Church of Jesus Christ of the Universe

By Mauro

 

Saturday, 29 October 2022 – 30th Week of Ordinary Time – Cycle II

Translated audio

We are going to celebrate the Feast of All Saints, and then the Feast of All Souls. I would like to speak about the Feast of All Saints.

This day does not have the meaning to group together all the celebrated saints; every day there are some Saints. However, in this feast, we remember all those who in their life have sought Jesus Christ, and we doi it in communion with them; many are unknown to us but are remembered by God. It is the celebration of all those who have put Jesus Christ, the knowledge of the true God, in the centre of their life throughout history. All those who, no matter what they did, even without special tasks, always lived, loved, suffered, rejoiced with faith in God and faith in Christ, with the certainty that there was a life after death and an encounter with the true God. All those who have lived like this are saints; they are the Saints.

We also celebrate the righteous, upright people, who have not even heard of Jesus Christ in life. Perhaps they lived in other religions or were atheists, people who never met Him, who perhaps never even thought of seeking neither God nor Christ, but having lived with integrity, they met Him after death and asked to be baptised at that moment. Therefore, on that day, we also celebrate all those we have baptised, that each one of you has baptised.[1] I assure you that they are all very grateful to you, to us, for having received that gift, and therefore they are great friends of ours in Heaven. We celebrate them on All Saints’ Day.

It is a great Solemnity, but sometimes it goes a bit unnoticed. There is the common idea that the Saints have reached Paradise, that they are in peace in the eternal Light. I think we have understood in recent years that the Saints are very active. The Saints are with us in our continuous change and transformation on our path towards the New Creation. The difference is that they are in the Light and see things in a different way; they have entered the mind of God, of Christ, and thus are of great help to us. Never more than today, we are aware that they are right here beside us. In the battle that is happening right now on Earth, they are at the forefront. They greatly support us in rewriting history and in building the New Creation together with God.

In these days, we have prayed for peace, and the Saints were all present with their prayers; they know what to ask. When they were living on Earth, they too prayed like us for the things they recognised; now their prayer is like a straight arrow because they know what to ask, where to ask, who to ask.

It is important for us to live the communion of Saints, which we always profess but perhaps we have never fully understood. Communion of Saints does not mean praying to them only when we need them; it means having a relationship with them. They now know Christ, and the prayer they most willingly answer, and we should frequently pray is this: “Help me to know Christ”. There are particular Saints we feel close to and we may turn to more naturally: “Help me to know Christ, guide me to the knowledge of Christ”; they will not fail to do so.

We usually think of the Saints, of the deceased members of our family[2], and that is right, however, do not forget that humanly we are fellow citizens of God, family members of the Saints. Therefore, let us turn to them with the same confidence we have our relatives. If the prayer is, “Help me to know Christ,” they will certainly answer us and help us move forward.

It is the same communion with our guardian Angels and the Archangels, of which I have repeatedly spoken to you; do not forget that. If we get into this healthy habit – I call it a habit, even if it is not the right word – it will bear great fruit. Speaking with the Angels, with the Saints, with Mary Most Holy, with Saint Joseph and with Jesus is the right way to enter the narrow door and to be transformed; it all happens in this dialogue.

In my opinion, this Feast of All Saints, just like almost all feasts, clearly shows us how the spirit of the world, which is the spirit of Lucifer, creates confusion; he tries to counteract them. We may think he does it with strong actions, such as satanic rites etc.; yes, unfortunately, these actions do happen, but one of the greatest harms the spirit of the world inflicts us is letting things slip into NORMALITY, making things appear as NORMAL while they are not. Halloween is celebrated instead of All Saints. Everyone participates in it even in the parishes. Santa Claus is celebrated instead of the Birth of Jesus Christ, and all Christians do it; Santa Claus here, Santa Claus there. We celebrate ‘Befana’, a witch flying on a broom[3] instead of the Epiphany of the Lord Jesus on 6 January. A witch! How can that be? We celebrate mid-August instead of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

All these things, of which one could say, “There’s nothing wrong with it!” do, in fact, cause a lot of harm because they have become NORMALITY. Therefore, when we say that we too are interwoven with both the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world, this may be an example of that. We do not have the clarity of things. I am not saying that we should become like the Pharisees who criticise everything, but we must at least be aware of how the world infiltrates into everyone.

I would like to make a proposal for the night before the Feast of All Saints. In this very particular period, the disintegrating energy is strongly present and collides with the primary energy. Peace is at stake, and there are many terrible situations, which I am not going to list. I suggest that tonight we all start praying. If someone has the Blessed Sacrament, like us, why not remaining in adoration all night, taking turns, waiting for the Feast of the Saints? Adoring with them, repairing with them, standing with them before Jesus, along with the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, for all those people who will go around disguised as ghosts, celebrating pumpkins.

The Feast of All Saints. I have asked myself, “What is holiness?” and I will conclude. Holiness is not becoming people who are remembered in the calendar. Holiness is not about doing miracles; it is not about the number of prayers or Holy Masses we have attended. Holiness can be defined in many ways, but it is a way of being, a way of living. Holiness is a person: it is God: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev 19,2). Holiness is the transformation of the mind; it is seeking Christ with all our strength, all our mind, all our soul, all our body[4]: always seeking Christ; that is holiness.

Holiness is the expression of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is not the expression of extraordinary gifts; that is not holiness; they are gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is to be men and women of peace. Holiness is being an expression of the beatitudes. On 1 November, we celebrate that the Saints lived like this throughout history. Holiness is simplicity, fullness, balance. It is not the effort to be holy as an end in itself but it is the fruit of a life spent seeking Christ. Indeed, holiness is not the work of people but of God. It is God who makes us holy. Jesus Christ gives us the possibility to reach this aim through His redemption, Mary Most Holy with Her work of co-redemption, all the instruments with their action and our participation with our, “Yes, I want it”. Then, God’s work begins: the work of holiness, of the glorification of every person, of each one of us.

I would say holiness is faith. It is faith in God. It is the certainty that God can do everything, that He transforms everything, that He is everything in everyone, that He is present in everyone and works through everyone. It is the work of God, who transforms our decision and leads us to change our way of thinking to awaken in us the image and likeness, the fullness of Him. That is holiness.

We have been asked for two simple things several times: to have faith and to live a simple life. If we live like this, we are saints. St. Paul wrote to the Saints of those days. They were people, who were on their path like us. If St. Paul wrote to us today, he would address us like this: “To the Saints who are in the Church of Jesus Christ on Earth”.

So, let us try to approach this Feast with this awareness. It is a joyful event. Fellow citizens of the Saints, family members of God, want to participate in the Solemnity with them because they are friends, they are not supermen. They are our friends and we want to work and pray with them; we want to rejoice and weep with them, and as we carry on walking, we will find ourselves where they are, building the New Creation all together.

I wish everyone good preparation and the joy of feeling like saints among Saints.

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

[1] He speaks about Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Fire as explained in the book of S. Caterina, “Beyond the Great Barrier”, Chap. 7, Luci dell’Esodo, 2008, available at https://www.lucidellesodo.it/en/

[2] See Eph 2,19

[3] In Italian folklore, Befana is a an old woman or a witch who delivers presents to children the night before Epiphany.

[4] See Deut 6, 5; Mt 12, 30