On Free Will & Opposition to The Poem

CHRIST

ON

FREE WILL & OPPOSITION

TO

THE POEM

†

– From the Mystical Revelations Given to Maria Valtorta –

— INTRODUCTORY NOTE —

The sad history of Maria Valtorta's masterwork, The Poem of the Man-God, is one of frequent opposition and rejection, especially by ecclesiastical authorities. Yet, from Valtorta's personal experience of the revelations she received in The Poem, she was utterly convinced of the Divine origin of this precious gift to the Church and to modern man. Hence, she was devastated by the obstinate negative reaction of Church authorities toward the Work.¹

Christ had requested that the "Work" of The Poem... and other attendant revelations given to Valtorta, be entrusted to the Order of the Servites of Mary for safekeeping and eventual publication. There was a local community of the Servites in Valtorta's hometown of Viareggio, of which she was a Third Order member. But apart from her spiritual director, Fr. Romuald Migliorini, O.S.M., and the theologian Fr. Conrad Berti, O.S.M., who annotated her works, and perhaps one or two others, the rest of the Order apparently did not believe in the authenticity and Divine origin of her revelations, treating them mostly as products of her own imagination, if not heaping scorn on them.

Valtorta was especially dismayed when the Holy Office, influenced probably by the attitude of the Servites, placed the 1st Edition of The Poem on the Index of Forbidden Books—invalidly—since the Work¹ had the verbal approval of Pope Pius XII for publication. A little known fact, however, is that later, in 1961, Fr. Mark Giraudo, O.P., Commissioner of the Holy Office, gave verbal approval for the publication of the 2nd Edition of The Poem, effectively reversing its previous placement on the Index. (On this see Fr. Conrad Berti's "Testimony" posted elsewhere on this web site).

Because Valtorta was convinced of the great Treasure contained in The Poem, and knew the pain and sorrow this opposition caused her Divine Master, she asked Him—as He passed in procession in the Blessed Sacrament near her home—why He did not force the authorities, by an act of power, to accept its Divine origin and approve it for publication. In the following excerpt from Valtorta's Quadernetti, we have
Christ's response to her question, which involves the gift of free will that He gives to each soul.

It is certainly for the bad will and obstinacy of these authorities, these "Shepherds of souls who forbid wholesome pasture to the sheep," —as Christ brands them—that He foretells here the severe judgment that awaits them at their end.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

— Trans.

FREE WILL & OPPOSITION TO THE POEM

[June 14, 1953 -7:45 pm²]

Valtorta :

Jesus answers the question I asked while the Most Blessed Sacrament passed at the corner, near my house: "Why not force with an act of power, Lord, those who for years oppose the publication of the Work¹ ?" His answer—

JESUS :

I do not violate the free will which I have given to man. I limit Myself to pointing out with clear words and spiritual advice, what it is good to do in order to merit My blessing on Earth, and eternal glory in Heaven; or else My chastisement both here and [in the] Beyond. So did My Father do with the angels and with Adam and Eve, because thus it had to be done to confirm them or not in grace. And thus do I do with all men of every class and social condition: from kings to the poor, from Priests to the laity, from scholars to the ignorant.

I subject all to the test which should confirm them in grace or make them fall into disgrace. But woe to those who, like your First Parents, through a spirit of haughtiness and envy, make bad use of the free will which I gave them, to test their virtue, just like the goldsmith tests the purity of the metal in the crucible. To them will be given the same condemnation as Adam and Eve, who were expelled from the earthly Paradise, separated from the nearness of the Father-Creator, fallen from Grace, [and] condemned for years to Limbo. So, too, these [who make bad use of their free will]—they will be condemned not to Limbo, but to Purgatory: which is a place of much greater torment. These, too, will expiate till the end of the ages their sins of haughtiness, envy, spite, injustice and, above all, their lack of charity towards their neighbor—that is, toward you [Maria], and toward all those souls who, through the Work³, would have found faith again and, hence, Life and eternal Salvation.

For all these souls who could not be saved through the fault of these haughty, envious Clergy, they will have to render and account to Me, and expiate the bad use they made of the free will that I had given them. Not only that, but they are enlightened, supported, guided with the proper charisms which the Priesthood confers on every Minister of the Clergy, and which are so much the more ample and powerful, the greater their religious rank and theological culture. The higher their office and culture, the more severe also [will be] the chastisement for their fault. It is I Who say this to you, Maria. Ah! These Shepherds of souls who forbid the wholesome pasture to the sheep and the lambs, and do not themselves do anything to save them when the sheep have strayed and are in danger—what faults they commit, what sorrow they give Me!⁴

In vain will they later, in the particular Judgment, invoke then My pardon, My Mercy! I can only answer them: "I gave you bread and the water of life for whoever was hungry and thirsty, and you rejected Me and My gift. Now I reject you. Go and expiate, each of you in proportion to the sin you have committed. You did not want to recognize Me in the Work.¹ Now, I do not recognize you. Go. I am Mercy, it is true. I am Charity, it is true. But I am also perfect Justice. And now I make My Justice act, this alone, since while you were in life you rejected Me: Mercy and Charity. Nothing justifies your actions and obstinacy toward the Work.¹ Hence, nothing can change My Divine judgment. Go and expiate!"

"Another thing for which I cannot forgive any of you, and which you must expiate: your lack of truth toward My instrument.⁵ You have always lied with her and to her—she, poor creature, a teacher of truth for you. Expiate this too, because there is never too much expiation for one who obstinately wrongs [another]. What mercy could I give any of you, if you never had mercy? Go and expiate."

I am always He Who rebuked the guilty of the Temple. I do not change. You [must] all expiate like them. They expiated later—after My Death, Resurrection, and Ascension—with the loss of everything: Temple, power, wealth, country, and even material and spiritual life.

______________________________________________________

— NOTES —

1. The term "Work" is often used by Christ or God the Father throughout Valtorta's revelations, to refer to the whole corpus of The Poem of the Man-God. Elsewhere, God the Father has also called The Poem... the "Good News newly evangelized" —i.e., the Good News, given all over again, as it was given 2000 years ago. Thus new editions of The Poem... significantly restore its original title: The Gospel as It Was Revealed to Me. "Gospel," of course, means "Good News".
2. Maria Valtorta, Quadernetti (Edizioni Pisani / Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, Via Po 95, 03036 Isola del Liri (FR), Italia, 2006): 214-216.
3. "...through the Work would have found Life and eternal Salvation." —A severe condemnation which, as the next paragraph makes clear, refers especially to those ecclesiastical authorities who have obstinately hindered or prevented the publication and dissemination of Christ's "Work" —the term He frequently uses to refer to His Poem of the Man-God, as stated in Note 1 above.
4. Christ continues the severe condemnation of these Church authorities, "these Shepherds of souls..." i.e., those of the hierarchy who oppose publishing The Poem—which He here refers to as "wholesome pasture," and which they thereby forbid the sheep and the lambs to enter.
5. "...My instrument." Christ often refers to Valtorta as His "instrument".