4 April 2013

Dearest Readers,

The message of Saint Augustine we have received through Stefania Caterina is part of the programme that Saint Michael the Archangel announced in his message of 17 March 2013, “Today a great path of spiritual renewal begins.” Saint Augustine states: “God has chosen me to begin with you the path of sanctification He has planned for the people of God in these times. After me, others will also speak to you… the great witnesses of God on Earth and in the universe“. What does this mean?

The One and Triune God will increasingly act in our midst. His Life, which is holiness, will manifest itself more and more until it reaches the peak when the Son appears in His glory (Rev 1, 7-8). Together with Him, the Saints will manifest themselves (Zech 14, 5) and the holiness of all times: Life will triumph in the new creation!

Dear readers, we desire that you do not remain just readers, but rather become instruments of holiness, of the manifestation of divine Life. Set off on a path of receiving and treasuring all that God wants to communicate to you, both individually and in your nuclei, through all the Saints, the Just, and the universal communion in the Holy Spirit. We will accompany you, seeking to convey to you the holiness of God through our life; in this way, we hope to help you become saints. We bless you with love.

Stefania Caterina and Tomislav Vlašić

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Message of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, of 3 April 2013

“Dearest Brothers and Sisters,

God has chosen me to begin with you the path of sanctification that He has planned for the people of God in these times. After me, others will also speak to you. This will be a profound dialogue between God and His people, the Church, which unfolds through various instruments, past and present, who are the great witnesses of God on Earth and in the universe.

God desires that I speak to you about holiness, which is the principle and the means of sanctification for each of you and for the whole Church. What does sanctification mean? It means that each of you, and all of you together, are destined to be glorified in God and by God, that is, to shine in the glory of the Creator. God is the Father, and therefore He wants to share His glory and His power with all His children, no one excluded. Moreover, He wishes that the entire people who belong to Him be a glorious people, capable of bearing witness to His Greatness.

The sanctification of the individual as well as that of the whole people cannot be reached without holiness. It is not distant from your existence; rather, it is part of it from the beginning. Indeed, human beings recognise God’s holiness from the moment of their conception: at that very moment, they find themselves before the Creator and are called to choose between God, the Highest Good, and Lucifer, the origin of evil. This means that all humans experience the existence of God and of the devil with absolute certainty from the moment of conception. From that point on, God assists them with His grace to help them choose. If they choose God, they choose holiness, for God is Holy; thus, those who welcome God into their lives also welcome His holiness. Human beings are free to choose and remain free from the first moment to eternity. I will not dwell further on this point, as you have already received many explanations about it over the years.

God created human beings to be His children, and therefore He destined them for holiness. He called them to holiness from conception. Indeed, how could He Who is Holy will anything other than holiness for His children? It is the wrong choices of humanity that corrupt humans; God calls everyone to holiness, and the seed of divine life lies within the human spirit. Consequently, the human spirit preserves the memory of God from the moment of conception. During earthly life, trials, struggles, temptations, and the oppressive presence of evil, may cloud that initial memory, but they cannot completely erase it. It remains like a deep groan, often as an indescribable sensation in the depths of one’s heart, even when God has been rejected.

All individuals can perceive the life of God within themselves, in the way that aligns best with their uniqueness, and they tend towards that life, seeking it like plants seek the light they need to live. Human beings ceaselessly yearn for God, even when they rationally do not know of His existence, for knowledge of God is not rational knowledge. The Holy Spirit acts in the depths of the human spirit and directs it towards what is above humanity. He elevates you to God, for He is God and communicates Himself to you, uniting you with the Father and the Son, just as He is united with Them.

Therefore, holiness is the foundation of sanctification. It is a seed planted in you by the Creator. When people accept God into their lives and love Him, the seed opens up and the sprout of holiness emerges, growing into a tree, the tree of your life. It produces leaves and fruit that represent your virtues and deeds. As the seasons pass, your tree, if well cared for, produces increasingly abundant fruit until the Lord decides to transplant it into another garden, the garden of eternity. There it continues to bear fruit until the time when the new creation arrives, and each tree receives its everlasting place. In the new creation, the definitive glorification of every child of God and of His entire people will take place; not even the glory of heaven is final: the Saints are awaiting the resurrection at the end of time, a prelude of the new creation, the eternal Kingdom of our God. Then, the holiness of each individual and of all will reach its glorious fulfilment: human beings and living beings will be sanctified, that is, glorified.

Holiness is, therefore, the means to access the new creation. It is what you need for your path in these times, in which God expects both you and the whole Church to attain true holiness. Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the new creation and Head of the Church, has sanctified Himself through His Sacrifice, opening the path for the sanctification of the whole people. So you need not fear: Jesus has given His Body and His Blood as nourishment so that the longing for God present in all of you would not remain merely a wish but would manifest as a concrete and visible reality in the holiness of each of you and of the entire Church.

I hope you understand that the virtues and the good deeds of Christians are the fruit of holiness and not the other way around. Pay attention to this point: people can perform many good works without being holy; they can exhibit behaviour that appears virtuous but does not truly reflect genuine virtues. The world is full of humanitarian actions that do not stem from holiness but from human compassion, emotions, and feelings. Even those who serve Satan often disguise their true activities behind seemingly good works. May it not be so for you: what you are and all you do shall be the fruit of your love for God, the fruit of your sincere self-offering to Him through Jesus Christ, and your selfless love for others.

Do not keep any ambition. Know that there is a subtle and dangerous ambition: that of becoming saints to be admired by people. This distances you from true holiness; it is devoid of love and annuls any merit, as Saint Paul says (1 Cor 13).

Then, who is truly holy, and what is holiness? A Saint is someone who lives for the glory of God the Father “for Christ, with Christ and in Christ,” under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Those who live in this way enter the Life of the Holy Trinity, which is a continuous flow of Love among the Three Divine Persons. Those who live for God can no longer live for themselves; they seek communion with their neighbours and love others with the same love with which they are loved.

For Christians, being mystically united with Christ is the key to attaining true holiness. Only Jesus reveals the Father to you and offers you to Him, and in Jesus’ name, you receive the Holy Spirit (Jn 14, 26). Therefore, it is essential that the whole creation be recapitulated in Christ: everything must be brought back to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Without recapitulation in Christ, there can be neither holiness nor sanctification; however, God desires to sanctify the entire creation. Therefore, creation must necessarily be recapitulated in Christ, and this recapitulation is a process that is already in action.

From all this, you may understand what holiness is: it is the deep adherence of humanity to the One and Triune God and His Laws, through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit. It is the relationship of the human being with God, characterised by love, respect, freedom and unconditional generosity. Holiness expresses itself in many ways, both in individuals and in the Church:

• Holiness is true poverty (Mt 5, 3): Saints empty themselves of their own self to make room for God; they no longer live for themselves but for God. True poverty is indeed the stripping away of one’s selfishness. Renouncing oneself allows God’s holiness to manifest; this has nothing to do with human greatness. Giving up material goods is secondary: what purpose does it serve to be materially poor but rich in ego, filled with the arrogance of one’s own ideas?
• Holiness is true wisdom and true knowledge, for the person who lives with Christ in God receives the mind of Christ, in which, “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2, 3). True knowledge consists in knowing God, and the person who seeks God is considered wise. If you are united with Christ, you are enveloped in the Holy Spirit and do not need to study God to know Him, for He will reveal Himself to you in the depths of your spirit.
• Holiness is the divine power that manifests itself in the person who is fully united with God. Holiness goes beyond human weakness. Indeed, holiness delights in dwelling within those who recognise their limitations and remain humble before God (2 Cor 12, 9). True Christians are those who allow Jesus to live and act in them; the true Christian community is founded on the living presence of Jesus in every member as well as in the whole community. The presence of the living Jesus is the true source of power for Christians and the Church, before which Satan flees (Phil 1, 12-26).
• Holiness is true communion because it leads you to love everyone, even your enemies. Indeed, it frees you from selfishness from which comes the fear of others. Those who live in holiness do not fear the enemy and even reach out to adversaries; they are not afraid of losing anything because they possess the ‘All’ that is God. Thus, they can approach everyone, both good and bad, without fear (Mt 5, 43-48).
• Finally, holiness is true purity, for those who live in God avoid what is impure, not through coercion but by natural choice: one cannot live in the company of God and simultaneously serve the devil; it is understood that one excludes the other. Therefore, the path of holiness is always a path of purification that gradually leads you to choose good and reject evil. This makes you authentic, clear, and honest (Mt 6, 22-24).

Dear brothers and sisters, make every effort to become saints! Holiness is within everybody’s reach. God only asks you to desire holiness and to place yourselves at His disposal with generosity. If you do this, God begins to work in you and transforms you: He transforms your way of thinking and your life becomes holy. Remember, though, that holiness is not a human work but a divine one; it does not come from your human efforts, although your personal collaboration and your goodwill are necessary.

God calls you continuously, and in many ways, to awaken His memory in your spirit, and He waits for your response to Him. If you say a strong and sincere yes, the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier that leads you to perfection, begins His work. He leads you to holiness, even through trials, which are necessary to strengthen your decision. He tests you, but He generously bestows His gifts upon you. Gradually, He fills you with His fruits: love, joy, peace, tenderness, patience, humility, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5, 22). Therefore, lend your ear to Him; listen to God, who is calling you, and allow His Life to awaken within you!

Take an example from the lives of the saints who preceded you and have come to glory, but do not try to be like them. Every saint is unique, just as each of you is unique. Do not become a poor imitation of someone else, but be yourselves before God. Offer yourselves to Him so that He may allow your uniqueness to shine among the people of God; each one of you is unique and irreplaceable! Strive to understand this!

Do not make an idol of a saint! The saints are often invoked more than God, and many believe that miracles are wrought by the saints. No, dear brothers and sisters, the saints are merely instruments through whom the holiness of God flows. The saint is a spark, not the Fire; a glow, but not the Light; a ray, but not the Sun. God alone is Holy; we are all His children, His human creatures. We can reflect His image, but only God is God.

At present, the Church is called to rediscover holiness as her principal mission, from which all her works stem. If the Church does not manifest the holiness of the One and Triune God, she is no longer the Church founded by Jesus; she is reduced to a charitable organisation based on the ideas and efforts of people. The Church, which is the people of God, is founded on the holiness of her Lord and is called to make Christ’s face visible to every human being.

The Church needs the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the Mother of the Church, and the holiness of Saint Joseph. They guarded the house of Nazareth, just as they now guard the Church, which is the house of God among the people. It is indispensable and right to be mystically united with their Hearts; the Hearts closest to Jesus’ Heart.

The holiness of the Church is the only sign of hope for the Earth, and it traces the path towards the new creation. When people of goodwill knock on the doors of the Church, she should respond by teaching everyone the path of faith, hope, and love; this is what your humanity needs. The house of God, which is the Church, does not need to possess gold and silver (Acts 3, 6), for she already possesses the greatest treasure of the universe: holiness. This is the wealth that befits the Church, as it is written, “Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore” (Ps 93, 5; ESV). Therefore, be committed to making the House of God abound in this wealth! You will not lack any help!

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