By Stefania Caterina and Tomislav Vlašić

 

Dearest Brothers and Sisters,

Let us take up our pathway and continue with our theme. We said that after the events that we have told you God changed His approach to realize His project to recapitulate the whole universe in Christ. He began to work within the hearts of the people of God, of the faithful. What kind of work is that in the depth of a soul? You will learn about a Pope who is loved by many of you: Pope John Paul I.

The passage is on page 287.

The thirty-three days of Pope John Paul I

In 1978 Pope Paul VI died. Pope John Paul I was elected; his pontificate was among the shortest in the history of the Church. He came from a poor family and was an intelligent man with a solid faith. As he was profound, meek, humble and a friend of the lowly, he was able to communicate the smile of God to the world. He passed like a flash of light through the people of God who remember him with affection.

He was a sincere devout of Our Lady, one of Her beloved sons. He thought long about the apparitions of Fatima in which he firmly believed; he had met Sister Lucia, one of the visionaries of Fatima. He had not forgotten about Fatima when, as a Pope, he read the content of the third secret. He understood the great importance of it and strongly felt the responsibility not to keep it hidden any more. He decided in his heart to reveal it at the right time, but death took him away after only 33 days of pontificate. He went away on tiptoe just in the way he had presented himself to the world.

There has been much talk about the death of this Pope that looked suspicious to many. Well, the evil forces were not indifferent towards John Paul I: Lucifer strongly feared the revelation of the third secret of Fatima, as he still does today, and opposed him in every way. Therefore, the Pope had many enemies inside and outside the Vatican walls. However, the thirty-three days of Pope John Paul were not few in God’s eyes as He can realize His plans in a moment.

This Pope offered his life as a sacrifice to God through Mary Most Holy for the full realisation of the prophecies of Fatima and for the Earth to be ready to welcome and understand them. He did not meet the faithful brothers, as his predecessors did, but his heart was open for God’s novelties and he was thoroughly instructed. God took him when His fruit was ripe. Thirty-three days were enough for God to realize what He wanted through this Pope. His sacrifice prepared the way for another Pope whose pontificate was to be one of the longest in the history of the Church. In the same way as St. Stephen’s death prepared the way for St. Paul, the death of this humble and gentle Pope prepared the mission of a huge figure of the Church and your history: John Paul II.

This short story contains some extremely important points for every one of us and the whole people of God. Pope John Paul I loved Our Lady and exactly because he loved Her, he welcomed the apparitions of Fatima; as Pope he could understand the depths and greatness of God’s project and decided to reveal it at the suitable moment. We may think that the Pope failed in his mission because he died after thirty-three days; yet, there is a mystery in it that we need to understand: God can replace our action and perform miracles; however, He cannot replace us in our union with Him, in our holiness and in offering our life completely to Him. That is up to us. We are limited and conditioned in our action by many things. “This Pope offered his life as a sacrifice to God through Mary Most Holy for the full realisation of the prophecies of Fatima and for the Earth to be ready to welcome and understand them.” What did the Pope achieve by sacrificing himself? The mystical union with Christ. That is the culmination of the journey of a soul.

If you have no love for a person, you will neither search nor recognise the love of that person. Only when the love is shared it flows between us. It is the same between us and God. If we love God’s life, God can abundantly pour love into us – the greatest love is the love to love, that is, a pure love that is independent from personal interests. Through your total offering to God you allow God to act in you. When we speak about the offering of one’s life to God with Christians, it scares them. However, it is exactly by offering our life to God that we can defeat the fear. The fear is there because we count on our own strength, calculations and interests. Pure love is free of calculations and this is what Pope John Paul I lived. So, the result is something really beautiful: “In the same way as St. Stephen’s death prepared the way for St. Paul, the death of this humble and gentle Pope prepared the mission of a huge figure of the Church and your history: John Paul II. This is what a Pope achieved. I will tell you that each one of us prepares a new world and generates life when we are united to God. For this reason I want to remind you of what I said the last time: God acts within the heart of the people. If you want God to act fully in you, there is only one way: to give your life, to offer your life to God through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. That does not mean that you will loose it because God does not take our life to steal it from us but to give it back to you as a full and renewed life in accordance to the image of the Son of God. If only the Christians were united to Christ who offers Himself in every Mass; if only they gave themselves over in every moment of their life, Jesus Christ could govern their life and open many new pathways through their life. People are called to take this step as it is a very important step, especially in the beginning of this year in which many events are awaiting us that may bring pain, suffering, confusion, disappointments to us. If you are in Christ, no harm will occur to you and you will be happy.

I bless you in the beginning of this year; may you be ready to walk your path and to take the steps by looking at the example of this Pope. You will hear about other examples that are explained in this book. I bless you; may the light of Christmas enlighten your life, all your life; may you be united to Christ through the light of God so that Christ may act in you so that through you He may open the way for the plan that God has wanted to realise from eternity; in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.