Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of March 15, 2009

Third Lent Sunday

1st reading: Ex 20:1-17; Ps 18; 2nd reading: 1 Cor 1:22-25; Gospel: Jn 2:13-25

After the creation of man by God and after man disobeyed him, a clear and precise “no” loomed over the world and in no way could be erased by any human action and would have weighed like a boulder, but God, the one who was offended by that “no”, canceled it. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, entering the world says, addressing his Father: "Behold, I come, Father, to do your will" and on the world the “no” is replaced by an immensely greater and more luminous “yes”. Man's “no” is canceled by God, becoming similar to man, except for sin, as Paul reminds us. God could do without human collaboration, instead he wants humanity to collaborate with him and sends the Messiah, the Christ, who by his nature is the only mediator between God and man. Jesus needs no human collaboration to carry out the work of redemption, but, in God's plan, man must give his contribution and the first human being to give it, alongside the yes of God the Man, is Mary with her human “yes”. And here, next to the Eucharist there is the Mother of the Eucharist, next to the Redeemer there is a co-redeemer, even if it is not yet a truth of Faith, next to the only true mediator there is Mary, mediatrix of all graces, even if it is not yet a dogma.

Two figures are towering over the world: the figure of Jesus the Eucharist and the figure of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. Jesus the Redeemer, mediator, supreme, unique, first priest and, at the same time, divine victim is present in the Eucharist. The function of mother is present in Mary, as she gave God a body that had to be pierced and the blood that had to be shed, according to his will, to bring about the Redemption, but the function of mediation and co-redemption is also present in her. Jesus the Eucharist could do without the Mother of the Eucharist, instead he wanted not only a human creature like his mother, but also that men were his representatives in the world to bring the grace, to proclaim the Word, to show the way, that is, he wanted priesthood, in a particular way, to be a function of the Eucharist. If, by an unfortunate hypothesis, all priests were to die at the same time, there would be no more Eucharist in the world and if it is true that the priesthood is in function of the Eucharist, the Eucharist is the first office, the highest worship that the priest, in the name of all men, can and must raise to God. Here then is the Eucharist in its triple function of presence, communion and sacrifice: presence of Jesus in body and blood, fruit of Mary's yes; soul, creation by the Father; divinity, because he is son of God. The presence of God in body, blood, soul and divinity would be already an immense thing, but God goes further, he even surprises us by becoming man's spiritual food. Christ makes himself a prisoner, almost dependent on man, Almighty God chooses to be a prisoner of man who, through this food, raises his dignity to a height that, otherwise, he could never have reached, because the sonship of God springs, is nourished and perfected through the Eucharist.

Presence is a great gift, communion is an immense gift, but sacrifice is a shocking gift. One or two drops of Jesus' blood would have been enough to redeem man, instead Jesus came to live the painful experiences that is shaking all of us, as announced in the Old Testament. This is why I made you read a part of a passage from Isaiah, who is also defined as the fifth evangelist because in that chapter and in the previous ones, under the inspiration of God, he described Jesus' passion in a precise and peculiar way. If we place this announcement of the passion alongside the account of Christ's passion, which we will read shortly on the occasion of Holy Week, if we manage to put a little intelligence and love into it, we cannot finish the Passion without being overwhelmed by what Christ wanted to voluntarily inflict on himself to demonstrate his infinite, immense, endless love. It would already be immense if the death and passion of the Son of God had happened once two thousand years ago and we could live in the memory of this event, but God goes further, he surprises us, above all, amazes us, because what he accomplished two thousand years ago becomes a reality and actualization in every place on earth, in every moment of history, every time a properly ordained priest repeats the words that Jesus spoke during the Last Supper.

We, as men, when facing all this, have reacted with ignorance, detachment, indifference and disinterest, partly due to serious shortcomings of priests who are the historical continuation of the action and presence of Jesus Christ. Our first task is to catechize, preach, make Jesus and what he taught known. After so many centuries there has been this detachment from the Eucharist because we priests have omitted for centuries what was truly important and we have brought our attention and that of men to situations that are immensely less important and less incisive in human reality. So, she who pronounced her yes and placed it side by side with God's yes, Mary, the woman of Nazareth, the mother of the Messiah, continued the work she began under the cross. Mary's yes pronounced at the incarnation, pronounced at redemption, continues in history. If man has returned to love the Eucharist we owe it not to the Pope, to bishops, to cardinals and priests, but to her, with her interventions and apparitions in the world and, in a particular way, with the apparitions that have taken place in this place, bombed, slandered, denigrated by men who behaved like the enemies of Christ, who sentenced him to death. We love the Eucharist because the Mother of the Eucharist taught it to us and I always remember that bishop who asked me: "But how did the apparitions of the Mother of the Eucharist help you?” I replied that they taught to love the Eucharist, to believe in the Eucharist, to preach the Eucharist. Then the role of the priest and, in this specific case, the Bishop ordained by God, is extended in the Church to restore her love for the Eucharist and, as you wonderfully said yesterday during the vigil, and for this I am grateful to you, alongside the Bishop God has placed a creature without great human characteristics, a humble, simple, sick and suffering creature. From this fusion of the Bishop and the Seer came the triumph of the Eucharist, declared by God on January 10, 2002. God attributed the triumph of the Eucharist to the Bishop and the Seer, but also to you, very subordinately. You know how fierce the devil was against us and yesterday I told you something and just its description makes the mind waver.

God wanted humble and simple people to be alongside the Bishop and the Seer. When I said to the Lord, in a conversation: "My God, you know that for years I have considered my other confreres better than me, more intelligent, more cultured, more prepared", He replied: "That’s why I have appointed you bishop”. We must be aware of our limitations, not to grow proud, but be aware of our littleness and Our Lady repeated this, quoting Jesus' words: "I thank you, Father, because you have kept these things hidden from the proud and have revealed them to the little ones". Remember that the little ones of the Gospel are the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven, in fact, for example, towards a creature who lived in complete hiding like grandmother Iolanda, in Heaven there is extreme respect from God. When the Seer, and hopefully soon if we love her, will leave the earth to reach the Heaven, you don't even imagine what will be the feast that she will be welcomed with. God told me something about this feast and you too will know it when the time comes. The same feast will be repeated when, in turn, but unfortunately years will have to pass, even the Bishop, no longer a bishop, but with another office, will join the Father. I think Marisa can promise you that she will go to prepare a place for you in Heaven and we can say that this place is guaranteed to you because you have loved and defended the Eucharist, the Eucharistic miracles and the apparitions of the Mother of the Eucharist. On these works of God, men sometimes even in high places and, sometimes, even those who have been part of this community, have thrown sarcasm, mud and contempt. I wouldn’t like to be in their place when the moment comes and they will show before God, because in that moment, as he already mentioned many times publicly and, privately, to Marisa and me, his dreadful words will resound: "Go away, cursed, in hell! Woe to you! Woe to those who slander my Bishop, the Bishop I ordained." God's "woe" is awful, but the words will sound different for you: "Come, you blessed by my Father, enter the joy of Heaven prepared for you since eternity". Yes, my dear, we are present in God’s mind since eternity and everything is present in God, therefore Marisa and I are present, but you are also present for what you are now and we all are present for what we will be tomorrow. So when Jesus said: "Prepared for you since eternity" he meant that God, since eternity, thought of us and loved us, but he loves us because we love the Eucharist. This is the safe-conduct! Now you understand why in the canon of the Mass I say and pray "for priests who love the Eucharist". This is theologically correct, this is the reality. For those priests who do not love the Eucharist I cannot waste my time, for them there will be condemnation, for the laity who do not love the Eucharist even if they pretend to love it, there will be no salvation, but we love the Eucharist.

I believe that the greatest joy that the Bishop of the Eucharist and the Victim of the Eucharist can have is to have instilled in you with our preaching, witnessing and suffering a great love that continually expanding towards the Eucharist. During the prayer I said that in the name of the new Church I professed obedience and docility to God and I had every right to do so, as He ordained me a bishop precisely in function of the new Church, but next to my yes there is it is the yes of the Seer and you must place your yes as well. Be faithful to this yes, bring it to the world, do not be intimidated by the no of people who are enemies of God. Let it be the distinguishing mark: yes to Jesus the Eucharist, yes to the Eucharistic miracles, yes to the apparitions of the Mother of the Eucharist, yes to the Bishop of the Eucharist, yes to the Victim of the Eucharist. At that point you will be protected from any storm and tornado which, unfortunately, will hit the world and the Church, when God will intervene to fulfill his promises. My dear, thank you for being here, but thank the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for calling you here. Praised be Jesus Christ.