Detailed Testimonies
Discovery of the work
On the internet, by ordering religious objects from a site. I was given an excerpt from these works.
Impact on love for the Gospel
The work enlightened me on certain passages of the gospel and on the infinite love that Jesus carries for us. This work touched me a lot and sometimes, some words read come back to me. As if my heart had memorized them.
Concrete impact on faith life
She teaches me to pray with the heart.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
That this work does not question the teachings of the Church or the catechism. On the contrary, it reinforces them.
Discovery of the work
"Seek and you shall find.." I don't remember exactly how I discovered the work. But I was in search of God's love. I wanted to know Him better, and quench my thirst. And as soon as I read the first volume, I wanted to read everything but due to lack of time I bought the audio version which I listened to every day in my car on my way to work. It was the blessed moment when God made Himself present in my day.
Impact on love for the Gospel
The reading of the Gospel simply illuminated itself page by page. How many times I told myself that God truly loves us to share such graces with us (a misunderstanding was clarified and untangled, an action of God or an explanation deeply touched my heart, ...). The discovery of Jesus' life shown to Maria truly made me encounter Christ, taught me to love Him and trust Him completely. This brought me closer to the Church, and I attend every mass if I am available, even sometimes during the week.
Concrete impact on faith life
Alas, I will say that it somehow taught me the catechism at a time when we were taught nothing but coloring!! I was born in 1971. No one ever explained the mass and its symbolism to me, and even as an altar boy, I didn't really recognize the words before the consecration, the moment when I had to ring (I don't even know the name of the object). In short, a lost generation in a republican, freemason, therefore satanist, world where all the media were already denigrating religion. But my heart knew that Jesus really existed, and that I would meet him later, that I would become interested in him again when I was old, at 33 years old... This is the little internal promise I made to myself thinking about God. And years later, at my 33 years old, God came back into my life, and reading Maria Valtorta contributed a lot to it. I have been trying since then to think about God, to thank him, to pray to him, to meet him in communion and confession, to sing to him.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
As the Pope and Padre Pio said in their time: read, and you will understand. I would tell them how much it has changed and beautified my life. And that they have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.
Discovery of the work
Someone told me about it
Impact on love for the Gospel
At 53 years old, I hadn't been to church since I was 18 because I didn't like priests and I had never really understood the Eucharist. This work made me love Jesus, understand his Passion and the sacraments. I adore the details of life and especially the descriptions of the characters' reactions, their physical and psychological states. It's sometimes very funny. It seems like it's happening right before our eyes. It's a time machine that connects us live to what happened 2000 years ago. They seem very close to us. It's like a movie. The life of Maria Valtorta, her honesty, the absence of errors in dictation, the beauty of the writing and the intelligence of the texts and reflection made me want to read the gospels and return to mass. I also like the notebooks of dialogue between Jesus and Maria. Maria Valtorta made Jesus God alive and close and concerned about us and our salvation. In short, she made me understand the love of Christ who is not a distant and abstract God. I was confirmed this year thanks to Mara Valrorta and Vassula Ryden.
Concrete impact on faith life
It is a guide in faith and life. It made me return to mass, confession, and begin adoration.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
Those who read will understand. Said the pope of the time.
Discovery of the work
I discovered the work by listening to the reading of certain passages on the site "The Word that gives Eternal Life". While I was on the wrong path, for so many years with spiritual and metaphysical readings of all kinds, I was struck by the deeply embodied nature of these readings.
Impact on love for the Gospel
The Gospels, like Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sufi texts, were all more or less equal to me, and the Gospels no more than the others. I am now convinced, through reading Maria Valtorta and rereading the Gospels, that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
Concrete impact on faith life
My life of faith was empty despite intense searching. I owe to this reading my first confession (and all the following ones for the first Saturdays of the month), the understanding of what happens at the mass in which I participate as often as possible and in any case every Sunday. I owe it the joy of Holy Communion, overwhelmed as I am by the love that the Lord offers us. I owe it the rosary that I recite every day, the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary that I would have considered perfectly ridiculous two years ago. The first Fridays, the pilgrimages, the daily prayers for the souls in purgatory and for the conversion of sinners. I owe it the urge that I have several times a week to stop in a church, a cathedral, a chapel to go and pay homage, on my knees, before the tabernacle or the Holy Sacrament, before my Lord who is there, for me, for us, in Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
Begin and you will not stop: it is the Lord who speaks.
Discovery of the work
It was my father who read the 10 volumes...
Impact on love for the Gospel
I discovered a very human Christ in many details and very divine in his sermons and actions. Great compassion even for Judas, for people living in error, his absence of judgment and his hope in the conversion of people in lives of human dead ends helped me to correct my conception of a severe God.
Concrete impact on faith life
I have read the Word of God much more and discovered the importance of communion. A closeness with Mary and a better understanding of the conception of Jesus. And his great compassion for sinful women.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
Do not be put off by the numerous details, which are there to prove the veracity of the inspired work. Discover a Christ perhaps different from what he had imagined.
Discovery of the work
After a drug addiction therapy, I was challenged to say a rosary a day and "your life will change"... I started after having nothing more to lose and slowly, after moving in front of a church (by chance), an acquaintance offered me the complete collection of Maria Valtorta's work. I started by reading volume 1 and so on up to 10. My anointing from the Lord happened in my living room while reading: I died for you!.. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit entered me. I felt what love was because I had never known love. My life has changed since then.
Impact on love for the Gospel
Reading the volumes allowed me to know Jesus, to live an intimacy with Him and my love for Mother Mary is boundless... She led me through the rosary and the reading of the Word because for me it's from the Father of Heaven. I began to know the sacraments and held prayer evenings. I even quit smoking out of love because His Love is so great. So great that I felt the need to give and proclaim the Gospel. Through reading the collection, I can reread His teachings, His pearls of knowledge.
Concrete impact on faith life
A total conversion and above all the practice of the sacraments of forgiveness and the Eucharist. The sacrament of forgiveness gives wings and truly heals our wounded heart. I suffer from degenerative diseases and I have joy in me because my hope comes from above. I have no doubt that reading the Gospel of Maria Valtorta can lead to conversions .. it is a Living Word Since October 1995, I no longer feel my emptiness inside me, this soul-destroying gnawer.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
You have nothing to lose. On the contrary, everything to gain. You will know Love.
Discovery of the work
My mom gave me the 10 volumes. But reading them seemed like a mountain to me, and I didn't find the covers very attractive...
Impact on love for the Gospel
One day, at Easter, I felt like reading the latest volume related to the Resurrection, and I was very touched by Jesus' solicitude, even though I did not always understand the ties that united the characters. My heart was burning, and I wanted to read everything. I restarted my reading from volume 1, and, 3 years later, I arrived at the end. It was Christmas Eve... The coincidence of dates struck me. These were 3 years of intense happiness and diligent reading. I literally plunged into the Heart of Jesus.
Concrete impact on faith life
The Gospel according to Maria Valtorta has restored my taste for prayer, strengthened my faith, and increased my love for Jesus. Discovering Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the disciples in their daily lives has brought them closer to me and allowed me to better understand the Scriptures. The explanations given by Jesus are so enlightening! Today, I read the gospel of the day's mass and the corresponding passage from Maria Valtorta every morning: what a wealth! It is truly a deep joy to pray with these texts.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
Perhaps approach it step by step, through the gospel of the day, or in comic book format, or through the "teen" version... or start like me from the end! Volume 1 is full of wonders, it can be off-putting when you don't know these writings at all. But what a treasure to discover!
Discovery of the work
I got the books from my mother who had them all.
Impact on love for the Gospel
I rediscovered the life of Jesus and the apostles - and of the Most Holy Virgin Mary - through reading all the volumes of Maria Valtorta and this reading helped me understand the human and divine dimension of Our Lord, his sacrifices and his suffering on this earth. I learned to love him through his human and divine side and found answers to some of my questions. His story is angelic and Jesus' interventions are of infinite wisdom that transported me. A delight.
Concrete impact on faith life
This reading has deepened my faith in a surprising and joyful way.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
Do not hesitate. You are going to live with Jesus, in his time here below.
Discovery of the work
I heard a radio program about Maria Valtorta.
Impact on love for the Gospel
I had a hard time reading the gospels, many things were incomprehensible to me, since I read Maria Valtorta, everything became clear. I go to mass 4 to 5 times a week, when I hear certain insipid homilies, I thank Jesus for giving us this gift! I think that history repeats itself, that some current Pharisees do not recognize the word of Christ! How could an author, even with a lot of talent, invent this? I have never heard any prelate explain the gospels as well, and especially understand in our current life that the word of Jesus is always relevant!
Concrete impact on faith life
A huge impact, I understood who Jesus really was, his humility, his patience, his unconditional love for us! The gospels became so clear that I even did charity work for 3 years with 6th and 5th graders, I would never have embarked on this without the writings of Maria Valtorta.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
For years I have been talking about Maria Valtorta. I lent my books, I explained moments of Jesus' life to people who did not know him, I would have been incapable of doing so before! And now I can talk about the love of Christ, before this it was abstract! And Mary, what a great humility, through her simple life we understand that we can try to live like her.
Discovery of the work
The book was given to me.
Impact on love for the Gospel
Reading Maria Valtorta greatly strengthened my love for the Gospel (which I now read almost daily!) and for Jesus Christ - I "finally" understood that I could entrust everything to him, it's a very great strength! I wish to follow his path!
Concrete impact on faith life
I would say that my life has been turned upside down and "completely changed" since reading Maria Valtorta. Faith is now at the center of my life, in the "big" or smallest things, trying to do "my best" to follow the path of Jesus. To give a few examples, since reading Maria Valtorta, I confess 1 or 2 times a year (which I did not do), I pray several times every day and I read the Gospels almost daily.
What would you say to someone who hesitates to discover this work?
I could say that for my part, I was quite reluctant to read this book at first. A certain amount of time passed between when I was given this book and when I started to read it. I started in a moment of trial / questioning, first slowly, then without being able to stop.