“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1: 11-14)
"In Christ we have obtained an inheritance".
Well, we have received this: it is a gift, an inheritance. To conquer this inheritance we must not work hard, everything depends on the will of the testator. In order to receive this richness of grace, in which we find ourselves, we did not have to work, it was Jesus Christ who worked: "In Him we have obtained an inheritance ", we have received the richness of the blessing and grace of God.
"In Christ we are also heirs ». We are not heirs of some small special blessing, but as Gregory the Great said, "Heirs of the Lord, of God Himself."
Therefore: in Him, in Christ, we have become this portion of the Lord, "having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will"
In the word "predestined", the emphasis is not on determinism (as if something was written in a book and carried out to the letter), but rather a decision that anticipates any merit or condition that depends on us or on world. So it is a decision of God, which is absolutely firm and stable. We should not doubt it and for which there are no obstacles worthy of this name. Dante Alighieri wrote: "vuolsi così colà dove si puote ciò che si vuole, e più non dimandare" (so ’tis will’d, Where will and power are one: ask thou no more). (Hell, Canto III).
This is the decision of God, He wants to share with man His inheritance, because he is His son and He expects from him the decision to start living as a child and not as a servant.
It’s the great difference between the sanctity of virtues and that of living in the unity of the light of the Divine Will. In the passage of July 2 1926, Jesus explained it to Luisa.
Jesus invited Luisa to look at the heavens, the stars, the sun, the moon, the plants, the flowers, the sea: Each created thing has its distinct nature, its own color, its littleness and its height; each of them has its distinct office, and one cannot do what the other does, nor produce the same effects.
So, each created thing is a symbol of the sanctity of virtues, of submission and resignation to the Divine Will. According to the virtues they have practiced, souls have drawn a distinct color within themselves; therefore it can be said that one is red flower, another, purple, another, white; one is plant, one is tree, another is star; and according to how they have submitted to the reflections of the Supreme Will, so they have developed in fecundity, in height, in beauty. But one is their shade, because the Divine Will, like solar ray, gave them the color of the seed which they themselves had placed in their souls.
On the other hand, the sanctity of one who lives in the unity of the light of the Divine Will is a birth from that single act of her Creator, which is one in the creative hands, and yet, the rays of His Will, coming out of God, invade everything and produce works and effects so innumerable that man cannot arrive at counting them all. So, since this sanctity is a birth from that single act, it will be the Supreme Will’s care and jealousy for it to enclose all colors, all the different beauties and all possible and imaginable goods within itself. And so, more than blazing sun, it will enclose and eclipse within itself all of Creation with its different beauties; one will see all the goods of Redemption enclosed in it, as well as all sanctities; and God, showing off His love more than ever, will place the seal of His very sanctity within one who has possessed the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
Do you know how it will be for our Creator with regard to this sanctity of living in the Divine Will?
It will happen as to a king who has no offspring. This king never enjoys the affection of a child of his own, nor does he feel like lavishing all his paternal caresses and his affectionate kisses, because in no one does he see his own progeny, his own features, someone to whom to entrust the destiny of his kingdom.
He lives always with a nail in his heart; he lives always surrounded by servants, by people who do not resemble him, and if they remain around him, it is not out of pure love, but out of self-interest, to gain riches and glory, and maybe even to betray him. Now, suppose that a son comes to the light for him after a long time – what is not the feast of this king? How he kisses him, caresses him - he cannot remove his gaze from his son, in whom he recognizes his own image. Just newly born, he gives him his kingdom and all of his goods as inheritance; and his complete joy and feast is that his kingdom will no longer belong to some strangers, to his servants, but to his dear son. So it can be said that what belongs to the father belongs to the son, and what belongs to the son belongs to the father.
Now, one who will possess the Kingdom of the Divine Will will be for God like a child born after about six thousand years. What joy, what feast will not be His in seeing His image in him, intact, beautiful, just as God delivered it from His paternal womb. All the caresses, the kisses, the gifts, will be for this child; more so since, having given in Creation the Kingdom of the Divine Will to man as his special inheritance, and since this Kingdom of the Divine Will was in the hands of strangers, of servants, of traitors for so long a time, in seeing this son who will possess It as a son and will give God the glory of the Kingdom of the Divine Will, His inheritance will be placed in safety on the part of this son.
By possessing the Kingdom of the Supreme Will, the soul will possess a divine, infinite, eternal Will, which encloses all goods; and one who possesses everything can give everything. What will be God’s contentment, His happiness, in seeing the littleness of the creature in this, taking from God continuously as the owner - as His true child! And since what he takes from God is divine, he takes the divine, and the divine he gives to God; he takes the infinite, and the infinite he gives to God; he takes immense things from God, and immense things he gives to Him; he takes light from Him, and light he brings to Him. He will do nothing but take and give to God. He will place all His things at his disposal, so that, in the Kingdom of the Divine Will, given to him by God, nothing extraneous to Him may enter any more, but only His own things, and He may receive the fruits, the glory, the love, the honor of the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
“So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1: 12-13).