Church of Jesus Christ of the Universe

by Mauro

11.07.2024

XIV Week of Ordinary Time – Year II

Pr 2:1-9; Ps 33; Jn 15:1-8

The Lord be with you. (And with your spirit.)

From the holy Gospel according to John. (Glory to You, O Lord.)

Jesus said to his disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already worlds by the word I have proclaimed to you. Abide in me and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so also you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is cast away like the branch and dries up, and then they pick it up and throw it into the fire and burn it. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you will and it will be given to you. In this my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

It is the Word of the Lord. (Praise to You, O Christ.)

Today is Saint Benedict, Patron of Europe: we still wish to pray for Europe, for the Christian roots of Europe and through Saint Benedict to look once again at what a Christian, a child of God, is.

Saint Benedict is one of those people who withdrew immediately after the death of the apostles to try to live the Christian vocation to the full. He came after the desert fathers, a hundred years later, and he was the first Western monk – and even those from the East however also refer to Saint Benedict.

The readings from the Book of Proverbs and the Gospel of Saint John, which we have heard, already say everything about what the centre is for a Christian: to seek wisdom, to seek God’s thought, to spend one’s energies, one’s time to seek the truth, this is what Proverbs says.

It is the Gospel that talks about the vinedresser and the branches. “If you abide in me you will bear much fruit, without me you can do nothing”: the whole way of a Christian is already drawn. Every Christian, as such from Baptism, receives a mission that is not given only to some saint, it is given to every Christian: “And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.”¹ Every baptized Christian receives this mission. Detached from this, being a Christian becomes a religion, it becomes one religion of many, like the others, but the difference of the Christian is precisely that he acquires the same mission as Jesus Christ. He is the one who continues the work of his founder Jesus Christ, otherwise he is not a Christian.

We said to pray for Europe. Europe is a continent where the great saints lived, where Saint Peter, Saint Paul died. It is a continent where, starting from Jerusalem – Jewish religion – Christianity came to Europe and developed here. And that is why it receives just as a continent the task from Jesus: go into all the world and witness who you are, heal the sick, cleans lepers and proclaim Christ.

To move away from our Christian roots means to move away from our identity, to move away from who we are. It means opening a door to any spirit that can come in and take us away from who we are: Christians, children of God. And when that happens there is confusion on all levels. I think this is evident now. It also means denying the words of Jesus when He says “Without me you can do nothing”; it means denying all the grace we are given, instead of remaining faithful to His words “If you remain united to me you will bear much fruit”, united to Him, Christians.

Christians who break away from Jesus run a risk: they are no longer flesh or fish, neither hot nor cold, they are lukewarm, and in Revelation it says, “Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.”² As Christians we have a duty to be open to everyone, we have a duty to go out to everyone, to intervene in every need, in every difficult situation, but we have to do it starting from Jesus Christ. We have to do it starting from His way of thinking, we have to do it because we know within ourselves – it is a certainty – that only Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life³, only Jesus can save this humanity, no good deed however virtuous beautiful, profound it may be.

Doing good deeds done by Christians, virtuous deeds but detached from Jesus, is not only useless, it is also harmful. It hurts if Christians do them! Good deeds done by anyone bear fruit to the extent of their effect. The Christian who does not bear Jesus does not bear fruit either. We know where all our actions must start: from prayer, from holy Mass. They must find strength in worship; they must find strength from the joy of doing good in Jesus’ name.

Look that in this time, more than ever, there is a need to talk about Jesus Christ, there is a need to know Him, there is a need to talk about Him and to talk to Him. If we really want to help the world there is a need for healthy spirituality, because the world is searching, it is looking for the truth; and it needs someone to show it the way, and the only way is Jesus Christ; otherwise these people look elsewhere, they look in oriental movements, they look elsewhere, and there esotericism has an easy job.

To help the world, the Christian cannot be generic, he cannot be a do-gooder, he must know how to give answers. This world is looking for answers, but there is only one answer: it is Jesus Christ. There is a need for Christians who know how to lead people to encounter the Truth, who help people know how to look – not fanatics – but people who live like this, who witness Him with their lives.

The Gospel says “Be the salt of the earth, be the light.”⁴ It is imperative when Jesus says that, it is a command. It is not that He says, “You may be or you may not be”; you must be, you must be the salt of the Earth; you must love everybody, love your neighbours, friends and enemies,⁵ but we can only do that starting from Christ, from His Spirit. If we are sure of this, that without Him we cannot do anything, if we desire, however, to bring help to the world, the Holy Spirit is compelled to intervene, and Christians become the salt of the Earth and change the world.

I said, we know the way. I will read you some words of Saint Raphael the Archangel that he gave us in 2013, on the day like today of Saint Benedict, where he asked us to pray for Europe.

I read:

“The Holy Mass is not an event that takes place in a parish, church or chapel: the Mass is a cosmic event that affects the whole Universe. During the Mass the Sacrifice of Christ is renewed on Earth, the planet where Jesus came to incarnate, die and rise again for the whole Universe. The Sacrifice of Christ is thus repeated on Earth for the benefit of the whole Universe.

When you celebrate holy Mass, God connects to your celebration all the souls in the Universe who are ready to receive grace. The grace of holy Mass not only pours out on you who are present, but on many other souls connected to you in the Holy Spirit. Your families, your deceased, all those whom your souls have touched are connected. This also happens when you pray, but during Mass a contact is made so that grace can penetrate those souls down to their roots.

During Mass the priest performs a service but, through him, it is Jesus who performs his ministry, because the celebration of the Eucharist is the priesthood of Christ in action. You, as well as the priest, participate fully in Christ’s priesthood, action and prayer. You must learn to feel the Mass not as a formality but as an event that involves your whole being and of which you are an active part. If you belong to Christ, you are as involved as He is.

I ask you to offer yourselves for Europe on this day. The Saint of the day is not a name written on the calendar but is a living presence in the Eucharistic celebrations. You must get used to entering into a relationship with the Saint of the Day, because he is placed by God on your path to obtain certain graces for you; on the day dedicated to him, the Saint intercedes for you in a special way. He opens the way for you with his offering and prayer.

I ask you to pray for Europe. Europe has been a continent rich in graces but also in darkness and is very much opposed by Lucifer. In Europe there have been the great Marian apparitions: Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje. In Europe the Saints, Peter and Paul, shed their blood, but Europe is also the continent where Freemasonry, Communism, Fascism and Nazism were born, means by which Satan tried to possess the world.

Today we offer ourselves so that the Christian roots and faith of Europe may be revived; it gave birth to great saints. May the Lord have mercy on the peoples of Europe and raise them up. Let us pray for all the peoples of Europe who have kept the faith to this day, let us offer to the Lord the holiness of those who have inhabited this continent, the prayers of its saints and the blood of its martyrs.

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