(LifeSiteNews) – Few observers would disagree that Americans are losing their religion, but a recent Wall Street Journal poll highlighted the speed of secularism’s advance. While 62 percent of respondents told pollsters in 1998 that religion was very important, only 39 percent of respondents said so last month.

A powerful way to help turn the tide this Holy Week is to meditate on Jesus’ first-hand experiences over the 24-hour period that began shortly before the Last Supper two millennia ago.

Jesus himself provides the vivid account of his final day found in The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a devotion based on private revelation received by Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta (1865-1947), the Italian mystic known as the “Little Daughter of the Divine Will.” The book recounts Jesus’ Passion and death beginning at 5 p.m. on Holy Thursday, when he parted from his Blessed Mother, and ending with the placement of his body in the tomb at 5 p.m. on Good Friday.

Luisa, then 17, began hearing Jesus describe the last events of his life in 1882. She was directed to write down the revelations three decades later by her confessor, Rev. Hannibal di Francia, who was canonized in 2004. St. Hannibal published four editions of The Hours of the Passion in Italian between 1915 and 1924. The book included a nihil obstat and an imprimatur, as well as St. Hannibal’s own “reflections and practices” at the end of each of the 24 chapters. Translations into various languages soon followed.

The book’s enduring popularity is due mainly to the force of Jesus’ narrative, but also to Luisa’s extraordinary life in her hometown of Corato, Italy. As Jesus told Luisa about the importance of the devotion: “These hours are the most precious of all, because they are precisely the re-enactment of what I did in the course of My mortal life, and what I continue to do in the Most Blessed Sacrament. When I hear these Hours of My Passion, I hear My own voice, My own prayers.”

Jesus also told Luisa about the benefits of meditating on the book’s content: “The sinner will turn to God, the imperfect will become perfect, the saint will become holier, those who are tempted will find victory, and those who are ill will discover strength, medicine and comfort.”

Related to her ongoing cause for beatification, the Vatican in 2015 published an official biography of Luisa Piccarreta called The Sun Of My Will. The book can be listened to in its entirety at the Divine Will Era YouTube channel. Daniel O’Connor, a college professor who has written extensively about Luisa, highlights portions of The Sun of My Will at his website. The Luisa Piccarreta Association also provides biographical information, and has created a documentary about her life called Dawn of a Mystery.

Luisa was in her teens when she began losing consciousness and “petrifying,” becoming totally immobile while entering into mystical union with Jesus. She was permanently bedridden by age 22, and would remain so until her death at 81 due to pneumonia — the only diagnosable illness of her life. She never even got bedsores.

The ecstasies occurred at night and Luisa would be found rigid in bed in the morning. She would regain her faculties only when her priest spiritual director, appointed by the archbishop, came to her home and blessed her. Luisa received Holy Communion daily, thanks to an indult granted by Pope Leo XIII that permitted Mass to be celebrated in her room. She wrote down Jesus’ messages in Corato’s local dialect, and also worked as a professional lacemaker, while sitting up in bed during the day.

Luisa produced some 10,000 pages of revelations from Jesus, under obedience to her spiritual directors and despite having only a first-grade education. Written between 1899 and 1938, the 36-volume diary known as the Book of Heaven is available in text and audio formats at the website of the Little Children in the Divine Will. The group’s name, along with Luisa’s own informal title, derives from her distinctive spirituality centering on union with the Will of God.

The Vatican-published biography recounts how Luisa often subsisted on only the Blessed Eucharist. She would vomit after eating; the regurgitated food appeared as before it was consumed and was accompanied by a pleasant aroma. Luisa and St. Padre Pio felt mutual respect and high esteem for each other, although she never met the Italian stigmatist living 50 miles away. Upon Luisa’s death in 1947, it took doctors several days to confirm she was truly deceased. A customized coffin was built because her body could not be repositioned from its decades-long pose of being seated in bed.

English readers of The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ should use the translation by Rev. Joseph Iannuzzi, STD, Ph.D., a leading promoter of Luisa’s mystical theology. Rev. Iannuzzi received his doctorate from the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome and had access to Luisa’s Italian manuscripts, so his translations of her writings that are cited in his dissertation can be considered authoritative. Other English translations of The Hours of the Passion are stylistically awkward and tend to obscure Luisa’s intended meaning; some may have been based on languages other than the original Italian.

Physical copies of The Hours of the Passion and Rev. Iannuzzi’s other Luisa-related publications are available at his website, Living in the Divine Will. The YouTube channel for Divine Will Era, which is not monetized, includes audio versions of the 24 chapters of The Hours.

The excerpts below offer an introduction to Luisa’s revealed eyewitness account of Jesus’ Passion and death. It portrays her accompanying and interacting with both Jesus and Mary, making reparation together with them for the sins of humanity. Luisa observes the hourly events directly, and also hears Jesus speaking to her and to God the Father. The description tracks closely with Gospel-based devotions like the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross, but includes far more details.

William Underwood, Ph.D., is a writer living in Sacramento, California.

Excerpts from The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Fourth Hour (8 p.m.): The Institution of the Most Blessed Sacrament

The angels descend from heaven, asking themselves: “What is this; what is this? These are true follies and true excesses of love! A God who creates, not heaven or earth, but himself. And where? In the most humble of things: In some bread and wine.” […] And Jesus, with a resounding and moving voice, pronounces the words of the consecration and, without leaving himself, He bilocates himself in the bread and wine. He then administers himself to his Apostles, and I believe that our Heavenly Mother is not deprived of receiving him as well.

Eighth Hour (12 a.m.): Jesus is betrayed and arrested

And You, O my Jesus, in bearing this kiss of Judas, offer reparation for the betrayals, pretenses and deceptions under the aspect of friendship and sanctity, especially of Priests. Your kiss then shows that You would refuse no sinner your forgiveness, provided he approaches You humbly. […]

With these ropes and chains You implore from your Father the grace to snap the chains of our sins, and bind us with your sweet chain of love. And lovingly You correct Peter, who wants to defend You to the point of cutting off the ear of Malchus. With this, You intend to offer reparation for good works that are not done with holy prudence, or which end in sin on account of excessive zeal.

Ninth Hour (1 a.m.): Jesus is thrown into the Cedron stream and leaves a rock marked with his Most Precious Blood

O my Jesus, we are now at the Cedron stream, and the perfidious Jews prepare to throw You into it. They do so and make You bang against a rock with such violence as to make You shed your most precious Blood from your mouth, whence You leave your Blood impressed on that rock. Then, pulling You, they throw You down into those putrid waters in such a way that they enter into your ears, your mouth and your nostrils. Oh, unreachable love, You remain inundated and submerged in those putrid, nauseating and cold waters. In this way, You represent vividly the heart-rending state of souls when they commit sin! Oh, they are so besmirched with a mantle of filth on the inside and out that it disgusts heaven and whoever beholds them, thereby drawing down upon themselves the lightning of Divine Justice!

Tenth Hour (2 a.m.): Jesus is presented to Annas

Your enemies burst into satanic laughter, whistling and clapping – applauding such an unjust act [the servant’s violent slap]. And You stagger and have no one to lean on. Beloved Jesus, I hug You, or better, I form a defensive wall with my being and courageously offer You my cheek, ready to bear any pain for love of You. […]

But, my afflicted Jesus, I see that Annas sends You to Caiaphas. Your enemies hurl You down the stairs and You, my love, in this painful fall, offer reparation for those who at night-time fall into sin in the cover of darkness, and You call those who have separated themselves from your Church and the unbelievers to the light of faith.

Twelfth Hour (4 a.m.): Jesus in the hands of the soldiers

I now see them mocking You, as they cover your face with such thick spittle that it veils the light of your beautiful eyes, but in pouring forth rivers of tears for our salvation, You drive that spittle away. And your enemies, with hearts incapable of withstanding the light of your eyes, cover them again with more spittle … Others, becoming more arrogant and evil, open your most sweet mouth and fill it with more nauseating spittle, to the point that they themselves feel nauseated; since some of it flows away, revealing in part, the majesty of your face and supernatural sweetness, they shudder and are moved to shame.

Thirteenth Hour (5 a.m.): Jesus in prison

But I hear the creaking noise of a key: Your enemies are now coming to take You out of prison, and I tremble Jesus; I feel my blood run cold. You will again be in the hands of your enemies. What will happen to You? I also seem to hear the creaking of the keys of Tabernacles. How many desecrating hands come to open them and maybe even make You descend into sacrilegious hearts? Into how many unworthy hands are You compelled to find yourself!

Fifteenth Hour (7 a.m.): Jesus is presented to Pilate, who sends him to Herod

My bound and good Jesus, your enemies together with the Priests present You to Pilate. Feigning sanctity and scrupulosity, they remain outside the praetorium on account of having to celebrate the Passover. And You, my love, seeing the depth of their malice, offer reparation for all the hypocrisies of the religious body. I too offer reparation with You. […]

Beloved Jesus, infinite wisdom, it costs You so much to be declared insane! The soldiers abuse You: They cast You to the ground, stomp on You, cover You with spittle, despise You and with rods they beat You with so many blows that You feel You are about to die. The pains, the ridicule and the humiliation they force You to experience are so overwhelming that the angels weep and cover their face with their wings.

Sixteenth Hour (8 a.m.): Jesus is dragged back to Pilate, Barabbas is preferred to Jesus and Jesus is scourged 

My tormented Jesus, my poor heart follows You amidst anxieties and pains, and in seeing You clothed as a madman and knowing who You are – infinite wisdom who gives reason to all – I become delirious and exclaim: “How can this be? Jesus insane? Jesus a criminal? And as if this were not enough, You will now be placed after Barabbas!” […]

How can this be? You, who clothe all created things – the sun with light, the heavens with stars, the plants with leaves, the birds with feathers – are stripped! What arrogance! And my beloved Jesus, from the penetrating light of his eyes, tells me:

“My child, be silent. In order to make reparation for the many souls who strip themselves of every modesty, purity and innocence, it is necessary that I be despoiled of My garments. For such souls strip themselves of every blessing, of every virtue and even of My grace to cloth themselves with every vice and live viciously. With My virginal blush I make reparation for the many acts of dishonesty, laxity and indulgence in vice. Therefore, be attentive to everything I do, pray and offer reparation with Me, and be at peace.”

Seventeenth Hour (9 a.m.): Jesus is crowned with thorns, presented to the people that demand his crucifixion and is sentenced to death

Imposing silence, in order to call the attention of all and to be heard by all, Pilate, with repugnance, takes the two hems of the purple [mantle] which covers your chest and shoulders, he lifts it so that all may see to what a sorrowful state You are reduced, and says in a loud voice: “Εcce Homo! [Behold the Man!] Look at him! He no longer has the features of a man. Observe his wounds. He can no longer be recognized. If he has done evil, he has already suffered enough, or rather, too much. I already regret having made him suffer so much. Therefore, let us set him free.” […]

Oh, in this solemn moment your destiny is decided. At the words of Pilate, all become silent – in heaven, on earth, and in hell! And then, as though with one single voice, I hear the cry of all: “Crucify him, crucify him! We want him dead at all costs!”

Eighteenth Hour (10 a.m.): Jesus takes up the Cross and sets out to Calvary and is despoiled of his garments

Each drop of your Blood repeats: “Cross!” All of your sorrows, in which You are immersed as though in an interminable sea, repeat among themselves: “Cross!” And You exclaim: “O beloved and longed for Cross, you alone will save My children, for in you I concentrate all My love!” […]

The [purple mantle] remains snagged to your crown and they are unable to pull it off … So, with never-before seen cruelty, they tear them both off together – garment and crown. At this cruel tearing, many thorns break and remain stuck inside your most sacred head. Blood pours down in large rivulets and your pain is such that You moan. But the enemies, heedless of the tortures, clothe You with your own garment and violently press the crown back into your head. […]

And, straining to look at me with his languishing and dying eyes, Jesus seems to say to me: “My child, how much souls cost Me! This is the place where I await all souls in order to save them; where I want to offer reparation for the sins of those who degrade themselves to a state lower than beasts, and so obstinately offend Me that they reach the point of not being able to live without committing sins. Their minds are blinded, and they sin unbridledly. … And in being despoiled of My garments, I offer reparation for those who wear extravagant and indecent clothing, for sins against modesty and for those who are so bound to riches, honours and pleasures that their hearts make gods of them.”

Nineteenth Hour (11 a.m.): Jesus is Crucified

Your most sacred body is so lacerated that your appearance is as that of a fleeced lamb. […] My beloved Jesus, You look at the Cross that your enemies are preparing for You. You hear the blows of the hammer of your executioners who are forming the holes into which they will drive the nails. And your Heart beats more and more vehemently and contracts with exultation, as You yearn to lay yourself upon this bed of pain and seal with your death the salvation of our souls. And I hear You say:

“Beloved Cross, My love, My precious bed. You were My martyrdom in life, and now you are My rest. … Oh, delay no longer, as I earnestly long to extend Myself upon you to open the [gates of] heaven to all My children and close hell. O Cross, it is true that you are My battle, but you are also My victory and My complete triumph. Through you I will bestow upon My children abundant treasures, victories, triumphs and crowns.”

Twenty-second Hour (2 p.m.): Third hour of agony on the Cross

You look at your dying mother, who no longer moves or speaks on account of her great sorrows, and You say to her: “Goodbye dear mother, I am leaving, but I will keep You in My Heart. Take care of our children” … Then, gathering all your strength, and with a loud and thunderous voice, You cry out: “Father, into your hands I commend My spirit!” And bowing your head, You breathe your last. O my Jesus, at this cry all nature is shaken and weeps over your death – the death of its Creator.

Twenty-fourth Hour (4 p.m.): Jesus’ burial and his Blessed Mother’s sorrow

My sorrowful mother, I see that you dispose yourself for the final sacrifice of having to bury the lifeless body of your Son Jesus. Perfectly resigned to the Will of God, you accompany him and place him in the sepulcher with your own hands. You reverently arrange his arms and legs, and as you are about to offer him your last goodbye and last kiss, the sorrow you feel is so intense that you feel your Heart torn from your bosom.

The Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the inspiring life of the Little Daughter of the Divine Will, have been deepening the faith of Catholics for more than a century. “Oh, how I would love that even one single soul for each town did these Hours of my Passion!” Jesus told Luisa in 1914. “I would hear Myself in each town, and my Justice, greatly indignant during these times, would be placated in part.”