Dear Father, it is true that only in eternity, as we contemplate You from face to face, will we experience the fullness of happiness, towards which we are heading. There is no doubt about it!
However, it is not that You want us to experience only tribulation until then, even if this sometimes helps us not to enjoy a false happiness. If this were so, Beloved Father, You would not have told us through our friend St. Paul that we should always rejoice (Phil 4:4).
Dear Father, we are often confronted with evil, both within and without us. Sometimes it might even seem that evil triumphs. It appears powerful and tries to obscure our vision and determine our feelings.
To Mother Eugenia You said:
“Do you wish to gain victory over your enemy? Call upon Me and you will triumph over him.”
Dear Father, your Son promised us in the Gospel:
“Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.” (Jn 14:23)
Father, we not only want to invite You, but we cry out with all our heart: Come to us, make Yourself at home in us! We want to prepare a dwelling place for You where You can abide. Come and do not delay; stay forever.
This is what You also want to give us to understand when You tell us again and again that You want to be with us.
Beloved Father, in the wonderful Message you conveyed to Mother Eugenia Ravasio, You tell us how You accompanied a certain man throughout his life and showered him with blessings. However, that man did not respond to Your courtship; he became entangled in sin, thus constantly offending You. But You did not cease to call him, nor did You cease to fight for him. Shortly before his death, he finally repented of his evil life and called upon You by the name of “Father”; and You rejoiced that You could forgive him and that he would be with You in eternity.
This story of Yours, O Father, touched me deeply, and it continues to move me to this day…
Beloved Father, this series of meditations is a Novena in Your honour, and is to help men – Your beloved children – to know You more deeply.
It will also serve to fulfil Your wish that the Church will soon establish a liturgical Feast on which You will be honoured as “Father of all Mankind”. You entrusted this desire of Yours to Mother Eugenia Ravasio. Read More
To know You, O Father, is life; true life; eternal life…
Indeed, it is this that we always seek… We are constantly on the lookout for something that will fulfil us, that will make us happy – according to our concept of happiness -; for something that will last… But can there be true happiness without You? Read More
In 1932, God the Father appeared to Mother Eugenia Ravasio, an Italian nun, and gave her a message for all of humanity. Essentially, it is a declaration of love for Mankind (https://www.fatherspeaks.net/eugenia_msg.html#THE%20FATHER%C2%B4S%20MESSAGE,%20book%201,%20part%201). The message was carefully examined by the Bishop of Grenoble, the diocese where the events took place, and he concluded that it could only have a supernatural origin. One of the wishes expressed by God the Father in this message is for a liturgical feast to be established in His honour on 7 August each year. Although only the ecclesiastical hierarchy can officially implement this, we can celebrate it privately and dedicate this day to our Heavenly Father. To this end, we will begin a Novena to God the Father tomorrow, 29 July, in preparation for His feast.
To You, Heavenly Father,
we entrust ourselves wholly and unreservedly,
for You are our loving and most beloved Father.
I place these words as the beginning of the novena to God the Father which we begin today, for this is how we men should live. Read More
“What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life?” (Mt 16:26)
Through the first four gifts (fear of the Lord, piety, fortitude and counsel), the Holy Spirit guides our moral life above all. Through the last three gifts (knowledge, understanding and wisdom) He directly guides our supernatural life, i.e. our God-centred life.
The first four gifts lead to the perfection of the cardinal virtues; the last three, on the other hand, complete the theological virtues. These last three gifts are related to contemplation, to the life of prayer, to unification with God.
“Speak, O Lord; your servant listens” (1 Sam 3:9).
The Holy Spirit reminds us of all that Jesus said and did (cf. Jn 14:26). He dwells in us and teaches us what to do in the concrete situations of our lives. Thanks to the gift of counsel, we become able to perceive within us the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit and to distinguish it from other voices. However, this requires the capacity for inner silence and a willingness to detach ourselves from the hustle and bustle and chaos of so many different opinions and points of view, both outside and inside us.
By practising the virtue of prudence, we have learned to see everything from God’s perspective. However, because of the imperfection of our nature, there remains the uncertainty of whether we are really able to distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from our own thoughts or other voices. The action of the Holy Spirit within us is rather gentle and quiet, like a gentle breeze (cf. 1 Kgs 19:11-12). As we become more familiar with him, we learn to distinguish his voice more accurately. However, we need an increasing inner freedom, so that we are not so trapped in our own views, desires and illusions that the delicate voice of the Spirit cannot penetrate us. We need this inner light, which enables us to grasp in an instant the Will of God.
“So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed” (Lk 11:21).
The gift of fortitude is responsible for strengthening the soul to be ever more courageous in the service of the Lord. It gives us the strength to follow the motions and impulses of the Holy Spirit, to accept everything and to want everything that God wants.
The virtue of fortitude alone reaches its limits when confronted with the highest demands of the spiritual life. It can happen, for example, that we want to give ourselves completely to God, but we are still afraid to let go completely and abandon ourselves entirely to Him. Although we recognise what God wants from us, and in principle we want it ourselves, we are too weak to realise it. God then intervenes directly with the spirit of fortitude, thus helping us to take the decisive steps. The strengthened soul is then ready to do the will of the Father, even at the cost of great sacrifices.
