Approximately 98.5% of all the Gospel passages which relate the lives of Jesus and Mary have been described in great detail in the monumental writings of Maria Valtorta.

From late 1998 to late 2004, two Maria Valtorta Readers’ Group members have been recording, on cassette tapes, all the Gospels read on Sundays, and on Solemnities and many major Feast Days which can be celebrated on a Sunday. One member reads the Gospel, and another reads what Maria Valtorta has written about this Gospel.

The texts for these readings have been drawn from the five volumes of Maria Valtorta’s The Poem of the Man-God*, from her Autobiography, her Notebooks 1943*, 1944* and 1945-50*, and from The Book of Azariah* (Maria’s Guardian Angel).

These separate passages have now all been computerised, and compressed into “MP3” files.  Thus the information that would normally fill about forty standard CDs now fits onto four CDs, which can be played on “MP3-compatible” CD players, but not on normal or standard CD-players.  MP3s can also be played on most computers, on many DVD players, and typically on portable MP3 players with which most teenagers are now familiar.  There is also a system for car use, whereby the CDs can be heard with a portable (MP3-compatible) CD player – using a “car-kit” which draws power from the cigarette lighter, and includes a device for inserting into the car’s cassette player.

The first three CDs (“A”, “B” and “C”) each carry 55 tracks for the Liturgical Years A, B and C respectively. The fourth CD (“D”) contains 53 tracks for Solemnities and many major Feast Days – including four tracks for Christmas Day, and 26 tracks covering the Last Supper, the Agony, Scourging and Crowning with Thorns, Jesus’ trials before the high priests, Herod and Pilate, and the Stations of the Cross.
        * Published in five volumes by Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, 03036 Isola del Liri, Italy, 1986-90

(We begin with a letter from Robert Gebert, from Esperance W.A. Robert has been receiving the audio cassette tapes – from which the CDs have been produced – and has listened to them with his prayer group.)

After the arrival of the “Sunday Gospel” tapes - for the last two years, and at the quiet time after the Rosary – we listen to the tapes. I try to keep in to 15 minutes. I say what the Gospel is about, then I start the tape from Maria’s writings. One lady puts up the footrest of her chair and closes her eyes. Another lady said “I listen to each word of Jesus, for it is so rich and so beautiful.” Another person said that it is a great gift that Jesus has given to us. And another said “It is so deep, and so simple to understand”.

(The next message was received early in the project’s final development stage, from a not-so-mobile Australian member who can’t always get to Sunday Mass…)

May I encourage your interest and support for this project. I have been fortunate to have received all the cassette tapes containing the Sunday Gospels for Years A, B and C - followed by Maria Valtorta’s commentary on these passages. I have found them a great means of preparation and reflection for the Sunday liturgy, and invaluable when unable to get to Holy Mass.

This new enterprise will have the added advantage for storage and for library convenience. It will be a great space-saver, and a far better means of preserving these works for the future. In such a library, to have all the gospels for the 3-year cycle, and all the writings concerning these gospels from the various works of Maria Valtorta, will indeed be a great gift for years to come. Thank you…

(As the project progressed, advance copies of the first two CDs were sent to just a few of the Readers’ Group’s members. Here are some responses…)

I have been enjoying the Sunday Gospels with Maria Valtorta. I wish they were in Spanish too, because they are excellent to prepare for Mass and for preaching. The voices sounds fine, and very professional. Congratulations!
FATHER JORGE FUENTES, Puebla, Mexico

I have just finished listening to last Sunday’s Gospel and the Valtorta reading, and am so overwhelmed by the potential – to prepare for and celebrate more fully in the Spirit... Sometimes we drive quite a distance to Mass, and now we can look forward to some quiet preparation in the car, listening to and meditating upon the Gospel of the day.
(From a  “kindred spirit” in country Victoria.)

I have found the meditation for Sundays very rich when I have the gospel and the Valtorta text at the same time. It is “The Poem made Simple"!!
SR. CHRISTINE KABUMBU, Zambia.

Over the weekend, I took the time to listen to various passages from the CD of Year “B” of the “Sunday Gospels”. As I was listening, I found it easy to discern which part of the reading was from the Sunday Missal, and which was from Maria Valtorta’s writings - because two different voices were used. This was done effectively and didn’t interrupt the flow, but it rather enhanced the readings for each Sunday. 

I have read the 5 volumes of The Poem of the Man God, during which I felt that I was sitting in front of the television, observing - as a spectator - the beautiful movie that Maria presents to us. However, it is interesting that only a few days before, I read about St Ignatius of Loyola, who developed a method of spirituality called Ignatian Spiritual Excercises, which focused on people using the fullest amount of imagination during meditation. People were asked to pick a scene from the Bible and imagine they weren’t spectators - like in the audience of a play - but actual participants in the biblical scene being contemplated. So while I was listening to the readings, particularly from Valtorta’s writings, I found myself becoming a participant so easily. And what greater enjoyment and enrichment it gave me, because I was able to appreciate the reality of the scriptural text. I was able to use my senses to learn about and experience the event. (In fact, the only other time I have been able to do this was with the pocket-book Rosary, where I felt as though I was present at each Mystery, step by step, instead of being an observer.) What a difference this made to enriching my love of Jesus and of the gospels…

As I listened to several Sunday readings, I noticed that you chose not to have any background sounds or music of any kind in any of the readings. I liked this, because [this may have] interfered with or overpowered what was supposed to be the true focus. 

Congratulations for bringing the gospels in both forms to all of us at home. I will certainly make it a weekly practice to listen, as part of my Sunday prayer.

CATHERINE LOFT, Glen Iris, Vic.

Finally, from a lady who attends a Prayer Meeting in Toronto with Bishop Danylak. (The Bishop has recently lost his reading sight.)]

Next to the Bible, His Grace refers frequently to Maria Valtorta.  A cost cannot be put on these CDs as far as he is concerned.  We even had Jesus speaking through you from Maria Valtorta at the Prayer Meeting re the Holy Eucharist.

MARY ELLEN MCBRIDE, Markdale ON, Canada

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