Life, work and spirituality of Mother Clelia Merloni

The Test Will Not Be Long

Dearest daughter in Jesus Christ,

Don’t be discouraged, my daughter.  As Jesus wants to try your fidelity, He deprives you, for a set time, of His sensible Presence.  He showed this behavior even toward His own Mother.   Jesus had intuited the grief His absence would cause; nevertheless, He distanced Himself for a day or so from her and remained in the temple without her knowledge. If it pleases Jesus, who is all love, to try you in this same way, don’t torment yourself, arm yourself with courage, and wait patiently for His return.

Although He is always close to you to help you every time you ask for His help, it is good, though, that He sometimes pretends to go away so that you could better understand how unfortunate you would be if you were to really lose Him.

When Jesus favors a soul with His consolations He does this to comfort her in her sorrows. Then, when he permits that she be abandoned to aridity and to desolation, He does this so that she may not become too proud of the kindness He has toward her.

All, or almost all, the souls who have faithfully followed Jesus have had similar alternating experiences of joy and sadness, devotion and aridity, peace and temptation.  When Jesus appeared to distance Himself from them, pretending to abandon those dear souls to themselves, they felt the extent of their weakness; but they did not lose heart, because they were confident of Jesus’ help. When Jesus’ grace sustained you with sweetness and consolation, you walked with pleasure and happiness; but you will make greater gains in virtue now that He is trying you with aridity while you bear patiently, humbly and submissively the state of abandonment in which Jesus pretends to leave you. It is true that this state is a sad one because sometimes it seems more a punishment than a trial; nevertheless, daughter, don’t lose heart, but have confidence and firm hope, and the trial will not be long as it wasn’t for Mary, His Mother.  Imitate the solicitude that this Mother had in seeking her Son.  Search for Him, as she did, with a holy desire and a holy impatience to find Him.    But never complain.   Jesus owes you nothing.    If you have some complaint, let it be, according to the example of Mary, a lament of love.

I want to hope that Jesus has not distanced Himself because of some infidelity of yours, but if such be the case, ask His pardon and practice some painful humiliation.  Promise Jesus that from now on, you will pay greater attention to avoiding everything that could displease Him.   Tell Him that whatever the reason may be for His behavior toward you, you submit to being put to the test in the way that He may want, and for as long as He may want, so long as you be allowed to preserve His holy love always in your heart.

What I could assure you of, my daughter, is that Jesus loves you with a love of predilection.   Therefore, see to it that you never lose esteem for such grace, holding yourself ever vigilant so as not to commit the smallest infidelity to grace as is wholeheartedly wished for you by one who blesses you maternally and is pleased to call herself, in Jesus,

Your most affectionate Mother

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As we forgive…

Dearest daughters in Jesus Christ,

Remember, my daughters, that mutual tolerance is part of the precept of charity. These two things are so bound to each other that without mutual suffering, charity would not be possible, and it would be necessary to cancel this precept from the Gospel because every person on earth has his or her own defects and imperfections. There are no angels except in heaven. If you don’t bear with the defects and imperfections of others, you break that bond and charity is destroyed.   Everyone has his or her own particular nature. Inclinations and temperaments are not all the same; judgments and ways of feeling contradict each other; wills clash with one another; tastes vary. No, among so many contrary elements, the fusion of hearts to form one heart, only one soul, as charity demands, is not possible so long as people don’t bear with one another in their weaknesses and don’t suffer in a spirit of charity and patience all that offends them, all that displeases them, all that does not meet with their tastes nor their disposition.   Without this mutual tolerance the union of hearts would be likewise impossible, no different than the fusion of water with fire, of light with darkness. There would necessarily be among them divisions, arguments, discord.

Therefore, bear with one another with great humility. This excludes sensitivities and pretensions. This will teach you how to treat your neighbor. Do it with sweetness and patience and so you will exclude murmurs and grumbling, criticisms, sarcasm, stinging barbs, antipathies and impatience with displeasures received. Do this with great charity and this will teach you to treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated yourselves… God will not be indulgent toward our defects except in the measure that we are indulgent toward the defects of our brothers and sisters. If we do not support our neighbor, God will not support us; if we do not sympathize with others, God will not sympathize with us.   We ourselves, daughters, do recognize the demand of this law, and so we say: Forgive us, O Lord, our offenses as we forgive those who have offended us. We, therefore, must be indulgent toward our own faults in the measure that we are indulgent toward the faults of others. Justice itself obliges us to mutual tolerance.   Who does not feel the need for herself of this law of tolerance, of this law, which is protective of human weakness? Now if we want it to be observed in our regard, isn’t it a real injustice not to want to observe it regarding our neighbor?   We complain about the imperfections of others, but we don’t want others to complain about ours? [We complain] about their character and of their moods, but don’t we also have some critical moments? [We complain] about their impulsiveness, or of their discourtesy, but don’t we also fall into the impulse of a language that is too pointed and rude? It is not good, daughters, in fact, it is very bad, for us to want perfection in others to the point of not supporting in them any spot, any imperfection. Seriously probe your own conscience a little bit, daughters, and see how you support the defects of your neighbors.

I remain in Jesus, Your anguished Mother

Throw oneself blindly into the ocean of Providence

Dearest daughter in Jesus Christ,

I understand. Have courage and unlimited confidence in God. You, dearest daughter, must begin [your journey] little by little and with gentleness, with unbounded trust in the divine Heart of Jesus, who calls you saying: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will comfort you. All you who are thirsty come to the fountain.”

You, daughter, must follow this action and divine vocation; you must continue to wait for the prompting of the Holy Spirit, so that, with determination you may throw yourself blindly into the ocean of divine Providence and of the Eternal Will and beg that it be fulfilled in you so that you may be carried along by the most powerful waves of divine kindness, unable to resist, and be transported to the shore of your particular perfection and spiritual well‐being.

Having made this decision, which you should repeat many times each day, study yourself and strive, with as much certitude as you can, interiorly and exteriorly, to draw near, with all the strength of your soul, to those things that excite you and bring you to appreciate ever more the goodness, the loveableness and the infinite charity of your beloved Jesus.

These acts are to be done always without pressure and violence to your heart so that they do not weaken you or maybe even incapacitate you.

Whenever you can, accustom yourself to the contemplation of the divine goodness and of His continuous and loving gifts, and humbly receive the droplets of His inestimable goodness that will descend into your soul. Guard yourself well against forced tears or other devotions of the senses, but remain tranquil in interior solitude awaiting the fulfillment in you of God’s divine Will. And then when He may give these to you, they will be sweet, without struggle or force, and you will receive them with gentleness and serenity and above all with humility.

Remember, daughter that the key to opening the secrets of spiritual treasures is in knowing how to deny oneself always and in all things, and it is this key that closes the door to tepidity and mental aridity when it is caused by our own fault. When these come from God, they join the other treasures of the soul.

Be pleased to stand with Mary as much as you can at the feet of Jesus and listen to what He tells you.   Be watchful so that your enemies (chief among whom is you, yourself) will be unable to impede this holy silence.

For now I will say no more because I hope you will put into practice what I have written.   Now I leave you at the feet of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, so that, with His strength, you will be able to distance yourself from any shadow of sin and continue along the narrow path of the Saints!

I bless you with all my heart, Your most affectionate Mother