From the writings of Sister Josefa Menendez...

29th March 1923

"Josefa, today is My great day, the day of Love. Its feast day," said Our Lord on the morning of Holy Thursday.

She was at prayer in her cell and suddenly He came as on the preceding day, with a Heart surrounded with flames. She renewed her vows and fell on her face in adoration before Him, He Spoke:

"Today is the day on which I give Myself to souls, that I may be for them just what they wish: If they look on Me as their Father I shall be a Father to them....If they desire Me as their Beloved...

"My All Lord, for I am nothing!"

Tranquil peace and gratitude filled Josefa's heart, and so she went to Mass, then to Holy Communion. On returning to her place she at once renewed the complete offering of her whole person to her good and beloved Master, definitely abandoning herself into His hands for ever. Jesus ratified the offering...

"It must be on account of your nothingness and utter misery that you must let Me kindle your heart's fire, consume and destroy it. You surely know that nothing and misery cannot resist."

Josefa spent the whole day under the power of Love that gives...and Love that humbles Itself before Its own...She would hear these words from her Lord while in the silence and recollection of that day through the ceremonies of religious life, the last actions, the last outpourings of the love of Our Saviour among His own.

At about four in the afternoon Josefa was at prayer in her cell near a statue of Our Blessed Lady, and was thinking over the mysterious words of Jesus, when He Himself appeared.

"Yes Josefa, I did indeed say that Love gives Itself to Its own and it is true..Come, draw near My Heart and enter in, and taste and see what its overwhelming emotions are.

"Love gives Itself as food to Its own and this food is the substance which gives them their life and sustains them. Love humbles itself before Its own...and in so doing raises them to the highest dignity. Love surrenders Itself in totality, It gives in profusion and without reserve. With enthusiasm, with vehemence It is sacrificed, It is immolated, It is given for those It Loves. The Holy Eucharist is Love to the extreme of folly."

It looked as if Our Lord at that moment was unable to retrain the burning effusions of His Heart, then His voice changed and He spoke with gravity, saying: "This Love will lead Me to My death!"...

Then, turning to Josefa, He addressed her directly: "Today you are sustained, consoled and strengthened by love; tomorrow Josefa, you will accompany Me to Calvary and suffer with Me."

The sombre shades of the Passion were about to descend on a day which had been all light. During the night, spent in part in the Chapel in prayer at the Sepulchre, she was again allowed to share in the Cross, the Crowm, the anguish and the sorrow of her Master, treasures she had learned to bear and to esteem for His sake.

Towards midnight He appeared and called her to share with Him the solitude of the dungeon. His white tunic was shreds and stained with Blood: His sacred countenance bore vivid traces of the injuries and ignominy to which it had been subjected: 

Josefa

He said "You have been My comfort..now I come to take back My Cross. Keep Me company now...Do not leave Me alone in prison..When I raise My eyes, let Me find yours looking at Me. The presence of a sympathetic heart greatly consoles one who suffers. Do you realize this? You who have experienced the tenderness of my Heart, can gauge what My Heartache is at being so outraged by My enemies and deserted by My friends..."

Jesus then left her saying: "No need to say adieu, for are you not always with Me?"

Good Friday-30th March and 31st 1923

At about six in the morning when at prayer, she noted..."I saw Him as during the night, but a red mantle had been thrown over His white tunic. He seemed utterly spent. At once He said to me

"'Josefa, My enemies are soon going to load the Cross on My shoulders. It is so heavy'

"I implored Him to let me carry it, for I so long to help Him...

"'Yes take It' He said @and may your love mitigate My pain...I have made My sufferings known to you....follow Me in them....accompany Me and share in My agony."'

In the course of the morning He returned to dictate to her the Stations of the Cross He had made with her two days before.

"His face was torn" she wrote, "His eyes swollen and filled with Blood .... He let Me kiss His feet at the seventh, the eleventh and the thirteenth Stations, and before leaving He said to me: 'the hour of the Crucifixion is approaching..I will warn you when the time comes.'

Towards half past twelve I saw Him again" she continued. His tunic had been wrenched off half His Body.

"Now is the moment when the executioners are about to fasten Me to the Cross Josefa."

Then, she wrote: 'Such an agonizing pain shot through my hands and feet that my whole body was shaken...At the same time I heard the strokes of the hammer, slow and resounding afar....

In a faint and dying voice He said these words: "Now is the hour for the world's redemption! They are about to lift Me up as a spectacle of derision to the crowd....but also of admiration to souls..."

I saw Him a few moments later. He was fastened to the Cross and it had been lifted up erect.

Peace has come to the world!...The Cross, hitherto an instrument of torture on which criminals were made to die, is changed into the light and peace of the world and the object of the most profound veneration.

"Sinners will draw pardon and life from My Sacred Wounds..My Blood will wash away and efface all their filth and foulness.

"Pure souls will come to My wounds, their to slake their thirst and kindle flames of love int heir hearts...there they will find a refuge, and forever make a home.

"The world has found a Redeemer, and chosen souls THE MODEL THEY MUST COPY. And as for you Josefa, these hands are yours to give you support, these feet to follow you and never leave you alone. Write all that you see."

Once again Josefa attempted to describe Our Saviour as she saw Him. She knew that this manifestation was made to her for the sake of souls, that she might transmit to them the testimony of His torments. Putting all her power to the task, she tried to omit no part in her narrative:

 'He was nailed to the Cross. The Crown of thorns encircled His brow and great spiky thorns furrowed deep into His flesh. One longer than the rest had pierced its way through His forehead and emerged near the left eye which was much swollen. His face covered with Blood and filth leaned forward a little to the left.

Though His eyes were very swollen and Blood shot they were open and gazed earthwards. All over His wounded Body were to be seen the weals and welts caused by the scourges which in some parts had torn away fragments of flesh and skin. Blood flowed from His Head and from His other wounds. His lips were purple and His mouth slightly twisted, but when I saw Him for the last time at about half past two, it had assumed its normal shape.

The sight was so pitiable that it wrung my heart with compassion. What caused me most sorrow was that He could not use a hand to touch His face.

'What strength this sight gave me, Jesus nailed hands and feet...stength to leave all and to submit to His will in everything, however costly.

'I also noticed as I gazed at Him on the Cross how they had torn away His beard. It had given such majesty to His Face....and His once beautiful hair which used to add such grace to His personwas all matted, all tangled and clotted with Blood, and falling across His face.'

This painful spectacle left Josefa, so to speak, annihilated and this is not hard to understand. She seemed drowned in sorrow. She spent all the afternoon in the little cell that had witnessed so many favours, and that today by God's will had taken on the resemblance of the summit of Calvary. A silence gripping in its intensity reigned there, and Josefa in prayer associated herself with the sacrifice of the Redeemer.

Towards half past two she wrote: 'Jesus spoke again in a faint and faltering voice.  Josefa listened to the seven words of Jesus. amplified by the outpourings of His Love.

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do: They have not known Him who is their life. On His shoulder they have heaped the fury of their iniquities. But I beseech Thee, Father, heap upon them the full measure of Thy Mercy.

"Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise....for thy faith in thy Saviour's mercy has wiped out all thy offences and it will lead thee to eternal blessedness.

"Woman behold Thy Son!...O Mother Mine!..these are My brethren..keep them...love them...You for whom I died are no longer alone; you have a Mother to whom you can have recourse in every necessity.'"

Here Josefa interrupted her narrative.

I saw near the Cross the Blessed Virgin, standing erect. She was gazing at Her Son. She wore a purple garment and veil and spoke in a voice which was firm though full of deep sadness:

"See my child, the state to which His Love for souls has reduced Him!...He whom you see in so sad and pitiable a state is My Son. Love is driving Him to His death...and it is Love that constrains Him to make all men brethren by giving them all His own Mother."

"My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?.....

Yes henceforth, a soul has the right to say to its God: 'Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' After the mystery of the Redemption was consummated, man became the Son of God, Christ is his brother, eternal life his heritage.

"I thirst!...."O My Father, I thirst indeed for Thy Glory, and behold now is the hour at hand! Man shall henceforth know through the fulfillment of My words that Thou indeed hast sent Me and Thou shalt be glorified.  I thirst for souls, and to appease this thirst I have given the last drop of My Blood...and so I can say:

"All is consummated!

"Now at length is accomplished that great mystery of Love in which a God delivers up His own Son to death. I came into this world to do Thy Will; O My Father it is accomplished.

"Into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit!

"To Thee I give back My Soul. Thus shall souls that do My Will have the right to say in all truth: All is consummated..My Lord and My God, receive My soul which I commit into Thy Hands.

"Josefa, write down what you have heard. I want souls to hear and read what is written...so that they who thirst may drink and the hungry may be filled"

After these words, said Josefa He disappeared.

In unspeakable sadness of heart I kept the Cross and the nails until about six o clock that evening: when suddenly all ceased except the pain of the Crown of Thorns.

Our Lord's very frequent visits came to an end on the Good Friday evening. All Holy Saturday Josefa weighed down by the recollection of the previous day's revelations.

At about half past two on Easter morning Our Lady appeared radiant in loveliness. She spoke only these words:

"Daughter, My Son and your Divine Master suffers now no more, He is risen and glorious...His wounds are a fountain from which innumerable souls will draw grace, and a shelter will find a home.

Be prepared daughter to adore His Glorious wounds!"

She vanished instantly....

"I cannot say how sad I was at seeing Her go...wrote Josefa...I should have loved to fly after Her, so as not to remain alone-but I saw Her no more."

An Appeal to the whole World

Josefa is disconcerted and ashamed to see herself as she is- especially being overwhelmed with graces, she concludes that she should be saintly-but sees herself far from this..

Our Lord says: "You must not be troubled Josefa. I want you to be nothing that I may be All. The smaller a thing is the more easily it can be handled. it is just because you are so paltry a thing that I can use you as I like. You know that I need nothing.. and all I ask of you is to be plastic in My Hands. Your misery is of little account in My eyes... Remain as you are, nothing..but look, and you will see what I who am All can fashion out of nothingness.

"The less there is of you, the more I shall be your life, and you will be My Heaven of rest. Do you not know Josefa that on earth My Heaven is in souls? To win souls Pray Josefa, pray intensely...yes beg for souls this burning love!

Josefa wrote ' He told me all my failings and said "What are you Josefa, after all? A mere pinch of dust that one blows away with a breath"  Josefa begs forgiveness..

"You know that I always forgive you. If I tell you of your faults it is because of My love for you that yourself may disappear and I may live in you. And now, I will change the flame in your heart kindle it a fresh to give you new vigour for the work of your own destruction.

6th June 1923

I shall return every evening to consume all your failings and rekindle the flame which I have put in place of your heart.

You know that it is the property of fire to destroy and to enkindle.In the same way My Heart's property is to pardon, love and purify. Never think that I shall cease to love you because of your miseries. No. My Heart loves you and will never forsake you".

7th June 1923

Josefa still fears her misery- Jesus says "Why these fears? Have I not told you that My one desire is to forgive? do you think I have chosen you because of your virtues? I know well that you have nothing but misery and weakness, but as I am a purifying fire, I will wrap you round in the flames of My Heart and destroy you. Ah! Josefa, how often I have told you that My one longing is for souls to bring Me their miseries! Come and let Love consume you.

Josefa prays for souls...

Our Lord speaks: " When a king espouses the daughter of a subject he assumes the obligation of providing all that the new rank to which he has raised her requires.

I have chosen you and have undertaken thus to provide for your every want. I require nothing of you beyond what is already yours. Give Me an empty heart and I will fill it. Give Me a heart destitute of all adornment and I will make it beautiful. Give it Me with all its miseries and I will consume them. What is hidden from you, I will reveal, and all that you lack, I will take on Myself to supply.

Josefa speaks "By this He made clear to me how He helps souls who desire only to please Him, and how He supplies their every want, and all they lack.

Jesus: "You know well, Josefa, that had I been able to find anywhere a creature more miserable than you, I would assuredly chosen her, in order to manifest the longings of My Heart through her, but not finding one I chose you.

You know too, what happens when an insignificant little flower devoid of charm or fragrance springs up on a high road full of traffic. It quickly gets trampled underfoot, by the passersby who pay not the slightest attention to it, nor so much notice its existence. And think Josefa, what would of become of you if I had left you, frail and miserable as you are, to the cold of winter, the heat of summer, to be the sport of wind and rain, assuredly you would have died. But because I want you to live, I transplanted you into the garden of My Sacred Heart, tending you with My own hands, that you may grow up under the beams of the sun with its vivifying and restoring power, who's strength is tempered in your regard, that no injury may come to you.

Ah Josefa leave yourself such as you are, to My care, and let the sight of your nothingness never lessen your trust, but only confirm you in humility."

"If Your desire is so great, Mine for exceeds it! I will purge and cleanse you in the fires of love."

"Despoil yourself of all things, keeping back no desire, no attraction, no personal judgement...Then, submit yourself whole heartedly to the will of your Beloved. Let Me do with you  what I like, and not what you desire. You ought so to confirm yourself to Me that My will in you becomes your own, by total submission to My good pleasure. You have given to Me all your rights by the vow of obedience.

"Would that souls understood that never are they more free than when they have this given themselves up to Me, and that never am I more included to grant their desires than when they are ready to do my will in everything...Clasp tight those chains that sweetly bind you to Me.

Go and renew the vows that bind you to My feet, to My hands and introduce you into  My Heart."

"Josefa, you have just told Me that you love Me alone...that you have despoiled yourself of everything for My sake...that you will never have any other liberty or will than Mine. My will is yours, your will is Mine. I shall be Master of your thoughts, of your words and of your actions. If you have nothing, I will provide everything for you.

I will live in you, speak in you, love you, and forgive you.

"I will live in you and you in Me. I will speak in you, and my words will reach souls and will not pass away. I will love you, and by that love souls will discover My love for them. I will forgive you, and souls will recognise My mercy by that with which I have wrapped you round.

Many believe in Me, but few believe in My Love...and among those who do, too few rely on My mercy...many know Me as their God, but how few trust in Me as their Father. I will Manifest Myself...especially to those who are the objects of My prediction. I will show them through you that I ask nothing of them that they do not possess. But I do ask that all they have they should give Me, for all is Mine.

If they possess nothing but miseries and weaknesses, those I desire...even if they have only faults and sins...I desire them also. I beg them to give them to Me. Give them to Me, yes give all to Me and keep nothing, but trust My heart: I forgive you, I love you, I will sanctify you Myself."

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Words of Our Lord to Sister Josefa Menendez 1923