Spiritual Life of Maria Valtorta

Maria Valtorta in 1912.

The writings of Maria Valtorta may appear to many of such value that one would be tempted to reflect their glory on her and declare her a saint for the simple fact that she helped them be discovered. Indeed, all these returns to God, all these conversions, all this intimacy with Heaven —could they have existed without her participation and without her holiness? It was Maria Valtorta who transcribed all these inspired writings. She became the "pen of God," which is not within the reach of just anyone. So one is surprised when Jesus clarifies to her:

"The Work I gave you. It is my gift. It is not your merit.".

Would Maria then have no merit? Would her life offered up as an invalid be nothing more than a convenient situation enabling her to fulfill this function? Quite the contrary. At the conclusion of the Work, Jesus makes sure to clarify that Maria is the cause of this gift because she knew how to love God with all her being and her brothers likewise:

"And here the Work, that My love for you all has dictated and that you have received through the love that a creature has had for Me and for you, is over."

If Jesus affirms Himself as the sole Author of the Work, it is to better attest to its origin and more clearly show the merits proper to Maria Valtorta. He indeed adds, just after:

"[...] you will not be holy because you have written the Work, but you will be holy for your sacrifice; for your whole life of love and sacrifice."

She will therefore be holy, it is said, it is written. But she will be so by her life of love and sacrifice and not for having transcribed inspired works, foremost among which is The Gospel as Revealed to Me.

This testimony is found in her personal writings

If we want to take an interest in the spirituality of Maria Valtorta, and therefore her holiness, we must place these inspired works in the background to better highlight her thoughts and feelings expressed mainly in her author writings. It is in this sense that we must understand this dictation from Jesus dated February 17, 1946, given shortly after Maria Valtorta recorded, under His instruction, "her mystical calendar".

"You transcribed your prayers of love, as I told you to, your steps along the way of the Cross. They are more valuable than the visions and the dictations. The latter are a 'school,' and you are a pupil. They are an 'examination result' on what you are. And you know people cannot call themselves educated unless they show proof that they are. As long as they remain at their desks and listen distractedly, without will, can they say they are educated? No, they cannot. But when, at the end of school, they give proof of what is in them and speak about the wisdom they possess instead of listening to the teacher, one can then say, 'This is what the student thinks.' And they are approved, with a certificate which opens the doors for them to employment and income. And for you the gates to heavenly gain, the possession of God, shall be opened, not because you are a 'spokesman,' but because you are a voluntary victim, because with the word of the spirit, with the word of love, you have written 'those' words to crystallize on paper what your spirit was already doing. This alone will be of value to judge you on earth and in Heaven. And this alone will explain why I have made you a 'spokesman.' Because you showed good will and strong love."

She was therefore "at school" with the visions and dictations. We will see later what sublime Fruits this produced in her… and in their readers. But one clearly understands that her "certificate of holiness" is found in her life. Jesus says so: this is where the value lies that will allow judging Maria "on Earth and in Heaven."

The "violet" has no extraordinary appearance

Maria Valtorta is the humble violet of Calvary from the very first vision she had. She is not a mystic remarkable for extraordinary external phenomena but for the depth of her mystical life. Jesus explains it:

"But in your apparent normality as a most normal creature who eats, drinks, and sleeps like every mortal, who does not present ecstasies, inexplicable fasts, bloody sweating, stigmata, or anything else, who is in perfect psychic balance‑and whoever wants to say the opposite is knowingly lying‑there are extraordinary factors which are the sign of what you are and of what I am in you: the All, the Origin, the Explanation, and the End of your being."

Abbé René Laurentin commented on this particularity as follows:

"The common error in this domain is that 'supernatural' is understood in the sense of 'miraculous,' extraordinary, out of the ordinary: which is not the case with Grace. The Apparitions and revelations of such seers are not miraculous!. There is no exception to the laws of nature, there is nothing preternatural, but their life in The Spirit is no less supernatural. It elevates them, enlightens them, transfigures them in good ways. This is, to different degrees, the case of our four seers. The supernatural is not an addition to nature, like a hat on a head as Father de Lubac said, nor even like a crown on a head. It comes from the love of God and divinizes from within the life of the seers as well as others, and their activity as seers remains in the same order. God penetrates us without subordinating Himself to us nor compromising with us."

Her relentless path against Love

Maria Valtorta made a renewed offering of herself to Merciful Love, as did her inspirer, Thérèse of Lisieux, but she added an offering to Divine Justice. She conformed to it and received the Invisible Stigmata. It was a lot, but Jesus asked even more from her.

"And with every sacrifice made, I felt love grow. I constantly told myself, 'I’ve reached the summit. One can go no higher!' Oh, how I deceived myself! To rise towards Perfection is to rise perpetually."

She was nailed to the bed, cut off from the world and human affections, to enter into the divine "enclosure," where there was only her and God. She accepted it in trust, but Love pushed her further.

She then entrusted her life, its thoughts, and feelings to the Purification that Jesus asked of her. She had to live the night of Faith, so torturous. And when she finally let Jesus live fully in her, she received the sublime gift that she faithfully transcribed: the life of Jesus in Palestine two thousand years ago. Visions from which flow the Graces of conversion and returns to God. Upon completing these, Maria Valtorta thought she had reached the final point of her earthly course, so many Trials had she overcome and so much suffering endured. She joyfully thought of the Love she was going to find again without worrying whether she was "holy" or not.

She was mistaken though: she was neither at the end of her life nor at the end of her holiness. This was not to be ordinary but extraordinary. For this, she had to face other Trials, endure other opprobrium to give everything.

• She had confronted Satan, she was about to see him. She knew his opposition, she was about to experience his rage.
• She knew loneliness, she was about to know abandonment.
• She knew joy, she was about to know beatitude.

In this, one can say Maria Valtorta is thrice holy. Because there are several degrees in Maria's life.

1. The first of these levels is before the vision of April 22, 1943, where she saw herself as a violet at the foot of the Cross. The nickname of "Lenten flower" given by Italians to this flower fits her perfectly. However, it is not at this pivotal moment that she becomes the violet of Christ, because she uses this term 22 times already in her Autobiography. She was therefore well before.
2. The second is after this vision where Christ favorably answers her request at the end of the Autobiography: "because of my hidden sacrifice at every moment, O Father, give me crowds of Souls to offer to you". She then becomes "the pen of God." The last of the titles of glory engraved on her tomb.
3. And finally after her decision to offer herself entirely, up to her mind in imitation of the One she loved, giving even her Body and Blood and keeping on it only the suffering of the world.

THE GLORIOUS PATH
1897-1913: The predispositions of young Maria. The affective destitution. 1913-1924: The trial of disappointed loves. The attack.
1924-1943: The decision of belonging to Christ. The victim offering. The destitution of the divine "cloister." Holiness that ends with the final request of the Autobiography.
1943-1953: The pen of God. The dictations from Heaven. The opponents and the indifferent. Spiritual maturity. The total offering.
1954 to 1961: Earthly destitution and heavenly beatitude.

Although Maria Valtorta shares some similarities with her spiritual godmother, Thérèse of Lisieux, she testifies differently.

• Thérèse Martin blossomed in a loving Family, surrounded by sisters and the care of her parents, Maria only knew the harshness and barrenness of family life. She had the solitude of an only child and her mother deprived her of all tenderness.
• Maria Valtorta was not a nun; she confronted the world, its Struggles, its disappointed loves, and its betrayed friendships.

But both had very early a love: the Child Jesus and the holy Face of the Passion for Thérèse, the Man of Sorrows for Maria. One was patroness of Missions behind the walls of her enclosure, the other evangelized locked within the walls of her room.

"You will be one who comes to Me by other ways, after many experiences, and who loves Me through repentance and continuous, long, and hidden sacrifice."

Maria Valtorta is indeed the saint of our time when the race to the world has replaced the race to Heaven. The one where the mistreated Family learns the harshness of disunions and the Violence of the child as an object, where the Church is shaken by so many defections and so many renewals.

Further discovery

• Her mystical calendar
• Act of Offering to Merciful Love and Divine Justice.
• Hymn to love and suffering
• Her Invisible Stigmata
• Tertiary of the Servites of Mary
• Her rosaries
• The Virgin of Fatima in the life of Maria Valtorta