Luisa Piccarreta
Luisa Piccarreta (born 1865) was an Italian mystic. She was declared a Servant of God by the Catholic Church. Called the Little Daughter of the Divine Will, Luisa Piccarreta lived most of her life bedridden and received from the Lord a considerable amount of teachings, all reported in the Book of Heaven. Christ reveals the coming of the reign of the Divine Will in creation. This advent will renew the face of the Earth.
Biography of Luisa Piccarreta
Luisa Piccarreta, who would become “The Little Daughter of the Divine Will”, was born on 23 April 1865 in Corato (Bari), Italy. She was the daughter of Vito Nicolas Piccarreta and Rosa Tarantino. From an early age, Luisa prayed a lot, retreating to nature, away from the world. At the age of nine, she took her first communion and entered into great intimacy with the Lord. At the age of 11, Luisa became a member of a Dominican Marian and tertiary association. The girl had an intense life of prayer and received mystical graces. Luisa gave herself continually for the salvation of souls, and suffered for it. The Virgin Mary was always at her side to comfort and relieve her of the physical pains and attacks from demons.
At the age of 18, Luisa had a decisive vision. From the top of her balcony, she saw Jesus suffering and carrying his cross in the midst of a raging crowd. He said to her: “Soul, help me! ”, to which Luisa replied, “Fiat!”(so be it). Luisa’s suffering would gradually intensify to the point of becoming paralyzed. Luisa was gifted with mystical phenomena such as invisible stigmata and mystical marriage. The local archbishop delegated a personal confessor for Luisa. She would have six in succession and confide to them in depth. Throughout her life, Luisa devoted herself to unwavering obedience to the Church and her ministers. Her days always began with the celebration of the Eucharist (a privilege granted by the Pope). Bedridden for life, Luisa continually gave herself as atonement for the salvation of souls, reliving the passion of Jesus almost daily. She spent the next 65 years without eating or drinking, an extraordinary phenomenon called inedia (see also Marthe Robin). During these long years, Jesus passed on an extremely rich teaching concerning the Divine Will and its advent in creation to Luisa. Her writings were indexed by the Holy Office in 1938 (see also Padre Pio and Maria Valtorta).
Luisa died on March 4, 1947, a huge crowd gathered around her house, shouting: “Luisa the saint is dead!”. Her funeral was celebrated by the bishop of Corato in the presence of dozens of priests. The writings were widely disseminated beginning in 1994 with the permission of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In the same year, the process of beatification began. In 1997, the Tribunal of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints unanimously declared the life of heroic virtues lived by Luisa and the authenticity of her mystical experiences, she was proclaimed Servant of God.
Books by Luisa Piccarreta
The Book of Heaven
The Book of Heaven bears the full title: "The Kingdom of the Divine Fiat in the Midst Of Creatues" and the subtitle: “The Call to the Creatures to the Order, to the Place, and to the Purpose for Which they were Created by God” (in the words chosen by Jesus). This autobiographical journal by Luisa Piccarreta is made up of 36 volumes, grouped in about ten books. In 1899, Luisa's confessor asked her to write down her relationship with Jesus, starting from her youth. Luisa accepted this request out of obedience, although it cost her enormously. She wrote her diary from 1899 to 1938, when her last confessor ordered her to stop writing. The result is a monumental work of unparalleled theological richness, the Book of Heaven presents the gift of the Divine Will to humanity.
The 24 Hours of the Passion
This work was published by Father Hannibal di Francia (now a saint), one of the confessors of Luisa Piccarreta. In this book, Luisa offers a living description of each of the hours of the Passion of Christ as well as special meditations, prayers and reparations. The 24 hours begin at 5 p.m. on Holy Thursday, when Jesus separates from his Blessed Mother, and end at 5 p.m. on Good Friday, when the Virgin deposits her dead Son in the tomb. Through these very rich meditations, done in a spirit of reparation, the reader is renewed in their relationship to Jesus and to the world.
Luisa Piccarreta and the Divine Will
The Divine Will is Jesus' great revelation to Luisa Piccarreta. She is the soul chosen by the Holy Trinity to receive this great gift, new, given to all humanity. Luisa was very simple, uneducated, barely able to read and write, and it was because of her smallness and great love that she was chosen for this unique mission. Thanks to the teachings of Jesus, she would become the first after the Virgin Mary to live in the Divine Will. However, the grace contained in the Book of Heaven is not reserved for Luisa. It is destined for all men so that the kingdom of God on Earth may be realized and so that men may finally return, after so many centuries, to the plan for which God created them.
Praying with Luisa Piccarreta
How can we pray in the Divine Will?
Through her writings, Luisa teaches a new way of praying. In the Divine Will, everything is done through the heart. Prayer no longer revolves around man and his needs but is centered around God. All the usual prayers can be said in the Divine Will (the rosary, for example) but their purpose becomes the glorification of God and the salvation of men. For this reason, the offering of the Passion of Christ has a central place in the Divine Will. All are invited to offer the sufferings of Christ to the Father to repair the sins of man and obtain the salvation of souls.
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Prayer of Infusion in the Divine Will
I'm nothing! God is All! Father, I love you!
O Divine Will, come and think by my mind,
O Divine Will, come circulate in my blood,
O Divine Will, come and look with my eyes,
O Divine Will, come and listen with my ears,
O Divine Will, come and speak by my voice,
O Divine Will, come and breathe with my breath,
O Divine Will, come beat in my heart,
O Divine Will, come move through my movements,
O Divine Will, come and suffer through my sufferings, in such a way that my soul consumed and fused in You, is a living crucifix for the glory of the Father.
O Divine Will, come and pray in me and receive this prayer as mine. Add to it the prayers of everyone, to give the Father the Glory that all creatures owe Him.
O Divine Will, come and infuse me with the faith of Mary Most Holy so that I may believe in You as she did,
O Divine Will, come and infuse in me the hope of Mary Most Holy so that I may hope in You as she did,
O Divine Will, come and infuse me with the charity of Mary Most Holy so that I may love you like her,
O Divine Will, come pray and worship in me as Jesus in his Divine humanity.
Come, O Divine Will, You who know how to multiply our actions to infinity, to offer in me the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross, as if everyone had attended.
Come and distribute to all the fruits of this Divine Sacrifice, so as to grant salvation to all. Amen!”
