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| Oh, how much I am hurt by a
soul's distrust! Such a soul professes that I am Holy and Just, but
does not believe that I am Mercy and does not trust in My Goodness.
Even the devils glorify M Justice but do not believe in My Goodness.
(300) |
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| After the adoration, half way
to my cell, I was surrounded by a pack of huge black dogs who were
jumping and howling and trying to tear me to pieces. I realised that
they were not dogs but demons. Once of them spoke up in a rage,
"Because you have snatched so many souls so many souls away from
us this night, we will tear you to pieces." I answered, "if
that is the will of the most merciful God, tear me to pieces, for I
have justly deserved it, because I am the most miserable of sinners,
and God is ever holy, just, and infinitely merciful." To these
words all the demons answered as one, "Let us flee, for she is
not alone; the Almighty is with her!" And they vanished like
dust...while I continued on my way to my cell undisturbed. (320) |
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| I united my sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus
and offered them for myself and for the conversion of souls who do not
trust in the goodness of God. Suddenly, my cell was filled with black
figures full of anger and hatred for me. One of them said, "Be
damned, you and He who is within you, for you are beginning to torment
us even in hell." As soon as I said, "And the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us," the figures vanished in a sudden whir.
(323) |
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| When a soul praises My
goodness, Satan trembles before it and flees to the very bottom of
hell. (378) |
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| Satan can even clothe himself in
a cloak of humility, but he does not know how to wear the
cloak of obedience and thus his evil designs will be
disclosed. (939) |
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| On one occasion, I saw Satan hurrying about
and looking for someone among the sisters, but he could
find no one. I felt an interior inspiration to command
him in the Name of God to confess to me what he was
looking for among the sisters. And he confessed, though
unwillingly, "I am looking for idle souls".
When I commanded him again in the Name of God to tell me
to which souls in religious life he has the easiest
access, he said, again unwillingly, "To lazy and
idle souls." ...Let the toiling and tired souls
rejoice. (1127) |
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| Satan has admitted to me that I am the object
of his hatred. He said that "a thousand souls do me
less harm than you do when you speak of the great mercy
of the Almighty One. The greatest sinners regain
confidence and return to God , and I lose everything. But
what is more, you persecute me personally with that
unfathomable mercy of the Almighty One." I took note
of the great hatred Satan has for the mercy of God. He
does not want to acknowledge that God is good. (1167) |
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| As I write these words, I hear the cry of
Satan: "She's writing everything, she's writing
everything, and because of this we are losing so much! Do
not write about the goodness of God; He is just!"
And howling with fury, he vanished. (1338) |
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| I see a certain priest whom God loves greatly,
but whom Satan hates terribly because he is leading many
souls to a high degree of sanctity and has regard only
for God' glory. But I keep asking God that his patience
with those who constantly oppose him might not run out.
Where Satan himself can do no harm, he uses people. (1384) |
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| When I was going upstairs this evening, a
strange dislike for everything having to do with God
suddenly came over me. At that, I heard Satan who said to
me, "Think no more about this work. God is not as
merciful as you say He is. Do not pray for sinners,
because they will be damned all the same, and by this
work of mercy you expose your own self to damnation. ....the
voice took the appearance of my Guardian Angel, and at
that moment I replied, "I know who you are: the
father of lies." I made the sign of the cross, and
the angel vanished with great racket and fury. (1405) |
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| Taking the form of an apparition he said,
"Do not pray for sinners, but for yourself, for you
will be damned." Paying no attention to Satan, I
continued to pray with redoubled fervour. for sinners.
The Evil Spirit howled with fury, "Oh, if I had
power over you!" and disappeared. I saw that my
suffering and prayer shackled Satan and snatched many
souls from his clutches. (1465) |
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| When I went, in my thoughts, to the chapel,
my spirit was plunged into even greater darkness. Total
discouragement came over me. Then I heard Satan's voice;
"See how contradictory everything is that Jesus
gives to you: He tells you to found a convent, and then
He gives you sickness; He tells you to set about
establishing this Feast of Mercy while the whole world
does not at all want such a feast. Why do you pray for
this feast? It is so inopportune." My soul remained
silent and, by an act of will, continued to pray without
entering into conversation with the Spirit of Darkness.
Nevertheless, such an extraordinary disgust with life
came over me that I had to make a great act of the will
to consent to go on living....And again I heard the
tempter's words.... by an act of will, I began to pray,
or rather, submitted myself to God, asking Him interiorly
not to abandon me at this moment. It was already eleven o'clock
at night, and there was silence all around. The sisters
were all asleep in their cells, and my soul alone was
struggling with great exertion. The tempter went on:
"Why should you bother about other souls? You ought
to be praying only for yourself. As for sinners, they will be converted without your prayers. I see that you
are suffering very much at this moment. I'm going to give
you a piece of advice on which your happiness will depend:
never speak about God's mercy, because they deserve just
punishment..".....Finally the tempter went away and
I, exhausted, fell asleep immediately. (1498) |
| (The next morning) Satan
gained nothing by tempting you, because you did not enter
into conversation with him. Continue to act in this way.
You gave Me great glory by fighting so faithfully. Let it
be confirmed and engraved on your heart that I am always
with you, even if you don't feel My presence at the time
of battle. (1499) |
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| As I write this, I hear Satan
grinding his teeth. He cannot stand God's mercy, and
keeps banging things in my cell. But I feel so much of
God's power within me that it does not even bother me
that the enemy of our salvation gets angry, and I quietly
keep on writing. (1583) |
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| You should
not worry too much about adversities. The world is not as
powerful as it seems to be; its strength is strictly
limited.. Know, my daughter, that if your soul is filled
with the fire of My pure love, then all difficulties
dissipate like fog before the sun's rays and dare not
touch the soul. All adversaries are afraid to start a
quarrel with such a soul, because they sense that it is
stronger than the whole world...(1643) |
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| This work [of Divine Mercy] will snatch a
great number of souls from [Satan] and that is why the
spirit of darkness sometimes tempts good people violently,
so that they may hinder the work. But I have clearly seen
that the will of God is already being carried out, and
that it will be accomplished to the very last detail....No
matter if there are times when the work seems to be
completely destroyed; it is then that the work is being
all the more consolidated. (1659) |
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| A strong temptation....When I began to
prepare for confession, strong temptations against
confessors assaulted me. I did not see Satan but I could
sense him, his terrible anger. - "Yes, he's an
ordinary man." - "Not ordinary, because he has
the power of God." - (1715) |
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| Saint Faustina wrote a prayer/poem which included the
following, "One of the most beautiful
spirits would not recognise Your mercy, and, blinded by
his pride, he drew others after him. Angel of great
beauty, he became Satan and was cast down in one moment
from heaven's heights into hell. (1742) |
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| Does the following
relate to what souls suffering from scrupulosity
experience? Satan is seen to be the instrument of 'exaggerated
thoughts'. |
| On the following day, I had a clear awareness
of the following words: "You see, God is so holy,
and you are sinful. Do not approach Him and go to
confession everyday." And indeed whatever I thought
of seemed to me to be a sin. ...when the day for
confession came, I prepared a whole mass of those sins of
which I was to accuse myself. However, in the
confessional God allowed me to accuse myself of only two
imperfections, despite my efforts to make a confession
according to what I had prepared . When I left the
confessional, the Lord said to me, My daughter, all those sins you
intended to confess are not sins in My eyes; and that is
why I took away your ability to tell them.
I understood that Satan, wanting to disturb my peace, has
been giving me exaggerated thoughts. (1802) |
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