Message # 443

Brasilia (Brazil), February 26, 1991
Spiritual Exercises in the Form of a Cenacle with Bishops and Priests of the M.M.P. from all Brazil

Not by Bread Alone

"During these days, my Immaculate Heart is consoled in seeing you in such great numbers at this continuous cenacle of prayer and of brotherhood. You have come from all Brazil, this land so loved by me and increasingly ensnared by my Adversary.
Today I welcome into the garden of my Immaculate Heart the Church which lives and suffers here, and your fatherland which is again passing through moments of great difficulty and of danger. I invite all my children to consecrate themselves to my Immaculate Heart, and to enter as quickly as possible into the safe refuge, which I have prepared for you, for these times of the purification and of the great tribulation.
I am a tender and understanding Mother for you all. I want to lead you along the way of peace, of prayer, of holiness, of your more profound union with Jesus, our Redeemer and our Savior.
I see your zeal in the apostolate; I know of your great difficulties; I carry with you the burden of your daily sufferings. Above all, I look with love upon your diligent care for the poorest, the marginalized, and those in the last places, in your effort to set them free from the slavery of poverty and misery. But, as your Mother, I take you by the hand and lead you to the understanding of the truth, whole and entire.
Not by bread alone does man live.
Man lives also by every word that comes from the mouth of God, to nourish the hunger of his mind. Besides the poverty of material goods, there exists a greater poverty of spiritual goods.
How many there are of these children of mine who live under the yoke of this spiritual slavery! They are those who become victims of false ideologies, founded on the denial of God. How great is the spreading of the error of theoretical and practical atheism, which brings many to pass their life, getting along without God! They are those who withdraw from the Church to join the various sects, which are spreading here, more and more. This has come about because the hungering minds of so many of my children are no longer nourished with the bread of the Word of God.
I ask you to give with abundance this spiritual food and above all, to you my beloved ones and sons consecrated to me, I ask a still greater effort in communicating to all the light of the Gospel. Preach the Gospel with courage and without fear; present it with the clarity of its completeness; announce it with the same vigor with which my Son Jesus preached it to you. Thus you will help all to walk along the way of the true faith, in the greatest obedience to the Magisterium of the Pope and of the bishops united with him.
Not by bread alone does man live.
Man lives also by divine grace, which Jesus has given him, to nourish the hunger of his soul. Besides the poverty of material goods, there exists a greater and more dangerous moral poverty, consisting in the heavy yoke which makes many of my children slaves of evil and of sin, of unruly passions, especially of impurity. How great is this wound among you!
How subtle is the snare of my Adversary, who often leads you to put all your priestly energy into healing the wounds of the poor and exploited, in order thus to make you forget to look above all at the deep wounds of the sinners and of the wicked. Give the food of the grace of God to these souls who are dying of hunger. For this, you must help sinners to return to the fount of divine mercy, by putting yourselves at their disposal in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
This is the favorable time for you. This is the time of conversion and of return to the Lord. Beloved sons, you yourselves must become solicitous ministers of reconciliation, for the salvation of many souls, who are running the danger of being lost.
Not by bread alone does man live.
Man lives also by the Living Bread come down from heaven, to nourish the hunger of his heart. How many there are today who live under the terrible slavery of pride, of unbridled egoism, of avarice, of hatred, of violence, of a great incapacity to love! The way which leads to salvation is solely that of communion and of love. For this reason, Jesus has made you the inestimable gift of the Most Holy Eucharist.
Jesus becomes present in the Eucharist to be the food of your spiritual life and to form you to a true capacity for love.
Jesus gives Himself to you in the Eucharist to love in you, with you and by means of you.
The eucharistic Jesus is the Living Bread come down from heaven, the food to eat that one may hunger no longer, the water to drink that one may thirst no longer.
The eucharistic Jesus wants to become today the Good Samaritan for your Church, so divided and suffering, and for your fatherland, so ill and threatened.
The eucharistic Jesus wants to lead all of you along the road of love, of reconciliation, of communion, of peace, of mercy and of salvation. Learn of Him who is meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls.
This year, Brazil is celebrating its National Eucharistic Congress. May your Church and your fatherland prostrate themselves in an act of profound adoration directed to the eucharistic Jesus. Today I ask all to throw open the doors to Jesus Christ who is coming. I am the Mother of the Second Advent and the door which is being opened on the new era. This new era will coincide with the greatest triumph of the eucharistic Reign of Jesus.
For this, I invite you, in this extraordinary year, to make flourish everywhere the cult of adoration, of reparation and of love for the Most Holy Eucharist. In your churches, return to the exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament, through solemn hours of public adoration. Let the Eucharist become the center of your prayer, of your life, of your cult and of your ecclesial gatherings.
Thus, again today, the eucharistic Jesus, with his word, will nourish the hunger of minds; with his grace, will nourish the hunger of souls; with his love, will nourish the hunger of your hearts.
And it will be the eucharistic Jesus who will finally give you the great gift of the true liberation from every form of physical, spiritual and moral slavery. And thus, in all of you there will shine forth the great dignity of sons of God, created by Him, loved, redeemed, sanctified and saved.
Go forth now, from this your cenacle, and become the apostles of this new evangelization in all of Brazil. I accompany you with my immaculate love and I sustain you with my motherly blessing."

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