The Divine Will

I haven't read the entire thread, so forgive me if this has already been discussed.

I'm reading a recently released book about the final years of Mother Angelica. Although it's not about the Divine Will, it definitely touches on it.

The author relates, during Mother's final years when she was confined to her cell and the day-to-day activities of the community were out of her hands, the devotion to the Divine Will became a hot button issue. It's propagation by a prominent nun contributed to a growing division between the older and younger sisters, so it's no surprise it produced similar results here.

That said, I should point out that the devotion had been brought to Mother Angelica years earlier. Although she didn't push the devotion, she gave the sisters who wanted to follow it the go ahead.

 

Basically, there were two nuns vying for Mother Angelica's spot as the head of the community, Sister Catherine and Sister Mary Margaret.

Sister Catherine was described as having a 'gentle touch' and a devotion to the Divine Will. The younger nuns gravitated towards her.

Sister Margaret Mary was strict about following the rules, which is generally a good thing in a religious order. She worried that the Divine Will devotion would change the flavor of the community. Naturally, the older nuns gravitated toward her.

It's clear that both nuns loved Mother Angelica and their religious community. However, they had very different ideas about what was best for the sisters as a whole.

Arroyo writes:
The main gripe against Sister Catherine--the principal thorn in the professed nuns' sides--was the vicar's affection for, and the propagation of, a devotion known as "the Divine Will" . . . In the reckoning of the older nuns, the Divine Will was “propaganda spread among the young sisters.” To them, Sister Catherine had imported a foreign spirituality into their cloister, a devotion being observed by a growing number of young sisters. This perception furthered the estrangement between the elder and younger members of the monastery. It would take a number of years for these suppressed resentments to rise to the surface, but they were palpable nonetheless.

According to Arroyo, as of the May 17, 2016 publication of the book, Piccarreta’s cause for sainthood is still under consideration by the Vatican. Her writings are still being scrutinized by the Holy See for theological errors.

As it would happen, Sister Margaret Mary was voted in as the mother superior by one vote. She immediately started kicking nuns out of the community left and right, especially those with devotion to the Divine Will and the associated writings of Piccarreta.

The community was such a wreck, the Holy See eventually had to intervene. In 2009, the Vatican imported a new superior from outside of the community. Sister Catherine and Sister Mary Margaret were sent away on two-year sabbaticals.

At the suggestion of the bishop, Sister Catherine went to Rome to study at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. While there, the nun felt called to begin a new order. At the invitation of Bishop Luigi Negrie of the diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro on the Italian coast, the 66-year-old nun founded a new community. She now goes by the name Mother Gabrielle Marie of the Benedictine Daughters of the Divine Will. Seemingly, there's a new religious order devoted to the Divine Will. How cool is that? There are currently four Benedictine Daughters of the Divine Will. They have seventeen women interesed in joining them. According to the book, the Benedictine Daughters practice Eucharistic adoration, study the writings of Luisa Piccarreta, and are devoted to God’s will.

Sister Margaret Mary joined the Carmelites.

I'm still reading the book, but as I came across the parts about the Divine Will I knew I'd have to share it here. However, it's not the focus of the story.

If this was old news to all of you, sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Angelica-Her-Grand-Silence-ebook/dp/B01DRXDWK6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1465309004&sr=1-1&keywords=the grand silence

 

Thank you for sharing! I knew about the Benedictine Daughters of the Divine Will, but not about the back-story on Mother Angelica's order. Fascinating. Please keep sharing

 

That was pretty much all I had to share on it.

Oh, and this link to the Benedictine Daughters of Divine Will:

http://www.benedictinesofdivinewill.org/index.html

Okay, I watched their FB video. I was surpirsed to learn that on July 4, 2014, they established a men's community as well, The Benedictine Monks of Divine Will.

 

Rain, Yes, most of what you have said is true, but it was not only the teachings about living in the Divine Will that separated the nuns. I lived in Hanceville near the Shrine and knew Sister Mary Catherine (now Mother Gabrielle Marie) and there were other factors that caused the problem. I am not at liberty to explain this, I just do not want people to think that it was the teachings on the Divine Will alone that caused this. God has a plan! Bless you.

 

Right-o. It was definitely a contributor, but I didn't mean to imply it was the only problem. Thanks for making it clear.

 

It's a common theme in the lives of the Saints that these great divisions and disturbances occur when God is moving. I think it was St. John of the Cross who said the most painful thing for him was to be persecuted by good, even holy, people.

 

“My daughter, as Adam sinned, God made him the promise of the future Redeemer. Centuries passed, but the promise did not fail, and the generations had the good of Redemption. Now, as I came from Heaven and formed the Kingdom of Redemption, before departing for Heaven, I made another promise, more solemn, of the Kingdom of my Will; and this was in the ‘Our Father’. And so as to give it more value, and to obtain It more quickly, I made this formal promise in the solemnity of my prayer, praying the Father to let His Kingdom come, which is the Divine Will on earth as It is in Heaven. I placed My very Self at the head of this prayer, knowing that such was His Will, and that, prayed by Me, He would deny Me nothing; more so, since I prayed with His very Will, and I asked for something which was wanted by my Father Himself. And after I had formed this prayer before my Celestial Father, certain that the Kingdom of my Divine Will upon earth would be granted to Me, I taught it to my Apostles, that they might teach it to the whole world, so that one might be the cry of all: ‘Your Will be done, on earth as It is in Heaven.’ A promise more sure and solemn I could not make. Centuries are like one single point for Us, but Our words are accomplished acts and facts. My very praying to the Celestial Father: ‘Let It come – let your Kingdom come; your Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven’, meant that with my coming upon earth the Kingdom of my Will was not established in the midst of creatures; otherwise I would have said: ‘My Father, let Our Kingdom, which I have already established on earth, be confirmed, and let Our Will dominate and reign.’ Instead, I said: ‘Let It come.’ This meant that It must come, and creatures must await It with that certainty with which they awaited the future Redeemer, because there is my Divine Will, bound and committed, in those words of the ‘Our Father’; and when It binds Itself, whatever It promises is more than certain. More so, since everything was prepared by Me; nothing else was needed but the manifestation of my Kingdom - and this I am doing. Do you think that my giving you so many truths about my Fiat is only to give you simple news? No, no; it is because I want everyone to know that Its Kingdom is near, and to know Its beautiful prerogatives, so that all may love – may yearn to enter, to live in a Kingdom so holy, full of happiness and of all goods. Therefore, that which seems difficult to you is easy for the power of Our Fiat, because It knows how to remove all difficulties, and to conquer everything - the way It wants, and when It wants.” Vol. 23

 

I

I think it's good to remind ourselves that Nuns, Priests and Brothers ..... and all People of The Cloth .... are Human just like the rest of us ... with all entails ... good and bad.
Lord,
Guide and protect all my Comrades in Faith.... especially those doing their best to bring me to YOU. AMEN!!

GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!

 

From The Triumph, The Second Coming and the Eucharistic Reign -
by Fr. Stefano Gobbi, June 24, 1996:

At last, the prayer of the 'Our Father' which Jesus taught us will be fulfilled; it will have its perfect completion. The Divine Will will be fulfilled in a perfect way by all creatures, thus bringing forth the Kingdom of the Divine Will upon this earth.
Jesus, in the 'Our Father' which you taught us… dear Jesus, we have been repeating it for two thousand years… you teach us that prayer is infallible - it always obtains results. What did you teach us to ask for? 'Our Father, who are in heaven, sanctified - glorified - be your name. Your Kingdom come; your Will be done...' Brother priests, the Father was glorified when He created the universe; the devil has obscured this glory of his by means of sin. With the redemption, Christ - the historical Christ - redeems us by means of suffering; and the mystical Christ must walk along the same path of suffering so that [each one] may personally cooperate with the great gift received in redemption. However, the definitive victory of Christ over Satan took place with his resurrection; and so the definitive victory of Christ, when He returns in glory, will consist in completely destroying the power of Satan in this world, so that this world will be able to receive his Kingdom, and once again glorify the Father in a perfect way, as it was at the beginning of creation. Therefore, the advent of Christ in glory will coincide with the greatest glorification of the heavenly Father.

'Your Kingdom come!' But listen…do you think that after two thousand years in which this invocation has been repeated throughout the world - 'Your Kingdom come, Your Kingdom come…' - that at the end, this Kingdom of Christ will not come? It will come! - for the perfect glorification of the Father. And as the Kingdom of Christ comes, all creatures will be led to fulfill the Divine Will in a perfect way, because the first to prevent us from doing the Divine Will was Satan.

Fiat!

 

“My daughter, God is order, and when He wants to give a good to the creatures, He always establishes His divine order, and everything that is done in order to obtain such a great good begins from God, since He places Himself at the head of it to take on the commitment, and then orders the creature for the same purpose. I did this, Myself, to give the Redemption, and so that creatures might receive It; and I am doing this, Myself, to give the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, and so that creatures may receive It. By forming, Myself, the ‘Our Father’, I placed Myself at the head of it and took on the commitment to give this Kingdom; and by teaching it to my apostles, I placed order in the creatures, so that they might obtain a good so great. So, the whole Church is praying - there is not one soul who belongs to Her that does not recite the ‘Our Father’. And even though many recite it without interest in wanting and asking for a Kingdom so holy – that the Divine Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven – since the interest is in the One who taught it, when they recite it my interest is renewed, and I hear my own prayer asking: ‘May your Kingdom come, so that your Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven’. And if the creature, in reciting the ‘Our Father’, had this interest of wanting and longing for my Kingdom, she would take part in my own interest, and her will would be fused in Mine for the same purpose. However, my Will and interest always run in each ‘Our Father’." Vol. 24, 5/26/28

 

Luisa asks: ‘My beloved Jesus, who knows when this Kingdom will come!’
And He: “My daughter, in order for Redemption to come, it took four thousand years, because the people that prayed and longed for the future Redeemer was smaller, of limited number. But those which belong to my Church are more peoples and - oh, how much greater in number than that one! Therefore, the number will shorten the time; more so, since religion is making its way everywhere, and this is nothing but the preparation of the Kingdom of my Divine Will.”
Fiat!

 

Jesus,

Help me to long more deeply for the fulfillment of the prayer you gave us. May our desire for Your Will and for coming Kingdom bind our hearts more closely to both you and Mary! Holy Fusion!

Safe in the Divine Will!

 

Amen!

 

I just listened to a stunning video of Dr. Thomassiny, a physician from Mexico who has been living in the Divine Will for 30 years. It's translated, but well worth the time. (While Dr. Thomassiny spoke, I just did acts in the Divine Will until the English translation!)
This is a series of 4 talks; in this last one, he speaks of the role of the Divine Will in the spiritual war we have now entered.

 

Thank you for posting this!

 

“My daughter, my Will is light, the human will is the dark room in which the poor creature lives. As my Will enters into this dark room, it remains all invested by this light that illumines everything, even the most remote and little hiding places of the soul. It makes Itself light of the thought, of the word, of the works, of the steps – but with a marvelous variety. The thought takes on a variety of colors animated by the light; the word takes on another variety of colors; the action, the step, other varieties of colors. And as she repeats the thought, the word, the action, the step, animated by the light of my Will, so are the tones of the divine colors formed; and the beauty of it is that they are all colors animated by light. Oh! how beautiful it is to see the creature animated by the iris of Our divine colors – it is one of the most beautiful scenes that she presents to Us and makes Us enjoy. We look at her and We see that those are nothing other that the reflection of Our thoughts, of Our actions, and so forth, that has formed that variety of Our divine colors; and Our Will makes display of light in the acts of the creature who, with her sweet enchantment, enraptures Us and makes Us the spectators of Our acts; and – oh! how We await with all love the repetition of these scenes so beautiful and delightful.” Book of Heaven - January 3, 1932

 

Book of Heaven – July 1 A.D. 1924
“My daughter, let us pray together. There are certain sad times in which my Justice, unable to contain Itself because of the evils of creatures, would want to flood the earth with new scourges; and so prayer in my Will is necessary, which, extending over all, places itself as defense of the creatures, and with its power, prevents my Justice from approaching the creature to strike her.”

How beautiful and touching it was to hear Jesus pray! And since I was accompanying Him in the sorrowful mystery of the Scourging, He made Himself seen pouring out Blood, and I heard Him say: “My Father, I offer You this Blood of Mine. O please, let It cover all the intelligences of creatures, rendering vain all their evil thoughts, dimming the fire of their passions, and making holy intelligences rise again. May this Blood cover their eyes and be a veil to their sight, so that the taste of evil pleasures may not enter them through their eyes, and they may not get dirty with the mud of the earth. May this Blood of Mine cover and fill their mouths, and render their lips dead to blasphemies, to imprecations, to all of their bad words. My Father, may this Blood of Mine cover their hands, and strike terror in man for so many evil actions. May this Blood circulate in Our Eternal Will in order to cover all, to defend all, and to be a defending weapon for the creature before the rights of Our Justice."

 

Prayer of Jesus:
“Holy Father, I pray You for my children and for all those whom You have given Me, and whom I recognize as mine. In these arms of mine do I clasp them to Myself, that they may remain defended and safe from the storm that they are arming against my Church.” Then He added: “My daughter, how many turn-coats there will be, how many masks will unmask themselves. I could no longer bear their hypocrisy, My Justice was filled with so many pretenses, and therefore they could no longer keep the mask that covered them. Therefore, pray together with Me, that those who must serve my glory may remain safe, and those who want to strike my Church, confounded.” Book of Heaven, Vol. 29, June 16, 1931