Dear Readers,

This month Jesus speaks about sin and its consequences. It is a reality which we have all experienced in life, because it is part of our frail human condition. Jesus helps us to become acquainted with this reality with broadmindedness and with the correct openness for his mercy. Only this way sin does not become a destructive experience but rather an opportunity to better understand what we are and to correct ourselves with the help of God. Jesus furthermore indicates seven points which are important steps along the way. I think that it might be useful to meditate on one point each day, perhaps exchanging with others the own considerations and putting into practice what is suggested to us. Thus, I am leaving you to his words wishing you all the best.

Jesus’ message of May 25^th 2011

Dearest children, today I wish to face a delicate subject together with you: that of sin.

Who can say that he is without sin? If you were to say so you would not be sincere, because sin is part of your human condition which is characterized by frailty. I wish to help you to understand better, so that you can live the experience of sin with greater awareness and step out of it in the correct manner.

Above all, what is sin and where does it form itself within you? Sin is an attitude of your being that puts you in contrast with the divine laws of life. This attitude can be more or less serious but it is always born of a contrast between your selfishness and the laws of God, between your desires and those of God, between your thoughts and those of God. Sin is born of your being closed to God in the depth of yourselves. In order to be able to understand this, it is necessary for you to know how your being works.

You are made up of spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the centre of your person and is contained in your soul which, in turn, is contained in your body. When God creates you He imprints his laws in your spirit because you are his children, created in his image and likeness. The Holy Spirit operates in your spirit who keeps you alive by means of a constant transmission of impulses that are powerful vibrations. Through these vibrations He is continuously reminding you that you are children of God, He communicates to you the divine wishes and thoughts God has for you, He helps you to understand the divine laws impressed in you. This is why your spirit knows the laws of God and what is welcome to him; He transmits this knowledge to the soul and in this case as well in form of impulses that is vibrations. The soul assimilates them and revises them through its intellect to the point of forming its own thought which is capable of determining your orientation, your convictions and your choices. The impulses deriving from the spirit are re-elaborated by the soul which transmits them to the brain in order to manifest them to the outside through words and actions. In this way the body becomes a precious instrument which manifests your identity and the divine life enclosed in you in the reality in which you live.

 The Holy Spirit transmits all that is needed for the functioning of your life to your spirit, at the spiritual level as well as at the physical one, because from the moment of your conception until death the laws of God rule at the same time the vital functions of your body. Also in this case the spirit transmits the impulses received by the Holy Spirit to the soul and the soul transmits them to the body which in this manner is kept alive and capable of fulfilling all its functions. In the continuous exchange between your spirit and the Holy Spirit your physical and spiritual life flows. It is a marvellous and perfect process.

If your spirit is united with the Holy Spirit, because you love God and you wish to serve him faithfully, you will constantly receive powerful impulses that push you to what is good; your spirit gets stronger day by day and opens itself more and more to the action of God; it dilates itself in order to make space to the more and more powerful presence of the Holy Spirit.  In this way you are growing in the inner comprehension of the divine laws and your spirit transmits clear and strong impulses to the soul. Your soul as well becomes strengthened and perceives with docility and love the impulses from the spirit, it transmits them unabridged to the body and the body in turn carries them out in a correct way. In this way you are healthy, integral persons because there are no obstacles between you and God.

But what happens if you refuse to let God guide you, if you do not love him? It happens that your spirit closes itself to the action of the Holy Spirit, and consequently you receive weak impulses. Your soul becomes frail and re-elaborates the impulses with difficulty, transmitting incorrect information to the body. The fact that you are closed to God alters the vital exchange between the Holy Spirit and your spirit, and from this stem spiritual problems, physical and psychological illnesses. The soul is not sufficiently nourished by divine impulses, it has to fend for itself and elaborates its own thought which is separated from that of God, which does not permit it to comprehend divine laws. The lack of understanding God’s laws inevitably leads to incorrect behaviour.

Sin is born of this. It originates in man’s spirit when it closes itself to the action of the Holy Spirit, it is a crack in the relationship between you and God. This means that the spirit refuses to collaborate with God and does not recognize him neither as Father nor as Lord. On the contrary, if you love God and are united to him, your spirit stands face to face with the Creator; He, by means of his Holy Spirit, tells you what is good for you and acts in such a way to realize what is good, putting you in the condition in which you may participate in his action with docility and with the sincere desire of obeying God.

How does Satan infiltrate himself in all this? He cannot live in the spirit of man, unless man himself opens the doors wide to him, freely and in full conscience. I am referring to cases of authentic diabolical possession that, luckily, are rare, in which the spirit of man wishes the devil to take possession of his entire being and totally rejects God; he does it in full awareness. On the contrary Satan normally works from the outside by provoking and tempting the human being where it is most vulnerable. He works particularly on the brain and on the senses, so that the soul receives strong impulses from the outside, becomes upset and weakened. In this way the soul begins to turn around itself, becomes fearful to the point of losing contact with the spirit and, consequently, with the Holy Spirit. As you can see, the action of Satan towards you starts from the outside, whereas the action of God starts from the inside, that is, from the Spirit in which, as we said, all the impulses necessary to your life are born. The interior action of God combines with the exterior one, since He works outside of man as well in favour of the entire creation. Who lives in harmony with God fully enjoys the benefits of His double action, interior and exterior.[1]

When you are immersed in God, by means of a simple joyful life made out of prayer and of service to God and to your sisters and brothers, everything flows easily; life inexhaustibly pours out from the depth of your spirit. Satan can tempt you and bother you, but he will not be able to disturb the harmony of divine life within you. In fact, the Holy Spirit, who is the Defender, communicates his strength to your spirit, which transmits it to your soul, and the soul, in turn, to the body until it manifests itself on the outside and Satan must withdraw. The great saints and mystics have been tempted and pestered by Satan in many ways and sometimes violently, but they have never been defeated. Their union with God made them invulnerable, because the power of God ran through their spirit which was open to God and it flew through their entire being, rebuffing the enemy. You can also reach this state, because God’s action is present in each of you, equally as in the saints and mystics. God has no preferences, you are all his children, the same part of heredity has been given to all of you, but it is up to you to make it bear fruit.

Sin is always a painful experience for man because it leaves consequences behind, just as it happens with some physical illnesses. If you sincerely repent, God forgives you, but this does not mean that all consequences are automatically erased. For instance if you have committed a bad deed against someone and you repent, you will indeed receive forgiveness, but the suffering still remains in those you have offended; this suffering could be even passed on to future generations. For example think about cases of homicide: many times, children of victims suffer immense traumas that they cannot overcome nor can they forgive; thus, their suffering is extended on entire generations, provoking hatred and vengeance.[2]

Always remember that every violation of divine laws entails consequences for you and for your neighbour and indirectly reverses itself on the whole humanity, because no one is isolated from the likes of him, and humanity is like a large family; the behaviour of one member influences the others, whether you like it or not. For this reason the repetition of specific sins in individuals ends up in giving life to a form of collective sin that weighs on the entire humanity, which, as a consequence ends up in being globally weakened. You have an example in the case of abortion, one of the gravest sins of your humanity. These collective sins place a burden on each of you on your spiritual pathway, and a vicious circle is formed where the individual sin increases the number of collective sins and vice versa.

What to do then? I am suggesting a few important points for your reflection and for your interior path.

• Have faith in God and also in me. I am the Redeemer. I descended among you to carry the burden of all your sins and thus paid the immense debt that your progenitors had contracted. They rebelled against God, committing the original sin. My sacrifice appeased the Father’s anger and opened the road for you to a new filial relationship with God. My Blood poured out on the cross is your pass, it is the guarantee that you will receive forgiveness if you ask for it, and a new opportunity to resurrect will always be guaranteed to you. It is also the protection from the Evil one, who cannot contrast my blood with anything. It is an insurmountable barrier for him.
• Give me your life and abandon yourself to me, so that I can truly help you. In fact, if it is true that my sacrifice works constantly in your favour, it is also true that the benefits of redemption fulfilled by me cannot unfold their full power, without you being united to me. Only by offering your life to me, you will be truly in union with me, and you will fully participate in salvation. I respect your freedom and in no way do I force you to be saved; I am offering you salvation and I am opening you the path so that you may reach it, but I do not force you to accept it. Understand this: you are free creatures before God, it is up to you to assume the responsibility to choose whether to bury the talents received, or make them bear fruit,[3] and this is valid also regarding salvation. If you offer yourselves to me and allow me to guide you, you shall be a single thing with me, and I will help you not to sin anymore, this way you will fully enjoy the immense treasures of my redemption.
• Try to recognize the difference between the sin that derives from rejecting God and the disdain of his laws, from the one that derives from your human frailty. You are creatures, and as such, you have a structural limitation, which you cannot overcome but with the help of divine grace. It is important for you to comprehend this difference so that you will not get too discouraged. I am giving you an example: a man knows perfectly that he must not kill, because this is a law impressed in his spirit, but deliberately kills, knowing well what he is doing and the evil he is provoking. This person commits a grave sin, because he knew God’s will, but deliberately opposed himself to divine will. Another man, instead, finds himself in contrast to God’s law due to his weakness: in a particular difficulty, he had not been able to overcome his human limitation and reacted in an incorrect manner, because he was fearful, unable, etc. These behaviours happen often in your daily life: you had a hard day, are coming back home tired and you are taking it out on your wife or your husband, your son, etc., you react by offending, attacking, criticizing. What do you usually do in cases like these? Are you beginning to analyse your behaviour? Are you feeling unworthy, incapable, depressed and, finally, a sinner? Are you reaching the point of despairing of my mercy? No, my children do not do this! Be assured that I know you well, no one knows you better than I do. I know when your mistakes stem from rejecting God, or when they are fruit of your frailty. When you are weak I am bending down to you, with immense tenderness I pick you up because I see you burdened and lost. I know your human nature because I took it upon myself.

When you happen to sin because of your human frailty immediately ask for God’s help. Seek his forgiveness and trust his mercy. He knows everything. Remain in peace and continue your pathway of faith, doing your best to better yourself. Your good intentions are worth much before God, independently from your limitations, because on the contrary to what people do, God looks at the sincerity of your heart more than on the result. The more you confide in God and unite yourselves to Him by means of your sincere offering of yourselves, the more you will learn to comprehend your limitation and accept yourselves in your human condition. Be merciful with yourselves the way God is! Accept your limitations with serenity without being discouraged. I do not mean to justify your sins but begin to look at yourselves with the eyes of God, Who does not condemn you but corrects you. Therefore, try to correct yourselves without condemning yourselves; this will help you to make progress on your interior walk.

• Trust in God’s mercy, but do not think of taking advantage of it! Many people think that divine mercy is a gift that can be achieved at low cost, almost like God’s act due to them, but it is not so. God is always merciful towards humanity, and poor you if it were not so; but, this does not mean that you are free to do anything you want, thinking, in any case God is merciful. If you are thinking this way you are strongly mistaken. Each of God’s gift acts fully if there is a respectful and sincere acceptance on man’s part, if there is the good will to make the gift bear fruit. This means that you have to accept God’s Mercy with gratitude, being aware of the fact that it engages you even more to change your life. I often hear Christians speaking about mercy as if it were a candy that God distributes here and there; because that is the way it has to be, independent from man’s commitment to act according to a well formed conscience. Revise your life and understand that God’s Mercy is a great gift to be taken seriously which has to be welcomed with deep respect.
• Learn to ask for forgiveness from your neighbour and to forgive. If you have offended a person ask for forgiveness; if circumstances permit, meet her and let her understand that you are sincerely sorry. It is possible that she will understand but also that she rejects you; in both cases, you have done a lot for yourself and for that person, because you will have broken a spiral of resentment and vengeance, and you will have put in motion the power of God. He will take care of all the rest, and your good will will bear its fruits, whether you see them or not. A good action done will always return to you, if not from that person than from another. God never forgets. The same is valid in case a person has offended you and asks for your forgiveness. Forgive always, because many knots become loosened this way and the road to your interior healing, and that of the person who wounded you, is smoothened.

I know that these are difficult steps! Also in this case, you are limited by your human frailty. I am telling you that it is very difficult to ask for forgiveness and to forgive without God’s help. Human reasons, social conventions, shame, humiliation and human perception of justice sometimes prevail and build insurmountable walls. But who trusts in God and wishes to love his laws, will always be helped to take even the most difficult steps. God sustains you in all of your good resolutions! I would like you to understand that forgiveness is not just a praiseworthy or a heroic attitude, but a divine law that works infallibly, and it is of such great value, that it heals spiritual and physical illnesses, many of which are born just from the inability to ask for forgiveness and to forgive.

• Do your best to heal the wrong that you have caused to others. In many cases it is impossible to remedy situations caused by sin, but it is always possible to do your best to alleviate the consequences of the sin committed. If you have caused damage to your neighbour, try to effect repairing actions according to your possibilities. I am not asking heroic behaviour or anything above your strength, but little gestures of love and goodness towards the offended person, or, if refused, towards other persons who are living in similar situations. This will also be of great help to you and to those you have offended, and it will have great value before God, Who knows and understands everything.
• Understand to learn from your own mistakes. At times, the sin committed enlightens a part of yourself that you have never considered; at other times it makes evident where your spirit is closed towards God. Work on this point and ask the Holy Spirit for help. He will enlighten you, making you understand where you are most frail and where you still oppose resistance to the action of God. Do not get discouraged and keep asking him for light in order to improve. Then offer him your weaknesses and also your closing to him which you have discovered; give him your sins as well. God will perfectly guide you towards overcoming your condition and will make sure that you will not forget the lesson you have learned from your mistakes. While you are children you learn to stand up after many falls, memorizing what is dangerous for your balance and you will not fall anymore. The same happens with the spirit; you can learn a lot from your falls. This does not mean that falling is nice and useful; sin is never nice nor useful, but with the help of God, even a mistake can be an opportunity to improve and to grow.

I suggested these seven steps to you, because I wish that you might look at yourselves in the light of God. None of you is perfect and it is good for you to humbly accept who you are, creatures in need of my love. This, however, does not mean that you have to despise yourselves or consider yourselves a failure and hopeless. To be limited creatures does not mean at all that you are incapable creatures or without merit; on the contrary, you are worth a lot in the eyes of your Creator. He created you free and intelligent, and He expects you to reach the best of who you are; He wishes that you may reach fullness and happiness; He counts on each of you. It does not matter what you are able to do, it is not important what others think of you, nor if you have done something wrong in life; in the eyes of the Lord the only thing that counts is your love for him and your good will to participate in his work as good as you can.

When I was among you upon the Earth, I met many sinners on my journey. I accepted all of them with love, I forgave them, I healed them, I freed them from evil. I never humiliated them, nor treated them badly, neither did I give them nice moral lessons; I did not cause fear in them, threatening them with punishment. On the contrary, I always lifted them up and showed them the way how to change. As to the adulteress[4]  I said to each of them, “Go and from now on sin no more.” I say the same to each of you. If in life you happen to meet sinners, or if you yourselves feel as such, do not close the door to them nor to yourselves, but repeat my words, “Go and from now on sin no more.” Seek always the gleam that leads to the light and turn to me. Do this and you will receive light, do this and you will live.

I bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.