Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of October 24, 2006
Feast of the Mother of the Eucharist
1st reading: Eph 2:12-22; Psalm 84; Gospel Lk 12:35-38
On September 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave a keynote address at the University of Regensburg, where, quoting a sentence from Manuel II Palaeologus, he aroused harsh reactions from the Islamic world. On the following September 17, the Mother of the Eucharist, in a letter of God, launched a heartfelt appeal: “You know that there is a lot of tension between Muslims and the Holy Father. We in Heaven ask the Holy Father to apologize in order to return to a You know that there is a lot of tension between Muslims and the Holy Father. We in Heaven ask the Holy Father to apologize in order to return to a peaceful situation. (…) If someone made a mistake, whether small or big, priest or Pope, he must apologize. We hope this happens, because from Heaven we see that the situation is getting worse and worse. (…) You have been informed by newspapers and television, but the situation is even worse than what journalists say. Listen to me, Mary, who is bringing you the message from God. Pray for the Pope to bow his head and apologize. I just want him to apologize. If he doesn't do it, a very, very harsh war will break out for everyone." Unfortunately, Benedict XVI did not listen to this maternal appeal and on October 9, 2006, when the Regensburg speech was officially published, it was accompanied by 13 notes trying to mitigate the conflict, but with no apology. Clashes and violent reactions took place all over the world and several Catholic places of worship were attacked and burned.
In the homily of the following 24th October that we publish below, Mons. Claudio Gatti comments on the letter of God of October 22 where Our Lady defends her dear little children for the courage to have divulged the divine appeal, despite the fierce opposition of the ecclesiastical authority.
Rome, October 22, 2006 - 10 pm
Letter of God
Our Lady - I, Mother of the Eucharist, have never spoken badly of the Pope, I only said that he had to apologize to non-Christians.
The Seer, whom someone wants to destroy, is not to blame for anything; she only repeats what I say in the name of God.
Why do men misunderstand what I say and strike the innocent? What harm is there if I, the Mother of the Eucharist, have said that the Pope must apologize to non-Christians?
Is it possible that the big men called by God always understand what they want and hurt my two little children?
Every time I made a maternal reminder to the men of the Church, they were offended and then attacked my two little children.
I, Mother of the Eucharist, say that this wickedness must stop. I invite my priests to go forward in the name of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
It's so nice to ask for forgiveness and forgive each other.
It would be the time to ask for forgiveness also from Bishop Claudio Gatti: you made him suffer a lot and you continue to make him suffer.
Go in peace and approach Jesus the Eucharist in a state of grace.
The Mother covers you with her maternal mantle and holds you all tight to her heart.
Go in the peace of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
The Lord is very skilled in changing programs and this evening too he succeeded in the best way, because while reading the Gospel I had a succession of reflections, which I will now try to donate to you.
The Word of God is for everyone and can be adapted to realities and situations that can also be different from each other. I want to interpret today's Gospel in a strictly communal way.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!" (Lk 12:35-38).
Jesus’ exhortation: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning”, is quite suitable for our community. In fact, we could reply: “Lord, we have been ready for some time now. We have already tied our belts since some time, the lamps already lit since some time. We find ourselves in the situation of waiting for You to come”.
"Be similar to those who wait for the master when he returns from the wedding, to open him immediately, as soon as he comes and knocks", we could reply: "Lord, we have long ago opened both gates, one of them open on via delle Benedettine and the other gate on via Rosa Gattorno. They are both electrically controlled in order to open them faster..."
Certainly there is someone on this side who is smiling, because they fully share my interpretation. We are waiting for the Lord; of course He is continually among us, but we long for His intervention from the bottom of our hearts.
It seems that these nuptials never end because the time goes on ceaseless. Also in this expression: "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes", we feel totally involved because we are ready and awake; we have everything we need to welcome the Lord in the best way, when He will come and we would like this to happen as soon as possible. Unfortunately, for reasons that you well know, this coming is postponed, as the Mother of the Eucharist said today.
Today I will comment on the letter of God of Sunday evening (22nd October 2006). Keeping in mind what Our Lady said a little while ago: “Unfortunately the situation in the Church is sad, the men of the Church do not behave properly. When I give them maternal reminders, they are not angry against me, who am the Mother, the Mother of the Eucharist, but against the Seer and the Bishop. If I say that a clergyman made a mistake and I try to correct him maternally, as I do with you, they do not accept it and are ready to speak badly of my two little children." (Letter of God, October 24, 2006).
To every work or action performed by God, unfortunately, the reactions of the big men of the Church have always been negative and we have experienced it on our skin. In fact, the ecclesiastical authority, not being able to lay the blame directly on our Lord or Our Lady, has directed its criticism and even slander towards those whom God has chosen to spread his messages, namely the Bishop and the Seer.
And every time Our Lady intervened to make a maternal correction, or as she calls them maternal caresses, the reactions were negative, as on the occasion of the divine appeal of last September: "You know that there is a lot of tension between Muslims and the Holy Father. We in Heaven ask the Holy Father to apologize in order to return to a peaceful situation, otherwise a very harsh and tough war will break out and many innocents will pay a heavy price” (From the letter of God, September 17, 2006).
Pay attention: every time Our Lady speaks, she does it in the name of God, because everything starts from God. The Mother of the Eucharist often said: "I am the postwoman of God, I tell you what He says to me"; at other times she confided to us that, like Mother, even though she wanted to tell us more, she too had to obey God the Father.
"I very much wanted to announce something important, great, that could help your Bishop, but this is the letter of God. He said this, and I repeat what He said, I behave like your Bishop who does not change a single word of the letters of God that I bring to you. Many times I have given very strong messages and little Marisa, naively, told him: "Do not publish this sentence, Excellency, because we will have harsh reactions from the priests", and he always replied: "I publish everything that Our Lady says, I'm not going to change a single word”. Who would do this? Have you ever read messages from God so long and so full of love? Because of his loyalty to God, the Bishop is the most harassed person in the whole Church." (From the letter of God, October 24, 2006)
What our Heavenly Mother said is comforting me; also the Bishop, by obeying God, behaves in the same way as Our Lady. I have never censored a single word of what the Mother of the Eucharist said, despite knowing that certain contents would arouse enmity and touchiness. I had to publish it thus showing what God said. Who am I to censor God? I am a creature and I would have sinned for lack of respect to God if I had thought of changing or replacing even a single word.
Benedict XVI speech in Regensburg motivated the sensitivity and touchiness of the Islamic world. There have been negative events, which you do not know about, against Catholic churches, against priests and faithful whose only fault was to be Christians. Some were killed and many were beaten up. In our civilized Italy, our Don Ernesto was also beaten up by some Moroccans. All this could have been avoided! It would have been enough for those who made a mistake to say: “I made a mistake, I beg your pardon”, as asked by Our Lady in the letter of God of September 17 last.
But how was this maternal call received? What was the reaction of the one who should have apologized and knew this important letter from God? What about the others? It was completely negative.
They whimpered, this is the exact term, like children: "Our Lady cannot say this, she cannot speak badly of priests". Our Lady, the Mother of the Eucharist intervened and clarified: "I have never spoken badly of the Pope", this is one of the accusations they made to us, after the message of September 17 was issued, “I only said that he had to apologize to non-Christians”. But do they know the Gospel of Matthew, where there is talk of fraternal correction? We can all make mistakes, only God is never wrong. Our Lady is never wrong, being full of grace. She never committed an imperfection; but all the others, including my dear friend St. Joseph, made mistakes, even if they are small and slight imperfections. It is human nature that carries the weight of weakness. Is it an offense, therefore, to say that Saint Joseph, and you know how much I love Saint Joseph, is imperfect? I feel he is nodding his head and saying, "it's true, that's true." Why don't we take an example from the saints?
How many popes have made mistakes over the centuries, you don’t know the Church history, if you did, you would tear your hair out for the many mistakes that have been made! So am I speaking badly of the past popes? No.
The greatness of redemption is really this: people like me, like you, full of imperfections and weaknesses can become saints and be declared saints by God. However, if we look within, we must recognize that we have so many aspects that must be straightened. If Our Lady is correcting us she is making an act of love, an act of trust; she says: “Courage, my son, you were wrong, but you can change and become a saint”. Does this mean speaking badly? See how the words of God are misinterpreted. "The seer someone wants to destroy is not guilty of anything, she just repeats what I say in the name of God", then if you are honest, blame God.
"Why do men misunderstand what I say and strike the innocent?" Because they are cowards, this is the talking, they are cowards. "What harm is there if I, the Mother of the Eucharist, said that the Pope must apologize to non-Christians?" He would have done all Christians a favor. Had this apology been uttered, how many fewer tears, how much less suffering there would have been! How many churches would not have been burned, how many faithful would not have been beaten up! "Is it possible that the big men called by God always understand what they want to hurt my two little children?" Then it means that these are just ploys. They are aware that these messages are authentic and come from God, but they go on with commonplaces, they repeat some nonsense, even raising themselves as judges of God. This is awful! They hit the prophet, the one whom God has called to make His will known. “Every time I made a maternal call, the men of the Church were offended and attacked the two little children”. I celebrate the H. Mass here; at the moment I exhaust my ministry in this restricted area, but let’s go back to Don Ernesto. They prohibited him from celebrating the H. Mass in various places where he used to go because he was spreading the message of September 17 last.
"I, Mother of the Eucharist, say that this wickedness must stop", it is real wickedness; whoever has a little sensitivity, if he has caused a person to suffer, even unwillingly, he feels bad. How can they strike, make people suffer and feel no remorse, no discomfort? They killed the conscience.
“I invite my priests to go forward in the name of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It is so beautiful to ask for forgiveness and to forgive each other", they are acts of love, a love that asks to be forgiven, and the other love that is happy to give forgiveness: two loves that meet.
If this were done in families, between spouses, between brothers, between relatives, between friends, how much less suffering there would be! Instead, we always put ourselves in situations of fighting one against the other. One should recognize one's mistakes and ask forgiveness from the other and be aware that on another occasion it will be the other who will make mistakes and ask for forgiveness. I grant you my forgiveness because I love you; you offer me your forgiveness because you love me.
This is what we must always keep in mind: "It would be time to ask for forgiveness also from Bishop Claudio Gatti", these are words coming from God. "You made him suffer a lot and you continue to make him suffer", you heard it today too, tonight, but here is the Mother who suffers from the wrong behavior of her children, “Go in peace and approach Jesus the Eucharist in a state of grace”. Today she said that again because, unfortunately, they approach the Eucharist and commit sacrileges.
“The Mother covers you with her maternal mantle and holds you all tight to her heart”.
Here, faced with the love of God, faced with the love of Our Lady and her maternal solicitude, we, once more, must take it as an example. Each of us has someone to forgive and someone else to ask for forgiveness; if we are with God let's do it, if we are children of God let's do it, if we are children of Our Lady let's do it. If, on the other hand, you are children and servants of evil, then continue to do what you have done wrong so far, but it is not your case, I am not addressing you, I am not speaking to you because I know that you strive to do everything that God, Our Lady and the Bishop are pointing out to you and teaching you.
Praised be Jesus Christ.