The mysterious silence of God

What a mystery!

 

Sometimes I wish He wasn't so silent...

 

The Father uttered
only one Word
Which was His Son

This Word speaks always
in eternal silence

And in silence is to be heard
by the soul.

St. John of the Cross

 

Speaking of silence, WCWTS, I'm so glad you just broke yours! I pray the Father has held you in His Arms since last we heard from you!

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you!

 

Thank you, Mario, that was very kind of you.

Yes, I [and you, and everyone] am/are held in the Father's arms, near His Heart [Jesus] where we may not hear His voice but we can feel the beating of His Heart -if we pay attention-

God does nothing without telling His servants, the Prophets -Amos 3:7

God communicates with us ceaselessly.
Saint John of the Cross give us a clue about why we may not hear Him.
In silence is to be heard from the soul.

We have the Word of God made flesh, and the Word of God made book.

I want to share with you a treasure I've discovered only in the last few months:
A few decades ago, in the middle of the XX century, God expanded the revelation contained in the Gospels from a few hundred pages to some 5000 pages.
We have this expansion of the Gospels through a mystic, whose particular gift was a "time tunnel" that took her to watch, witness, and write down immediately, in the spot, the scenes of the Gospels -while lying in bed.
She writes immediately (no days or years later) and personally (no secretary or intermediary for writing) with unbelievable detail every scene, character, and conversation -of Jesus, Mary, the Apostles ....

I've been reading The Gospel as Revealed to Me - Maria Valtorta - in orderly sequence, from the first chapter on, and I want to share that it has been an immense discovery of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Gospels, every one of the Apostles, the Jewish culture of the time of Jesus .... and our own Catholic faith. It is a life-changing reading.

I strongly recommend to everyone here to read this work. I feel like I am learning to be a Christian and a follower of Jesus for the first time. It is that powerful.

I've found also something particularly timely for our current situation in the Church and the world: the mystery of Judas Iscariot's calling and presence in the life of Jesus and the Apostles. And above all, the agony of Jesus and His love and patience with Judas, His dedication to save him, and at the same time the mystery of human freedom.

The books are online for free download, in several formats here:
https://archive.org/details/VolIV6162018MariaValtorta

This is what some significant people have said about The Poem of the Man God (a previous title for the same work)

“I don’t advise you to ’read’ Maria Valtorta’s books. I order you to!”
(Saint Padre Pio’s answer to a long-time spiritual daughter of his, Mrs. Elisa Lucchi, in 1967, when she asked him in Confession, “Father, I have heard mention of Maria Valtorta’s books. Do you advise me to read them?”)

“Publish it just as it is. There is no need to give an opinion as to whether it is of supernatural origin. Those who read it will understand.”
(Pope Pius XII on February 26, 1948, to Frs. Berti, Migliorini, and Cecchin, after reviewing Valtorta’s work)

“I assure you that the Poem of the Man-God immensely surpasses whatever descriptions - I do not say of mine, because I do not know how to write - but of any other writer... It is a work which makes one grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus and of His Holy Mother... I hold that the work demands a supernatural origin.”
(Blessed Gabriel Allegra, O.F.M., a saintly missionary, world-renowned theologian, and the only beatified biblical scholar of the 20th century)

"When His Holiness Pope Paul VI was Archbishop of Milan, he read one of the books of The Poem of the Man-God. He told me how he appreciated it, and had me send the complete work to the Library of the diocesan Seminary.”
(Msgr. Pasquale Macchi, Private Secretary of Pope Paul VI, in an hour-long interview with Fr. Corrado M. Berti, O.S.M., in 1963)

“Maria Valtorta is one of the eighteen greatest mystics of all time.”
(Fr. Gabriel Roschini, O.S.M., world-renowned Mariologist, decorated professor at the Marianum Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Rome, Consultor of the Holy Office, wrote over 130 traditional/orthodox books about Our Lady)

“There are hundreds of topographical names and details and of descriptions of places…which only the latest research and archaeological excavations have brought to light. Maria Valtorta’s Work is, in truth, inexplicable by merely human means.”
(Antonio Socci, Leading Journalist & TV Show Host)​

And here is some information about Maria Valtorta:

Maria Valtorta was born in 1897 in Caserta, Italy. In 1916 the Lord attracted her
to Himself by means of a dream which was to remain vivid throughout her life.
In her early 20's and in the spring of 1920, while walking along the street, she was
struck in the back by a young delinquent. With an iron bar stripped from a bed,
he came from behind and struck her with all his might. She remained confined to
bed for three months, just a sample of what was to be her future complete
infirmity. January 4th, 1933 was the last day Maria was able to leave her house
and after April 1, 1934, she was no longer able to leave her bed.
Her activity as writer reached intensity from 1943 to 1947, and continued,
diminishing progressively, until 1953. The notebooks written by Maria included
almost fifteen thousand handwritten pages. A little less than two-thirds of this
outstanding literary production concerns her monumental masterpiece on the Life
of Jesus: THE POEM OF THE MAN-GOD / THE GOSPEL AS REVEALED
TO ME. The minor works include extensive commentaries on biblical texts,
doctrinal lessons, histories of the first Christians and martyrs and pious
compositions. "I can affirm" - one of Maria's declarations reads - "that I have had
no human source to be able to know what I write, and what, even while writing,
I often do not understand."
In lofty literary style, the POEM describes landscapes, environments, people, and
events with the vividness of graphic depiction. It presents characters and
situations with introspective insight and sets forth moments of joy or drama with
the feeling of someone really taking part in them. It provides information on the
characteristics of settings, customs, rites, and cultures with convincing detail. By
way of a gripping account of the Redeemer’s earthly life, especially through
discourse and dialogue, the work sheds light upon the whole doctrine of
Christianity in keeping with Catholic orthodoxy.
Maria died in 1961 at the age of 65. With ecclesiastical permission, her mortal
remains are now venerated in the Capitular Chapel in the Grand Cloister of the
Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation, in Florence, Italy. Chiseled on her tomb
are the words: "DIVINARUM RERUM SCRIPTRIX" (Writer of Divine Things).
That the work is completely free of moral and doctrinal error is proven by Pius
XII's (1948) ordering it to be published, the Imprimatur of Archbishop Soosa
Pakiam M. of Trivandrum, India, for the Malayalam translation (1993), the
approval of Archbishop George H. Pearce (1987), former Archbishop of Suva,
Fiji, and the full endorsement of Bishop Roman Danylak, S.T.L., J.U.D.(2001).
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith explicitly granted permission
for the work to be read and distributed as a "literary product" having the stylistic
form of a revelation (in this case, a "gospel"), with the "request" of the General
Secretary (Most Rev. Dionigi Tettamanzi) of the Italian Bishops' Conference in a
May 6th, 1992 letter to the Italian publisher Dr. Emilio Pisani letting it be known
that it may be read by all Catholics, without any corrections, on the sole condition
that "for the distribution of the work in Italy" Catholics should not consider it to
be of supernatural origin. (See the CDF letter of April 17, 1993, Prot. N. 144/58 i).​

Maybe I should have started a new thread for this -it would make a great conversation to read, pray, and share. But it was precisely the title of this thread what drew me "out of my silence" -as Mario put it-. I see in this work the fatherly tenderness of Our Father towards His poor children of our modern, technological, and post-Christian age. He knows that we need more than the nuggets of the life and ministry of Jesus on earth, and He has provided accordingly.
May God be for ever praised and loved for this.

There is an application where you get the passage of Maria Valtorta's writings corresponding to the gospel of every Sunday. But it is VERY DIFFERENT to read just isolated chapters than to read the whole story in orderly sequence from beginning to end. I invite everyone to try for themselves.

 

Yes - the silence is real.

But He is there.

He looks upon us with love.

For we are His beloved.

In the same way the sun shines God radiates His love.

In the silence we exchange.

We exchange love.

It is a mystery of love.

So embrace the silence.

Silence is a friend.

 

I am convinced God is not silent, but speaks as he said he would through his prophets. Specifically for our time through the queen of prophets, Our Blessed Mother.
"For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets". (Amos 3:7)
"And having different gifts, according to the grace that is given us, either prophecy, to be used according to the rule of faith;" [Romans 12:6]
"For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost." [2 Peter 1:21]

 

This is true. God speaks through nature, the Word, the Eucharist, His Prophets and so forth --

But I speak of the mysterious silence of God in my life.

It is so silent that it is obvious.

A silence that communicates.

I am not sure if I am making sense? It is hard to describe of course I never used to notice this silence before. But now I do.

He is present in the silence. It is like marriage - I am comfortable with my wife in silence - we do not have to communicate orally to communicate because we are soul mates.

I am getting comfortable with the mysterious silence of God. It is like a snuggle blanket.

 

I came across this book some time ago. It was v expensive. Really, really expensive - 100quid.
I was put off buying it by the price. Then I got lucky and found and bought a cheaper copy.

The problem with the cheaper copy I bought tho, is that it is a difficult read.
Let me explain; a few years ago I bought a copy of anne catherine emmerichs excellent book on the passion. Then I lost it. And subsequently bought another copy a few years later. The 2nd copy was awful. It was but a shadow of the first one I bought - it wasnt the actual print - tho the font wasn't great. It was the wording, it just wasn't the same. It wasnt mumbo jumbo. But it didnt read like the first copy I bought. (As a side-point, I have always thought that this was deliberate, to stop people reading it).
Im just wondering do I have a 'bad' copy of the poem of the mangod?
Do other people find it a difficult read?

 

Beautifully said Garabandal. I understand.

 

Everything depends on the translation. I dont know the second book you cited but I expect you got a bad translation of Annr Catherine Emmerich. Check with TAN books--but you are right that it is expensive.

 

I understand what you mean.

 

Fr. Mark Goring

 

This is beautiful, Garabandal, and very true. Thank you.

I also think that the Silence of God is an invitation to growing in faith, to growing closer to Him -which can only come through faith and love.
We can't forget that we are living on the EVE of something very decisive in the life of the whole Earth, and especially of the Church -us-.

Jesus prepared Himself to special events and times by withdrawing to pray and commune with the Father -in the Silence.

We can learn from Him, and take the Silence of God as an invitation. To believe and to love.

 

Yes it is VERY expensive, that's why I've posted the link to the free version in the Web, the Internet Archive.

If you have a phone or a tablet you can read it from there fairly easily. And of course also from a computer but that will be for only a short time.

Would you be able to qualify/comment on the translation of this version -checking a few pages?
https://archive.org/details/VolIV6162018MariaValtorta

I'm not currently reading it in English -my second language-, but I'm already looking forward to starting a second reading (when I'm finish with the first one) and I'll read it in English. Different languages always provide new insights.

The version I'm reading now I think is a masterpiece of literature as well because of all the beautiful descriptions it has: Maria Valtorta describes every single scene with an observing eye and the soul of a poet and a mystic. It is so very beautiful how she starts each new scene giving you the details of nature around, the sounds, smells, even the looks of the people, and especially of Jesus, His gestures ... But then most of the writing are the dialogues with the Apostles and the sermons of Jesus, sometimes as dense and condensed as in the Gospels (which -when included- are totally contained and then expanded in M. V. work with the context where things took place). She makes you feel walking with Jesus through Palestine, and getting to know Him, His soul as that of a fried, and truly God. It is such a discovery.

It is not easy to translate all that richness -especially to English. I have a friend that is so very, very critical of English translations that it really puzzles me. I don't understand why it is so distressing for that person. This is why I am asking if you -or anyone English speaking here- could comment on the quality of the translation of the link posted. It seems good to me by just browsing, but as I said, English is only a second language to me.
Thanks

 

The next day after I posted the post #5 above, in my reading of M.V. work I came to the chapter of the Conclusion of Jesus' 3rd year of ministry. Every now and then, in this work, Jesus speaks to Maria Valtorta, (as different from the Gospel scenes) to explain something to her, or to clarify something or to encourage her, etc.
This is what I read at this time, this "note" or explanation of Jesus to Maria V. :

I found this paragraph very striking because this is exactly what I had understood from my reading of the Poem: the amazing parallel between Jesus and the Church ahead of His and her Passion, death, and resurrection.

If you read the paragraphs I've highlighted above, and you replace Jesus for the Church, you can see that they apply to our time and our Church.

And Jesus expressly declares that this Poem of the Man God, this Gospel as Revealed to Maria Valtorta, has been given to the mid-TWENTIETH CENTURY and beyond to strengthen it against the more and more powerful attacks of Satan and the world

This was my personal sense and experience as I was reading the Poem, that Jesus was actually PREPARING ME for what is coming soon through my getting to know Him better in His Journey.

The real preparation for us, above refuges and foods, is the spiritual preparation of our soul, of strengthening our faith, and that can only come through our Journeying with Jesus, knowing Him better, closer, and loving Him more and more in Himself and in our brothers and sisters.

And ABOVE ALL in FORGIVING others, especially evil and sinful people -as He did and teaches so beautifully in the Poem -and in the Gospel. This was an eye opening to me. The way He dealt with Judas, and especially with all the rest of the Apostles having to suffer Judas in their midst. Jesus corrects and forbids ANY fault of charity towards Judas, not only of word or did but even of THOUGHT in them. He asks them again and again to PRAY for Judas, and covers him from any suspicion or criticism. Quite amazing. Quite a lesson.

I just want to encourage people to take this treasure to pray with. It has a freshness that sometimes we don't find in the Gospels because we have read and re-read them so many times. Here we have the same gospels again but with a new witness telling us the stories. And like the disciples in the road to Emmaus we can recognize Jesus with our hearts burning with love as we hear Him parting for us the Bread of Scripture, His very Word.

 

I wonder, maybe if you are going into Contemplative Prayer, maybe? That would be a good description of it..a listening silence.

This reminds me of a verse of Scripture or Liturgical Prayer we hear at Advent. 'When all the world was hushed and silent the Son of God leapt down to Earth'

Very beautiful; I must see if I can find it.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3703.htm

 

I sense that the fact that many of us feel the "silence" of God at this time, is a precursor to when the rest of the church and the world goes mute, because of when the great tribulation is upon them, we may be able to speak of God to them in the silence of their confusion. Especially after the Warning. It's a bit like the dark night of the soul..... we trust, we pray, we sacrifice, we trust and we hope. But when the storm sets in upon the whole world, those around us will not know how to do any of these things. We must then bring those gifts alive to them. If we know how to persevere now in the silence, we will be better prepared to speak to those in our midst when their silence comes.

 

I have to thank you for sharing the link to download the book. I am enjoying reading it and am amazed how loving and patient our Lord was with every person he encountered. One of the stories I appreciated was when Jesus told Simon (Peter) that he had cured a mother at the request of her child. When Jesus went to the house he was turned away by the husband and brother (apparently they were not very nice about it). The child was distraught and Jesus healed the woman so the child would not be an orphan. He told the child to go home and the mother would be healed. She got in trouble with her father when he found out that Jesus healed her anyway. He did it even with ingratitude for the greater good of the child. After Jesus told Simon this story, Simon's responded "I would have made her sick again!". Jesus rebuked him heavily, but I had to laugh because that's exactly what I thought. But we're called to love and forgive our enemies. This book gives such a beautiful insight into our Lord's life of sacrifice and love. Thank you for the link again!

God bless!

 

I'm glad that you can read it Bernadette. Thanks for sharing.

Yes the "human-ness" of the apostles is so normal that makes the episodes very credible. And it is among our so very poor human reality that Jesus' character, His love and mercy for sinners and the poor truly shines. I find it very powerful. But also it is so alive that you start reading and it is difficult to drop it, it is very engaging and dramatic.