Be at peace once again in my Immaculate Heart. How much you have suffered these past days: the darkness, the obscurity, the doubt. In a certain sense, you have tasted even the bitterness of being abandoned!
Blue Book #79 a-c
At these moments it seems to you that you have lost your way; you call on me, and it seems to you that I am far away, that all is an illusion. On the contrary, never as in these moments, never as at this very moment, my son, am I so close to you and do I clasp you so close to my Immaculate Heart and gaze on you with such tenderness and love.
I need this suffering of yours: all I want of you is prayer and suffering. And then I will give you new light and new serenity; you will rejoice and be strengthened and thus made even more ready to be placed again upon your cross.
Your life as a lay person in the world is hard; and the life around you will be grim, even sordid. But God will give you strength. Everything can be borne between two Masses. Every morning you will eat the bread of the saints, and you will be able to face any kind of day. Your mind and heart will be nourished by the Word of God. The voice of the psalmist and the warm tones of the voice of Christ will give you courage and new hope. Your faith will be renewed. You plunge into the sea of fire that is the Mass and come out burning, ready to go forth and light fires of love, even in the most wretched slums of the city.
Grace in Every Season (April 19)
The world would rather ‘party’ than ever acknowledge our tears, but it’s just at such times that we can turn to another human being that fully understands, and can bring us to the One who can truly transform our tears into joy.