Father’s words taken from the Message to Mother Eugenia Ravasio:
This, then, is one very light-hearted way of looking at My judgment of My children, men, all of them, without exception. You must come to Me. I am so close to you! You must love Me and honour Me so that you will not be judged, or rather, that you will be judged with infinitely merciful love. Have no doubt! If My Heart were not like this, I would have already destroyed the world every time it committed sin! But as you have seen, at every moment My protection manifests itself through graces and benefits. You can conclude from this that there is a Father Who is above all fathers, Who loves you and will never cease to love you, if you so desire.
I come among you in two ways: the Cross and the Eucharist! The Cross is My way of coming down among My children, since it is through it that I caused My Son to redeem you. And for you, the Cross is the way to ascend to My Son, and from My Son to Me. Without it you could never come to Me, because man, by sinning, brought on himself the punishment of separation from God. In the Eucharist I live among you as a Father with His family. I wished My Son to institute the Eucharist so as to make every tabernacle the vessel of My favours, My riches and My love, to give them to men, My children. It is always by these two means that I cause both My power and My infinite mercy to come down ceaselessly.
Today’s passage is a word of comfort, which lends itself perfectly to the current situation, when the Coronavirus is proliferating.
The pandemic must not be seen as an annihilation of humanity. Rather, it can become a deep purification and is connected to the invitation to turn to God and leave the wrong ways.
Up to this point, access to God has been made easier for us: “All you have to do is come to me” said the Father in the message, “I am so close to you.”
But why, having such a loving Father, who has opened wide the doors for us to come to Him, do not all the nations come to Him? Why do we not understand this?
Precisely now, in times of need for men, many churches are closed and often Holy Mass is no longer celebrated for the public, but precisely this would be an opportune moment to offer spiritual consolation to people! Indeed, this consolation exists: it is the unceasing love of the Father, who manifests Himself to us in His Son.
What could be the reason why it is so difficult for us to accept the Father’s message of love? Could it be that we do not believe in love? Or are we only interested in earthly happiness? Has the Devil blinded us? Has a layer of ice formed around the heart of man, because of sin? Or is it our pride? Does the message seem too simple to us? Or are we afraid of love?
The Lord makes it clear to us that it is the Cross that opens the way to God. This is the core of the proclamation! Without the Cross there is no true access to the Father! The Church has been entrusted with proclaiming this truth to mankind: here is the door of salvation for all people! Therefore, it is clear that we can never renounce this truth. Humanity will not be redeemed by a process of generalised peace, nor even by another religion; but only by the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The door of God’s Heart is open. This is what the Father wants us to understand. This door is always open, as long as we are not the ones who turn away… Unfortunately this last possibility exists, and it causes pain to the Lord, while we exclude ourselves from salvation.
Talking about the Eucharist today also causes a certain pain, knowing that many of the faithful long for the Eucharistic Lord, but at the moment they do not have access to Holy Mass. However, since it is not a culpable omission, God will give us the same grace as if we received Holy Communion. In fact, He can grant His special presence also in another way, when His children cannot come to Him through the way of the Eucharist. Tomorrow we will talk about this…
The Holy Eucharist is a very intimate way in which God communicates Himself to us. If the faithful are now deprived of it-precisely in the season of Lent-it should not be interpreted as if our Lord would be punishing them and excluding them from the treasures of his grace.
But we, the faithful, have a part in everything that happens in the Church. How many times will communion be received unworthily? It is received by people who do not live in an objective state of grace or who do not have the true Catholic faith, and not seldom it is the ministers themselves who invite them to communion!
God’s invitation to come to him is valid for all men and women at all times.
However, one must consider the way in which this invitation is to be accepted, so that it may be fruitful in time and in eternity. And this path is not arbitrary, nor can it be decided by each one of us alone; it is traced out in love and truth. That is why the requirements for approaching the Lord’s Table must be respected. The wedding garment, which was imposed on us in holy baptism, must be purified again and again in the Blood of the Lamb.
Let all those who now still have access to the sacraments pray for those who long for them but cannot receive them! And those who for the moment can only receive spiritual Communion, may offer it with the intention that in our Church the Holy Sacrifice be presented to the Lord in all its dignity. All frivolity and banality must disappear from the Church! May the Lord grant us to come out of times of trial purified, and above all, may we discover and correspond more deeply to His love!
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
