Book of Heaven
Jesus shows the eternal love of the Holy Trinity for mankind in giving us the Gift of living in His Divine Will through Luisa Piccarreta, His little disciple and daughter in the Divine Will. Jesus tells Luisa to focus on an aspect of His being that has never been written about by anyone – to live in His Divine Will – as the only pathway to our original state of holiness, able to share in God’s Divine Life and Divine Love, as God originally intended and planted in man’s soul.
Jesus Speaks to Luisa about His Divine Will
Across 36 volumes written over 38 years, Jesus’ private revelations to Luisa focus on His Holy Interior and what it means to “live in God’s Will” as He Himself lived on earth: only to do His Father’s Will. Jesus eloquently shows Luisa Piccarreta how one does God’s Will on earth “as it is in heaven” in the circumstances of everyday life. He explains to Luisa that man’s restoration to his original state of sanctity lies in perfect unity to Himself, by living in His Divine Will. Luisa captures in 10,000 pages all that Jesus lovingly teaches her about “living in the Divine Will”, using vivid imagery, parables, examples, and reflections.
Jesus himself tells Luisa what to call this compilation of private revelations to her, as they are about to be printed…
“..the title you will give to the book you will print about my Will is this:
‘The Kingdom of my Divine Will in the midst of creatures. Book of Heaven. The call of the creature to the order, the place and the purpose for which he was created by God’.
See, I want the title also to correspond to the great work of my Will. I want the creature to comprehend that his place, assigned to him by God, is in my Will, and until he enters into It, he will be without place, without order, without purpose; he will be an intruder in the Creation, with no right at all, and therefore he will go wandering without peace, without inheritance.” (Book of Heaven, Volume 20 – August 27, 1926.
Luisa’s Writings were seen by Priest Confessors
Since there were many miraculous things about Luisa, and her conversations with Jesus as she recorded in her diary were too eloquent to come from someone as poorly educated as herself, the church took an interest in her work early on. As she wrote, Luisa was assigned many priest confessors to guide her, ensuring that she wasn’t delusional or being misled by the devil.
At age 34, she started writing about her conversations with Jesus from February 28, 1899 until December 28, 1938. St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, was her priest confessor for 17 years until he died on June 1, 1927. A passionate proponent of her writings, St. Annibale placed the Nihil Obstat on the first 18 volumes on August 6, 1926. On October 1926, Archbishop Leo of Trani placed his Imprimatur on first 18 volumes and authorized them for printing.
On November 13, 1995 Cardinal Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved the release of copies of the 34 manuscript notebooks of the diary for private study in aid of her canonization process.
In 2015, on the occasion of her 150th birthday, Vatican Publishing Libreria Editrice Vaticana releases Luisa Piccarreta’s biography “The Sun of My Will” documenting her life and groundbreaking revelations of going from “doing God’s Will” to “living in God’s Will on earth as it is heaven “..with the hope of contributing to a clearer understanding of her life and message…”.
The Role of Private Revelations
The Catechism of the Catholic Church recognizes the value of private revelations as follows:
CCC 66 The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”28 Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.
CCC 67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.