24 June 2010

Dearest Readers,

Here we are again together. I hope you are all well and happy in God. This month I want to share with you what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me about the consecration. The consecration may seem to refer only to priests or religious people. In reality, each one of us is called to consecrate ourselves to God. This consecration has nothing to do with adopting a particular way of life, but rather pertains to the inner disposition of someone who offers his life to the Lord, regardless of the reality in which he lives. In this sense, all those who sincerely desire to belong to God, abandoning themselves to His will are consecrated. The consecration of oneself is the foundation on which all vocations sprout, whether it be marriage, priesthood, religious life, or something else. All those who decide to put their life in God’s hands, renouncing all selfishness to follow Jesus’ path, are welcomed by the Lord as His consecrated people. God does not look at individuals differently; He welcomes each person’s self-offering.

Therefore, let us not be afraid, for we are not asked to do great things or to make sublime speeches to please God. We are only asked to be like trustful children without malice, who believe in the goodness of their Father and entrust themselves to Him with the certainty that they will receive only goodness and happiness from Him. If we do so, we are transformed by God and participate in His work of Salvation. Yes, the Lord needs people who consecrate themselves to Him to help humanity, to show a different way of living, and to open the path of hope to every person of goodwill.

We will now leave you to the words of the Holy Spirit; I hope they will bring you light and vigour. I greet and embrace you in Christ.

Stefania Caterina

Message of the Holy Spirit of 18 May 1999

“In the Gospel, you have read Jesus’ words: ‘And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth’ (Jn 17, 19-20).[1] Jesus spoke about the offering of one’s life to God, which every Christian must do, and this makes every Christian a truly consecrated person. Unfortunately, not all Christians are consecrated, and not everyone who claims to be consecrated is truly so. This offends God, as their offering is not pure. An impure offering is worse than a lie. One who claims to be offered to God and then lives in darkness rather than truth is worse than the one who chooses the darkness. This is what Judas did and many others continue to do the same.

Offering your life to God consecrates you to God; this offering must be made in truth—not in your own truth, that of your ego or your mind, but the truth of God. That is, the offering must be made according to God’s will, in accordance with what has been planned for each of you.[2] Indeed, many would like to obtain what is not meant for them; they desire to have certain charisms and wish to possess God. This places you outside of the truth, for God gives each individual according to grace, that is, according to their possibilities and capacities. He does everything with love, out of love and with attention to each soul.

God’s truth consists of what He has intended for each one of you. In this truth, you will be able to truly consecrate yourselves and put your life at God’s disposal so that He may realise His divine plan in you. Yet, if you focus on your ambitions, human desires, and personal interpretations of God’s will, your consecration will be outside of the truth; it will be only a means to realise your expectations while thinking that you are filled with great faith. Unhealthy ambitions are present in many who claim to be consecrated, as they consecrate themselves in their own way to obtain something from God; this is ambition.

If you live in the truth of God, you will be truly consecrated. Even the evil one will not be able to harm you because he will find nowhere within you to clutch on. Indeed, Satan seeks to draw you out of the truth and away from God’s plan for you; he aims to divert you from the divine will, nourishing your ambitions and pressing on your weaknesses to drag you away from the truth. However, if you wholeheartedly desire only the realisation of God’s truth for you, Satan will not be able to touch you.

I invite you to ponder whether everything in you is in the truth, whether every step, every desire, and every prayer unfolds within God’s truth, in God’s plan for you, which is your truth, the truth of your being.

To be consecrated in truth means to leave everything behind. Jesus invited you to abandon everything (Mk 10, 17-27; 28-31). Unfortunately, many of you view this call on a strictly material level, as if Jesus simply ordered you to go and sell your goods, as part of a negotiation to regulate your businesses and then follow him. No, it is not so! Leaving everything behind refers to what is within you: the sources of human security, the comfortable choices, the compromises you often make when God’s truth does not align with your own, when God’s wishes conflict with yours, or when you perceive that your reputation is in danger. All of this is more dangerous than material wealth.

Many believe they are consecrated to God because they have renounced some material goods, but they delude themselves, for they have not abandoned their inner world, which leads them to trust in people and worldly things rather than in God. The spirit of the world sometimes follows even the religious into the monasteries; it infiltrates among Christians like a virus and corrupts the people of God. This leads to many evils among the faithful: a lack of prayer, faith and abandonment to God; excessive rationalism, empty words and useless sermons.

As Christ’s disciples, you are especially asked to leave everything behind. Those who offer themselves to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, must not own anything, for by giving their lives, they give everything to God. Those who have a security that is not based solely on God, still possess something, which means that they have not abandoned everything. Those who have not left everything behind cannot give everything.

On the path towards true consecration are those who have truly left everything behind and are ready to hope not for something visible to human eyes, but for something that can only be seen by the eyes of faith. Then you are called to let down your nets (Lk 5, 5) and go towards the unknown; to succeed in this, you can rely only on God. Never forget that your life is sustained solely by Providence, which is the thread that binds you to God. Therefore, be careful never to break it, for if you do, you will fall into emptiness. I encourage you to adhere to this, for Jesus has assured you that whoever leaves behind everything will receive a hundredfold and eternal life.

I bless you with My Blessing of light, strength, and peace, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

[1] Taken from “Jesus Prays for His Disciples”, Jn 17, Bible edition “Revised Standard Version (RSV)”.

[2] Self-offering to God does not mean that you will suffer a violent death. It is the readiness to allow God to fulfil His design for each individual.