One time Jesus appeared to herand confided in her: “I want you as mediatorbetween God and men… Pray, petition, makeamends, I am keen on forgiving; be keen onasking and obtaining my forgiveness…Transport yourself in spirit inside the poorestchurches of the countryside and there adoreand repair. Make yourself the adorer ofabandoned Hosts, the repairer of offendedHosts….”

From then on Sister Mary subjectedherself to great penance for the love of sinners and this very much irritated thedemon that appeared to her and threatenedher with these words: “How can you toleratethis life which you have imposed upon yourself? …And all of the humiliation anddeprivation that still awaits you? …It isimpossible…you expect too much of yourselfand your own courage.”

Shortly after that she became afflictedby illnesses that doctors could not explain.She accepted with resignation the illnessthat brought her to her death in 1917. Shehad many encounters with her GuardianAngel that guided her and gave her advice.In her writings Sister Mary tells: “In spite ofthe lessons of my Guardian Angel, I foundmyself in a state in which I felt the rigor ofGod’s judgment inside of me. I was attackedby strong temptations. Trapped by despair, I called out to my Guardian Angel, as usual,who having yet pity on me took me to theentrance of the garden of Gethsemanewhere Jesus was in agony. Being yet far away,he put me on the ground and the view ofJesus suffering profoundly penetrated mysoul and I lost any perception of pain insideof me. I did not see or hear any sufferingother than that of Jesus. My only desire then became to comfort the Lord. MyAngel, seeing my suffering said to me: ‘there

is a need for victimized souls to consoleJesus. Where are those who consent to sufferwith him in agony until they sweat blood?’Then he signaled for me to get closer toJesus but since I did not dare, consideringmyself unworthy, he said to me: ‘Advancewithout fear, this is the place of prayers forsinners’. Then I got closer and the value ofprayer and compassion for sinners became

clear to me. I found my resting place.Sometimes my Guardian Angel would leadme in spirit to the death bed of someonedying, or a prisoner, or near a soul falleninto sin, or near desecrated Hosts, or toPurgatory. He told me that a great ‘prayer’ issynonymous with a great ‘suffering’ but asuffering that is full of love… I then askedGod for the grace to take this suffering withme forever.”

Luisa Maria Benedetta was bornin Savona to a noble and profoundly Christianfamily. From the time she was little she was drawnto religious life and in 1905 she took her perpetualvows assuming the name Sister Mary Josephine of Jesus, Spouse of the Heart of Jesus.

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ervant of God, Mary Josephine of Jesus(Luisa Cepollini d’Alto)

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