Lullaby

The Holy Mother puts the Child to sleep for a while
and she herself walks through frozen fields
— Lots of graves on empty fields
— burning villages
— hard to find a small stable.
With tears she wrings her hands
— How will she be able to care for her Child?

(Kazimiera Illakowiczowna, Z pastoralki)

The poet interweaves the Holy Mother’s worries and fears for her Child with those of the Polish nation. Mary puts her Blessed Baby to sleep and then sees the devastated Polish countryside. Her life is transplanted into war-torn Poland; she shares the problems of the Poles in the most intimate way. To illustrate this, the artist positions the Baby Jesus between a row of foxes and a row of crosses in an icy winter scene.

Luisa Picarreta
Volume 36
BOOK OF HEAVEN

DECEMBER 25, 1938

Louisa’s Child Jesus as He appeared to her.

“Divine Infant Jesus, as we pray our rosary, we ask you to remove
from the heart of the world the desire to commit the sin of abortion.
Remove the veil of deceit Satan has placed over hearts which
portrays promiscuity as a freedom, and reveal it for what it is–
slavery to sin.”

“Place over the heart of the world a renewed respect for life at the
moment of conception. Amen.

Dear Jesus, Divine Love Incarnate, in this present moment I ask
You to accept the surrender of all my faults. I consecrate every fault
and weakness to Divine Love.”

“With this surrender I know You will show me more clearly what my
faults are, why I give in to them, and You will give me strength to
overcome them. Amen.”

“I choose with my free will to love God above all else, and my
neighbor as myself. I choose this–Holy Love in the present
moment–and seek God’s help in doing so in every future moment. Amen.”