Text of the Eucharistic adoration of March 9, 2015

Feast of Priesthood

Today, in this adoration, we want to read and expound Psalm 36 (37).

How many times, during Holy Mass, we read and listen absentmindedly to the Psalm words. Instead, the Psalms are an enrichment of God’s word and, if we were to read them often, they would teach us to pray before the Lord. The Psalms are hymns of praise that we are not used to raise or recite; they are like steel wires that make us firm and united with God.

As St. Thomas suggests, prayer must be secure, straight, orderly, pious and humble: all characteristics we find in the Psalms. This is the way to turn to God, even if we call him Friend God, Brother God and Daddy God. The Psalms were inspired by the Holy Spirit, so we too, in this adoration, ask for his help so that our prayers may be heard by our Lord, through the intercession of Bishop Claudio, and His will may be realized in this community.

Today we are in adoration before Jesus the Eucharist, and we want to take a hint from this wonderful Psalm to turn to him, hurling our heart and eyes to Heaven with a voice of gratitude and love.

If we close our eyes, while listening to it, it seems that is the Bishop urging us to follow his advices.

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

The first three verses synthesize what the Bishop said to each of us when we started to embrace this spiritual journey and also the answers to our doubts or uncertainties. Sweet words that dry up tears, reassure fears, help those who want to let themselves go to God and strengthen those who want to do His will.

We wonder if Mons. Claudio Gatti made them his own when God ordained him Bishop or asked him to celebrate the H. Mass in the chapel, despite the prohibition from the ecclesiastical authorities. To obey God does not mean to be submissive or a slave, but something quite different: it is an important virtue, a choice of life. By obeying God you buy dignity and freedom because his orders are issued for love, for our own good and for the life of souls.

The verse "Commit your way to the Lord" brings back to our mind the concept of abandonment to God, embracing and including obedience, which characterizes the spiritual life of each of us and, above all, Don Claudio and Marisa’s life. It is not an easy task to entrust our life to God, giving oneself totally to Him, for it clashes with our earthly certainties, with what we see with men’s eyes; such certainties are totally different from those of Heaven, which should be seen with God’s eyes. We should not expect God to do what we want, or to listen only to what we like and remove the rest, and Our Lady used to reproach us on this in the letters of God. Instead, we must let God guide us, and He "will give you the desires of your heart”, in the best and most beautiful way.

How can we listen and hear the word of God and understand what our path is? Through inner silence. On the seventh day of the novena to St. Joseph, entitled "The Silence of St. Joseph", we have learned what "inner silence", means,that is to silence all outside voices and listen to God only. We must, therefore, focus only on ourselves, isolating us from external stimuli, especially those stimuli that, in today's society, distract us from the right path thus awakening and stimulating within us feelings and disordered pleasures not beautiful in the light of God. Only the inner silence allows us to have a free and intimate conversation with God transforming it into a willingness and generosity towards the others. We must try to carve out the time to devote solely to God, freeing your mind and opening our hearts to Him. At community level we have several opportunities to exploit in order to give more and more to God, the adoration on the first Friday of the month, or on Tuesday, are golden opportunities to communicate with God, opening our hearts and our minds and getting us in a listening position. Yes, because it is in these moments that God is enlightening us with His Wisdom, guiding us on the right track. Our Lady often told us not to limit ourselves to prayer only, repeating litanies, when we are before God, but try to talk with Him, to open our hearts to the Lord, to ask and listen, just as our beloved Bishop did, when, free from his commitments, would dwell with us in front of Jesus the Eucharist, confiding to Him whatever his soul felt.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.

The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them.
Bu the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.

Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.

Although it was written long ago, this Psalm seems quite actual and suited to the history of our community. The villain is the one opposing the will of God, going against His plans and giving scandal to the little ones. The evil one is the one who does not want to love; he, by his own choice not by his nature, is not selfless, humble and simple. He decided for a life without God, but, as the prayer we just read says, everything will backfire on him. Perhaps this is no consolation for those who have been victims of the wicked, but the Lord comes to their aid and comforts them in some way. Somehow it is like an answer the Lord tries to give to those who remained faithful, although they may continue to face trials; He invites them not to stop at the snapshot of the moment, but to trust Him blindly waiting for the next.

Actually it is more a warning not to adopt certain behaviors because, as our Bishop always reminded us, God is merciful but He is also just.

We know, through the letters of God that the Mother of the Eucharist brought to us, what God’s plan is, but men do not listen, they pretend not to believe, they are afraid to be solidly with God. It is easier to oppose a plan of God rather than fight to uphold the truth, it is easier to be on the side of our Lord’s enemy than to be alone and fight for the truth. The Bishop, however, gave us a great example and died carrying out God’s mission and was happy with our little love, sometimes given little by little, but was sure that at his side there were the most important people: Jesus and the Mother of the Eucharist. Let us remember his enthusiasm and try to convey it with the help of Jesus the Eucharist.

The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care, and their inheritance will endure forever.
In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

But the wicked will perish: though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field, they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.

The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously; those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be destroyed.

The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

These verses are full of hope; the Bishop dedicated one of the last three years of his life to this important virtue, rarely lived to the present day. How many people went by in this thaumaturgic place and because they were without hope, left this path. But the Lord, with these words, is comforting and sustaining us with his hand, even if we do not want to be aware of it. Sooner or later those who "hurled arrows and shots of gunfire", as the prayer of the Church says, will have to give up and surrender to God's plan.

We must never get tired of praying and loving, but we must not seek justice against those who deliberately made us suffer. God will take care of them, as he repeatedly made it clear in these verses:

Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.
For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.

Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish.
The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.

Letter of God

Rome, March 9, 2000

Our Lady - My beloved sons, thank you for your presence here. Today it is the great feast of your priest, but especially, as your bishop says, is the feast of priesthood; each priest should celebrate the feast of priesthood. Jesus said: "I am in you, Don Claudio, and you are in Me", it is the same for all priests who live in a state of grace. When God gives me his letter, He just tells me to help you, to teach you to love, to forgive, to live in a state of grace every day of your life.

I see that you are living well this big trial from God and this makes the heart of my son Jesus happy and my heart too.

When I said to you: “celebrate the priest, make a great feast”, I especially meant the spiritual feast: the Holy Mass, Holy Communion, prayers, big and small sacrifices. Last Sunday I told you about the little sacrifice of the cigarette; it is very simple to make this little sacrifice for the sake of priesthood, to truly convert the souls called by God. God keeps on asking for conversions.

Sometimes God is asking and sometimes is commanding. He is commanding when He says: "I want you to be bishop, I want you to celebrate the Holy Mass, I want you to celebrate all the sacraments. When God says: "I want", a beautiful soul answers: "Yes; yes, my God, I am all yours; totus tuus”. He is asking when He requires our consent to do something by saying: "You are free to accept or refuse", then you are as free as the birds flying in the sky. I say it again, when He says "I want", you must obey; this is the true and great obedience to God.

All the angels and saints of Heaven are celebrating this day, feast of priesthood, feast of your bishop, together with you all who love him, my little flock. God keeps on sending me in your midst. You are just a few, but simple, humble, good and you do your best to love Jesus the Eucharist. By now you have made the big jump: you love Jesus the Eucharist with all your heart and Jesus thanks you for this and is happy because you show to love Him, in spite of all the sufferings and especially in spite of the big trial. Thank you, thank you with all my heart.

Now celebrate your priest by attending the Holy Mass with all your love, have the Holy Communion in a state of grace and then rejoice because the situation will change.

In this moment everybody is blessing you, my dear bishop, and everybody is wishing you utmost good and big strength. Don’t be discouraged, for all the Heaven is with you.

I am keen on repeating a teaching. Someone will remember that when Marisa asked me if an apparition was true, I rebuked her and said: "Who are you to ask me this? You are worth only that quarter of an hour of apparition". To no seer I speak about another seer. He who is talking badly of a seer, I say it again, he who is talking badly of a seer has never seen me or has ceased to see me. Remember well these words, they are very important. Catholic radios keep on talking about apparitions, but now they do not say any name. Remember: no seer can talk badly about another seer. He is not a true seer if he talks badly about another seer. So, when you hear talking badly about a seer, don’t listen, or you can just as well say: "This doesn’t come from God, this comes from the devil".