Promises of Jesus for Whoever Prays the Hours of Passion
From the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta
10th April, A.D. 1913
"Tell me, my Good Lord, what will You grant in return to those who will make the Hours of your Passion on which You had instructed me?"
And He: "My daughter, I shall not regard these Hours as 'your things, but as things done by Me, and I shall grant to you my very own merits, as if I, Myself, were, in actuality, suffering my Passion. I shall, thereby, make you obtain the effects of my Passion, according to the soul's disposition. This, I shall accomplish on earth: Of Myself, I could not have offered you more; and in Heaven: I shall place these souls at the front, shooting them with arrows of love and of happiness for the many hours they spent in making the Hours of my Passion. And they shall shoot Me with arrows as well. What a sweet enchantment for all the blessed this shall be!"
6th September, A.D. 1913
I was thinking about the Hours of the written Passion. how they have no indulgences; and therefore, whoever does them cannot gain any indulgences, as they can with so many other prayers enriched with so many indulgences. While I was thinking of this, my always amiable Jesus, all mildness, said to me:
"My daughter, with indulgenced prayers, one can gain something. Instead, the Hours of my Passion, which are my very own prayers, my reparations, and complete love, have truly issued from my Heart. Have you, perhaps, forgotten how many times I united Myself with you, in order to make these Hours together, and how I changed scourges into graces for the entire earth? Therefore, my enjoyment is so great, that instead of indulgences, I give you a handful of love which contains inestimable coins of infinite value. Then, when things are [able to be] accomplished [by the soul] with pure love, my Love discovers for you the vent, for my Love desires that the creature give relief and vent to the Creator's Love."
October A.D. 1914
As I was writing the Hours of the Passion, I thought to myself: "How many sacrifices there are in writing these blessed Hours of his Passion, especially when having to write down certain interior acts that passed only between Jesus and myself! What will be the recompense that Jesus shall offer me for them? And Jesus, making me hear his sweet and tender voice, said to me:
"My daughter, as a recompense for having written the Hours of my Passion, for every word that you have written, I will give you a kiss, a soul."
And I: "My Love, this is for me. What will you give, instead, to those who shall make them?"
And He: "If they shall make them together with Me and with my own Will, for every word that they make, I shall give them a soul, because the greater or lesser efficacy of these Hours of my Passion is determined by the greater or lesser union they have with Me. And by making these Hours with my Will, the creature therein hides himself, whereby, my Will doing the acting, I am thus able to do all the good I want, even through the use of a single word. And I shall do this every time they make them."
On another occasion, I was complaining to Jesus, that after so many sacrifices in writing these Hours of the Passion, there were so few souls who made them.
And He: "My daughter, do not complain. Even if there were but only one soul, you should be happy. Would I not have suffered my entire Passion for the sake of saving only one soul? The same applies to you; good must never be omitted simply because there are few who make use of it. All evil, however, is reserved for him who does not take advantage of so much good. And so, just as my Passion applied to my Humanity the merit of saving all, which was what I desired and merited according to my desires, and not according to the desires of such creatures who would make poor use of It, therefore impeding my design of saving all, so it should likewise be with you: According to the measure in which your will is assimilated to Mine in desiring to do good to all, in that measure will you be rewarded. All evil is reserved for those, who while being able to do good, do not do so.
These Hours are the most precious of all, for they are none other than the repetition of what I did in the course of my mortal Life and of what I continue to do in the Most Blessed Sacrament. When I hear these Hours of my Passion [recited], I hear my own voice and my own prayers. I see my Will in that soul who desires the good of all and who wants to make reparation for all, and I feel transported; whence, I take up my dwelling within her, so as to do within her that which she herself does. Oh, how I would love it if only one soul in every town were to make these Hours of my Passion! I would feel my own presence in each town, and my Justice, greatly disdained in these times, would be placated in part."
Also, one day while I was making the Hour (4 PM) in which our Heavenly Mother gave Jesus over to be buried, I followed Her closely in order to keep Her company throughout Her bitter desolation, so as to offer Her my compassion. It was not my custom to always act in this way, but only sometimes. And so, as I was undecided as to whether or not I should continue to act in this manner, Blessed Jesus appeared in all of his Love, and as if beseeching me, He said:
"My daughter, I bid you not to leave Her; you shall accompany Her for my Love's sake, in honor of my Mother. Know, that every time you accompany Her, my Mother feels as if She Herself were on earth in person, repeating Her life and experiencing the glory and love which She had offered Me while on earth. Wherefore, I, feeling as if my Mother were on the earth again, experience Her Motherly tenderness, Her love, and all the glory that She gave Me. Therefore, I will consider you as a Mother."
4th November, A.D. 1914
I was making the Hours of the Passion, and Jesus, taken up with great pleasure, said to me : "My daughter, if you knew the great pleasure I experience whereupon seeing you repeat, repeat again, and thus always repeat these Hours of my Passion, you would rejoice. It is true that my Saints have meditated upon my Passion and have understood how much I suffered, whence they burst into tears of compassion, to the point of experiencing themselves being consumed for love of my pains; but whereas, their meditations were not made in such an orderly and continually repeated way.