The great theme that runs through the Father’s message is the love of God in two ways. The love of the heavenly Father for us and our love for him.
This theme is particularly important today, even if in the Church it is not uncommon for a primacy of charity and the improvement of this world to come to the fore, and for the cultivation of love for God to be equated with it or even put on the back. There is a kind of change of perspective and man instead of God moves into the centre of attention.
But for many reasons, this is weakening the true faith and in the long run also harms the human soul. This soul is increasingly in danger of doing the works of charity above all out of the strength of its own soul and therefore of no longer renewing itself in the Spirit of the Lord. The consequences are slightly excessive exhaustion and also the witness of acting as Christians “in the Lord” fades into the background.
The situation is different when all the deeds of charity flow from the power of God and are united with him, when they are permeated by the spirit of true piety.
The Father’s book says on this subject
“My children, is it not perhaps true that, if you knew you had a Father Who thinks of you and loves you infinitely, you would in your turn make an effort to be more faithful to your Christian duties, as well as to your duties as citizens, to be just and to render justice to God and to men?
Is it not true that, if you knew this Father Who loves you all without distinction and Who, without distinction, calls you all by the sweet name of children, you would love Me as affectionate children, and that this love, under My impulse, would become an active love, extending itself to the rest of humanity who still do not know this Christian society and who know even less Him Who created them and is their Father?”
Charity therefore takes on a very different splendour when it is not only linked to good will, but is fed by the love of God. The deepening of faith, the better knowledge of God, leads to authentic love for one’s neighbor, because one is better able to discover in his neighbor both the “child of God” and to love him with a supernatural power that becomes more capable of suffering and can rise up to love of one’s enemies.
In this way the primacy of preaching, which the Lord has entrusted to his Church, also becomes clear. It is a matter of passing on the faith in word and deed and not to be deceived as if this were no longer so important today.
The cultivation and growth of love of God is so primary that we know of contemplative monasteries in the Holy Church which, in seclusion, serve God and, with their devotion to God, support the whole apostolate. This vocation has always been particularly appreciated in the Church.
If this is no longer so clear today, and if monasteries are thought to be more modern, this does not indicate a greater awareness of the contemplative life, but rather a weakening of the awareness of the importance of a life totally oriented towards love of God.
Therefore, I, Elijah, I would like to take this opportunity to send a special greeting to the Carmelite Monasteries, and to other contemplative communities and vocations! Do not let yourselves be confused by the spirit of the times and think that we must now become modern and progressive, because the general current is so at the moment. God is and remains the great theme, and from this theme everything else follows! Remain faithful to your vocation and avoid all forms of a “cult of men”!
What has been said for these monasteries also applies to all those who follow the Lord.
Let us listen carefully, then, to what the Father is telling us through Madre Eugenia:
“Is it not true that, if you knew this Father Who loves you all without distinction and Who, without distinction, calls you all by the sweet name of children, you would love Me as affectionate children, and that this love, under My impulse, would become an active love, extending itself to the rest of humanity”
God is the great theme for us as we human beings are the great theme of love for God.
Let us immerse ourselves in his love, then we will be able to love like God himself. God alone is enough, everything else will be given as well (cf. Mt 6,33)!
Harpa Dei accompanies the daily scriptural interpretation or spiritual teaching of Br. Elija, their spiritual father. These meditations can be heard on the following website www.en.elijamission.net