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 there is the Soul and in the Soul there is 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 for a true death, and the momentary separation of the spirit from the body and from the Soul that vivifies it by Ecstasy or contemplative rapture. Whereas the separation of the Soul from the body causes true death, ecstatic contemplation, i.e. the temporary escape of the spirit beyond the barriers of the senses and matter, does not cause death. And this is because the Soul does not detach and does not fully separate from the body, but does so only with its most excellent part which plunges into the Firex of contemplation." This "most excellent" 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 it because, as I have already explained to you many times, when God takes me to be His spokesperson, my intelligence is amplified and elevated to a power higher than that granted to men. And I "see", "hear", I "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 could know the names of Hillel and Gamaliel, as well as that of Shammai. It is the voice 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. The latter are voices — I have already told you and I repeat it — that my spiritual ear perceives exactly as human voices. I hear if they are gentle or angry, loud or soft, if they laugh or if they are sad. As if someone was speaking next to me. However, this "second voice" is like a light, an intuition that speaks in my spirit. I say 'in' and not 'to' my spirit. It is an indication [...] It is He who makes me understand certain details that I would not grasp by myself, and which it is necessary to understand. I do not know if I have explained myself well."

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 men of my Church (the doctors of the Church) have established and said of those who experience an extraordinary life that, while they are in Ecstasy — whether complete or incomplete to allow them to dictate or write the revelations they receive —, the capacity of their intelligence to apprehend, understand, and express increases, and that, once out of their Ecstasy, they recover their own intelligence.

This is what happens in my little John (nickname given to Maria Valtorta), "an eagle when I possess him, a little dove when I no longer invade him with my splendors."

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: as it was delivered to you, the Work reports the exact and 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 to me that inspirations, counsels, voices resonate in my Heart just at the moment when I am busy with things very different from the spiritual realm. When I pray, it is difficult to hear them. Whereas when I write, read, work, eat, play with my little animals, speak with so-and-so or such, there explodes in my Soul a word... It may depend on the fact that whatever I am doing, my deep self always remains fixed in one place, and nothing can tear it away from its life which consists in God. I do not know. I believe it is like that".

The rapture is adapted to human capacities

In one of her earliest comments, Azarias, 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 seems so good to you that you are dizzy. I could grant you an understanding, a visual and auditory extension even broader to increase your joy amid the tribulations of your immolation. But it would still be a relative knowledge. Even in human things, you know that one cannot pressure a boiler, for example, a gear, and so on beyond a certain limit, otherwise the experience becomes destruction. The same applies regarding extraordinary things: one cannot obtain the maximum, the all, because man could not withstand a single moment of complete knowledge, of perfect vision of heaven and 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 (of Ecstasy) is kept within the limits God sets to keep creatures on Earth at His service, one can live and burn, finding in its ardor not exhaustion but a fulfillment of life. But when God removes the limits and lets the divine Fire the freedom to penetrate and attract the spirit to Him without measure, then the spirit, in turn responding without measure to Love, separates from matter and flies where Love pushes and invites it. And it is the end of exile and the return to the Homeland."

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 this active joy which in me is always the prelude to Jesus' word. I have a passive joy when I rejoice in His Presence, without being called to serve Him. I have an active joy when an indescribable impression tells me: "He calls you, serve Him"... And then, I move to the real work, properly speaking: writing under dictation or describing what presents itself to me. If it is a dictation related to a passage in the Bible, Jesus first makes me open the Book to the passage He wants to explain... If it is the vision that presents itself, it begins with an initial image which is generally the climax of the vision, and then unfolds following the order. When the vision develops in order, I start at the beginning, when it begins at the climax, I describe that point, and then what precedes and follows it".

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.

"I can finally write what occupies my mental vision and my mental hearing from the beginning of dawn this morning... For, I have said several times and I repeat it, when I cannot continue or start the account of what I see, the scene stops from the beginning or exactly at the point where I am interrupted, to unfold again when I am free to follow it. I believe God wants this to avoid omissions or errors in detail, something that could happen if I wrote some time after seeing. I affirm consciously that what I write, because I see or hear it, I write while I see or hear it".

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 have chosen you for the role of divulgator of my Divinity, with its various manifestations, to those who need to be awakened and led to glimpse God: therefore remember to be meticulous to the highest degree when you repeat to them what you see. The slightest trifle has value and is not yours, but mine. Therefore, you are not allowed to keep it to yourself. It would be dishonest and selfish. Remember that you are the reservoir of the divine Water into which this Water flows so that all may come to draw from it.

Regarding dictations, you have achieved the fullest fidelity. In contemplations, you observe a lot but, in your haste to write and because of your particular health and entourage conditions, you sometimes omit certain details. You must not do that. Put them in a footnote, but write all of them. This is not a reproach, but a gentle advice from your Master.

(...)

The more meticulous and precise you are, the more numerous those who will come to Me and the greater your present spiritual happiness as well as your eternal happiness to come.

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 treated as a joke, or little better, nor to remain in manuscript form, that is, neither typed nor corrected. We are dealing with a narrow and evil world — even in ecclesiastical circles —, a world that hardly cares to reread these writings to recognize my Presence and approve them but which focuses all its attention on scrutinizing the work solely to find a word that could pass for a theological or merely historical error, whether due to the uncertain handwriting of the writer or an error of the copyist. It is the pure truth. So I act so that their animosity is thwarted.

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 who writes according to your thoughts and personal knowledge is provided by the lines inserted between two lines and visible corrections noticed on the dictations. They are caused by the physical and sometimes even mental weakness of a sick spokesperson, burdened by seven chronic diseases which sometimes reawaken, fully or partially, causing suffering and mortal weakness to the writer; they also come from material disturbances due to the entourage of the spokesperson, who writes in environment conditions neither peaceful nor convenient; finally, they are essentially due to the difference between the impetuosity of the "voices", which sometimes dictate quickly, and the possibilities of a weakened hand to follow them. What happens in these cases? Some passages are interrupted and some sentences omitted. The spokesperson tries to remember them while following me — me or other voices —, to add them once the vision is finished. But when he does, he no longer succeeds exactly and forgets the words spoken or else writes them badly, not as they were dictated".

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 that the Master comes to his aid. I order you to Believe these words, I order you by my full majesty of God and as divine Master, who can command His subjects as He ordered His patriarchs and prophets what not to do as well as what to Believe and execute to be his chosen people on earth and His eternal sons in the eternal Kingdom. So I come to his aid, I, Jesus, or the guardian angel of the spokesperson, the venerable assistant of celestial manifestations, whose angelic intelligence is not subject to the human fatigue and weaknesses of the spokesperson. For the latter, as much as he must be the beloved little John whom I love with extraordinary love, he remains a human creature. That is why we come to the aid of God’s instrument, we complete the passages that remain interrupted, fill the gaps of sentences or sayings anew, from beginning to end, those passages that the will, good but ignorant, of the spokesperson has altered, and we reconstruct the lessons as they were given and heard. It follows — and I order you to Believe it — that the Work reports exactly my thought, my acts, my manifestations, as well as the words and acts of my Mother, the Twelve, and all who surrounded me and surrounded us all".

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.

"One will object: "The Lord could grant the writer strength, speed, memory, intellectual capacity, as well as tranquility around her, to avoid these inconvenient retouches."

I could grant all, even clear and assured writing. But I refused it to prevent you from saying: "The writing is not shaky, one distinguishes neither fatigue nor slowness in the way of writing, therefore the alleged infirmities of the spokesperson are simulation." Some already say it... I did not want to allow it to prevent you from saying: "There is no phrase added, no error in adding them, therefore the spokesperson is not one, he is a human author who knows what he wants to write because he learned it elsewhere or thanks to his personal capacities." Some already say it...

I answer to that: "It is not so. But if it were the case, it would prove that if, by these personal capacities, ignorant as he is, little John [Maria Valtorta] says divine words, it is evident that the Author of wisdom, the Holy Spirit, lives in him with the fullness of His gifts. So, once again, the Work is the word of God.

I could do everything, even destroy this work and dictate it anew. It would be the exact repetition (for the passages dictated by supernatural voices) of the one that will have been destroyed.

The only differences that one would find would be the terms used by the spokesperson to describe places and episodes. It would be the exact repetition of the destroyed work, just as happened for the prophecies of Jeremiah burned by Jehoiakim, king of Judah. But you would then scream: "You see well that the spokesperson is not inspired, he receives nothing from the heavenly voices, but he writes by himself!" And you would seek to demolish a Peace and a work. The Peace of the spokesperson. 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.

"Ah, I truly feel indignation before certain thoughts, certain acts or judgments made on my will and on my little John! I tell you in truth that knowledge has placed thick scales on your eyes and brought lethargy to your intelligence, so much so that you do not recognize me where I shine as Master and as God.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, whose friendship you very much need, by denying His action — every revelation and inspired work has the Paraclete as the author —, by attacking or opposing one of His tabernacles. The wise men of Israel also fought and persecuted the visible Holy Spirit in the words and actions of the Word, but no good came out of it for them.

I said: "Every sin or blasphemy will be forgiven to the one who repents, except the blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit. What is said Against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but what is said and done Against the Holy Spirit will not be." These words still contain the first commandments, by fulfilling which one obtains eternal life: "Love your God with all your being. Love your Neighbor."

Love: salvation. No love: offense to divine Love, that is to say to the Holy Spirit in person or present in His living Temples, your Neighbor. Contesting His words or misunderstanding them is to offend Love. Persecuting one of His instruments is to offend Love who knows wisely why He has chosen this 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 told me to write anew. The physical effort is nothing compared to the moral effort I have to accomplish to lift the veils behind which the supernatural hides. Why? For many reasons.        

The first is that it seems almost like profanation to reveal God's secrets in me. And I always fear that this proclamation will earn me a punishment: being deprived of divine caresses and divine words…  

The second reason is a remnant of human mistrust, towards myself and others: what I perceive as “supernatural” should perhaps be judged as illusion by me and as delirium by others. I have been called mad so many times that it is possible that I continue to be classified in this category.          

The third reason is that I am fearful of these manifestations. The dreadful fear that it is a trick. Is it possible that I, who am nothing, may deserve such manifestations from my King? And also fear that they awaken Pride in me. I feel that if I should become proud, even for a moment, I would be punished for it".

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 do not like to talk about it (the revelations), I will tell you those which make me feel that I am not a naive person who takes her fantasies for supernatural truths and demonic words for divine words: I have certainty because of the sweetness and the Peace that fill me after these words, these caresses, the force that takes hold of me, forcing me to listen to and write them without being able to change one word… And always at moments which escape all will on my part of listening to these things … One does not negotiate with this gentle power... "There is nothing that comes from me. … (Jesus) makes himself heard when he wants. If I am taken by something else, to something he urges me to accomplish, I must stop and occupy myself only with Him. Likewise, if, consistent with my style, I prefer a certain formulation to another and try to change it, I am incapable. It is said a certain way and remains so."

And as Father Romualdo Migliorini urges her to write down her past revelations, she decides: "It would be impossible for me to repeat those words now with exactness and so I will not repeat them. There must be nothing of 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:

"You, men, if you knew what slavery it is to be God's instrument! A holy slavery, but absolute! The slavery of a galley slave. It entails sleep, hunger, suffering, fatigue, desire to think of something else, to read writings which are not words of supernatural source, to speak and hear ordinary things, the desire to be and live like everyone else, even just one day: all this, the inexorable burning of God's will prevents from having it and realizing it. On all this, the spite of men deposits its salt and acid, as if the galley master put salt and vinegar on the burns of his slaves."

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, have no hurry. Be patient and attentive, prudent and gentle. I tell you again. If I allow you, to those closest to you, to draw freely for the needs of your ministry and for the uplifting of crowds overwhelmed by current life, you must never forget that it is not only your interests at stake here, but those of God, who wants to shine in his creature with his power and wisdom. (p. 570)"

And He adds that Violence must not intervene 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.

• The more attentive and precise you are in describing the visions, the greater the number of those who come to Me.
• 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 affirm consciously that what I write, because I see or hear it, I write while I see or hear it.

In other works by Maria Valtorta

Notebooks 1943

• Catechesis of August 27 : The dictations do not contradict each other. One must know how to read them with faith and a simple Heart (p. 261).
• 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

• November 25 : You are nothing. But I entered into your "nothing", and I said "See, speak, write." This nothing has become my instrument. What is mine is always consecrated and must be treated as such (p. 616).

Notebooks 1945-1950

• December 19, 1945 : Know that I adapt the manifestations to the environment and the purpose for which I caused them. You had the Mission to be a worldwide voice. You must sing the hymn of Mercy and Love, of Wisdom and Perfection, for all ears and all Hearts, for all intelligences and all Souls. That is why, after preparing you for this capacity — do not take pride because everything you have, I have given you for this Mission, even the illness, even your solitude, absolutely everything —, I made you a perfect "voice," a giant, you who are a pygmy. But it is not you, it is I in you. So I am the giant, my little Christopher who carries the Christ but is also carried by him (p. 116).
• Catechesis of January 21, 1946 : - Jesus resumes instructions for disseminating the work and reproaches failings. He cannot allow the work to be treated as a joke. - 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. - There are two supernatural: that which comes from God and that which comes from the Enemy of God. When I instruct, everything metamorphoses in the instructed person. - False mystics indulge in pride of being "someone". - God withdraws from the trinkets of holiness. - Romualdo, beware of the flashy.
• 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 : - This book (The Gospel as Revealed to Me), it is me. Not only did I dictate and explain it, but I live it, present myself to you as I was when I was mortal - I am the eternal Word, the Word full of wisdom who accomplishes a new work of love and salvation out of pity for all those, too many, who die of spiritual starvation, who perish because they do not know me.
• Catechesis of December 6, 1947 : What happens in these cases? Some passages are interrupted and some sentences omitted. The spokesperson tries to remember them while following me — me or other voices —, to add them once the vision is finished. But when he does, he no longer succeeds exactly and forgets the words spoken or else writes them badly, not as they were dictated (p.441). […] It is then that the Master comes to his aid. That is why we come to the aid of God's instrument, we complete the passages that remain interrupted, fill the gaps of sentences or sayings anew, from beginning to end, those passages that the will, good but ignorant, of the spokesperson has altered, and we reconstruct the lessons as they were given and heard. It follows — and I order you to Believe it — that the Work reports exactly my thought, my acts, my manifestations, as well as the words and acts of my Mother, the Twelve, and all who surrounded me and surrounded us all. Accept the Work calmly as I have given it to you. It is right, and it is supernatural (p.442). […] If the demon does not try to corrupt the words of the Work by spitting its venom on it, it is also because it is aware it would be a useless task, since I watch and protect my Word as my instrument. Moreover, I have set limits to the Destroyer that the Accursed cannot cross (p. 443). […] 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. This is why 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: as it was delivered to you, the Work reports the exact and complete truth of my teaching (p. 444).
• January 6, 1948: These are not pages intended for them. I order you to remove them from here and make a separate booklet to give to whom you know, in the way you know. They have received what was necessary to obtain approval of Jesus' Work. The rest is a treasure that must be deserved. Some have deserved it by having done our will on you with perfect charity and without the slightest claim on His work towards you. There is also another reason of divine Providence that justifies this order. (p. 472).
• March 1949 : The book of which I am the author and you the one who formed its body with so much suffering […] In modern scientific terms, they (the skillful detractors) want to treat you as a psychopath. […] Do they not know that, generally, one judges according to what one is oneself? The psychopath – I would rather say lunatic, to use the old term – is a splendid ground for Satanic invasions. He is almost always in relation with the diabolical, loves it and shows certain signs: habit of lying, pride, disobedience, sensuality. Are these elements found in you? (p. 513)
• Catechesis of August 16, 1949 : - Jesus makes severe reproaches to the deniers of the work - They have received all the proofs needed - Do not commit blasphemy Against the 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 therefore you hear these words in your Heart, it is a sign that you hear the divine conversations of The Holy Trinity. If you hear me speak, it is therefore a sign that I am in you with my love. So even if it really was your Heart that suggested these thoughts which then you write, it is a sign that your Heart is full of God, for "It is from the heart of man that what comes out of his mouth proceeds." Now if your Heart puts divine or supernatural thoughts, visions, and words in your mouth and in your mind, it is a sign that your Heart is holy, that your Heart contains only love, justice, heavenly things, it is a sign that your conversation is in heaven and that you live in heaven with your spirit 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.