In 1932, God the Father appeared to an Italian nun, Sister Eugenia Ravasio. She wrote down the message that the Heavenly Father had entrusted to her. After a long and detailed examination, the local bishop of Grenoble, the place where the apparitions took place, recognised the authenticity of the message. As a result, we have received an especially valuable booklet entitled “The Father Speaks to His Children” (you can download it from this link: https://fatherspeaks.net/eugenia_msg.html).
In this Message, God the Father expresses in moving words His immense love for us human beings. He declares His love for us in many ways and from different perspectives. He gives us a glimpse into His Heart and expresses His great desire that all humanity should know Him, honour Him and love Him. Indeed, these three elements are indispensable for a right relationship with God, and in them we find our own happiness.
So how can we get to know our Father better?
The Father speaks to us through His Word. Let us allow the Word of God to speak to our hearts and let us meditate on it like Mary, the Mother of God (Lk 2:19). In this way we come to know God. Already in the Old Testament, God manifested Himself through the mouth of His prophets. He made Himself present in them and spoke to His people through them. Those who know the history of the chosen people know how much God loves them, how much He cares for them, how much He longs to be in their midst and to walk with them. He even spoke to Moses face to face (cf. Ex 33:11).
Our Father has not ceased to reveal Himself, and together with His Word He gives us His Spirit so that we may understand Him.
But God came even closer to humanity through His Son Jesus Christ. In Him the Father is fully present: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). In all that Jesus does and says, we can see God as He is. In Jesus, sent into the world for our salvation, the fullness of the Father’s love is revealed to us. Every teaching, every work of Jesus communicates His love to us.
In a special way we recognise the Father’s love in the cross of Jesus, on which He gave His life for our salvation. Let us look at the cross and try to understand that it is God Himself who offers us His mercy through His own passion and death. The heart of God is wide open, the Father calls His children home wherever they are.
We also recognise the Father’s love in all the tabernacles of this world, where Jesus is present, waiting to fill us with Himself. When we receive Holy Communion, the Father gives us His most tender presence in the gentleness of His Son.
He also fills our souls with His luminous presence through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. He, our Comforter, reminds us of all that Jesus said and did (cf. Jn 14:26) and transforms us into the image of Christ. In this way, the Father has found a way to be with us always, to dwell in our hearts permanently and in all circumstances.
We could mention many other ways in which God makes Himself known to us: His presence in the Church and in the souls of the saints, His presence in the course of history, His presence in the beauty and silence of nature, His presence in art and music, among many others… All these sing the Father’s song of love to us, so that we may learn to be aware of His constant attempt to conquer man.
It is up to us to pay attention and learn to discern the gentle voice of God who speaks to us in so many ways, especially by whispering directly into our hearts.
The Father invites us into a trusting and intimate relationship with Him, and He rejoices when we spend time with Him. He fills with goodness the soul that simply remains before Him in prayer, opening itself in the depths of its heart to His love and giving itself to Him without reserve. The Virgin Mary will help us to know, accept and live in the intimate love of our Father.