His personal enemy spares no pains
to thwart the spread of God's kingdom on earth. The more he knows a soul
to be beloved of Christ, the fiercer are his attacks; this, no doubt, in the
hope of increasing the number of his unfortunate dupes, but above all, in the
perverse hope of snatching from Christ the souls He loves and for whom He has paid
so high a price in the shedding of His Precious Blood. Satan, therefore,
chooses saints and consecrated souls whom he longs to besmirch, seduce, and
dishonour, and flings himself on them. Above all, he abhors victim-souls, so
Josefa was particularly hateful to him.
She had
joyfully made the sacrifice of the three things she held dearest in the world:
her mother, her sister, and her country; she had offered herself for the
salvation of sinners, and was, in the event, to snatch a great number from hell-fire.
Satan therefore made wanton sport of her. He is permitted by God to have a
greater power over victim-souls. Surely this follows from their
vocation, (4) for as they take on
themselves the sins of others, they also assume the consequences which they
know will follow. When a man consents to sin, whether he is
conscious of it or not, he gives the devil great power over him, the power of
seduction and possession. This is not very noticeable, as a rule, for the evil
one excels in dissimulation and avoids disturbing those he believes he has in
his net. He strengthens what is evil in his prey, multiplies occasions of sin
and benumbs the soul, till it sinks into a state of torpor which is absolutely
fatal.
When,
however, the devil is met by the resolute resistance of the victim-soul who has
taken the place of the sinner, unable to make her sin he takes fearful
vengeance, using the very powers he has gained over the evildoer in order to
torment his substitute.
And this is
permitted by God to manifest to all the reality of both the devil and hell
which so many try to forget and to bury in silence and oblivion.
The devil is
a reality, and in his dealings with God's saints he shows himself in the
undisguised perversity of his vicious and corrupt nature. What must his cruelty
be to those souls that are damned and are his for ever, if he is so pitiless
with those over whom, after all, he has but limited sway? Who would dare affirm
that such a lesson is without its use, especially in our days?
God also
confounds the pride of the spirit of darkness, who in spite of all his power
and rage makes no headway, but meets with constant defeat, which greatly
enhances God's glory.
So it was
with Sister Josefa.
The devil
tried by every possible means to delude and beguile her, disguising himself as
an "angel of light", even going so far as to assume the very features
of Jesus Christ Himself. Most often however, he tried to turn her from her
chosen path by inflicting on her grievous bodily harm.
When Satan,
in all his strength, and a frail human being meet in mortal combat, God
interposes His power in the conflict and invests the soul with superhuman
endurance. He bestows on it unconquerable energy and makes it overcome all
temptations and every suffering. The devil's power broke on the frailty of
Josefa's resistance, who (though "nothing and misery", as Our Lord
called her) with divine help triumphed over the "strong man armed". But God alone knew what it cost her.
Even as a
postulant, showers of blows, administered by an invisible fist, fell upon her
day and night, especially when she was in prayer and reiterating her
determination always to be faithful. At other times she was violently snatched
away from the chapel, or prevented from entering it. Again and again the devil
appeared to her in the guise of a terrifying dog, snake, or worse still, in
human form.
Soon the
forcible abductions became more frequent, in spite of the supervision exercised
by Superiors. Under their very eyes she suddenly disappeared, and after long
search would be found thrown into some loft, or beneath heavy furnitute, or in
some unfrequented spot. In their presence she was burnt, and without seeing the
devil, they saw her clothes consumed and on her body unmistakable traces of
fire, which caused wounds that took long to heal.
Lastly,
there occurred a phenomenon (5) very rare in the lives of
the Saints: God permitted the devil to take her down to hell. There she spent long
hours, sometimes a whole night, in unspeakable agony. Though she was dragged
down into the bottomless pit more than a hundred times, each sojourn seemed to
her to be the first, and appeared to last countless ages. She endured all the
tortures of hell, with the one exception of hatred of God. Not the least of
these torments was to hear the sterile confessions of the damned, their cries
of hatred, of pain and of despair.
Nevertheless, when at long last she came back to life, shattered and spent, her
body agonized with pain, she looked on no suffering, however severe, as too
much to bear, if by it she could save a soul from that dreaded abode of
torment. As gradually she began to breathe more freely, her heart bounded with
joy at the thought that still she could love her Lord.
It was this
great love that sustained her, but at times the trial weighed heavily on her.
Like Jesus in the Garden of Olives, she spent long hours in anguish and
dejection. She realized the vast number of the lost, and was often perplexed as
to the use of her descents into hell and all the tortures that she had endured.
But quickly she regained her hold on herself, and her amazing courage did not
falter. Then, too, Our Lady helped her: "While you suffer, the devil has less
power over that soul" (22nd July 1921). "You suffer to relieve Him; is this not enough to give you
courage?" (12th July 1921).
Then Our
Lord showed her the treasures of reparation and expiation she had gained by her
repeated ordeals (6th October 1922 and 5th November 1922), and allowed her to
witness in hell the devil's bursts of fury, when there escaped him souls of
whom he thought he had a firm hold, but for whom she was offering expiation. The thought that she could console and rest Our Lord and gain
souls for Him kept up her heroic spirit and excited her zeal.
Although she
instinctively shrank from contact with the devil, for his power and
vindictiveness were well known to her by personal experience, yet never did she
allow this fear to make her neglect a duty. At one time he carried her off
almost daily as she went to her employment; she knew this would happen and the
thought of it made her tremble with apprehension, but undaunted she went
forward, and on the morrow was still as determined as ever that she would not
yield to terror.
In all her
heroic fidelity, perhaps the most admirable feature was her conviction that,
owing to her fear and occasional repugnances, she was (and this she sincerely
believed) ungrateful and unfaithful, and had done absolutely nothing for God.
After nights
of unspeakable torment, crushed, yet ever gallant, she rose at the hour of Rule
and resumed her ordinary labours, asking no exceptions from common life. She
burnt, indeed, with the very fire of the Heart of Jesus, for after all the
agonies of hell and her share in Christ's sufferings, she was neither
discouraged nor cast down, but her readiness to suffer only increased.
Like Saint
Margaret Mary, she offered herself in sacrifice for religious souls, for
priests, for sinners of every description. Docile and abandoned to the divine
Will, she asked but one thing, to be able to console Him. She was ready to
suffer a thousand martyrdoms to help those who for the most part
were utterly unknown to
her, but whom she loved in and through Him.
As we
pointed out in the beginning, she had to be a victim in order that the Message
might be delivered and be listened to by mankind for whom she endured so much.
She who knew
the Heart of Jesus and His love for souls, Was better qualified than any other
to transmit this Message to the world.
THE MESSAGE
I. His Substance
It is one of
love and mercy. Nowhere is it fully stated, but it is found in fragmentary form
all through the book. Its chief points were often reiterated, and with little
verbal change.
Here is a
short summary of them:
A) In the
first place, the Sacred Heart and the overwhelming charity of Jesus
Christ for mankind are brought out in a striking way. It might almost be called
a new revelation of the Sacred Heart, confirming and in certain matters
completing and perfecting that previously given to Saint Margaret
Mary.
More than
two centuries and a half have elapsed since1675, and new currents of devotion
have arisen in the Church. At present, the mystical Christ is passionately (and
very rightly) cherished by those souls who in their inmost being are conscious
of Its reality and Its implications.
The devotion
to the Sacred Heart would appear to have grown less, if anything, and to be
less well understood.(6) To some the devotion appears a mutilation of the worship of
the whole Christ, or perhaps feminine with too much sentiment or even
sentimentality in it.
Our Lord
reacts strongly against this false impression. He reaffirms that there is no
mistake, that it is indeed His Heart of flesh, pierced by the lance that He
offers mankind; His Heart so full of love and so little loved in return, and of
which the gaping Wound cries out how immense is His tender affection for men.
Like all
true love, His is consumed by desire for a return in kind, all the more, that
only so can man attain happiness here below, and everlasting beatitude
hereafter. Let those who reject His love realize the horror of hell to which
they will be condemning themselves.… This was the appeal that, through Josefa,
Jesus Christ sent out to the whole world.
B) That men
may be attracted (and herein lie the novelty and force Of the Message) … the
Sacred Heart manifests through her His infinite mercy. He loves them
every one, just as they are, even the most despicable, even the greatest
sinners, one can almost say, especially the most miserable and sinful. He does
not ask for their good qualities or virtues, but only for their wretchedness
and sins. Far from being an obstacle, their very faults are thus an
encouragement to draw near Him.
Such is the
gift God asks of His beloved sinners, on the one condition of a true
repentance, and a readiness to turn away from their evil ways out of love for
Him.
His Heart is
there waiting for His erring sons with all the impatience of true love. He
assures them beforehand of a free pardon. "It is not sin that most grievously
wounds My Heart," He said, "but
what rends and lacerates It is that after sin men do not take refuge in It once
more" (29th August 1922).
What He
wants and ardently desires is their trust in His infinite goodness and
mercy.
C) To
consecrated and therefore specially loved souls, Jesus others a share of His
redemptive life.
He would like them to act as intermediaries for the saving of
souls, and that is why He asks of all the spirit of sacrifice in love. As a rule, no great sufferings are to be borne, but He
inculcates the importance of ordinary actions however insignificant, if
done in union with Him, in a spirit of sacrifice and love (30th November 1922
and 2nd December 1922). He lays stress on the value of the tiniest
offerings, which not only can lead them far on in sanctity, but will effect
the salvation of many souls (20th October 1922). On the other hand, He
reminds them of the danger of slackening in their efforts in little ways,
which may lead to greater infidelity and finally expose them to hell-fire,
where their sufferings will greatly exceed those of less-favoured souls (3rd
August 1921; 12th December 1922; 14th, 15th, 20th, 24th March 1923; 4th
September 1922).
Let
consecrated souls therefore re-animate their trust in the Heart of Jesus. "I easily condone their weakness; what I want them to know
is that if after their faults and falls they humbly cast themselves into My
Heart, I love them always, and pardon them all." He adds: "Do you not know that the more wretched a
soul is, the more I love her?" "The fact that I have chosen a soul does
not mean that her faults and miseries are wiped out. But if in all humility
that soul acknowledges her failings and atones by little acts of generosity and
love, above all, if she trusts Me, if she throws herself into My Heart, she
gives Me more glory and does more good to souls than if she had not fallen.
What does her wretchedness matter to Me, if she gives Me the love that I
want?" (20th October 1922).
So what the
Heart of Jesus demands of His own is humility, trust, and love.
D) Finally,
He repeatedly offers to all the thought of His Passion, for it is the
sign of His immense love for mankind and the sole hope of salvation.
His sad and
suffering Heart is again and again presented to us; He exhorts and entreats us
in virtue of His immeasurable pains to return to Him. How great must have been
the love that could bear such agony for us, and at the same time how terrible
is the misfortune of those who through their own fault let such a Redemption
pass them by! Man has put his sin between himself and God, a chasm impossible
to bridge__yet our Jesus comes with His suffering Passion,
and oversteps our sinfulness, even veils our crimes with His Blood. The road to
salvation is once more opened, but it must and can only be through the Passion.
This is the only way to establish contact with God again. The choice lies
between the Passion and Hell!
So the work
of consecrated souls is to enter into the Passion of Christ and, by personal
sacrifices, to pass on its fruits to other souls for whom they pray and
immolate themselves.
II. His Opportuneness
How striking
is its actuality to-day!
Everywhere
sin is increasing to an appalling degree. The pride of man leads him to discard
his God and attempt to make a paradise of earth. He has so far succeeded only
in making it a vestibule of hell, where impiety, immorality, and the worst
passions have free scope; wars rage that are more terrible than any yet heard
of, the majority of mankind suffers poverty and slavery, and all without the
comfort which faith alone can impart.
The Heart of
God inclines in pity towards His forlorn children, and He points out to them
the way of happiness, peace, and salvation.
This Message
is not only transmitted by Josefa, but reproduced in her life through Christ's
operations in her soul, for facts are more calculated to move than are mere
words.
If anyone
wants to realize the love of the Heart of Jesus for souls, let him read the
pages in which Josefa notes down how she listens to the Heart-beats of her
Master. "Every heart-beat is an appeal to a soul," He told her (25th September 1920).
Surely we
cannot doubt the reality of His love, when the flames issuing from His
Heart are seen to kindle Josefa's with a love so valiant and intrepid that she
braves the sufferings of hell-fire to save the souls He loves. Nor can we doubt the immensity of His love, when for the
same purpose she accepts unutterable tortures, and she who knew tells us that
her love, "her poor love", is as nothing beside that of her Master,
just as the torments she undergoes are but a shadow of those of the Passion
(28th October 1920).
The grief of Jesus at the loss of souls and His joy at their
return, which are so plainly shown in Josefa's life, make it impossible for us
to doubt the goodness of His love! (25th August 1920; 26th December
1920; 3rd-4th August 1921; 29th July 1921; 3rd, 12th, 25th September 1922).
"Help Me," He would say, "help Me to make My love for
men known, for I come to tell them that in vain will they seek happiness apart
from Me, for they will not find it. Suffer, Josefa, and love, for we two must
win these souls" (13th June 1923).
We get an
inkling of the intense love of the Sacred Heart from that of Josefa for these
same souls; it was so real and true that it could have been inspired only by
Him.
Infinite
Mercy, too, is manifested by Josefa's life. "I will love
you," He told her on 8th June 1923, Feast of the
Sacred Heart, "and by the love I have for you souls will realize how
much I love them. Since I forgive you so often, they will recognize My
mercy." He even said to her one day: "I love souls even
to folly" (27th September 1922).
Such a
statement surprises us, yet in Scripture do we not read (and Scripture is
inerrant): "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on
the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I. Behold, I have
graven thee in my hands" (Isa. xlix, 15, 16). "He
will put away our iniquities and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of
the sea" (Mich. vii, 19). "Thou hast delivered my soul that it
should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back" (Isa. xxxviii, 17). "He loved me and delivered himself for
me" (Gal. ii, 20).
We may well
call these statements divine folly!
As to the
reality of hell, again we see the Message lived by Josefa. The sufferings of
the Passion which continue uninterruptedly in her, all the demoniacal
persecutions and descents into hell have only one end: to snatch souls from
perdition and bring them back to salvation from which they have strayed. We see
here exemplified the dogma of the Redemption and of the Communion of Saints.
How, then, would it be possible to deny on the one hand the existence of the
devil, of hell and of purgatory, and on the other the adequate power of
Redemption which suffering has when borne for others? These great supernatural
realities we read in the moving pages in which Josefa has then graven in her
very flesh and soul.
The Message
itself cannot be called a new revelation, but it unveils in a most striking
manner what faith has already taught us. Our Lord Himself told this to Josefa: "I
repeat to you again that what I have said is not new, but souls need a new
impetus to make them advance, just as a flame needs fuel, if it is not to burn
itself out" (5th December 1923).
How great is
the force of the appeal which the humble little Sister transmits to us from her
Lord!
III. His
Authenticity
We have been
enabled to realize how the Message consists not only in the words entrusted to
Josefa, but in her whole life. By her very existence, this soul, so beloved of
Jesus, speaks to all who will listen, and her life stands as evidence of the
divine action upon her.
She alone
heard the words of Our Lord, and so is the sole witness; but her life testifies
to the truth of the Message, and, moreover, she was closely followed up by
qualified observers, who testify to the undeniable virtue of the obscure
little messenger of infinite love, and to the reality of her supernatural
states, of which tangible proofs were not wanting. All who had to do with
her attested her very real virtue; not that she shone in a striking manner, for
she was ever more imitable than admirable, but all felt the unconscious
influence she exercised around her. No self-seeking, but rather self-denial in
everything, unquestioning obedience, gentleness, and patience: all the result
of true humility.
"You
are the echo of My Voice," said Our Lord to her
(10th December 1922), and, in fact, everything in her was an echo of the
divine. Her unaffected virtue led one to a conviction that God was
acting on this soul, and this by itself could have provided clear evidence that
her supernatural communications came from God. Nevertheless, Superiors and her
Director remained for a certain length of time deliberately hesitant and
uncertain, and they deserve our thanks for their reserve and wary misgivings,
which insisted on proofs.
With her
innate candour and honesty, she could never have practised wilful deception.
Perhaps one is justified in asking whether she was led astray by her heart or
imagination__a not infrequent trait in persons of sincere
holiness. But (and this is a good sign) Josefa lived in perpetual fear that
such might be the case, and was quite prepared, had Superiors deemed her to be
in illusion, to consider all that had taken place as a delusion. Such action
was characteristic of her.
When she
went to Rome to carry a message from Our Lord about the Society of the Sacred
Heart to the Mother General, she was suddenly seized with a blinding fear (at
the devil's instigation) that all was a dream and that she had no message from
heaven to deliver. Without hesitation or reflection on the harm it might do her
cause in the eyes of her Superiors, she confessed her anguish of mind, and the
certitude she now felt that all was a chimera of her imagination, and she
humbly begged that no credence should be given to anything she might say. That
she should have had this anxious concern at such a moment is another proof of
the truth of her mission.
She could
not have acted so had she not been profoundly humble and self-forgetful; her
writings bear the same impress of sincerity.
It was by
the express command of Our Lord and of Our Lady that she kept her Superiors
informed of all that passed: "You must write," said Our Blessed Lord to her (6th August 1922). This, no doubt,
was meant to secure that none of His Words should be lost, but also His divine
purpose may have been that all Josefa's actions should be controlled and witnessed
from start to finish. In all she wrote there never occurs a useless word, nor
anything false or equivocal; nothing that could be regarded as self-praise nor
that betrays a shadow of vanity. All is true, reasonable, moving, and holy.
The same control
was exercised over her supernatural states. When she was carried off
into hell, or when she returned to consciousness after an ecstasy, her
Superiors were present; they watched with solicitous and maternal eyes her
gradual return to life's interests, noting carefully words that escaped her in
those impressive moments.
When she had
communications with souls in purgatory who came to ask for prayers, the name,
exact date, and place of their death, if given, were always found on
investigation to be correct.
No possible
doubt exists concerning the forcible abductions of Josefa by the devil; they
took place under the very eyes of her Superiors, who were powerless to prevent them.
Likewise the effects of fire which burned her were seen on her garments and
flesh; fragments of scorched linen are still preserved.
The most
convincing feature of these diabolic visitations (visions of Satan,
descents into hell), which to most people would have been terrifying, was that
they seemed neither to have troubled her imagination, nor to have disturbed the
calm equilibrium of her eminently sane temperament. So also the divinely
supernatural, with those simple and homely proofs of affection she received
from Our Lord and His Mother (7), must surely have moved her
feelings to an extraordinary degree, yet they left her peaceful, silent, and
apparently without even the natural desire to talk over her wonderful
experience with anyone. The Mothers noticed how very discreet she was, never
speaking of the favours she received, except to the two witnesses already
mentioned. Finally, all the sufferings (nights spent in hell, or in
bearing the Cross, or in wearing the Crown of Thorns) which might have made her
beg for relief, only gave her a greater desire to suffer for love of Our Lord
and of souls.
So her
writings and her life confirm each other as evidence that all that took place
in her was divine in origin. Even the most extraordinary happenings have an aim
and significance. There are no useless details, no record of revelations that
do not bring out in clearer light and force some dogmatic truth, giving us
deeper insight into the Heart of Our Lord, His love, the value of souls, the
happiness of heaven, the irreparable loss of the damned.
Everything
in Josefa's life is grace-giving and profoundly moving. The writings of this unassuming Sister, regarded as ignorant in
the world's eyes, will, no doubt, be scrutinized and pondered over by theologians
and masters of the spiritual life, and as in the case of Saint Thérèse of the
Child of Jesus, numerous books will be written to develop the profound doctrine
contained in these writings, and to make known the mysteries of love. But
better still, the mere reading will bring numberless graces and lead many to
conversion and holiness. The world may be astonished at the great things that
come from a life so simple; but it is precisely in her nothingness that the
overwhelming proof of the authenticity of her Message lies.
In very
truth it was countersigned by a Hand that was nothing less than divine.
Digitus
Dei est hic.
H. Monier Vinard, s.j.
(1) If one had looked for a
chosen soul among the novices of that time (they were for the most part Polish),
Josefa's appearance, which had nothing of the mystic about it, would not have
led one to suspect God's choice of her.
(2)
Nothing was imposed on her by God; He did not force His reluctant creature, but
with divinely consummate skill He pursued His purpose of obtaining her consent.
At each recoil of Josefa's fears, Our Lord left her without reproach; but His
departure so disturbed Josefa that she made a more than ever generous
acceptance. Also, Jesus did not tell her straight away that he wanted her to be
His Messenger to the world, the shock would have been too great; but He simply
appealed to her generosity: "Are you willing to suffer? And are you
willing to be a victim?" If a victim, then it was a question of
suffering, not of coming prominently before the world, and Josefa accepted.
(3)
"My Heart finds rest in communicating its feelings. I come to rest in
your heart when a soul grieves Me, and it is My longing to do it good that
passes into you and becomes yours" (23rd October 1922).
(4)
See especially the diabolical persecutions endured by Saint Margaret of
Cortona, Saint Veronica Giuliani, the Curé d'Ars, and Sister Marie de
Jésus-Crucifié, whose life has been written by V.R.F. Buzy, Superior General of
the Fathers of Bétharram, and many others.
(5) A number of both men and women saints have had visions
of hell; few have actually gone down into its depths, and fewer still have done
so frequently, as did Sister Josefa in order to atone for sinners. Saint
Veronica Giuliani, born 1660 and died 1727, thus a contemporary of Saint
Margaret Mary, seems, like Sister Josefa, to have been a victim of expiation,
and had this same experience.
(6)
In his recent encyclical on the Mystical Body of Christ (June 1943) Pope Pius
XII tells us that devotion to the Sacred Heart has prepared souls to understand
the doctrine of the Mystical Christ. The idea of reparation for others which
Our Lord made an essential element in devotion to the Sacred Heart, implies the
solidarity of all Christians__one with another__in
the unity of the Mystical Body. But devotion to the Mystical Christ, the
"whole" Christ, with its horizons attractive through their very
vastness, inclines the superficially minded to find too limited a devotion,
centred in the Heart of Christ. This mistake is due to a lack of understanding
that devotion to the Sacred Heart is directed to Christ loving, wounded with
love and that by it all the members of the Mystical Body are united in this
love with Him and with each other.
(7)
Delightful apparitions of the Holy Child at Christmas … of Our Lady, "in
all her beauty and so motherly", as Josefa always describes her.
Individual Messages
Vision of the damned, March
23, 1922
"One of these damned souls cried out: "This is my
torture... that I want to love and cannot; there is nothing left me but hatred
and despair. If one of us could so much as make a single act of love... This
would no longer be hell... but we cannot, we live on hatred and malevolence’.”
Another soul cried out “The greatest of our torments here is that we are not
able to love Him. While we hunger for love, we are consumed with desire of it,
but it is too late” Sr Josefa goes on to say “Some yell because of the burning
of their hands. Perhaps they were thieves, for they say: "Where is our
loot now?... Cursed hands... Why did I want to possess what did not belong to
me... and what in any case I could keep only for a few days?"
Vision of the damned, April 2, 1922
“Others curse their tongues, their eyes... whatever was the
occasion of their sin... 'Now, O body, you are paying the price of the delights
you granted yourself¡... And you did it of your own free will...”
Vision of Hell, September 4, 1922
"My soul fell into abysmal depths, the bottom of which
cannot be seen, for it is immense... Then I was pushed into one of those fiery
cavities and pressed, as it were, between burning planks, and sharp nails and
red-hot irons seemed to be piercing my flesh. I felt as if they were
endeavoring to pull out my tongue, but could not. This torture reduced me to
such agony that my very eyes seemed to be starting out of their sockets. I
think this was because of the fire which burns, burns..not a finger nail
escapes terrifying torments, and all the time one cannot move even a finger to
gain some relief, not change posture, for the body seems flattened out and
[yet] doubled in two. Sounds of confusion and blasphemy cease not for an
instant. A sickening stench asphyxiates and corrupts everything, it is like the
burning of putrefied flesh, mingled with tar and sulphur...a mixture to which
nothing on earth can be compared... although these tortures were terrific, they
would be bearable if the soul were at peace. But it suffers indescribably...All
I have written," she concluded, "is but a shadow of what the soul
suffers, for no words can express such dire torment." (September 4, 1922).
Our Lady, October 25, 1922:
"Everything that Jesus allows you to see and to suffer of
the torments of hell, is...that you may make it known. So forget yourself
entirely, and think only of the glory of the... Salvation of souls….”
Vision of the damned, October 4, 1922
“I saw many wordly people fall into hell, and now words can
render their horrible and terrifying cries: 'Damned for ever...I deceived
myself; I am lost...I am here for ever'”….”Today, I saw a vast number of people
fall into the fiery pit...they seemed to be wordlings and a demon cried
vociferously: "The world is ripe for me...I know that the best way to get
hold of souls is to rouse their desire for enjoyment...Put me first...Me before
the rest...no humility for me! But let me enjoy myself...This sort of thing
assures victory to me...and they tumble headlong into hell”
Vision of Hell, February 3, 1923
"Tonight I was transported to a place where all was
obscure. . . Around me were seven or eight people; I could see them only by the
reflections of the fire. They were seated and were talking together. One said:
'We'll have to be very careful not to be found out, for we might easily be
discovered.'The devil answered: 'Insinuate yourselves by inducing carelessness
in them . . . but keep in the background, so that you are not found out . . .
by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to incline them to
evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquiring wealth
without working, whether it be lawful or not. Excite some to sensuality and
love of pleasure. Let vice blind them . . . As to the remainder . . . get in
through the heart . . . you know the inclinations of their hearts . . . make
them love . . .love passionately . . . work thoroughly . . . take no rest . . .
have no pity. Let them cram themselves with food! It will make it all the
easier for us . . . Let them get on with their banqueting. Love of pleasure is
the door through which you will reach them . . .' " (February 3, 1923).
Vision of Hell, March 22, 1923
“"Tonight," wrote Josefa, "I did not go down into
hell, but was transported to a place where all was obscure, but in the center
was a red smouldering fire. They had laid me flat and so bound me that I could
not make the slightest movement. Around me were seven or eight people; their
black bodies were unclothed, and I could see them only by the reflections of
the fire. They were seated and were talking together. One devil to another
said: "We'll have to be very careful not to be found out, for we might
easily be discovered.' Another devil answered: 'Insinuate yourselfs by
including carelessness in them...but keep in the background, so that you are
not found out...by degrees they will become callous, and you will be able to
incline them to evil. Tempt these others to ambition, to self-interest, TO
ACQUIRING WEALTH WITHOUT WORKING...Excite some to sensuality and love of
pleasure'." Josefa, on her return from hell, noted the following: "I
saw several souls fall into hell, and among them was a child of fifteen,
cursing her parents for not having taught her to fear God nor that there was a
hell. Her life had been a short one, she said, but full of sin, for she had
given in to all that he body and passions demanded in the way of satisfaction.
Especially she had read bad books."
Vision of Hell, March 16, 1923
“In the night of 16th March towards ten O'Clock",
wrote Josefa, I became aware, as on the preceding days, of a confusing noise of
cries and chains. I rose quickly and dressed, and trembling with fright, knelt
down near my bed. The uproar was approaching, and not knowing what to do, I
left the dormitory, and went to our Holy Mother's cell; then I went back to the
dormitory. The same terrifying sounds were all round me; then all of a sudden I
saw in front of me the devil himself. "Tie her feet and bind her
hands," he cried. Instantly I lost sight of where I was, and felt myself
tightly bound and being dragged away. Other voices screamed: "No good to
bind her feet; it is her heart that you must bind." "It does not
belong to me," came the answer from the devil. Then I was dragged along a
very dark and lengthy passage, and on all sides resounded terrible cries. On
opposite sides of the walls of the narrow corridor were niches out of which
poured smoke, though with very little flame, and which emitted an intolerable
stench. From these niches came blaspheming voices, uttering impure words. Some
cursed their bodies, others their parents... It was a medley of confused
screams of rage and despair. I was dragged through that kind of corridor which
seemed endless. Then I received a punch in the stomach which doubled me in two,
and forced me into one of the niches. I felt as if I were being pressed between
two burning planks and pierced through and through with scorching needle
points. Opposite and beside me souls were blaspheming and cursing me. What
caused me most suffering... and which no torture can be compared, was the
anguish of my soul to find myself separated from God... It seemed to me that I
spent long years in that hell, yet it only lasted six or seven hours... I see
clearly that all the sufferings on earth are nothing in comparison with the
horror of no longer being able to love, for in that place all breaths hatred
and thirst to damn other souls." Praise the Lord Jesus Christ.
Vision of Hell, October 4, 1923
“Today, I saw a vast number of people fall into the fiery pit …
they seemed to be worldlings and a demon cried vociferously: 'The world is ripe
for me….I know that the best way to get hold of souls is to rouse their desire
for enjoyment…Put me first … me before the rest…no humility for me! but let me
enjoy myself…This sort of thing assures victory to me…and they tumble headlong
into hell.' "
Vision of Hell, undated
"Sounds of confusion and blasphemy cease not for an
instant. A sickening stench aphyxiates and corrupts everything; it is like the
burning of putrefied flesh, mingled with tar and sulphur...a mixture to which
nothing on earth can be compared
Visions of Our Lord’s Passion
“We
are going to speak of My Passion, that your soul may constantly feed on the
remembrance of it, and that My souls may find in it food for their hunger and
drink for their thirst….”
“And
now, Josefa, I will begin by disclosing to you the thoughts that filled My
Heart, while I was washing the feet of My disciples. Mark how the whole twelve
were gathered together, none excepted: John the beloved was there, and Judas
who was so soon to deliver Me to My enemies. I will tell you why I willed to
have them all assembled together and why I began by washing their feet. I
gathered them altogether because the moment had come for My Church to be
manifested to the world, and for all the sheep to have but one shepherd. It was
My intention also, to show souls that I never refuse grace even to those who
are guilty of grave sin; nor do I seperate them from the good whom I Love with
predilection. I keep them all in My Heart, that all may receive the help
required by their state of soul....But how great was my sorrow to see in the
person of My unhappy disciple Judas the throng of those who, though often
gathered at My feet and washed in My Blood, would hasten to their eternal
perdition. I would have these to understand that it is not the fact of being in
sin that ought to keep them from Me. They must never think that there is no
remedy for them, nor that they have forfeited for ever the love that once was
their's....No, poor souls, the God who has shed all His Blood for you has no
such feelings for you! Come all of you to Me and fear not, for I Love you
all... I will wash you in My Blood and you shall be made whiter than snow. All
of your offences will be submerged in the waters in which I myself shall wash
you, nor shall anything whatsoever be able to tear from My Heart its Love for
you. Josefa, let your soul be seized today by an ardent desire to see all
souls, especially sinners, come and purify themselves in the waters of
repentance. Let them give themselves up to thoughts of confidence, not fear,
for I am a God of pity, ever ready to receive them into My Heart….”
Our
Lord, 25th February 1923
"Kiss
the ground and write, for we are going on with Love's Secrets. I will tell you
My reasons for washing the feet of My apostles before the last supper. In the first place I would teach souls how
pure they must be to receive Me in Holy Communion. I also wished to remind
those who would have the misfortune to sin that they can always recover their
innocense through the Sacrament of Penance. And I washed the feet of My
apostles with My own hands, so that those who have consecrated themselves to
apostolic work may follow My example, and treat sinners with humility and
gentleness, as also all others that are entrusted to their care. I girded Myself with a while linen cloth to
remind them that apostles need to be girded with abnegation and mortification,
if they hope to exert any real influence on souls. I wished also to teach them that mutual charity, which is ever
ready to excuse the faults of others, to conceal them and extenuate them,and
never to reveal them. Lastly, the water
poured on the feet of My apostles denotes the zeal burned in My Heart for the
salvation of the world. The hour
of
Redemption was at hand. My Heart could no longer restrain its love for mankind
nor bear the thought of leaving them orphans.
So to prove My tender love for them and till time has ceased to be, I
resolved to become their food, their support, their life their all. Could I but
make known to all souls the loving sentiments with which My Heart overflowed at
My Last Supper, when I instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.... My
glance ranged across the ages, and I saw the multitudes who
would
receive My Body and Blood, and all the good it would effect.. how many hearts I
saw that from its contact would bind forth virginity! and how many others that
It would awaken to deeds of charity and zeal! How many martyrs of love did I
see. How many souls who had been enfeebled by sin and violence of passion would
come back to their allegiance and
recover their spiritual energy by partaking of this Bread of the strong! Who can describe the overwhelming emotions
that filled My souls? Joy, love, tenderness...but alas, bitter sorrow also...
Later I shall continue, Josefa. Go now in My Peace.”
Our
Lord, December 29 1890-1923
Novena
Prayer through Sr. Josefa Menendez. O Jesus, full of Grace and Charity, Victim
for sinners, So impelled by Love for us that You willed to die on the Cross, I
humbly beseech You to glorify in heaven and on earth The Servant of God and
Victim Soul, Sr. Josefa Menendez, Who faithfully participated in Your Passion
And shared Your Sufferings, to prepare the way for The Devotion to the Divine
Mercy, For the salvation of souls, And for the Glory of Your Heavenly Father.
With confidence I beg You to grant me, Through her intercession, the Grace
of: One decade of the Rosary, or one
decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy & "Glory be to the Father...
(three times)"
”Contemplate Me in the
prison where I spent the greater part of the night. The soldiers came and,
adding words to injuries, insulted Me, mocked Me, outraged Me, and gave Me
blows on My face and on My whole Body. Tired of their sport, at length they
left Me bound and alone in the dark and noisome place, where, seated on a
stone, My aching Body was cramped with cold...In the prison I endured cold,
sleeplessness, hunger and thirst, pain, shame, solitude, and desertion. And
there passed before My mind’s eye all the tabernacles where in the course of
the ages I should lack the shelter of love... And how often should I wait for
this or that other soul to visit Me in the Blessed Sacrament and receive Me
into his heart...And in the prison when they pushed Me and let Me fall to the
ground bound and helpless, so many were present to My mind who would prefer a
moment’s satisfaction to Me…”
“As they filed before Me...some insulted Me, others
savagely struck Me on the head, and each and all added new agonies to those which
already racked My Body…”
“The hour has come! The executioners stretch Me
upon the Cross. They violently seize and extend My arms that My hands may reach
the holes they have prepared in the wood. Every shock causes My thorn-crowned
head to come into violent contact with the Cross...the thorns are driven deeper
and deeper into it….”
“See thy Jesus extended on the Cross, without honor
or liberty. He cannot stir hand or foot... Nothing remains to Him…”
“Look at My Heart: It cannot contain the ardor with
which It longs to impart Itself, and deliver Itself over, and remain always
with sinners. How I long for them to open their hearts to Me, to enclose Me in
them, and that the fire that consumes Mine should fortify and enkindle
theirs...”
“With enthusiasm, with vehemence It is sacrificed,
It is immolated, It is given for those It loves... The Holy Eucharist is love
to the extreme of folly…”
“The hour had come for the Son of God made man,
Redeemer of the human race, to shed His Blood and give His life for the
world... I withdrew into the Garden of Gethsemane, that is to say into
solitude... It was thus I offered Myself to carry out the redemption of the
world...At the same moment I felt all the torments of My Passion burst
overwhelmingly upon Me: ...the insults...the scourging and the Crown of Thorns,
the thirst...the Cross...thronged before My eyes and pressed upon My Heart,
while at one and the same time I saw all the offenses, sins and crimes that
were to be committed throughout the ages... I not only witnessed them all, but
was invested in them...And there burst upon Me the wrath of an angry God, and
in order to appease His Majesty I offered Myself as security for sinful
man...After having been comforted by an angel sent by My Father, suddenly I saw
Judas coming, one of the Twelve, and with him those who were come to take Me
prisoner... After he had given Me the traitor’s kiss, Judas left the garden,
and realizing the gravity of his crime, gave way to despair. Who can measure My
sorrow at the sight of My apostle casting himself into hell!…”
“Blow after blow is discharged by the executioners
on My Body, already covered with bruises and broken with fatigue... With whips
and knotted cords they strike Me with such violence that My very bones are
shaken and I am torn with innumerable wounds...bits of My divine flesh are rent
off by the scourges... Blood flows from every limb, and I am reduced to such a
state of pitiable disfigurement as no longer to resemble a human being...”
“What struck me most was the expression of His
tortured eyes...closed, swollen and filled with Blood, especially the right
eye. His hair damp with Blood fell over His face, eyes and mouth. He was
standing, but bent and bound... His Body was furrowed with wounds and dark
bruises, the veins of His arms all swollen and blackened. From His left
shoulder hung a fragment of torn flesh about to detach itself, and the same was
the case in several other parts of His Body. His garments lay at His feet,
crimsoned with His Blood….”
“Meditate for a moment on the martyrdom of My
supremely tender and loving Heart at finding Barabbas preferred to Me, and how,
at seeing Myself so scorned, I felt cut to the quick by the cries of the crowd
urging My death….”
“Wearily I dragged Myself forward... So great was
My exhaustion and so heavy the Cross that I fell on the way... See how roughly
the inhuman soldiery raised Me to My feet once more...one seized an arm,
another My garments which clung to My open wounds...a third grasped hold of Me
by the neck...and another by the hair. Some showered blows on Me with their
clenched fists and others brutally kicked My prostrate Body... The Cross which
fell upon Me crushed Me with its weight. My face bruised and torn, mingled the
blood which covered It with the dust of the highway, blinding My eyes and
adhering to My sacred face. I became the vilest and most contemptible of all
creatures!…”
“Watch Simon carrying (the Cross) behind Me and
consider two things; though he was a man of good will, yet he was mercenary,
and if he carried My Cross, it was for pay. So when he began to tire, he
allowed the weight to bear more and more on Me, and that is how I fell
twice...”
Our Lord, November 13th, 1923 (shortly before her
death)
"My words will be light and life for an incalcuable
number of souls, and I will grant them special graces of conversion and
illumination."
References
1.
Messages taken from "The Way of Divine Love", Sister Josefa Menendez,
Victory Mission, Milwaukee WI 53028, 1972, Nihil Obstat: P. Morris, Censor
Deputatus Imprimatur: E.M. Bernard, Vic. Gen.)