On Sunday, January 20, 2019, the German Cardinal and an U.S. Bishop To Bless World With Miraculous Image

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The Holy Face of Jesus, the Volto Santo in Manoppello, Italy
(Click here for website)

 

January 17, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – A German cardinal and U.S. bishop, who are renowned for their firm and courageous defence of the Catholic Faith, will bless the world on Sunday January 20 with what is considered by many to be a miraculous image of the Holy Face of Jesus, the Volto Santo – called by Saint Padre Pio “the greatest miracle we have.”

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Cardinal Gerhard Muller at a press conference on October 25, 2016 at the Vatican. ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images

Cardinal Gerhard Müller and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will be in Manoppello, Italy, in order to celebrate Mass in the Basilica del Volto Santo and then to bless the Church and the world with the miraculous image of Our Lord’s countenance.

Paul Badde – author of severalbooks on the Volto Santo and Rome Correspondent of EWTN – has just interviewed Cardinal Gerhard Müller about this upcoming event. Different websites are announcing the event – at which Archbishop Bruno Forte, the local bishop of Chieti-Vasto, will also participate. The Jan. 20 event will start with an 11 o’clock Mass in the Basilica and then be followed by a procession and a blessing with the Holy Face relic. 

January 20 is the traditional Omnis Terra Sunday, on which, in 1208, Pope Innocent III for the first time blessed the Church and the world with this relic, which is believed to stem from the tomb of Our Lord, depicting His Face at the moment of His Resurrection. (Please see here for more information on the Holy Face and its miraculous nature – there are no paint traces to be found on this picture.) In that year, Innocent III led a solemn procession with the Volto Santo from St. Peter’s to the church of the hospital of S. Spirito, S. Maria in Sassia. The procession was to be observed annually on the second Sunday after the Epiphany.

When the Holy Face became lost during the Sack of Rome (1527), this tradition stopped, only to be revived in 2016 by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the private secretary of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. Gänswein then carried a copy of the Volto Santo through the streets of Rome and celebrated a festive Mass in honor of this relic.

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Pope Benedict XVI looks over a mysterious icon that many believe shows the face of Christ, Manoppello, Sept. 1, 2006. Max ROSSI/AFP/Getty Images

In 2006 and not long after his election, Pope Benedict himself went to Manoppello, a little village in the Abruzzi mountains, in order to visit the Volto Santo and thus to honor, as Pope, this relic once more .

Pope Francis, as of today, has never visited the Holy Face, but numerous cardinals have done so, among them Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Cardinal Kurt Koch. The bishop responsible for this shrine, Archbishop Forte, has given an interview to Paul Badde, in which he has strongly endorsed the authenticity of this sacred relic.

In his interview with Paul Badde, Cardinal Müller, who is the former Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine, explained that he, as bishop and as priest, sees himself as “a defender of the Faith.”

“Even if I may not be anymore the Prefect [of the CDF],” he said, “it is still left to me the mission – as given to me in my ordination in Christ – to defend ‘the truth of the Gospels’ (Gal. 2:17).” It is in this light that Cardinal Müller said he also sees his visit to the Holy Face of Manoppello: “Therefore, it is also his [the priest’s] holy task to bless the faithful with Christ’s image, which he lifts up high. The Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, Christ’s Cross and Resurrection are the fundamental truths of the Christian Faith,” he explained.

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                             Holy Face of Manoppello detail of eyes.

In light of these holy duties of a priest, Cardinal Müller said he sees today, however, “a secularized way of thinking, also among the highest authorities.”

“It is fatal when bishops feel more at ease in being fundraisers, secret diplomats, a darling of the media, and a political confidant,” rather than being “humble servants of the Word (Luke 1:2)” and “examples for the flock (I Peter 5:3).” In the midst of the people, Müller continued, the priest “lifts up the Body and Blood of Christ during Holy Consecration and presents before Holy Communion the ‘Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world’ (John 1:29).”

When Paul Badde asked the German prelate about his own seeming fearlessness in the face of resistance and scorn, Cardinal Müller stated that “scorn and ridicule, intrigues and evil gossip” and other such traits “are not the adornment of a true Christian.” He clearly rejected forms of “power politics and intrigues which undermine the credibility of the episcopacy and also of the Vatican.” However, he added, “we would give a good example to the world if each of us were to follow his conscience, to live according to God’s Commandments of the Decalogue and to the Beatitudes of Jesus at the Sermon of the Mount,” with the help of grace.

“To pray together is better than to speak secretly evil things about others,” he said.

Further commenting on how the Church could come out from under her current crisis, the cardinal pointed to the importance of purification and penance. “That is to say: not to blame others, the Church, one’s predecessors, the clergy for one’s own guilt, but to beat one’s own breast and to pray mea culpa, that would really enhance the atmosphere within the Church.”

1/3 Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

What a beautiful time to pray the Rosary!

Joyful Mysteries
Luminous Mysteries
Sorrowful Mysteries
Glorious Mysteries 

The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will
Day Twenty-Three:

The Blessed Mother to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

… Now, dear daughter (Luisa), you must know that the eighth day arrived after the Celestial Baby (Jesus) had been Born to the light of the day, and the Divine Fiat sounded the hour of sorrow, commanding us (the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph) to circumcise the charming Little Baby (Jesus). It was a most painful cut which Little Jesus was to undergo. It was the law of those times that all the firstborn had to undergo this painful cut. It can be called the law of sin, but My (the Blessed Mother’s) (Son (Jesus) was Innocent and His Law was the Law of Love; but in spite of this, because He (Jesus) came to find, not the man-king, but the man degraded, in order to make Himself his brother and to elevate him, He wanted to lower Himself, and He submitted Himself to the law.

My daughter, Saint Joseph and I felt a shiver of pain, but intrepid and without hesitating, we called the minister and we had Him circumcised with a most painful cut. At the bitter pain, Baby Jesus cried and flung Himself into My arms, asking for My Help. Saint Joseph and I mixed our tears with His; we (the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph) gathered the First Blood shed by Jesus for Love of creatures, and we gave Him the Name of Jesus—Powerful Name, which was to make Heaven and earth tremble, and even hell; a Name which was to be Balm, Defense, Help for every heart. …

The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will
Meditation Two:

The Blessed Mother to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

Now, you must know that only eight days had passed from the Birth of the Divine Infant. Everything was Feast and Happiness; the very Creation, taking a festive attitude, celebrated the Baby Creator. But duty interrupted Our Joys, because in those times there was a law that all firstborn sons were to undergo the harsh cut of circumcision. My Heart of Mother bled with Sorrow in having to submit My Dear Son, My Life, My own Creator, to such a Bitter Pain. O! How I would have wanted to take His place. But the Supreme Volition imposed Itself on My Love, and giving Me Heroism, Commanded Me to circumcise the Baby God. My daughter, you cannot comprehend how much it cost Me; but the Divine Fiat won, and I obeyed, united with Saint Joseph. In mutual agreement, we had My Dear Son circumcised. At the painful cut, I felt My Heart being torn, and I cried. Saint Joseph cried, and My Dear Baby sobbed, and His Pain was such that He shivered, and looking at me, He sought help in Me. What an hour of Pain and of spasm for the three of us. It was such that, more than sea, it engulfed all creatures, to bring to them the First Pledge and the very Life of My Son, in order to place them in safety.

Now, blessed daughter, you must know that this cut enclosed Profound Mysteries: first, it was the Seal that impressed in the Little Humanity of the Celestial Baby His brotherhood with the whole human family; and the Blood that He Shed was the first disbursement before Divine Justice in order to Ransom all human generations. The Dear Baby was Innocent, He was not obliged to the law; but He wanted to submit Himself—first, to give the example; and then, to infuse Trust, Courage, and say to all: “Do not fear; I am a Little Brother of yours, similar to you. Let us Love one another, and I will place you all in safety; I will bring you all to My Celestial Father, as My dear brothers.”

My daughter, what an example the Celestial Baby gives: He, who is the Author of the law, Obeys the law. He is Born only eight days ago, and He makes it a duty for Himself, and submits Himself to the harsh cut of circumcision; an indelible cut—as indelible as the Union He came to form with degraded humanity. This says that Sanctity is in doing one’s own duty, in the observance of the laws, and in fulfilling the Divine Will. Sanctity without duty does not exist. It is duty that places Order, Harmony, and the Seal on Sanctity.

Furthermore, My daughter, you must know that as Adam withdrew from the Divine Will, after his brief Life of Innocence, his human will remained wounded, more than by a deadly knife, and through this wound entered sin and passions. He lost the Beautiful Day of the Divine Will, and degraded himself so much as to arouse pity. And My Dear Son, after the Joys of His Birth, wanted to be circumcised, so that this, His Wound, might heal the wound that Adam did to himself by doing his own will; and with His Blood, He prepared for him the Bath to Wash him of all his sins, to Fortify him, to Embellish him, in such a way as to render him Worthy to receive again that Divine Will he had rejected, which formed his Sanctity and his Happiness. Daughter, there was not one Work or Pain that He suffered, which did not seek to Reorder again the Divine Will in the creatures.

Therefore, in all circumstances, even painful and humiliating, may you take to heart doing the Divine Will in everything, because they are the raw material in which It hides in order to Operate in the creature, so as to let her acquire Its Life Acting in the creature.

Now, dearest daughter (Luisa), in so much Sorrow, the Most Beautiful Joy arises, such as to stop our tears. As He (Jesus) was circumcised, we (the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph) gave Him the Most Holy Name of Jesus, wanted by the Angel. In pronouncing this Most Holy Name, the Joy, the Contentment, was such as to sweeten our Sorrow. More so, since in this Name (Jesus), whoever wanted to, would find Balm for his pains, the Defense in dangers, the Victory in temptations, the Hand so as not to fall into sin, the Medicine for all his evils. This Most Holy Name of Jesus makes hell tremble; the Angels revere It, and It sounds Sweet to the ear of the Celestial Father. Before this Name, all bow down and adore. Powerful Name, Holy Name, Great Name; whoever invokes It with faith will feel the Marvels, the Miraculous Secret of the Virtue of this Most Holy Name.

Now, My daughter, I (the Blessed Mother) recommend to you (Luisa): always pronounce this Name, “Jesus.” When you see that your human will, weak, vacillating, hesitates in doing the Divine, the Name of Jesus will make it Rise Again for you in the Divine Fiat. If you are oppressed, call upon Jesus; if you work, call upon Jesus; if you sleep, call upon Jesus; and when you wake up, may your first word be “Jesus.” Call Him always; it is a Name that contains Seas of Grace, but which He gives to those who call Him and love Him.

***

Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
Volume 30 – January 3, 1932

Certainty of the coming of the Kingdom of the Divine Will upon earth.  How all difficulties will melt like snow before a burning sun.  The human will is the dark room of the creature.

The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:

My abandonment continues in the Divine Fiat, but I felt worried by the thought:  “How will this Kingdom of the Divine Will ever be able to come?  Sin abounds, evils get worse, it seems to me that the creatures are not disposed to receive such a great Good; so much so, that there is not a soul, as good as they may be, who truly wants to occupy himself with making known what regards the Divine Will.  If God does not operate a prodigy of His Omnipotence, the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat may be in Heaven, but as for the earth, it is useless to think about it.”

But while I was thinking of this and other things, my beloved Jesus, making His usual visit to my soul, told me:  “My daughter (Luisa), everything is possible for Us (God).  The impossibilities, the difficulties, the insurmountable obstacles of creatures melt before Our Supreme Majesty like snow in front of a burning sun.  Everything is in whether We want it; all the rest is nothing.  Did the same not happen in Redemption?  Sin abounded more than ever; only a small group of people was awaiting the Messiah, and in the midst of this group, how many hypocrisies, how many sins of all kinds—they were often idolatrous.  But it was decreed that I was to come upon earth.  In the face of Our (Triune God) Decrees, all evils cannot prevent what We (God) want to do.  We (God) are glorified more by one act alone of Our Will than We are offended by all the evils and sins committed by creatures, because Our Act of the Will is Divine and immense, and in its Immensity it embraces all eternity, all centuries, it extends to all.  Therefore, it is not of Our infinite Wisdom not to give Life to even just one act of Our Will because of the evils of creatures.  We place Ourselves on Our Divine Side, and We do what We have to do; and the creatures We leave by their human side; and acting as Sovereigns, We lord it over everything and everyone, even over evil, and We put out Our Decrees.

“Now, just as My (Jesus’) Coming upon earth was Our (Triune God) Decree, so is Our (God’s) Decree the Kingdom of Our Will upon earth; even more, it can be said that one and the other are one single Decree, and having carried out the first act of this Decree, We are to carry out the second.  It is true that We pace Ourselves according to the good disposition of the creatures in order to give the great Good that an Act of Our Will can produce, and therefore at most We take time, and We make Our Way in the midst of their evils in order to dispose them.  It is true that the times are sad; the peoples themselves are tired, they see all the ways closed to them, they can find no way out even for the necessary natural means; the oppressions, the demands of the leaders are unbearable—just penalty, since they have elected as leaders godless men, of evil life, without a just right to be leaders, who deserved a prison more than the right of regime.  Many thrones and empires have been overthrown, and those few that are left are all vacillating and about to be overthrown.  So, the earth will remain almost without kings, in the hands of iniquitous men.

“Poor peoples, poor children of Mine—under the regime of men without pity, without heart, and without the grace to be able to act as guides for their subjects.  Indeed, the epoch of the Jewish people is being repeated, as they remained without a king when I was near to coming upon earth, and were under the dominion of an alien empire, of barbarous and idolatrous men who did not even know their Creator.  Yet, this was the sign of My nearing Coming into their midst.  That epoch and this one hold hands in many things, and the disappearance of thrones and empires is the announcement that the Kingdom of My Divine Will is not far.  It having to be a Universal, pacific Kingdom, there will be no need of kings to dominate It—each one will be king to himself.  My Will will be for them Law, Guide, Support, Life and absolute King of all and of each one; and all the arbitrary and rightless leaders will be shattered like dust in the wind.  The nations will continue to fight against one another—some by war, some by revolution, among themselves and against My Church.  They have a fire in their midst that devours them, that gives them no peace, and they can give no peace.  It is the fire of sin, and the fire of acting without God that gives them no peace; and they will never make peace if they do not call God into their midst, as regime and bond of Union and of Peace.  And I let them do, and I will make them touch with their own hands what it means to act without God.

“But this does not prevent the Kingdom of My Supreme Fiat from coming; this is all creature’s stuff, of the low world, that My Power knocks down and disperses whenever it wants, and it makes the most serene sky and the most refulgent sun arise from the storm.  On the other hand, the Kingdom of My Divine Will is from on high, from the Heavens, formed and decreed in the midst of the Divine Persons—no one can touch It or disperse It.  First We will deal about It with one creature alone, forming the first Kingdom in her; then with few; and then, making use of Our Omnipotence, we will divulge It everywhere.  Be certain, do not worry because evils get worse; Our Power, Our winning Love that has the Virtue of always winning, Our Will that can do everything and, with invincible Patience, knows how to wait even for centuries—but what It wants and has to do is worth more than all the evils of creatures—in the face of Its invincible Power and Its infinite Value, their evils will be like little drops of water, like many trifles that will serve for the Triumph of Our Love and for the greater Glory of Our fulfilled Will.

“And then, when We have the great Glory of forming this Kingdom inside one creature alone, she will be like sun, such that all have the right to enjoy and possess its Light.  More than sun, she will give to all creatures the right to possess a Kingdom so holy; and We, with infinite Wisdom, will abound with Graces, with Light, with Helps, with surprising Means, so that they may let the Kingdom of My Will reign in their midst.  Therefore, let Me do; when it is your Jesus that has told you this, that’s enough—it is as though already done.  All evils and all creatures together have no power and no right over Our Will, nor can they prevent a single Act of Our Will, wanted by Decrees of Our Wisdom.”

Then, I continued to think about the Divine Fiat, and my sweet Jesus added:  “My daughter (Luisa), My (God’s) Will is Light, the human will is the dark room in which the poor creature lives.  As My (God’s) Will enters into this dark room, it remains all invested by this Light that illumines everything, even the most remote and little hiding places of the soul.  It makes Itself Light of the thought, of the word, of the works, of the steps—but with a marvelous variety.  The thought takes on a variety of colors animated by the Light; the word takes on another variety of colors; the action, the step, other varieties of colors.  And as she (the soul) repeats the thought, the word, the action, the step, animated by the Light of My (God’s) Will, so are the hues of the Divine Colors formed; and the beauty of it is that they are all colors animated by Light.

O! how beautiful it is to see the creature animated by the Rainbow of Our (Triune God’s) Divine Colors—it is one of the most beautiful scenes that she (the creature) presents to Us (God) and makes Us enjoy.  We look at her and We see that those are nothing other that the reflection of Our Thoughts, of Our Actions, and so forth, that has formed that variety of Our Divine Colors; and Our Will makes display of Light in the acts of the creature who, with her sweet enchantment, enraptures Us and makes Us the Spectators of Our Acts; and—O! how We await with all Love the repetition of these scenes so beautiful and delightful.”

1/1 More on the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Mother of God

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– Holy Day of Obligation

– Octave Day of the Nativity

V2 – 8.15.99– And Jesus: “The First Canticle that they Sang (Angels and Saints) to My Mama was the ‘Hail Mary’, because in the ‘Hail Mary’ there are the Most Beautiful Praises, the Greatest Honors; and the Joy which She felt in being made Mother of God is Renewed. Therefore, let us Recite it Together to Honor Her, and when you yourself come to Paradise, I will let you find it as if you had Recited it Together with the Angels for the first time in Heaven.” So, we Recited the first part of the ‘Hail Mary’, Jesus and I Together. O! how Tender and Touching it was to Hail our Most Holy Mama Together with Her Beloved Son! Each Word He said Carried an Immense Light, in which one could comprehend many things about the Most Holy Virgin. But who can say them all? – Especially because of my incapacity. Therefore I let them pass in silence.