Weight of the World, Suffering and Littleness

Notes for Zoom Class 21 September 2023

April 23, 1924 (Volume 16)

The state of profound sleep of Luisa continues; together with Jesus, she suffers the crushing weight of the world. It is not the devil who is throwing her into this state, but Jesus. What Jesus infuses and what the devil infuses.

I spend my days in bitterness and among the privations of my sweet Jesus, with the addition of a profound sleep, such that I myself do not know where I am or what I do. I feel the shadow of my Jesus around me, which almost puts me into an iron shirt which renders me motionless, it takes life away from me and dazes me, and I no longer understand anything… What a painful change in my interior – I, who did not know what sleep was, and even if a light sleep surprised me, even while sleeping, did not lose the activity of my interior. I was aware of the fibers of my heart and of my thoughts in order to give them back to Jesus who so much loved me, to accompany Him in all the hours and pains of His Passion; or I wandered within the immensity of His Will to give Him back everything and the acts which He wanted from all creatures. And now, everything is over… My Jesus, what bitter pains! What a sorrowful sea You want my poor soul to navigate! O please, give me strength, do not leave me, do not abandon me! Remember that You Yourself said that I am little, or rather, the littlest of all, just newborn; and if You leave me, if You do not help me, if You no longer give me strength, the newborn will certainly die…’ 

Now, while I was in this state, I thought to myself: ‘Who knows whether it is devil to form this shadow and to put me in this state of immobility?

...But as I was thinking of this, I felt crushed more than ever under an enormous weight. And my adorable Jesus, moving in my interior, showed Himself placing the edge of a wheel upon me, which He was carrying, and, afflicted, said to me: "My daughter, patience; this is the weight of the world which crushes us. Yet, one single edge leaning on you serves Me in order not to put an end to the whole world. Ah, if you knew how many deceits, how many frauds, how many evils they commit, and how many hidden machinations of ruin the creatures are plotting, to be ruined more among themselves, which increase even more the weight upon my shoulders, to the point of making Divine Justice overflow...! 

This is why there will be great evils through the whole earth. And then, why do you fear that it might be the enemy to put you in this state? When the enemy makes one suffer, he throws desperation, impatience, disturbances; on the other hand, when it is Me, I infuse love, patience and peace, light and truth. Do you perhaps feel impatient, desperate, that you fear that it might be the enemy?" ...

And I: ‘No, my Jesus; on the contrary, I feel as though plunged into an immense and deep sea – your Will – and my only fear is that I might get out of the abyss of this sea. But while I fear, I feel its waves rising higher upon me, such as to make me sink even more.’

And Jesus: "And this is why the enemy cannot approach you – because the waves of the sea of my Will, while plunging you into the abyss of It, keep on guard and keep far away even the shadow of the enemy. In fact, he knows nothing of all that the soul does and suffers in my Will, nor does he have the means, the ways and the doors to be able to enter into It; on the contrary, It is the thing which he abhors the most.

And if sometimes my wisdom manifests something of what the soul does in my Will, the enemy feels such rage as to feel his infernal pains being multiplied, because my Will, loved and fulfilled in the soul, forms Paradise; while, not loved and not fulfilled, it forms hell. Therefore, if you want to be safe from any diabolical snare, take to heart my Will and your living continuously in It."

Crucified Christ-Child of Zechariah 12 and 13

Zechariah 12:10-13:6 is a Messianic prophecy of an apparition of the Messiah as a pierced or crucified Christ-Child or Yenuka:

 10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.1In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

[2And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. 3And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. 4And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: 5But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.] 6And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

Zechariah 13:6 does not refer to the false prophets who will be cleansed from the land but it is linked to the pierced one and the fountain of mercy mentioned in verses 12:10-13:1. It is the message of the Cross and the sufferings of the pierced one who is the true prophet not those who deny it. St Alphonsus Liguori a Doctor of the Church spoke of this fountain in Jerusalem as representing a chapel of Perpetual Adoration.

This passage may be speaking of a future manifestation of the Messiah to the Jewish people in the form of a crucified Christ-Child at a time when many false prophets will arise previous to this manifestation. It will occur at the time when the Shepherd (the Pope) is cut off (martyred) and the flock is scattered (schism in the Catholic Church) in Zechariah 13:7-9. This is the wondrous Child (Yenuka) and Son of Joseph associated with the sign of the fish mentioned in the Zohar who lifts the cup of Salvations (Yeshuot).

“ ... His mother came and said to them, ‘Masters, please look on my son with a good eye.’ They said to her, ‘Happy are you, worthy woman! Singled out from among all women! The Blessed Holy One has selected your portion, raised your banner above all women of the world.’

The Child said, ‘I am not afraid of the evil eye, for I am the son of a great and precious fish, and fish do not fear the evil eye, as it is written, ‘They shall multiply like fish in the midst of the earth’ (Genesis 48:16). This blessing includes protection from the evil eye, for we have learned: ‘Just as fish of the sea are covered by water and are immune to the evil eye etc [so the descendants of Joseph are immune to the evil eye].’ ‘In the midst of the earth,’ indeed ‘among human beings on earth’.

They said, ‘Son, Angel of YHVH! There is no evil eye in us, we do not come from the side of the evil eye. The Blessed Holy One is covering you with His wings.’

They kissed him as before and said: ‘Come, let us bless,’ He said, ‘I will bless, because everything you’ve heard until now was from me, I will fulfill the verse: One whose eye is generous will be blessed. Read it: ‘will bless’. Why? ‘Because he gave of his own bread to the needy’ (Prov. 22:9). From the bread and food of my Torah you have eaten.’

Rabbi Judah said: ‘Son, Beloved of the Blessed Holy One! We have learned: ‘the master of the house breaks bread, and the guest blesses.’

He said to them, ‘I am not master of the house, and you are not guests! But I have found a verse and I will fulfill it, for I am truly generous. Without your asking, I have spoken until now and you have eaten my bread and my food.”

He took the cup of blessing and began to bless. His hands could not hold the cup; they were trembling. When he reached ‘for the land and the food’ he said ‘I raise the cup of salvation and invoke the name, Y-H-V-H.’ (Psalm 116:13). The cup stood firm and settled in his right hand and he continued blessing. At the end he said, ‘May it be the Will that life be extended to one of these from the Tree of Life on which all depends! May the Blessed Holy One be surety for him. May he find surety below to share his surety with the Holy King.’

Having finished blessing he closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them and said, ‘Comrades, Shalom to you from the good Lord who possesses all Shalom! They were amazed, and cried, and blessed him.

They stayed the night. In the morning they rose early and left. When they reached Rabbi Shim’on, they told him what had happened. Rabbi Shim’on was amazed. He said, He is the son of an invincible rock! He deserves this and more than any human can imagine. He is the son of Rav Hamnuna Sava.”[from the Sefer Zohar: Balak]

Descent to the Chariot: A Hebrew Catholic Mystical Insight

In Jewish mysticism an important concept is making the spiritual descent to the chariot (merkabah). In order to ascend one must first descend to where the chariot awaits the soul. Jacob Frank and other Jewish Tzaddikim, such as Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, also speak of descending into the lower levels of the spiritual abyss in order to do the great tikkunim (reparations) for sinners who have been trapped in these lowest levels. This idea is often misunderstood as it was in the case of Jacob Frank. It is part of the mysteries of shiflut (lowliness), bitul (selflessness or nullification of the self) and mesirat nefesh (total self-sacrifice).

Rabbi Isaac Ginsburgh writes about shiflut: 

"...In contrast to bitul ("selflessness")... shiflut does not imply the negation of self, but rather the experience of oneself as existentially "lowly,""far away" from God. In shiflut, one experiences an innate state of sin, as David...expresses in Psalms (51:7): "and in sin has my mother conceived me." As a holy attribute of Torah, one which serves to link one's consciousness to God, it is said of shiflut that "from afar God appears to me." God's very essence is revealed to the soul who, in shiflut, feels himself "afar," more so than to he who feels himself "near." Shiflut is the ultimate source of the soul's motivation to return in teshuvah to Hashem. The above quoted psalm of David is the quintessential expression of teshuvah in the Bible. The Ba'al Shem Tov (a descendant of David) teaches that the beginning of all Divine service is to experience an existential sense of identification with all the most lowly creatures on earth, as though saying to himself: "they all fulfill God's intentions for them faithfully; were only I able to do the same."..." 

The virgin Miriam ha Kedosha, a daughter of David, demonstrates this concept of shiflut in the Magnificat - "He has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid". One enters God's kingdom (malkhut) through shiflut. At this level one seeks to follow God's Will as his humble servant.


Rabbi Ginsburgh states in regard to bitul:  

"Bitul is the spiritual state associated with the inner experience of chochmah, whereby one's consciousness opens up to a continuous flow of Divine wisdom and new insight through one's nullifying his sense of autonomous and self-sustained being. Bitul is the experience of ayin, of being nothing within the omnipresent radiance of God's infinite light." 

In Jewish mysticism there are two levels of bitul. The lower bitul is called bitul ha yesh (nullification of the somethingness) and at this level one cooperates with divine grace in a spiritual nullification of the soul- this is a seeking to prepare one for the Dwelling in Divine Will- this is a uniting of the soul with the Divine Will which is called Devekut (clinging). One must always keep in mind that this nullification of the soul and the human will is a spiritual or mystical nullification not a literal nullification. The Alter Rebbe of Chabad Hasidism stressed that this nullification was not a form of quietism but a process that would then allow an influx of the infinite Light of God to manifest on earth. It would draw one deeper into prayer and mitzvot even when there are no more consolations from prayer but only desolation or the desert experience. This is also found in the mystical teachings of the Great Catholic mystics such as John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. This then allows one to attain to the state of mesirat nefesh (total self sacrifice) where one lives totally for the other in a pure manner without selfish motives. One then attains to hitpashtut mi-gashmiut (shedding of wordliness) in order to focus solely on the Divine Will and the tikkunim for others. One still lives in the world but now one's actions in the world are done only for Godly purposes. One thus becomes the servant of all.

Rabbi Isaac Ginsburgh

The higher level of bitul is that of being so nullified that one Lives or dwells in Divine Will (ratzon) with no sense of independent existence or action outside the Will of God. Here one must be careful to remember that one's will or soul still exists but it no longer lives or has independent movement outside the Will of God. This allows the soul to enter into eternity and God's omnipresence in order to draw the Divine Light of God's Will into all Creation- past, present and future. This manifests a great tikkun (reparation). This higher bitul is called bitul b'metziut (mystical nullification of independent existence). All the saints in Heaven live at this stage and on earth only certain souls receive this grace of dwelling in the Divine Will by faith (emunah). The Jewish and Catholic saints of the past only knew of this grace in inklings and traces and some were granted the grace to live in the effects of this gift. As the full knowledge of this gift of Living in Divine Will had not been revealed, only Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived in this state on earth. However in 1889 the full knowledge and gift of this grace was given to the Catholic servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. Since then certain other souls have been granted this grace.

 

One such soul was Archbishop Luis Martinez who wrote:  

"... In the spiritual life, souls humble themselves with more or less effort, yet ever retaining the conviction that they must become little. But when they descend to a certain depth, they become dismayed and grow weary of descending. It seems to them that they are being deceived and that the time has now come for them to ascend, because they are not aware that, in the way of spirituality, one ascends only by descending, and that, to arrive at the summit, the soul must never weary of going downward. Let this "never" be understood, for, just as in the beginnings of the purgative way, so also in the heights of the unitive, the one and only secret for ascending is to descend. With the light of God, the soul makes steady progress in seeing its own misery and in sinking down into it;...

We can always descend lower. We can always sink deeper in our misery. And to the measure that we descend, we ascend, because thus we come nearer to God... hence with each new revelation of our misery, our confusion increases...

Therefore, in perceiving that they are apparently descending under the impact of temptations, the weight of their faults, and the void of their souls caused by desolations, they grow confused and grieve because they forget the paradoxes of the spiritual life...

Some day we will understand that among the greatest graces God has given us in our life are precisely those disconcerting ones which make us think that God is abandoning us...

Our miserableness, when it is acknowledged and accepted by us, exerts an irresistible attraction on Him. What, save misery alone, can attract mercy? What, save emptiness, can appeal to plenitude? Whither shall the infinite ocean of Goodness pour itself except in to the immense abyss of our nothingness..."[from Secrets of the Interior Life].

Luisa Piccarreta, Shiflut, Bitul and Katnut: A Hebrew Catholic Understanding

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta is known as the little daughter of the Divine Will. She mirrors the littleness (katnut) or lowliness (shiflut) of Our Lady. Elsewhere I have discussed that the name Piccarreta means 'very little one' and the mention of this 'very little one' in the Zohar as one of the four chayot (living creatures of the Throne).

“… ‘This is the Chayah which I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chabar’ (Ezekiel 10:20). Now, which chayah is here indicated? Rabbi Jose replied in the name of Rabbi Chiya that the reference is to the little Chaya. ‘But is there such a little chayah?’ ‘Yes, assuredly there is. There is a little one and a superior one and there is also a very little one. This (very little one) is alluded to in the last part of the verse under discussion: “And under his feet a likeness of a brickwork of Sapphire (or sapphire stone)’. What was this [very little one] which they saw? They beheld the precious stone which the Holy One will build the future Sanctuary, as it is written: ‘I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with sapphires’(Isaiah 54:11)” (Zohar 126a).

 ‘His feet’ refers to the superior Chayah who is El Chai himself the God of Israel. The ‘ likeness of a brick work’ refers to the little Chayah who is the Lady of Israel (Matronita). The ‘Sapphire Stone’ is the ‘very little one’ (Piccaretta) from whom the future Sanctuary or era of Sanctification shall be built. The Zohar reveals that besides the two Chayot called the superior male Chayah (Metatron/Yeshua) and the little female Chayah (Matronita/Our Lady), there is a ‘very little Chayah’ (Nukvah/Luisa). The fourth Hidden chayot not mentioned in this passage is the hidden Tzadik Joseph. These Chayot are connected with the mystery of the Galgal (wheel) in Ezekiel and Isaiah and the rounds (galgalim) in the yehiot (fiats) of Creation, Redemption and Sanctification. The concept of littleness mentioned in Luisa's writings are shiflut, bitul and katnut.



In the "Book of Heaven" Volume 16 under 10 November, 1923 Luisa writes: 

"I was abandoning all of myself in the arms of my sweet Jesus, and while I was praying, I saw my soul as so very little, but of extreme littleness; and I thought to myself: "How little I am. Jesus was right in telling me that I was the littlest of all. I would really like to know if I am the littlest of all. I would really like to know whether I am the littlest among all."...And He (Jesus) told me: " My dear little one, I have chosen you little, because the little ones let one do with them whatever he wants. They do not walk by themselves, but let themselves be guided; even more, they are afraid to place one foot on their own. If they receive gifts, feeling incapable of keeping them, they place them on the lap of their mama. The little ones are stripped of everything, nor do they care if they are rich or poor; they are concerned with nothing...the greater is the work I want to do in a soul, the littler I choose her. I like childlike freshness and beauty very much; I like it so much that I preserve these souls in littleness of the nothingness from which they came."

Jesus then goes on to explain the littleness of the Virgin Mary. 

"...I did so with my Celestial Mama. Among all generations, She is the littlest, because Her will never entered into Her as acting, but always my Eternal Will; and this not only kept Her little, beautiful, fresh, as She had come out of Us, but made Her the greatest of all. Oh! How beautiful She was, little in herself, but great and superior to all by virtue of Ourselves. And only because of Her littleness was She lifted up to the height of Mother of the One who formed Her... in order to come to redeem man, I chose my mother because She was little..."

Jesus explains the role of Luisa in bringing the Divine Will (ratzon) to reign on earth as it does in heaven. 

"...Now, so that My Will might be known, and Heaven might be opened to let My Will descend upon earth and reign on it as it does in heaven, I had to choose another little one among all generations. Since this is the greatest work I want to do- to restore man to his origin, from which he came, to open to him that Divine will that he rejected, to open My arms to him to receive him once again into the womb of My Will- My infinite Wisdom calls the littlest one out of nothing. It was just that she be little: if I placed a little one at the head of Redemption, I had to place another little one at the head of the Fiat Voluntas Tua (Let thy Will be done)on earth as it is in heaven. Between the two little ones I was to enclose the purpose (takhlit) of the creation of man - I was to realise my designs upon him: through one, I was to redeem him, wash him of his ugliness with my blood and give him forgiveness; through the other one, I was to make him return to his beginning, to his origin, to the lost nobility, to the bonds of My Will broken by him, admitting him once again to the smile of My Eternal Will, kissing each other and live one within the other. This alone was the purpose of the creation of man, and what I have established no one will be able to oppose. Centuries upon centuries will go by- just as in the Redemption, so also in this; but man will return to my arms as he was created by Me. But in order to do this, first I have to choose the one who must be the first to live life in my Eternal Will, bind in her all the relations of Creation, and live with her no split of wills; rather, with her will and Ours as one...she will cry for her brothers and will occupy herself with nothing else but compensating Us, for all and each one, of all the wrongs they do to Us by withdrawing from Our Will. The tears of the one who lives in Our Will will be powerful..."

Then Luisa relates a heavenly vision about these little ones similiar to the passage of the Chayot from the Zohar.

"...On hearing this, I said: " My Love and my All. tell me, who will this fortunate little one be? Oh! How I would like to know her." And he immediately: "What? Have you not understood who she is? It is you, little one. I have told you many times that you are the little one, and this is why I love you." But as he was saying this, I felt as though I was being transported outside of myself, into the most pure light, in which one could see all generations, as though divided into two wings - one on the right and the other on the left of the Throne of God. At the head of one wing there was the August Queen Mama, from whom descended all the goods of Redemption. Oh! How beautiful was her littleness! Marvelous, prodigious littleness: little and powerful, little and great, little and Queen; little, with everyone hanging upon her littleness, while She disposes of everything, rules over all, and only because She is little, She enfolds the Word within Her littleness, making Him descend from heaven to earth, to let Him die for love of men. At the head of the other wing one could see another little one, and- i say it trembling and to obey- she was the one whom Jesus had called His little daughter of the Divine Will. And my sweet Jesus, placing himself in the middle of these two wings, between the two little ones who were at the head of them, with one hand took mine, and with the other that of the Queen Mama, and He joined them together, saying: " My little daughters, hold each other's hand before Our throne, and embrace the Eternal One, the Infinite One, and to enter into Him"..."

Another term used in Kabbalah and Hasidism to explain the concept of 'littleness' or 'smallness' is katnut which is a very low level to attain reserved for only the greatest Tzaddiks. It is becoming so small or little that one knows nothing and returns to the fetal stage which is called 'Smallness of smallness' (katnut d'katnut). Many have misunderstood this state which is associated with foolishness and child's play. Rebbe Nachman became one such fool for Mashiach on his journey to the Holy Land. According to Breslov writings Moses and the Baal Shem Tov descended to katnut but found it so difficult they couldn't go further until 'smallness of smallness', as Rebbe Nachman did on his journey. However for Rebbe Nachman it was only a temporary state as it was for other certain souls that attained this great descent for the sake of souls. Luisa was the first outside the Holy Family of Nazareth to achieve the permanent continuous state of katnut d'katnut as the new born of the Divine Will. This alludes to the new and divine holiness that Pope John Paul II spoke about.