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Thank you dear Sisters
Hopefully this blog can help to keep visitors informed on what is happening with Venerable Sr. Consolata Betrone's official website: Monastery of the Sacred Heart in Turin Italy. http://www.consolatabetrone-monasterosacrocuore.it/wp/ When navigating on the Sisters' website, go to LANGUAGES, and use the drop down menu to ENGLISH. Here is another link: https://www.consolatabetrone-monasterosacrocuore.it/wp/video/ Even though these videos are in Italian, you can get a better sense of actually seeing the dear Sisters and the Monastery of the Sacred Heart in Turin Italy. Please keep this very important message of The Littlest Way of Love in your prayers, and The Littlest Way of Love may be more widely known to the rest of the world. Another beautiful book "JESUS APPEALS to the WORLD" from the writings of Sr. Consolata Betrone. This was written by her spiritual director Fr. Lorenzo Sales, IMC.
Here is the link: https://www.stpaulsusa.com/English/Books/Spirituality/JESUS-APPEALS-TO-TO-THE-WORLD Here are some beautiful words from this book: pgs. 78-81.
"If every good work therefore --- learning, faith, alms, sacrifice, and even martyrdom --- both individually and as a whole, is as nothing and has no value without love, it follows that only love counts, only love is in truth everything. And so even a soul who has not been called to such works, or for whom it is impossible to carry them out, is really giving everything to God when she loves Him with all her heart, with all her mind, with all her strength."
"This, we repeat, was the point of departure for Saint Thérèse when she embraced the path of love, and it was the same with Sister Consolata, to whom Jesus declared:"
"Love Me, Consolata, love Me alone! Love is everything, and so you will be giving Me
everything. (August 7th, 1935)"
"When you love Me, you give Jesus everything He desires from His creatures: Love!
(September 20th, 1935)"
"Our Lord did not wish her to dissipate her spiritual energies in a multitude of often
inconclusive resolutions, when this one resolve to love would comprise all others:"
" Love is everything! If you will now concentrate upon this one resolution, you will be giving everything to Jesus! (December 1st, 1935)"
"There is no doubt about one's having to obey the Law; and who does? The one who loves. "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word."(17) (John 14:23) Jesus told Sister Consolata on November 15th, 1935:"
"You see, Consolata, My creatures make Me out as one who is fear inspiring rather than
kind; and I, on the other hand, delight in being always and solely kind. What is it that I require? Love, and love only, for he who loves Me, serves Me."
"Conversely, he who does not love is already outside the Law: "He that loves Me not, keeps not My words." (18) (John 14:24). And he who observes the Law only out of fear, would not be performing a perfect work, as Jesus explained to Sister Consolata on November 16th, 1935:"
"You see, I long to have My creatures serve Me out of love. Therefore, if a soul avoids some fault for fear of My chastisements, that is not what I am longing for from My creatures. I desire to be loved; I crave the love of My creatures! When they will come to love Me, they will no longer offend Me. When two people really love each other, they never offend each other. That is precisely the way it ought to be between the Creator and His creatures."
"One day Sister Consolata was deeply impressed by a sentence she had heard during
meditation and asked Our Lord:"
"O Jesus, is it not true that if one is blameworthy for performing some work negligently, then one is blessed if one performs it diligently?" Jesus replied:"
"Rather than with diligence you should strive to do everything with much love. Whether
you are working, eating, drinking, or sleeping, do everything with a great deal of love, for I thirst for love. Love is what I look for in every work. (November 29th, 1935) (19) (See 1
Corinthians 10:31)."
"At other times also Jesus insisted on this point of giving value to every action through love:"
" Fix all your attention upon your task of the moment so as to accomplish it will all possible love. (October 10th, 1935)"
"Your actions will have more value in proportion as you increase in love! (November 16th, 1935)"
"The same thing may be said of every difficulty which the soul encounters. How great must have been the value of the roses of Saint Thérèse in the eyes of God because of the fervor with which they were gathered and offered! We find the same language and almost the identical expressions used by Jesus in His instructions to Sister Consolata:"
"Transform everything disagreeable that you meet with into little roses; gather them with love and offer them to Me with love. (November 14th, 1935)"
"I delight in gifts which are offered with all possible love. Then even your trifles become precious to Me. (December 3rd, 1935) "
"It is not, therefore, the offering itself which Jesus considers, or its kind; for what can we give Him that is not already His? "If I should be hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine and the fullness thereof." (20) (Psalm 49:12.) But our love, yes; that is our own, and that is what Jesus looks for. He told Sister Consolata on November 24th, 1935:"
" No, Consolata, no! Jesus does not demand heroic acts from you, but merely trifles; only they must be offered with all your heart!"
"All this must be a comfort to those souls --- and they form the great majority --- who are not called to perform great works but pass all their lives in performing their humble daily duties, unseen and unappreciated by the world. Sister Consolata was arranging a bunch of flowers for Our Lady one morning, but they were already fairly wilted, and she was regretting this. Then the voice of grace gave her to understand:"
"It is not always possible to offer God beautiful flowers of virtues, but they can always be accompanied by love. Jesus does not look at the flower but at the love with which it is offered."
"The soul is wise, therefore, in aiming directly at love with a determined effort while practicing a virtue, rather than striving for acts of virtue, for it is love which gives life to the
virtues and perfects them. If mutual brotherly love "covers a multitude of sins," (21)( 1 Peter 4:8) how can one doubt but that love replaces before God the defects to which a soul is subject. Truly, it is either a case of simple physical failings, and these do not count, or of venial ethical shortcomings, and these, as we shall soon see, are first made good by love and then gradually eliminated. A purely formal perfection is directly opposed to that essential perfection which is in the heart. In fact, any virtue which is not related to the ultimate and perfect Good, though still a virtue, is an imperfect one. One can understand, therefore, how Jesus could say to Sister Consolata:"
" When the heart is very sick, it makes even a robust person inactive. Thus, if the heart does not belong to Me, I do not know what to make of the soul, no matter how much she is adorned with virtues."
"To sum up, that soul is more perfect who comes closer to God. And as God is Love, that soul comes nearer to Him and is the more perfect who loves Him the more. Jesus confirmed this to Sister Consolata when He said:"
"That soul is dearest to Me who loves Me the most!"
(The writings below are from Venerable Sr. Consolata Betrone - "Jesus Appeals to the World by Fr. Lorenzo Sales, IMC)
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Jesus told Sr. Consolata to write these words underneath this picture: The whole life of a "Littlest Soul" is based on the divine promise
"I will think of everything; you, think
only of loving Me."
"Jesus, Mary, I Love you! Save souls!"
"Jesus Appeals to the World"
The Littlest Ones and Our Lady
"We now come to point out another instance of how admirably the Heart of Jesus prepares and directs events even to the smallest circumstances, for it is important. Note that the work of the Littlest Ones was officially instituted on the First Friday of September, during the Novena of Our Lady's Nativity. The significance of this providential coincidence is obvious. A work which Jesus Himself termed marvelous and of so great and universal importance for the salvation and sanctification of souls, could not be begun without some sign and pledge of protection on the part of her whose name, together with that of Jesus, is unceasingly invoked by the Littlest Souls. The love for Jesus and the love for Mary are united in the same perennial praise and in the same prayer on behalf of souls.
So it was a part of God's design that this new work should be born at a time when the Church was preparing to celebrate the day on which the most exalted of all creatures appeared littlest upon earth. And not only littlest in her humanity, but even more so in her spirit. The Blessed Virgin alone could in reality make herself littlest, she who was so great in the eyes of God. But we who have contracted the disease of sin, no matter how deeply we may humble ourselves, we will never reach that meanest degree, that littleness, that nothingness, in which we find ourselves before God. Only Mary Most Holy was a true and perfect Littlest One in the particular sense of which we here treat, for she alone made of her life, from its first to its last instant, an unceasing act of love toward God, an act of charity toward her neighbor, and a constant "yes" to the will of God." pgs. 163-164
The Littlest Ones and Our Lady
"That is why the Heart of Jesus wished the work to be initiated on the First Friday of September. It was to be like a flower that opened in bloom at the feet of this heavenly baby to receive the dew of her first smile, the warmth of her first blessing, as a pledge of success and of perennial duration." pg. 164
The Littlest Ones and Our Lady
"Sister Consolata, in her tender love for the Virgin, could not fail to notice these circumstances and felt herself intimately and irresistibly driven to consecrate the Littlest Ones not only to the Heart of Jesus, but also to that of Our Blessed Lady. She writes:
"Because the first of these souls has consecrated herself among the Littlest Ones today, on the First Friday of September, during the Novena to the Nativity of Mary Most Holy, I shall enbrace all the Littlest Ones of all the ages on Tuesday next, September 8th, and I will place them next to her cradle and consecrate them to the infant Mary. She will protect them, will favor them, will keep them under her mantle always, just as she does with Sister Consolata. And the Littlest Ones will love Our Lady deeply because the unceasing act of love which they offer to Jesus is also intended for Mary Most Holy." pgs. 164-165
Mary the first Littlest one
September 8: Feast of the Littlest Souls
"Sister Consolata entrusted the first Littlest, and all the other that would come after, to the Heart of Jesus and to the Virgin Mary Girl, the first and greatest "Littlest"!
"This evening, I embraced in spirit all the Littlest souls throughout the centuries, and I consecrated them all in anticipation to
the Sacred Heart of Jesus...
Since the first of these souls it is consecrated today, first Friday in September, novena of the Nativity of Mary, on September 8, I will embrace them all consecrating them to Mary girl. And the littlest will love so much the Virgin Mary because the incessant act they offer to Jesus is also for Mary Most Holy. Jesus, Mary I love you, save souls". (4sept 1936).
("Quotes from the leaflet of Act of Consecration as The "Littlest")
The "Littlest"
The "Littlest" are the souls called:
- to follow the littlest way of love manifested to
Sr. Maria Consolata Betrone by Jesus,
- to give testimony to it and to spread it with the apostolate.
"Consolata, concentrate upon one continual
'Jesus, Mary I love You! Save souls!' It is the one and only resolution which will give you the strength to reply with a 'yes' to
My every request for sacrifice!".
"Love Me only, love Me always; answer with great love a 'yes' to everything, to everybody, always: there is your path. Nothing but that;
it is I who will think about and provide for all of the rest!".
The Littlest Way of Love of Sister Consolata consists in:
*an unceasing act of love from the heart,
* a smiling 'yes' to everyone; to see and treat Jesus in everyone,
*a grateful 'yes' to everything.
The Littlest Soul thanks for everything and always,
because nothing of what she receives is little to her eyes.
The usual traits of a Littlest Soul are: confidence and abandon.
These two holy traits are like a consequence and
a perfection of the life of love.
The Littlest Souls are called to grow in love: in this sense we can
speak of a 'special love's vocation'.
And this vocation, although already included in the Christian
vocation, will nevertheless develop and become a reality in a
different way in each soul, according to the conditions of
her life's state. The soul who feels called to live as littlest, feels also a need to begin with a special consecration of herself to Love.
(From the writings of Sr, Consolata Betrone - "Jesus Appeals to the World" by Fr. Lorenzo Sales, IMC)
The Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
What is perfect love? It is above all a pure love with which one loves God for His own sake. It is also actual love which is undoubtedly more perfect than habitual love. It is a love, therefore, which embraces God and souls in the same heartbeat, for it is impossible to love God without loving one's neighbor. We should also add that our love for Jesus cannot and must not ever be separated from our love for the Blessed Virgin, for we can not please Jesus if we do not also love Him and our Mother. Nor will our love reach God in true perfection unless it is made to pass through the love of Mary, the one and only creature who has ever loved God here below in the way He wishes to be loved and ought to be loved. If a formula for perfect love is desired, it must therefore comprise, together with the love of Jesus, also the love of Our Lady and of all souls. Such is precisely the formula for the act of love which Jesus communicated to Sister Consolata, for transmittal to all souls. (From the book "Jesus Appeals to the World." pg. 94)
In the life of the servant of God, Father Adolph Petit, S.J., we read: "When someone inquired of him about some means for nourishing this love, he would reply: 'I know of but one, to love. Just as one learns to read by reading, and to write by writing, so does one learn to love Our Lord by multiplying one's acts of love for Him. Each one of these acts is as it were an armful of kindling, to be thrown on the fire; it renders the flame of love more ardent.'" (From the book "Jesus Appeals to the World." pg. 98)