Visions and Dictations of Maria Valtorta

See also: The Work Given to Maria Valtorta.

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Maria Valtorta records her visions and dictations in school notebooks provided by her confessor as she receives them. There are 122 notebooks in total, representing 13,193 handwritten pages. Image: digitized page of a notebook. Source: documentary fonds of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

The visions and revelations form the basis of the Bible, which is qualified as "Public Revelation" to indicate its immutable and eternal character. These manifestations are also found following Christ. Thus, St Paul testifies to his vision of Christ on the road to Damascus and the revelations he received. The Apostle John bases his Apocalypse (whose name means revelation) on the visions he received about future times.

If the Word of God is entirely contained in "the Bible", it is not confined there: it unfolds through Tradition interpreted by the Magisterium. The writings of Maria Valtorta, and thus her visions and revelations, fall within the scope of private revelations which constitute "an authentic Call to the Church", as explained by the theologian Karl Rahner, and on which the Magisterium exercises Discernment. Indeed, private revelations contain the word "revelation" which refers to their Source that must be examined.

Characteristics of Maria Valtorta's visions and revelations

They are born "in The Spirit"

One cannot truly understand the mystical process of Maria Valtorta without referring to The Spirit present in the Soul, with reference to the three components of Man already stated by Saint Paul. Maria Valtorta indeed writes: "In the body is the soul, and in the soul, the spirit." Later, on the occasion of the Assumption, Jesus explains to her:

"There is a difference between the separation of the soul from the body, through real death, and the temporary separation of the spirit from the body and from the vivifying soul, through ecstasy or contemplative rapture. While the separation of the soul from the body brings about death, the ecstatic contemplation, that is, the temporary flight of the spirit outside the barriers of senses and matter, does not bring about death. And that because the soul does not become completely detached and separated from the body, but it does so only through its better part, that plunges into the fire of contemplation."

This "better" part is the spirit that Maria Valtorta calls "the soul of the soul."

It is in the spirit that Maria Valtorta receives her visions:

"I understand this because, as I have already explained to you so many times, when God takes me so that I will be his spokesman, my intelligence is amplified and raised to a power far superior to that permitted to human beings. And I "see," "hear," and "understand" according to the spirit."

Maria Valtorta speaks here of intelligence, but amplified in the spirit (lowercase). Likewise, she sees, she hears, in other words her senses are multiplied in this zone of contact with God. Reality abstracts from matter to share the knowledge that God grants her. It is not a view of The Spirit, but a real inner experience. She specifies this to Father Migliorini, her confessor: she hears "in" her spirit and not "at" her spirit:

"You asked me today how I had been able to know the names of Hillel and Gamaliel and that of Shammai.It is the voice which I call the "second voice" that tells me these things. A voice even less perceptible than that of my Jesus and of the others who dictate. These are voices‑I told you before, and I repeat‑which my spiritual hearing perceives as just like human voices. I hear them as sweet or irate, loud or soft, laughing or melancholy. As if someone were speaking right next to me. Whereas this "second voice" is like a light, an intuition speaking in my spirit. "In," not "to," my spirit. It is an indication. [...] It is what leads me to comprehend certain details which I would not grasp on my own and which need to be comprehended. I don't know if I have made myself understood clearly."

The mystic's capacities are increased during her rapture

Jesus recalls that rapture (or Ecstasy) multiplies the capacities of the mystic who does not lose her personality. These characteristics apply to Maria Valtorta whose human deficiencies He compensates.

"The wise in my Church have stated and established, in regard to those leading an extraordinary life, that while they are in ecstasy‑whether incomplete, to enable them to dictate or write down the revelations they receive, or complete‑their intelligence increases in its capacity to understand, comprehend, and express, whereas later, when they emerge from ecstasy, they re turn to their own intelligence.

That is what happens in little John, 'an eagle while I pervade him, a dove when I no longer pervade him with my splendors.'

It has also been stated and established that, though the revelation given by God to a soul chosen for a supernatural, extraordinary mission is always perfect, it may be interpreted and related by the creature with accidental errors because divine or heavenly perfection is mixed and confused with the insufficiency of the creature and may emerge altered in certain details. It is for this reason that I keep watch, and little John's Guardian Angel keeps watch, to re‑establish the ideas just as they were dictated when because of external causes they have been interrupted and involuntarily reconstructed poorly by the spokesman.

It is also said and established that, although the revelation made by God to a Soul chosen for a supernatural and extraordinary Mission is always perfect, it may nevertheless be interpreted and reported with secondary errors by the creature, and this is because divine or heavenly perfection mixes and is confused with the insufficiency of the creature, so that some details may be altered. It is for this reason that I watch over it, just like the guardian angel of little John, to restore the thought as it was dictated and when it was interrupted by external causes and then involuntarily badly restored by the spokesperson.

But I repeat: just as it has been given, the Work contains the exact, complete truth of my teaching."

Several doctors of the Church have pronounced on the increased capacities during Ecstasy; Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), in the Summa Theologica affirms that, during the ecstatic state, cognitive capacities can be elevated by a divine light, although human intelligence remains distinct from direct divine knowledge. Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), in The Interior Castle, explains how, during moments of Ecstasy, the Soul is in deep union with God, receiving revelations and special Graces. She also notes that, although Ecstasy may suspend bodily senses, intellect and will remain active, allowing the Soul to comprehend and express the spiritual experiences lived. Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), in The Ascent of Carmel, emphasizes that, during Ecstasy, the Soul is raised beyond its natural capacities, receiving a divine illumination that allows it to understand deep spiritual truths. After Ecstasy, although the Soul returns to its ordinary state, it retains a lively memory of the revelations received, enabling it to express and share them. Saint Augustine (354-430), in his Confessions, describes how, in moments of deep contemplation, the intellect is illuminated, allowing a deeper understanding of divine truths. Although these experiences are transitory, they leave a lasting impression on the Soul, facilitating subsequent expression of the revelations received.

It is an initiative of God

This immersion in The Spirit is not linked to a particular practice, prayer for instance, and even less to transcendental practices: it is an initiative of God who intervenes in a fundamental and constant attitude of availability:

"It often happens that inspirations, counsels, and voices sound in my heart precisely when I am occupied in things far removed from the reign of the spirit. It is unlikely that I will hear then when praying, whereas when I write, read, work, eat, play with my animals, or speak with someone, a word flashes in my soul.... Perhaps it is due to the fact that, whatever I do, my deepest self is always fixed in one place, and nothing can separate it from its life, which is God. I don’t know. I think it’s that way."

The rapture is adapted to human capacities

In one of her earliest comments, Azariah, Maria Valtorta’s guardian angel, confirms that the visions appeal to human senses which God "increases" in a proportion compatible with humanity. These visions are relative but not absolute:

"What you see and know strikes you as quite beautiful‑so beautiful that you are left amazed. I could obtain for you an even vaster visual and auditory comprehension and range to increase your joy amidst the tribulations of your immolation. But it would always be a relative knowledge. In human things as well, you know that one cannot force a boiler, a gear, heat, and so on beyond a certain limit; otherwise the experiment will turn into destruction. In extraordinary things, too, one cannot obtain the maximum, everything, for man could not withstand a single moment of complete knowledge and perfect vision off heaven with its divine Mysteries."

Great saints like Padre Pio or Thérèse of Lisieux, plunged into the incandescence of Love, express it in similar terms: if the Ecstasy they lived had continued, they would have died. This rapture known by Maria Valtorta and which, pushed to the limits, leads Padre Pio and Thérèse of Lisieux to the threshold of death, is the one that caused the dormition of the Virgin Mary. She "died" from intense love, as she explains.

"And if the fire is contained within the limits fixed by God to preserve creatures on the Earth, at His service, it is possible to live and burn, finding in the ardour not the consumption, but the completion of life. But when God removes the limits and gives freedom to the divine Fire to assail and attract the spirit to Itself without any measure, then the spirit, replying in turn without measure to the Love, detaches itself from matter and flies where the Love urges and invites it. And it is the end of the exile and the return to the Fatherland."

Characterization of the work

Visions and dictations have distinct forms

On January 5, 1944, the historical visions of the life of Jesus and Mary begin. They start precisely with the vision of the Assumption. This is the first contact of Maria Valtorta with this type of rapture. Ten months later, she notes:

"This morning I feel the active joy which in me is always a prelude to his Word. I shall explain as best I can. I feel a passive joy when, as happened yesterday and the day before, I rejoice in the Presence, but It does not call me to serve It. I feel an active joy when that indescribable "something" I experience says to me, "Servant of your Jesus, He calls you. Serve Him." [...] And from it I go to the real work of writing by dictation or describing what presents itself to me. If it is writing by dictation and the dictation is based on a point in the Bible, then Jesus first has me open to the point He wants to explain. If, on the other hand, it is a dictation without special references, He then does not have me take up even the Bible or any other holy book. If it is a vision, it presents itself, as I said, with an initial figure which is generally the culminating point in the vision and then develops in an orderly way. When the vision has an orderly unfolding, I start at the beginning. When it presents itself from the culminating point on, I describe that point and then, when the preceding one is shown, I write that one and the sequence"

Dictations are clearly introduced by the phrase "Jesus says" and visions by "I see, or I see again": they cannot be confused. Note also the biblical reference that guides the dictations. This proximity with Scripture is a strong line of Maria Valtorta's visions and revelations.

Faithfulness of Maria Valtorta's narration to the vision she receives

Private revelations are not considered a historical source, which is admissible, except in one case: where the private revelation presents all the characteristics of authenticity. It then becomes the exact witness of a vanished reality like the light still visible from an extinct star or the archaeological traces resurfaced. Among the many examples that support the trustworthiness of Maria Valtorta's knowledge not attributable to human knowledge, note Olivier Bonnassies' statement: The probability that the exact calendrical clues provided by Maria Valtorta which allow dating Jesus' life are due to chance is equivalent to the total atoms in the universe, about 10 to the power 80 (10 followed by 80 zeros). Likewise, that she could cover by her narratives the 373 narrative units of the Gospel is unique in the "lives of Jesus", but this in itself is not extraordinary since she knew it "by Heart". But what is unique and extraordinary at once is that her narratives make reference (implicit or explicit) to 1166 chapters of the Bible out of 1334 that make it up (in its Catholic version). She had received her first Bible only in 1942 and had not fully read it at the time of the visions.

Synchronism

The time lag between vision and writing caused severe damage in the historical narration of Mary of Agreda, spiritual narration being preserved. Maria Valtorta describes the synchronism between these two moments. This is all the more important since she does not revise the account once done.

"At last I can write what has kept my mental sight and hearing busy as from early dawn this morning, making me suffer from the strain in hearing the noise of worldly matters from outside and in the house, while I must see and hear the things of God, and making me impatient of everything different from what my spirit sees. How much patience is required… not to lose my patience while waiting for the moment to say to Jesus: «Here I am! Now You can go on!» Because – I have said so many times and I will repeat it – when I cannot continue or begin to write what I see, the scene stops at the very beginning or when I am interrupted, and is resumed again when I am free to follow it. I think that God wants that so that I may not omit any detail or make even a slight error, what might happen if I had to write some time after seeing."

Detail precisions

Jesus insists on the meticulousness that Maria must apply when reporting details. It is indeed what forms the astonishment of Msgr. René Laurentin: "Maria Valtorta's account seems to confirm that she really had a vision of the life of Christ two thousand years ago. These convergences between her accounts – apparently quite free – and historical, geographical, sociological, zoological, botanical, chronological reality raise the question: How does Maria Valtorta, without culture, degrees, erudition, retrieve the most hidden data of two millennia ago? It does not seem explainable by chance".

"Jesus said: (...)

'However, Maria, I choose you for the role of making known my Divinity, in its different manifestations, among those who need to be awakened and led to glimpse God: remember to be scrupulous to the utmost in repeating what you see. Even a single trifle has value, and it is not yours, but mine. It is thus not licit for you to hold it back. It would be dishonest and selfish. Remember that you are the reservoir for the divine water118 into which that water is poured so that all may come to draw therefrom.

As regards the dictations, you have arrived at the most faithful fidelity. In the contemplations you observe a great deal, but in the haste of writing, and on account of your special conditions in health and surroundings, it happens that you omit some details. You must not do so. Place them at the foot of the page, but write down all of them. This is not a reproach‑it is sweet advice from your Master.'

(...)

The more attentive and precise you are, the more numerous those who come to Me will be, and the greater your present spiritual happiness and your future eternal happiness will be."

Reproach to those who want to confuse errors with typos

Jesus repeats this directive on care regarding details to Mary’s servites for transcription of dictations to avoid any error. He points out the deviations of some in the exercise of Discernment:

Jesus said: (...) I cannot allow this work to be turned into a jest, or almost a jest, or remain a manuscript, not typewritten and corrected. We are dealing with an obtuse, evil world, even if it is an ecclesiastical world, a world which is not interested in reviewing in order to approve, perceiving Me in the work, but which with its full attention would vivisect the work to find a word which, because of either the spokesman's uncertain handwriting or a mistake in copying, might appear to be a theological or even merely historical error. This is the truth. And I make provision so that hostility will be left disappointed."

There are "uncertain writings" of Maria Valtorta in some specialized words which she transcribes phonetically, for instance Bel Nidrasc or Shem Hamphoras, or in objects she does not know such as the tool she calls screwdriver. "The copyist's error" appears in translator initiatives such as Jockey. Other "errors" are based on ignorance of the historical context, like the Kiss on the mouth.

The work clearly exceeds Maria Valtorta's capacities

Jesus draws attention to the gap between the conditions under which Maria writes and the result obtained. He notes some details observable on the original notebooks (see the example illustrated in this article):

"I say that the valid proof that it is not you that are writing by your own reflection and knowledge is offered precisely by the sentences introduced between lines and the visible corrections observed in the dictations. They are caused by the physical and sometimes also mental weakness of the sick spokesman, op pressed by seven chronic diseases which sometimes flare up again, entirely or in part, bringing about mortal suffering and weakness in the writer; by the external disturbances in the environment for the spokesman, writing in environmental conditions which are neither peaceful nor comfortable; and, above all, they are caused by the difference between the impetus of the voices, which sometimes dictate quickly, and the ability of a weakened hand to keep up with the rapid words of the dictating 'voices.' "What happens in these cases? Some phrases are left interrupted, and some sentences, omitted. The spokesman tries to re member them, while. attending to Me or other 'voices,' to make additions when the vision is over. But when he does so, he cannot manage to with precision and forgets the words spoken or writes them imperfectly, as they were not said."

This distinction between Maria Valtorta’s own words and those of Heaven has been highlighted by Italian scholars. Jesus, in continuation of the dictation, then details how Heaven compensates for these lacks and His mode of intervention:

"It is then ‑ and I order you to believe these words; I order you in my full Majesty as God and Divine Master, who can order his subjects just as He ordered his patriarchs and prophets regarding what was not to be done and what was to be believed and carried out in order to be his Chosen People on earth and his children forever in the Eternal Kingdom‑it is then that the Master intervenes and provides assistance: I, Jesus, or the Guardian Angel of the spokesman, the venerable assistant of the heavenly manifestations and an angelic intelligence not subject to human weariness and weakness like those of the spokesman‑who remains a human creature, though he is the beloved Little John, whom I love in an extraordinary way‑and we come to the aid of the instrument of God, completing the phrases which have been left interrupted, filling the gaps appearing in the sentences, or dictating once more, from the beginning to the end, those passages in which the good, but ignorant will of the spokesman has done harm, thus reconstructing the lessons as they were imparted and heard. Therefore ‑ and I order you to believe this‑the Work exactly contains my thought, my actions, and my manifestations, and the words and actions of my Mother, the Twelve, and those surrounding Me and all of us.".

Maria Valtorta's humanity serves the authenticity of the visions

After affirming that Maria Valtorta's work reports "the exact and complete truth" of His teaching, Jesus answers certain objections going against it. He explains how the humanity of Maria Valtorta, which sometimes appears in her narratives, serves the authenticity He affirms.

"Someone will object, 'The Lord could grant strength, speed, memory, and intellectual capacity to the writer, and calm around him to prevent the amendments which are bothersome to us.'

I could grant everything, including clear, secure writing. But I have not wanted to grant them, to keep you from saying, 'There's no unsteady handwriting, no sign of weariness or slowness in writing, and, consequently, the alleged infirmities of the spokesman are a simulation.' There are already some who say so.... I have not want ed to grant them, to keep you from saying, 'There is no added sentence; consequently, the spokesman is not a spokesman, but a human author who knows what he wants to write, either because he learned it elsewhere or through his own capacity. 'There are al ready some who say so...

And to this last matter I respond, 'It is not that way. But if it were, it would demonstrate that if, through his own capacity, unlearned as he is, little John speaks divine words, it is then evident that the Author of Wisdom, the Holy Spirit, lives in him with the fullness of his gifts. The Work thus remains the word of God.

I could do everything‑even destroy the Work and dictate it again afterwards. It would be an exact repetition (in the points dictated by supernatural voices) of the destroyed work. The differences would be observed only in the words used by the spokesman to describe places and episodes. It would be an exact repetition of the destroyed work, just as occurred with the prophecies of Jeremiah burned by Jehoiakim, king of Judah. But then you would cry out more loudly, 'Do you see that the spokesman is not inspired and does not receive heavenly voices, but writes on his own?' And you would seek to demolish a peace and a Work. The spokesman's peace. The Work of your Lord God."

Maria Valtorta benefits from an "incomplete" Ecstasy in the sense that her state renders the visions accessible to her but instead of being "annihilated" in this Ecstasy, she keeps the faculty to transcribe them while they unfold.

A private revelation is first of all a revelation

It has been exposed elsewhere how the blunt phrase on private revelations retained as the only conclusion of the Synod on the Word of God and drowned in a proposition largely devoted to "The Bible and the phenomenon of sects," was unfortunate and shocking. Sister Faustina Kowalska and her Diary seemed to join Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon in the same undifferentiated opprobrium. But the Magisterium, both under Benedict XVI and Francis, has published several texts and interventions recalling the usefulness of these revelations in the announcement of the Gospel. Jesus, in Maria Valtorta, warns against disdain or opposition which were already manifesting when Maria Valtorta's writings were made. Neither is the mark of the Discernment requested by the Magisterium.

"Oh, I truly feel indignation at certain thoughts, actions, and judgments concerning my will and my little John! I truly tell you that science has placed scales over your eyes and lethargy in your intellects, on account of which you do not recognize Me where I shine forth as the Master and God.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, whose friendship you need so much, by denying his action‑every revelation and inspired work has the Paraclete as its Author‑and by waging war on and opposing one of his tabernacles. The learned of Israel waged war and persecuted the Holy Spirit, visible in the words and actions of the Word, but good did not come to them therefrom.

I said, 'Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven for those who repent, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not b forgiven. What is said against the Son of Man will be forgiven but what is said or done against the Holy Spirit will not be for given.' Words continuing to contain the first commandments, b fulfilling which eternal life is received: 'Love the Lord your Go with your whole self. Love your neighbor.'

Love: salvation. Nonlove: an offense against Divine Love-that is, against the Holy Spirit in Himself or present in the living temples, your neighbors. To contest his words or fail to appreciate them is to commit an offense against Love. To persecute one of his instruments is to offend Love, who wisely knows why He has chosen that instrument."

The new procedural norms for Discernment of presumed supernatural phenomena, wisely subtitled: "Listening to The Spirit at work in the faithful people of God" do not seek so much to determine whether a private revelation is supernatural or not, but to know, through Discernment, if it is of prudent faith.

"Most sanctuaries, which today are privileged places of popular piety of the People of God, have never known, in the course of the devotion expressed there, a declaration of the supernatural character of the facts which gave rise to this devotion. The sensus fidelium has felt that there was an action of the Holy Spirit, and no major critical points have appeared requiring the intervention of the Shepherds.

In many cases, the Presence of the Bishop and priests at certain moments, such as Pilgrimages or the celebration of certain Masses, has been an implicit way to recognize that there were no serious objections and that this spiritual experience exercised a positive influence on the life of the faithful.

In any case, a Nihil obstat allows Shepherds to act without doubt or hesitation to be beside the People of God in the home of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which may arise amid these events. The expression “in the midst of”, used in the new Norms, allows understanding that, even if no declaration of supernaturalness on the event itself is made, one clearly recognizes the signs of a supernatural action of the Holy Spirit in the context of what is happening. (presentation, Recognition of an action of the Spirit).' '

And, in these same norms, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith defines this minimum of a "supernatural action of the Holy Spirit".

17. Nihil obstat — Even if no certainty is expressed regarding the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon, many signs of an action of the Holy Spirit "in the midst of" a given spiritual experience are recognized, and no particularly critical or risky aspect has been detected, at least so far. That is why the diocesan Bishop is encouraged to appreciate the pastoral value and to promote the dissemination of this spiritual proposal, including through possible Pilgrimages to a sacred place.

Characterization of "the instrument": Maria Valtorta

The visions and revelations must also be described by the way Maria Valtorta receives them and positions herself in relation to them. Indeed, these are important criteria of Discernment regarding their authenticity.

Maria Valtorta is first in "fear" of the privilege falling to her

One month after having benefited from the first dictations from Heaven (the visions came later), Maria Valtorta explains to her confessor, Father Romualdo Migliorini, the source of her inspiration. She is very aware of what happens to her:

"Not long ago you again told me to write. The physical effort is nothing compared to the moral effort I must make to lift the veils beyond which the supernatural lies. Why? For a number of reasons.        

The first is that I almost seem to be committing a profanation on making known God's secrets in me. And I always fear that this though not a profanation, of course-proclamation may produce a punishment for me: that of being deprived of the divine caresses and the divine words. We living beings are always a bit selfish. And we do not consider that what God grants us can give joy to others and that, as something belonging to God, the Father of all, it is not licit for us to be greedy and deprive our brothers and sisters of it.

The second reason is that a residue of human distrust of myself and others always makes me wonder whether what I perceive to be "supernatural" should not instead be regarded by me as illusion and by others as nonsense. I have heard myself called a lunatic so often that I think that-the next one may also place me in this category.          

The third reason is that I am afraid of these favors. Afraid because I am always dreading that they may be a trick… Can it be that I, a mere nothing, deserve these favors from my King? And afraid that they will arouse pride in me. I feel that if I were to get proud about them, even for a second, they would cease at once-and not just this, but I would be left without even that minimum of supernatural experience which is common to many people. As a punishment for my pride. Oh, I am quite sure that Jesus would punish me in that way!"

This first reaction is also found in the Venerable Mary of Agreda who confesses in her introduction that she hesitated ten years before yielding to the revelations made to her: "the Most High told me He held hidden several mysteries that He had worked for this divine Queen, and several manifestations He made to her as salt(?) when she was still journeying among mortals; and He wanted to reveal them to me, so that I might write them as she would teach me. Yet I resisted for ten years against this divine will, until I began for the first time to write this divine history".

Narrator of the visions, she is not their initiator

In this same initial text, Maria Valtorta exposes her Discernment on the origin of the revelations made to her and affirms: "There must be nothing of me."

"And now that I have told you the reasons why I am not fond of speaking, I will tell you the reasons why I feel I am not a dreamer taking the phantoms of delirium to be supernatural truths and demonic words to be divine words.

I am sure because of the gentleness and the peace invading me after those words and those caresses, and because of the power assailing me, forcing me to listen to them and write them down, without being able to change a single word [...] and always at times far removed from any desire on my part to hear those things. [...] And one cannot waver with this gentle overbearance…

But there is nothing belonging to me. Only when He [Jesus] wants to, He lets Himself be heard; and then, even if I am occupied with something else, anything else which may be urgent for me to do, I must stop and devote myself to Him alone. As when, in keeping with my style, I prefer one way of phrasing and seek to change it-I cannot. It is stated that way and must remain that way."

And as Father Romualdo Migliorini urges her to write down her past revelations, she decides:

"I could not repeat those words exactly now and will thus not repeat them. There should be nothing there originating in me."

"The slavery of God's instruments"

Although the joy of sharing 'the king's secrets' is immense, it is accompanied by strict mystical discipline which Jesus wishes to explain to those interested, sometimes clumsily, in Maria Valtorta and her work. As for her, Maria seldom complains:

"If you only knew, O men, all of you, what slavery it is to be instruments of God! Holy, but complete slavery! The slavery of a galley slave at the oar. Sleeplessness, hunger, sufferings, weariness, the desire to think of something else, to read things which are not the words of ultramundane sources, to say and hear ordinary words, the desire to be, at least for one day, ordinary creatures and lead an ordinary life‑these are all things which the inexorable lash of God's will keeps them from having and turning into reality. And upon all of this the resentment of men pours its salt and its acid, as if the master of the galley were to make salt and vinegar fall upon the wounds caused by the whiplashes."

This excerpt also deserves to be added to the file of Maria Valtorta's holiness. In this same dictation from Sunday, September 24, 1944, Jesus gives his instructions for the dissemination of the work he called "explosive":

But you‑do not be in a hurry. And be patient and careful, and prudent and gentle. I say so again. If I allow you that are closest to draw abundantly for your ministry and for the elevation of the multitudes terrified by life today, you must never forget, however, that here it is not just your interests, but those of God, that He wishes to have shine forth with his power and wisdom in a creature of his."

This is consistent with his exhortation at the beginning of the dictation to the effect that violence must not interfere between "God, who wants, and man, who does not want, the work."

In "The Gospel as Revealed to Me"

• Difference between seen visions and lived visions.
• Maria Valtorta is informed on details by a "second voice" that speaks to her "in" her spirit
• Jesus explains to Maria Valtorta why he does not give the visions in chronological order.
• How Maria Valtorta proceeds: her different works on behalf of Jesus (dictations, visions, ...)
• Jesus corrects errors made by Maria Valtorta in transcriptions.
• Instructions to Maria Valtorta on the necessity to report the slightest detail of her visions.

• I can assure you in all conscience that what I write, because I see or hear it, I do write it while seeing or hearing.

In other works by Maria Valtorta

Notebooks 1943

• Catechesis of August 27 : The dictations do not contradict each other. One must read them with faith and simplicity of heart.
• Catechesis of October 26 : One of the things those who judge your case with too little faith and too much of that humanity which rationalism makes hostile and incredulous towards the admirable and free works of God should examine is the difference in tone of my communications. That should be a proving point. But, since nothing contradicts more than disbelief, and nothing alters the divine reality more than the spirit of the world, this will be an obstacle on which those who cannot set sail for the high sea of faith in God will stumble and who prefer to stay close to solid ground, in the shallows of their rational science and spiritual aridity. They will say that, while one of the tones I use is solemn and hieratic, tinged with antique nuances, the other is more familiar, more human and more modern. What seems to convict you in their eyes is in fact undeniable proof of your sincerity.

Notebooks 1944

• January 25: The more attentive and precise you are, the more numerous those who come to Me will be (...)
• November 25: You are a nonentity. But into your 'nothingness' I entered and said, 'See, speak, and write.' The nonentity has become my instrument. And what is mine is always consecrated and should be treated as something consecrated.

Notebooks 1945-1950

• December 19, 1945 : You must know that I adapt manifestations to the environment and purpose for which I have inspired them. You received the mission to become a worldwide voice. You must sing the hymn of Mercy and Love, Wisdom and Perfection, for all ears and all hearts, all intelligences and all souls. Therefore, after having prepared you for this capacity‑and do not grow proud, for everything you have has been given you by Me for this mission, including illness and being alone, everything‑I made you a complete 'voice,' a giant‑you that are a pygmy. But it's not you‑it's Me in you. I am the giant, then, my little Christopher who bear Christ but are borne by Him.
• Catechesis of January 21, 1946 : - Jesus resumes instructions for disseminating the work and reproaches failings. He cannot allow the work to be turned into a jest. - Jesus did not follow the chronological order of the Gospel to communicate the visions. - Maria Valtorta can do nothing from herself. - Lesson to Father Migliorini on his actions. - But in the supernatural, the extranatural, there are two currents, two rivers: the one coming from God and the one coming from the Enemy of God. - False mystics indulge in pride of being "someone". - God withdraws from the trinkets of holiness. - Romualdo, be careful with the multicolored glistening which dissolves into mist!
• Catechesis of June 2, 1946 : - Jesus entrusts the work to the order of the Servites of Mary - What Jesus wants for the work. Distribute this bread: How? - The work on the work is not yet finished. Publish with approval of the Church.
• Catechesis of January 28, 1947 : - Seeing God is possible for all simple just persons - Reproaches to the Servites of Mary in charge of the work - The work has been scrupulously scrutinized.
• Catechesis of February 18, 1947 : - I am that work (The Gospel as Revealed to Me). It is not only I who dictate and elucidate it, but it is I who live it out, I who present Myself to you as I was in my mortal days - The eternal, most wise Word, who is carrying out a new work of love and salvation because He has mercy on the excessively large number who are dying of spiritual starvation, who are being lost because they do not know Me (...)
• Catechesis of December 6, 1947 : What happens in these cases? Some phrases are left interrupted, and some sentences, omitted. The spokesman tries to re member them, while. attending to Me or other 'voices,' to make additions when the vision is over. But when he does so, he cannot manage to with precision and forgets the words spoken or writes them imperfectly, as they were not said. […] it is then that the Master intervenes and provides assistance: I, Jesus, or the Guardian Angel of the spokesman, the venerable assistant of the heavenly manifestations and an angelic intelligence not subject to human weariness and weakness like those of the spokesman‑who remains a human creature, though he is the beloved Little John, whom I love in an extraordinary way‑and we come to the aid of the instrument of God, completing the phrases which have been left interrupted, filling the gaps appearing in the sentences, or dictating once more, from the beginning to the end, those passages in which the good, but ignorant will of the spokesman has done harm, thus reconstructing the lessons as they were imparted and heard. Therefore ‑and I order you to believe this‑the Work exactly contains my thought, my actions, and my manifestations, and the words and actions of my Mother, the Twelve, and those surrounding Me and all of us. Calmly take the Work, just as I have had it given to you. It is just. And it is supernatural. […] Neither does the devil attempt to ruin the words of the Work with the spittle of his venom, for he knows that it would be wasted effort, since I watch over and protect my Word and my instrument. In addition, I imposed limits on the Destroyer that the Accursed One cannot go beyond. […] It has also been stated and established that, though the revelation given by God to a soul chosen for a supernatural, extraordinary mission is always perfect, it may be interpreted and related by the creature with accidental errors because divine or heavenly perfection is mixed and confused with the insufficiency of the creature and may emerge altered in certain details. It is for this reason that I keep watch, and little John's Guardian Angel keeps watch, to re‑establish the ideas just as they were dictated when because of external causes they have been interrupted and involuntarily reconstructed poorly by the spokesman. But I repeat: just as it has been given, the Work contains the exact, complete truth of my teaching.
• January 6, 1948: But these are not pages for them. Indeed, I order you to remove them from here and make them into a separate notebook to be given in the manner and to the persons I indicated to you. They have received what was needed to obtain the approval of Jesus' Work. The rest is a treasure which one must merit in order to possess it. And there is someone who has deserved it because of having done our Will in regard to you with perfect charity and with no pretension about his work in relation to you. And there is also another reason involving Divine Providence which originates this order.
• March 1949 : The work whose Author I am, and you are the one who formed its body with so much suffering […] In modern, scientific terms, they (the skillful detractors) want to call you 'psychopathic. […] Don't they know that one generally judges according to what one is? The psychopathic ‑ I would say 'lunatic', following the ancient name‑is wonderful terrain for Satan's invasions. It is al most always in relation to the diabolical and loves the diabolical and has the certain signs of the diabolical: the habits of lying, pride, disobedience, and sensuality. Do you have these elements in yourself?
• Catechesis of August 16, 1949 : - Jesus makes severe reproaches to the deniers of the work - They have received all the proofs needed - Do not sin against the Holy Spirit - Do not do as they do - Even now they neither call Me nor recognize Me.

Book of Azariah

• Book of Azariah, 3rd Sunday of Advent : If you, then, in your heart hear these words sounding, it is a sign that you are listening to the divine conversation of the Most Holy Trinity. If you hear Me speaking, then, it is a sign that I am in you with my love. Even if it were really your heart which suggested these thoughts which you later write, it is, then, a sign that your heart is full of God, 'for it is from man's heart that there comes what emerges from his mouth.' Now then, if your heart pushes into your mouth and mind divine or supernatural thoughts, sights, and words, it is a sign that your heart is holy, that your heart harbors only love, justice, heavenly things; it is a sign that your conversation is in Heaven and that you dwell in your spirit in Heaven, having Heaven enclosed within you.

The whole of truths revealed by God to humanity through the Bible. It is complete and definitive in the Christian faith.

Authority in matters of faith and morals exercised over the Catholic faithful by the pope and all bishops in communion with the pope.

Manifestation of the Holy Spirit after the Bible to a person or particular group. It is individual and relative.

In-depth research on God, faith, religious Doctrine.

Name given to characters of the Old Testament who had a long life and numerous descendants: Ex: Abraham. By extension: Elderly man having great authority over his people and inspiring deep respect.