Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of June 11, 2006

MOST HOLY TRINITY (Year B)
1st Reading: Deut 4:32-34, 39-40; Psalm 32; 2nd Reading: Rom 8:14-17; Gospel: Mt 28:16-20

Liturgically, when the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity is celebrated, I believe that every priest in the homily, having to explain part of the mystery, can only stammer concepts and express words; but all this remains far from reality, because we must not forget, my dear, that we are talking about God who is infinite and cannot be understood by human intellect and intelligence. The Lord, however, comes to the rescue of our weakness and allows us to understand something more about Him, about the mystery, also through Theophanies and manifestations of Himself that occur to certain people. Today we celebrate the One and Triune God and already in the face of such a statement the human mind falters, because unity with Trinity cannot be resolved. In the Creed we recite that the Son was born from the Father, then we speak of the Holy Spirit and profess our faith in Him by declaring him Lord and God and asserting that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. You have said these words many times and professed this formula, but what have you really felt and understood? God makes us understand this very lofty mystery, as far as possible for human intelligence to understand it, through manifestations. We were on vacation; I think it was July 1992, when the apparitions for everyone had not yet begun, when, for the first time, Marisa told me about the manifestation of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit she had witnessed, a Trinitarian theophany. Today Our Lady herself reported something of this event that over the years occurred again. You know first of all that God cannot be seen by man, we will only be able to see and enjoy God when we are in Heaven. Jesus, by having human nature, therefore a human body, shows in a visual way, sensitive to men, but the Father and the Holy Spirit, being pure spirit, do not show because man, as long as he is on earth, is unable to tolerate the sight of God; then there are symbols through which God the Father and God the Holy Spirit show to us, one of these, for example, is the dove. It is not a mystery, for example, that in His infinite goodness the Holy Trinity also showed to me; I say this almost blushing, but it is also a duty for me to report it because it is now written in the books that talk of the apparitions. I once saw a very large host in the sky and three very bright doves in it, this is because the Father wanted to show in the form of a dove, the Holy Spirit showed in the form of a dove and Jesus too showed in the form of a dove, just to underline this perfect equality existing between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But there is another way, and this was seen by Marisa several times, through which the Holy Trinity manifested when both the Father and the Holy Spirit assumed the semblance of Jesus and this was the first Trinitarian Theophany that took place before Marisa’s eyes. She saw a very bright Jesus and then, as Our Lady reminded us today, she saw a second Jesus emerging from the first Jesus identical to the first, not smaller or larger, but perfectly identical to the first and immediately after, from the first Jesus, who is the Father, God the Holy Spirit came out, always in the likeness of the first Jesus. This means: “He is born and proceeds”, and God has made us understand this concept through this image. In the Father who is the source of divinity there is the Son and the Holy Spirit who are different and distinct from Him, but equal to Him. At the end of the Trinitarian theophany, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son returned in the Father so that we could better understand this mystery. Our Lady also recalled that the three Persons of the Trinity are equal but distinct. When they were before Marisa, God the Son had the stigmata and God the Holy Spirit had a dove in his hand, but they are just ways through which God relates to man and make them understand something of his nature, of his divine being. We, as I have already said, will be able to enjoy God in Heaven, but when we speak of Heaven, and this was also said by John Paul II with my great joy, we must not think of a place, a physical place as if we were talking about another continent; when speaking of Heaven we must remember: Heaven equals God. Therefore, as God is infinite, consequently, Heaven is an infinite reality because it is identified with God. What is Heaven? It is the enjoyment of God, it is the presence of God, it is the manifestation of God. I realize that minds are probably wavering a little but, my dear, I am talking about an infinite reality and I lack the proper words, the proper concepts, I do not have the tools as I, limited and finite, am striving to point out to you a reality that is infinitely superior to my being and therefore to my understanding, but, equally, infinitely superior to your being and your understanding. God cannot be seen as long as we are on Earth, but he can be met. We can meet the same God, One and Triune, showing in all his splendor, in all His divinity, perennial and eternal source of happiness for the angels and saints, in the Eucharist, because, remember, where there is the Father, there is the Son and the Holy Spirit, where the Son is, there is the Father and the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit is, there is the Father and the Son. Of this Eucharistic mystery, inaccessible to human understanding, we can taste its reality through what God tells us and God told us, through his mother, the Mother of the Eucharist, that the Father, the Son and the Spirit Holy are present in the Eucharist. The absurd thing is that, when entering a church, we see that they are places of dissipation and distraction, we pass before the tabernacle and, at times, even the priests themselves do not bow and acknowledge that they are before God One and Triune. You will remember that when God showed to Moses, through the famous burning bush that was not consumed, Moses heard a voice coming out of the bush saying: "Take off your shoes because this place is holy and is sanctified by My presence". When we enter a church we are not asked to take off our shoes and cover our faces, but we must have an attitude of respect, of attention, because we are before God and we must assume this attitude and we priests must be the first to do that, revealing ourselves, if necessary, even to face any negative reactions of the people we are inviting to be reverential and respectful because of the presence of God. It is in the Eucharist that we meet God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and, as I have said and showed many times, this standing of ours before God is not sterile because when we stand before God and then leave the church, we move away from His presence, but we are not in the exact same situation we were when we entered. Whenever we are before God, He pours graces, light, gifts and strength into our soul; therefore, if we want to be children of God, we must cultivate this relationship with regularity and a constant presence because our conversion and transformation is brought to its maximum potential only when we are before God. Now you understand why this miracle that took place six years ago, just on June 11, 2000, is not just a memory, now secured in a picture, but it is a reality perpetually in action and acting continuously. You, I am referring mainly to those who are carrying out the mission of going to speak to priests, must have the certainty that the strength, light, courage and clarity with which you face and speak to priests comes to you from the Eucharist, it comes from this intervention of God, which is not over yet, has not ceased, but continues to gush forth whatever men need to be able to understand God, to be able to speak of God. There is also another reality to underline: when the Eucharist is in the presence of people far from God, who have evil and the devil inside their soul, they have negative reactions. So why do you wander if, at times, when speaking about the miracle, you hear priests having negative reactions? There cannot be God and the devil at the same time, it is Jesus reminding this to us, either we love one or we love the other; if we love God we despise the devil, but if we follow the devil we put man in the situation of distancing himself from God; two masters cannot be served, these are the words of Jesus, God and Mammon cannot be served, one or the other, so it is necessary and inevitable that there are reactions.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Rom 8:14-17).

There are hearts close to God, hearts feeling the relationship with God as father and son, as Paul says in the passage we have just read, having within them the spirit of God and allowing them, when turning to God, to call him Father; therefore, if God is present within us we turn to him and call him Father, but if God is not present within us how can we think of turning to him? We turn to his adversary, then you understand certain reactions. Instead of rejoicing, instead of appreciating, you are faced with people denying the evidence, they even went so far as to profane the Eucharist saying that the devil can work miracles, that the shedding of blood is the work of the devil, as if the devil could be stronger and more powerful than God. Everything is appreciated, everything is understood when we are in the light of God, good includes good, good rejects evil, whoever is with God fights against evil, whoever fights against God becomes a slave to evil, reaching aberrations of thought and action that are truly surprising. Go forward with confidence, go forward with serenity, we all can meet God in the Eucharist and we must defend this mystery that has been manifested to us. We must follow Our Lady’s example. If you could only see what our sister has seen so many times: that is the attitude of the Mother of God, the Mother of the Eucharist when she is before the Eucharist. She is meditating deeply, she assumes an extremely collected attitude and this is a great and wise teaching for us. How many people in the past have said: "During the mass Our Lady told me..., Our Lady revealed to me..., Our Lady spoke to me...", but the Mother of the Eucharist has always said: "It's not me, I don't speak when there is Jesus, I do not say anything when there is Mass, but together with you I participate in the Mass and I bow before my Son, because, yes, he is my Son, but he is also my God”. These are the teachings we have received, but they are not just ours and we simply give them to everyone. Let us too stand behind the Mother of the Eucharist and adore in silence when, soon, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, God One and Triune will be truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Praised be Jesus Christ.