In the late evening, when the shadows of weariness are already descending upon me, my Jesus compels me to write as follows.
Jesus says:
“You have said the Rosary, meditating on it. And you have seen Me in the first four scenes of the sorrowful mysteries. I did not present the Crucifixion to you because you are too exhausted. You have seen Me once again in the garden, in the flagellation and crowning, and in the Ecce Homo scene, when I was presented to the howling mob and then burdened with the cross.
“Not to you for your sake, but for all I shall now respond to a question you so often ask. Why didn’t I, as God, burn to ashes my accusers and slayers by a miracle of divine power? Why! Because I am the Redeemer and not an executioner.
“From the garden on, until my death, I could have terrified the betrayer, those making the arrest, the accusers, the torturers, the blasphemers, and the crucifiers as much as I pleased. All of them. They asked for this when I was on the cross: ‘Let him, who has saved so many, come down from the cross and save himself.’346 I could indeed have done so, and the already abundant Blood shed would have been sufficient for the Redemption of those in the past and the future, whereas those living in the present would have bitten the dust, terrified by the miracle, slain by my power and hurled into the abyss forever.
“But among those many thousands of rioters - who, in one of those sudden acts of madness of a mob, had turned into numerous assassins of an Innocent One, and because of that phenomenon of collective criminality which always arises under the spur of special upsurges of feelings incited by those really to blame and by the real killers, who for purposes of their own whip up mobs while remaining in the shadow - how many would have died in the sin of deicide if I had struck them down with my power! The Eternal did not want anyone to be damned except the truly corrupt and wanted the subversives to be saved when the Redemption, carried out to the point of the extreme sacrifice, had purified their consciences, freeing them from the venoms which made them rave.
“There are times, poor men, when you are mad. And my miracle is worked in curing your moral madness.
“If, for example, I had taken off your life, poor Maria, when a month ago you loudly asked Me to,347 what would I have done to you? Something good? No. Something bad. I could now remove your life. And it would not be contrary to the merciful design I have always followed with you. You are now healed of the delirium unleashed by cruel human - we could say ‘Satanic’ - events, for, as I have always said,348 this is not a war of men, but of Satan against spirits. Nor are those perishing in battle or under the ruins of a house the only victims. In addition, and above all, those losing faith and hope and charity, and not the life of a mortal hour, but eternal Life, by dying to God’s Grace, are victims of Satan’s struggle against spirits.
“You are now healed. You have overcome Satan. But because I have given you time to. The time to get back up after the sudden and atrocious assault - sudden and mocking - of the Enemy on your spirit. He assaulted you like the lion Peter speaks of349 and knocked you about. He fled because you, with your remaining strength - a crumb - and your remaining voice - a puff of air - uplifted the cross and repeated my Name. Almost stupefied, you repeated out of habit what had for years been the gesture of your love. But before you could recover and rebuild yourself, torn to shreds by the one who hates you, some time had to pass. Resurrections always require time. And he had struck you so much that you were almost dead.
“But that point in you my Mother speaks about350 - the holiest part of your spirit - has never been stricken. It could not be, Maria. That part is mine. It is mine. Only your will could take it away from Me. But you will never do so. I know. And that part, like a magnet attracting scattered molecules to itself, attracted again and reunited what Satan, raging with hatred for Me and you, had torn to pieces.
“Woe to you if I had stricken you then! How much separation there still is between Me and you! You do not want it. I do not want it. I want death to be the moment of Life for you. Without the languor of waiting.
“Come. Proceed. I am here. Kiss my wounds, from which Life descends to you. I have opened them to give you this Life. As I have opened them for so many.
“These are my triumphs in the hour of the Passion. These are the ones saved by my Mercy before being saved by my Blood. Mercy has let them live to allow the Blood to work and heal them.
“That is why, O men, I let Myself be tortured to the point of death without striking down anyone. Because I loved you as only I could love.
“Rest now. Go in peace.”
346 Matthew 27:39-43; Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35.
347 On April 15.
348 Especially in The Notebooks. 1943: June 4, June 19, and August 21.
349 1 Peter 5:8-9. See the dictations of May 11 and 12.
350 In the dictation on May 13.