Then, while I was amid reluctances and fear of being surprised by my usual sufferings, my adorable Jesus, making Himself seen in great suffering, told me: “My daughter, what is the matter? You no longer want to suffer together with Me? How can this be? You want to leave Me alone? You want to take away from Me the rights that you have given Me many times—that I might do with you whatever I want? Good daughter, do not give Me this sorrow; abandon yourself in My arms and let Me do what I want.”
And I: “My Love, forgive me, You know the struggles I find myself in, and what profound humiliations I have been cast into. If things were as before—when did I ever refuse You anything? Therefore, mind and think, oh Jesus, of what You are doing to me, and into what a maze You cast me, if You let me fall into my usual sufferings. And if I say to You ‘Fiat,’ the effort I make is so great, that I feel myself dying. Jesus! Jesus! help me.”
And Jesus: “My good daughter, do not fear, humiliation is bearer of glory; over the contempt of creatures arises the Divine Appreciation, and their abandonment is the call of the faithful company of your Jesus; therefore, let Me do. If you knew how Divine Justice is armed, you would not be opposed; on the contrary, you would pray Me to make you suffer so as to spare, in part, your brothers. More regions will be devastated, and misery is at the doors of cities and of nations. My Heart feels such Tenderness in seeing to what a state of desolation and of confusion the earth will be reduced; and this Tenderness of Mine, so sensitive toward creatures, is offended by the hardness of the human heart. Oh! how intolerable to Me is the hardness of the human heart; much more so before Mine, which is all loving Tenderness and Goodness toward them. A hard heart is capable of all evils and reaches such extent as to make a mockery of the pains of others, and it changes the Tendernesses of My Heart toward it into sorrows and deep wounds. The most beautiful prerogative of My Heart is Tenderness; all the fibers, the affections, the desires, the love, the heartbeats of My Heart have Tenderness as their origin. So, My fibers are tender, My affections and desires are most tender, My Love and heartbeats are so tender as to reach the point of melting My Heart out of Tenderness; and this tender Love makes Me arrive at loving the creatures so much, that I am content with suffering Myself rather than seeing them suffer. A love, when it is not tender, is like a food without condiment, like a beauty that is aged, incapable of attracting anyone to make itself loved; it is like a flower without fragrance, like a dry fruit without humor and sweetness. A love that is hard, without tenderness, is unacceptable and would have no virtue of making itself loved by anyone. Therefore, My Heart suffers so much in seeing the hardness of creatures, that they reach the point of changing My graces into scourges.”