Confidence, Audacity, Hope…

Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height;
   look towards the east,
and see your children gathered from west and east
   at the word of the Holy One,
   rejoicing that God has remembered them.
For they went out from you on foot,
   led away by their enemies;
but God will bring them back to you,
   carried in glory, as on a royal throne. (Baruch 5:5-6)

What a glorious promise this scripture passage contains! I pray it often. A few days ago, when I got to those last two lines, I felt the Spirit come upon me and found myself praying them with fierce confidence, like this: God WILL bring them back to you, carried in GLORY as on a ROYAL THRONE! The fierce confidence of my prayer surprised me, like a sudden flame in my core.

This phrase “fierce confidence” has come to me often recently. The image I have of it is from the book of Samuel, the story of the shepherd boy, David, too small to fit into the armor of King Saul, offering to take on the heavily armored menace of Israel, Goliath, who measured “six cubits and a span”—that’s over 11 feet tall!

David was a mere boy with a few choice stones in his shepherd’s pouch, and a sling. But his secret weapon was the fierce confidence of one who placed all his trust in the power of the Almighty God. The shepherd boy, David, had many times invoked that power to slay bears and lions in defense of his lambs. His was the fierce confidence of someone who had stared death in the face more than once and lived to glorify to God. Every. Single. Time.

The book of Samuel describes the moment David offered to take on the giant:

“David said [to Saul], ‘The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.’ So Saul said to David, ‘Go, and may the Lord be with you!’” (Samuel 17:37)

David strode across the valley with fierce confidence, faced the giant and in a strong voice said:

‘You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you IN THE NAME OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF THE ARMIES OF ISRAEL, whom you have defied…This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down…that all this assembly may know that THERE IS A GOD IN ISRAEL, and that…the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S …’ (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

Now, I don’t care how big Goliath was, he must have been absolutely stunned by the fierce confidence of that shepherd boy a fraction his size.

But the battle belonged to the Lord and the giant never knew what hit him!

That is what fierce confidence looks like on a human level. Most impressive! But in the following passage, Jesus explains to Luisa and us what confidence means for those who pray in the Divine Will. It’s far less flashy but infinitely more dynamic and effective.

Volume 3, January 6, 1900
[Jesus to Luisa:] “Confidence has two arms: with one it embraces my Humanity, and it uses my Humanity as a staircase in order to ascend to my Divinity; with the other it embraces the Divinity and draws celestial graces in torrents, in such a way that the soul remains all inundated within the Divine Being. When the soul is confident, she is certain to obtain what she asks. I let my arms be bound, I let her do whatever she wants, I let her penetrate even into my Heart, and I let her take, by herself, that which she has asked from Me. If I did not do so, I would feel Myself in a state of violence.”  (L. Piccarreta, Book of Heaven, Volume 3, January 6, 1900)

Glorious! Think about it: Can we fuse with Jesus and possibly ask for something that is not his Will? Impossible! And if it is his Will, can he refuse it? He cannot. When we fuse, two hearts beat as one. For two who are one, the communication is itself a guarantee of fulfillment. Ask and you shall receive! In fact it is the Lord himself putting the request into our heart; fused into him we are free to take what is his and make it our own, for our perfectly united purposes.  

I had a real-life experience of this in the 2015 Year of Mercy. On Good Friday of that year I was praying in the Divine Will for a soul and asking that they not die in their sin. I had an internal exchange with our Lord that went like this:

Me: “Lord, please do not let them die in their sin.”

He: “Should they not die as they have lived?”

I was taken aback by this seemingly harsh reply, but then I remembered that it was the Year of Mercy. I was filled with boldness and said: “Lord, that would satisfy your justice, but as this is the Year of Mercy, I make an appeal to your Mercy and ask that this person not die in their sin.”

In an instant, I knew that I had passed a test, that my prayer would be granted, that my audacity had pleased him, and that he would reward my audacious confidence in His never-failing mercy.

Dear friends, the 2025 Jubilee of Hope must not be taken for granted but employed as the sure vessel of hope that it is! The foul breath of the giant is all around and in our face. Jesus is calling us in this dark hour to fuse in Him and pray with audacity, fierce confidence, chutzpah. Call it what you like, God is giving us this time of great hope so that, fused with him in the Divine Will, the most souls may be saved before the dawning of the New Era. Our mere breath in the Divine Will is the bellows of hope Jesus will use to fan the flames which will set hearts on fire. Jesus breathe in my breathing! Fiat!

Luisa was chosen by God to “impetrate” the fulfillment of the Our Father prayer. Fr. Robert Young defined the word as meaning, “to successfully implore”. Luisa repeatedly impetrates the coming of the Kingdom of the Divine Will in her writings. She impetrates it with confidence and audacity, more than once threatening to not come down from the Father’s lap until he has promised that his Will shall reign upon earth!

And how does the Father react? He calls her his “little winner”, having won over the Divine Heart!

Mother Angelica, model of audacity, once said, “Boldness should be the eleventh commandment.” At another time she said, “Guts is the eighth gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Luisa’s chutzpah will be hailed for all eternity for having impetrated for humanity the Third Fiat! The battle belongs to the Lord who uses the weak, like Luisa and those linked to Luisa, to shame the strong.

As Archbishop Sheen prophetically put it, “We have already won, only the news has not yet leaked out.”

May his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Fiat!

Sample prayers of great confidence

• From Volume 11, Good Morning to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament: … today I desire Your entire being to continuously accompany me in my prayers, labors, joys and sorrows, and when I eat, walk and sleep – in a word, in everything. Although I am incapable of obtaining anything on my own, I am confident that I will obtain everything with You. May everything we do comfort You in your suffering, sweeten your bitter sorrows, make reparation for every offense You receive, requite You in every way and obtain everyone’s conversion, no matter how difficult it may be. Let us go around to every heart begging for a little love to increase your happiness and joy. Does this not please you, O Jesus? (L. Piccarreta, Book of Heaven, Volume 11, first page)
• Lord Jesus Christ, you are for us, so nothing can be against us. You are unstoppable as you will and desire to restore to us what is rightfully ours so that we can return to you what is rightfully yours, namely the love and glory all creatures owe you from Adam to the last—and souls! 
• Lord Jesus Christ, I place all my trust in you through the intercession of Our Lady, Queen of the Divine Will, SoG Luisa—Little Daughter of the Divine Will, and St. Joseph, Terror of Demons. Take care of all this for me. I love you and I thank you with all my heart and soul and with your own Divine Will. Amen.
• And of course…Jesus I trust in YOU.
• Last but certainly not least: Fiat!