Newsletter n. 8/22 – In the Light
On 1 July 1943 Maria Valtorta received, among the interior locutions that had become the center of her life for a month, a very important teaching, to be pointed out because it also indicates her increasingly radical call: “Today, feast of my Blood, I illuminate a mystery. Say: ‘Glory to the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit’, since it is of Us that I want to speak to you”. In fact, later on it’s explained something about the relationship with the Trinitarian mystery: “[…] to the spiritual, among the mass of the so-called spirituals, the mystery becomes more knowable. To the lovers of the Son, to those who are truly marked with my Blood, the mystery is revealed with greater clarity because my Blood is Science and my predilection is School”. Our faith is to see, judge, think from the point of view of God. The things of the world can be seen from below, close to the ground, and have their own dimension; but in this their size, beauty and charm are limited – very limited – both in time and space, in fact in the end they all die. We have all experienced this truth. Unfortunately, those who have only this gaze cannot understand “even remotely the incomparable mystery of our Trinity”. If, on the other hand, the same realities are seen by the eyes of God, even in their earthly dimension, they acquire an infinitely wider, deeper and higher importance, because by analogy they always show the omnipotence of the Creator.
Among men there are those who have chosen to be linked to the earth, and others – the spiritual ones – who in some way seek God and fidelity to Him. Among these are those “marked” by the blood of Christ, that is, who have chosen to unite with the crucified Christ and consecrated themselves to him for the eternal salvation of souls. Maria Valtorta is one of these souls “marked” by the blood of the Redeemer, who have the opportunity to see a little more of the mystery of God – which in any case will remain an eternal mystery – precisely because they enter “the depth of the cross”.
The locution continues: “To think of God one must not make comparisons with created beings. God does not compare. He is. In being there is everything. But the being has no body, and the eternal Being has no body. Look: God is light. Here is the only thing that can still represent God without being in antithesis with the spiritual Essence of him. The light is, yet it is incorporeal. You see it but you cannot touch it. It is”. Nothing about God could be explained by bodily comparisons; here the light is raised to a spiritual entity, therefore without matter, without the categories of space and time that are typical of matter. Evidently Jesus wants to make himself understood as much as possible, therefore he does not use technical, philosophical, theological terminologies; does not explain what light is made of (beyond the technical debates whether it is formed by waves or particles, it falls back into the material sphere and should not be confused with the spirit), but uses the experience that all men have , to expand it to infinity; use common, popular language. For all this it is necessary to follow the beauty of the images without taking them in their materiality or literally.
“Our Trinity is light. An unlimited light”. This is the obvious consequence that can be deduced from St. John (1 Jn 1,5) when he writes that “God is light and in him there is no darkness”. We can only guess its depth; for the rest it can only escape us. An infinite light is a category that we cannot “understand” or even circumscribe, but only intuit. Our intellect cannot do more: it can say it exists, but it is far superior to its understanding as a small creature.
“Source to Herself, living of Herself, operating in Herself. The universe is not as big as It is infinite”. In other words: it is a light subsisting in itself, which does not depend on anything or anyone, totally self-sufficient in its very existence. So it has nothing to do with creation, on the contrary it is itself creator as God. The very image of light that we observe is a simple analogy with being the Light of God: it is more the difference than the similitude.
“Its essence fills the Heavens, flows over Creation, dominates the hellish caverns. It does not penetrate them – Hell would have ended – but crushes them with its rutilating which is beatific in Heaven, comforter on Earth, terrifying in Hell”. Sequence of images to indicate the superiority and obvious dominion of this Light: it does not penetrate hell – even if God is still present there as creator (presence of immensity) – because if he entered it he would instantly transform it into heaven, but this it is not permitted either by Divine Justice or by the freedom of those who reside there. On the other hand, the divine Light itself is the terror of hell.
“Everything is triune in Us. The forms, the effects, the powers”. In God everything is one, except the Persons; these are ways in which they present themselves to us to communicate and be loved.
“God is light. A vast, majestic and calm light is given by the Father. Infinite circle that embraces the whole of Creation, from the moment it was said: ‘Let there be light’ until ever since, since God, who was eternally, has embraced Creation for as long as it is, and will continue to embrace everything in last form, the eternal, after the Judgment, will remain of the Creation. He will embrace those who are eternal with Him in Heaven”. This Light is eternal, peaceful, pacifying. It will never cease and even when the history of the eternal salvation of men passes – because this too will end, as the book of Revelation teaches us – nevertheless it will remain because it is God himself and He obviously cannot cease to exist. So at that time, when this time and space is over, in a new earth and in new heavens (cf. Rev 21,1), the saved will be enveloped and embraced by this eternal, pacifying and blessed Light.
“Inside the eternal circle of the Father is a second circle, generated by the Father, operating differently and yet not operating in the opposite way, because the Essence is one. It is the Son”. The circle is a symbol of perfection in all senses, and this image underlines both the perfection of God and the mysterious generation between Father and Son which makes them both indispensable and interdependent: neither the Father nor the Son can exist by themselves, they have absolute necessity from each other; both eternal and one in essence together.
“His light, more vibrant, not only gives life to bodies, but gives Life to souls, who had lost it, through his Sacrifice. It is a flood of powerful and gentle rays that nourish your humanity and teach your mind”. The Son is God incarnate and for this reason He gives new Life to souls and nourishes them with the word and the sacraments. But He is also the creator and redeemer of “all things, those in heaven and those on earth” (Col 1:16). Hence the 2flooding of powerful and gentle rays” to help humanity and let it enter the Love of God by overcoming all pride and all claims of self-sufficiency.
“Inside the second circle, produced by the two operas of the first circles, is a third circle with an even more vibrant and bright light. It is the Holy Spirit. It is the Love produced by the relations of the Father with the Son, intermediary between the Two, origin and consequence of the Two, wonder of wonders. Thought created the Word and Thought and Word love each other. Love is the Paraclete”. Again the image of the circle that triples in perfection: from the generating action of the first two springs (proceeds) the Holy Spirit who is “even more vibrant and lit light” and who arouses, extends and amplifies love in souls, so that may they become capable of entering the vortex of Love, incandescent and eternal Light, of the three Circles, and live there eternally.
This is the wish and prayer for each one, which I invite to read and meditate entirely on this intense and beautiful passage, one of the many “precious pearls” of the great treasure that Heaven has given us through Maria Valtorta.