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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