As today is the 7th of the month, we will meditate on an extract from the “Message of God the Father” to Sister Eugenia Ravasio. The great theme running through this Message is God’s love for us and our love for Him.
This theme is particularly important nowadays, since in the Church today the primacy of neighbourly love and the improvement of this world is often put in the foreground. It is believed that in this way one fulfils the requirement to love God. Thus, a kind of “change of perspective” takes place, and man increasingly takes the centre of attention instead of God.
However, for many reasons this is undermining the true faith and, in the long run, is also detrimental to the human soul. There is then the risk of practising charitable works mainly on the basis of one’s own strength, without being renewed in the Spirit of the Lord. As a result, one easily suffers from a great deal of exhaustion, and the witness of Christians, who are to act “in the Lord”, is dulled. The situation is different when works of charity spring from the power of God and are carried out in union with Him; when they are impregnated with an authentic spirit of piety.
The Father’s Message tells us the following on this subject:
However, is it not true that if Christians knew Me as I am, the tender and merciful, good and liberal Father, they would practise this holy religion more fervently and sincerely? My children, is it not perhaps true that, if you knew you had a Father Who thinks of you and loves you infinitely, you would in your turn make an effort to be more faithful to your Christian duties, as well as to your duties as citizens, to be just and to render justice to God and to men? Is it not true that, if you knew this Father Who loves you all without distinction and Who, without distinction, calls you all by the sweet name of children, you would love Me as affectionate children, and that this love, under My impulse, would become an active love, extending itself to the rest of humanity uties, as well as to your duties as citizens, to be just and to render justice to God and to men? who still do not know this Christian society and who know even less Him Who created them and is their Father?
So we see that love of neighbour takes on a very different splendour when it not only springs from good will, but is nourished by the love of God. A deepening of faith and a better knowledge of God lead to genuine neighbourly love, because then we will see in him a child of God and love him with a supernatural love, which is more capable of suffering and can even love enemies.
Against this background, the primacy of proclamation over corporal works of mercy is also evident, because it was this that the Lord entrusted to His Church (cf. Mt 28:19-20). It is a matter of passing on the faith in words as well as in deeds, without falling into the delusion that today the former is no longer so important.
The cultivation and growth of the love of God has such a high priority that there are contemplative communities in our Church which, apart from the world, serve God; and through this dedication, the whole apostolate of the Church bears fruit. These vocations have always been especially valued!
If today this appreciation is no longer so clear, and if there is perhaps an attempt to modernise the monasteries, this would show a decrease in the understanding of the importance of the contemplative life, which is totally focused on the love of God.
Therefore, I – Brother Elias – would like to take this opportunity to send a special greeting to the Carmelite monasteries, to the Poor Clares and to other contemplative communities and vocations. Do not let yourselves be confused by the Zeitgeist, believing that the time has come to modernise and adapt to the spirit of the world, since at the moment this is the general trend! This is a mistake! God is and will remain the “great theme”, and everything else is derived from Him! Remain faithful to your vocation and beware of any manifestation of a “cult of man”! Do not let yourselves be frightened by those who, in their blindness, do not know what they are doing! They think wrongly and are imbued with the spirit of the world, which they are supposed to overcome in the Lord (cf. Jn 16:33). Do not follow them!
What I have said for contemplative monasteries applies also to all those who follow the Lord.
Let us listen carefully, then, to what the Father gives us to understand through Mother Eugenie in this Message: “Is it not true that, if you knew this Father Who loves you all without distinction and Who, without distinction, calls you all by the sweet name of children, you would love Me as affectionate children, and that this love, under My impulse, would become an active love, extending itself to the rest of humanity”.
For us men the great subject is God; just as for His love we are the great subject. If we immerse ourselves in this His love, we will be able to love like Him: God alone is enough, and everything else will be given to us as well (cf. Mt 6:33)!
A final note: Since we concluded the Novena to God the Father, we had invited those who felt particularly called to honour the First Person of the Blessed Trinity to report to us, as representatives of their respective nations, so that together we may give to our Heavenly Father that worship and love that He asks for in the Message given to Mother Eugenia Ravasio. If anyone had not heard this invitation and would also like to be part of this “Work of love” of the Heavenly Father, you can still send us an email to the following address, indicating your name and the country you come from: contact@jemael.org.