The Importance to Give Thanks to God

(CEV) “The Notebooks 1944”, p. 147
Jesus says: “Come, […] let us go together to read my and your Daniel, in the place where he speaks of the three children who pleased God because they had the faith, fidelity, and trust proper to children and believed tenaciously, believed unhesitatingly, believed even in a tremendous trial because they loved the Lord God with their minds, with their hearts, with all their strength, and with their entire selves. There have always been tyrants. And in their tyranny -of which Satan makes use to pervert them and to torment their subjects, leading them to distrust God, above all- they take delight in iniquitous laws, promulgated at the instigation of haughtiness and supported by the power of the sword. A wretched power condemned by Me. Cursed by Me. A power which is weakness.

The power of one who is overbearing which turns against him as a weapon. A power which triggers other powers, which either resolve the situation in human terms with a crime which is the result of all the previous crimes or supernaturally attract divine aid, which -in being much more powerful than all weapons and all words- casts down the tyrant’s pride and turns it into benignity, freeing his subjects from his sacrilegious tyranny in a holy manner. Nebuchadnezzar, intoxicated by his power, thought it was licit to overstep his bounds, as regards God as well, by introducing idolatry centering on a golden statue -the symbol of his power, which he deemed divine- even among those who worshipped the true God. There is nothing divine except God. There is no true power except divine power.

The others are missions involving command, for there must be someone at the head of an ethnic group, but they are not superpowers, much less divine. I have already explained that they exist as long as God allows them to, that they exist for the sake of their action in aiding or punishing men deserving or undeserving of heavenly protection, and that they cease to exist when they overstep their bounds by making the punitive yoke upon arrogant men too harsh. To punish a sin, God does not allow a greater one to be committed, and He then strikes those who are no longer the administrators of justice, but of blameworthy power.

In the kingdom of Babylon, the subjects, seduced by the gleam of the golden statue (what a deep meaning!) and by the voices of those proclaiming the king’s will, hastened to worship the idol. The idol! Not God. The idol of gold! Gold! The eternal charmer! God is not an idol of gold. God is an infinite, eternal, perfect Spirit in Heaven; God is most holy Flesh hanging from a cross on the Earth or living in the Sacrament on the altar of the Eucharist. In Heaven the nine angelic choirs sing around his throne. Around his cross -from Golgotha to the present day and until the end of the world- there ascend the voices of those praying and loving (a few!) and the howls of those cursing (many!). Around his Tabernacle, like lamps, are the hearts worshiping Him and awaiting life and comfort from Him. This is God. Spirit and Flesh. Not gold. A metal which you have endowed with great value because, as eternal savages, you have let yourselves be seduced by its glitter, but it is less precious than the grayish iron which gives you ploughs, scythes, and spades, the only useful, holy weapons, because they till the glebes, open them for seed, and cut down the ear of grain, God’s great gift to man, the ear of grain which is your daily bread.

The subjects of Nebuchadnezzar -partly because of the seduction of gold (the case of most of them) and partly out of fear of royal punishments-worshipped the idol. All of them, except the three young men who, thanks to the care of God’s Prophet, had not contaminated themselves with impure food. Observe the great teaching carefully. The stimulus towards sin often enters by way of gluttony. In a body nourished in a gluttonous fashion the other appetites also arise. Concupiscence appears in its threefold garb, for the fumes of excess in food arouse sensuality, enkindle pride, and consequently spur man to be avid for money, since to possess woman and power a lot of money is needed. In the seething of the passions faith dies, and the soul detaches itself from God, thus preparing itself to worship the first idol which is presented to it.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego had lived chastely as regards gluttony as well. Faithful to God, to their God, in this, too. And God had grown in them with the growth of themselves. God reigned in their hearts, pure altars to which they provided every form of care because they were the throne of their Lord. In possessing God, alive in them and the master of all their strength, and, more than a master, the Father and Governor of their strength, they were able to resist every threat and not fear, not fear, Maria. They did not even find it useful to argue with the tyrant.

It is a good rule not to get into arguments with the wicked, but to ask God to argue for us in their hearts better than we could. Look at what I, though I was God, did with my accusers, inquisitors, and judges. I always broke off sharply and did not reply at all. I first went up onto the Cross, praying and suffering, and then acted from Heaven. That is the way to act, little John, for those one wants to convert. The first conversion is obtained with prayer and pain. Afterwards God’s Light descends into the heart prepared to receive it, and it becomes Word and Life. The three young men did not argue. They knew that all argument would remain fruitless and that a miracle was needed to clear the haze from the king’s heart. A miracle obtained through an act of absolute faith and intrepid heroism. Faith, heroism -the two flowers of love.

And Love responds to love. God never disappoints anyone. And God, who in his perfection already knew how the three young men would act, had his angel go before them into the furnace so that, when the cruel men had cast them into the flames, the place would already be prepared, as fresh as a dew-covered meadow in the morning, ventilated by the angel’s wing with the gentlest wind, compared to which the sweet wind of April is foul breath; He had the angel precede them so that the flames could not even graze the slightest hair on their innocent heads, but would be only a living tent of heat-less (oh, less!) intense than the tent of their charity-extended between the pagan world and the dwelling prepared, by God.

The cry rising from the earth, from the heart of a grateful man, to the throne of God is so beautiful! It resounds like the arpeggio of a harp in Paradise, and all the heavenly harmonies remain silent for an instant, for the whole Empyrean bends over, listening to that cry of thanks which a good son sends to the good Father. And that cry is then gathered in, repeated, and amplified by all the choirs of the angels and the blessed and becomes that day’s song in lovely Paradise, and the Trinity beams in its gladness, and Mary laughs with her laughter as the Mother and the Queen. Too few give thanks […]. And only God knows how He continually provides you with gifts! You don’t even realize.

His Fatherhood gives them to you so delicately in order not to offend you, as with a small offering, that you think they are your work. No. From morning to night, from night to morning, God comes to your aid. And you do not give thanks. You do not give thanks even for the ‘major’ graces obtained. […] But say ‘Thank You’ to me always, always, always, from dawn to dusk, from night to day. Let your ‘Thank You’ fill Heaven continuously, for yourself and for the numberless persons who live and die without a ‘Thank You’ for their God. Amplify your ‘Thank You,’ like the three young men, calling all created things to join in your song things which, with their language, are able to praise God better than men can.

Join the saints in Heaven and the saints on Earth to say your ‘Thank You.’ Join Me as Eucharist, and with your lips rendered sweet and scented by the Bread of life, pray and thank God the Father with Christ Himself living in you. And the miracle will take place as it did for the three boys and the cruel king. Men ‘will see’ God by means of your prayer. Not all of them. But even if it were one alone, you would be blessed by Me once more. Nebuchadnezzar saw God in his angel and understood that one must not fight against that God.

He understood that his idol was lifeless matter rendered sinful through man’s wrongdoing and that the true God is one alone-the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego -and, touched by the Light, He recognized his error and confessed it and offered worship and honor to the holy God, Lord of Heaven and Earth. Do you see, […] how much the faith of three boys can do?”

Maria Valtorta: The Notebooks

“These Notebooks belong to a category of mystical literature which the Catholic Church has long been familiar with: that of so-called “private revelations.” A private revelation is not binding for the faith of Christians, but its value is to be measured by its capacity to instruct and inflame souls, spurring them to love God more and apply divine teachings to their everyday lives. In the confidence—and the conviction—that this work superabounds in these inspired qualities, we offer it for the spiritual nourishment of readers. —David Murray