St. Annibale and the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta
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“These days will surely be full of grace for everyone“. With those words, on Sunday February 4, Father Angelo Sardone, Rogationist of the community of Bari, began his talk when the relics of Saint Annibale Maria di Francia arrived at the house of the servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. Yes, they were really days of grace and blessing and we can confirm now at the conclusion of the week of spirituality that was conceived in the context of the initiatives for the 90th anniversary of the opening of the House of the Daughters of Divine Zeal.

Saint Hannibal, with the presence of his relics, spiritually enriched the city of Corato staying for eight days at the Church Santa Maria Greca, where the tomb of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta is guarded. It was indeed touching to be simultaneously in front of two models of holiness linked together by an intense spiritual relationship, and united – we could say – by one single mission: to live and spread the Divine Will.

“A crusade of prayer a4nd knowledge“, Father Angelo defined the intense program of the event. It was characterized daily by moments of prayer and formative and spiritual activities that allowed us to know more about the figure and the work of the Saint from Messina in correlation especially with Luisa, the little daughter of the Divine Will.

The venture of Annibale Maria Di Francia started in 1878 in the Avignone district, the worst slum in Messina at that time; the meeting with Francesco Zancone, a blind beggar changed his life. Father Annibale was rich, from a noble family and was admired for his culture. He could have had an extraordinary career, but he left everything and went into the midst of the slums of Messina. There he worked incessantly for the temporal and spiritual good of his neighbor, through the education and sanctification of children and boys, evangelization and relief to the poorest.

He was enraptured, since adolescence, by the gospel expression: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest “(Mt 9:38; Lk 10: 2), and for this noble cause he spent all his energies.

The Rogate (Ask) thus became his life program. To this end, he founded two religious Congregations: the Rogationists and the Daughters of the Divine Zeal, and promoted numerous initiatives to spread among the faithful the awareness of the need to pray intensely for vocations.

He himself deeply loved his priesthood; He lived it consistently,  and was fully convinced that it is only through the work of numerous holy priests that humanity can be saved.

For living and spreading this charism with admirable zeal, he was recognized by the Church as” distinguished Apostle of Prayer for Vocations” and Pope John Paul II called him “authentic forerunner and zealous master of modern vocation ministry”.

His message is particularly timely today, in the third millennium. The “global village” that our planet has become, confined by the communications network and political, economic and social interests, feels an urgent need of good, hard-working apostles who work for the Kingdom..

Priests, consecrated persons and all Christians are the “laborers of the Gospel” and are the fruit of prayer. It is necessary to pray to the Lord of the harvest so that many people, responding with their own generous FIAT to the call, can become workers of the harvest, new “apostles of the Divine Will“- as Jesus himself call them in Luisa’swritings –  ready to work for salvation and sanctification by communicating to all the precious truths of the Divine Will.

“…once I have completed everything, I will entrust my Kingdom to my ministers, so that, like second apostles of the Kingdom of my Will, they may be the criers of It”. (Vol. XX – November 6,1926)

Therefore, we can see how St. Annibale’ s “Rogate” and Luisa’s “Fiat” interweave and walk in unison; Luisa and St. Annibale, in the plans of the Divine Providence, mutually helped and influenced each other, by communicating to each other the charisms with which the Lord had enriched their souls for the good of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI said “true friendship, in addition to being a relationship between people, it is a mutual help and spiritual journey. This is a characteristic of Saints: they cultivate friendship because it is one of the noblest manifestations of the human heart and has something divine about it”.

“Do you think that the coming of Father Di Francia, who shows so much interest and who has taken to heart the publication of what regards my Will, came by chance? No, no – I Myself disposed it. It is a providential act of the Supreme Will that wants him as first apostle of the Divine Fiat and proclaimer of It. And since he happens to be the founder of an order, it is easier for him to approach bishops, priests and people, also within his own institute, in order to proclaim the Kingdom of my Will. This is why I assist him so much and I give him special light, because in order to understand my Will it takes great graces – not little lights, but sun, to comprehend a Divine, Holy and Eternal Will, as well as great disposition on the part of the one to whom this office is entrusted”. (Vol. XX – November 6,1926)

The ministers are cooperators, guardians and depositaries of the knowledge, goods and prodigies that are in the Divine Will. So, just as He had the priesthood before His coming in order to prepare the people, and the priesthood of His Church in order to confirm His coming and everything He did and said, so  – Jesus said- “I will I have the priesthood of the Kingdom of my Will”.

The many surprising truths revealed to Luisa will be the inexhaustible fount from which all will draw celestial life and terrestrial happiness “…how happy they will feel – those who, with yearning, will drink in large gulps from these founts of my knowledges – Jesus said – because they contain the virtue of bringing the life of Heaven, and of banishing any unhappiness”. For this reason “I enjoy that more of my ministers get to know that there is this treasure so great, of making known the Kingdom of my Divine Will; and I use this to form the first priests of my coming Kingdom of my Fiat. My daughter, it is a great necessity to form the first priests; they will serve Me like the Apostles served Me to form my Church; and the ones who will occupy themselves with these writings in order to publish them, putting them out to print them – to make them known, will be the new evangelists of the Kingdom of my Supreme Will”. (Vol. XXIII, January 18,  1928)

It is precisely to support these new apostles of the Kingdom, within the Association Luisa Piccarreta a mission was born and takes the name Spiritual Mother for Priests. The souls who are part of it aim to spiritually adopt a priest, praying for him and sharing with him, in the Divine Will, his priestly life, a life of offering to Christ and to His Church, so that the flock entrusted to him may walk towards the Kingdom of the Fiat Voluntas Tua already on earth. And it was a very great moment on Saturday evening, when during the celebration of Holy Mass some members of the Mission wished to join the Union of Prayer for Vocations, according to the spirit that animated the life and work of St. Annibale sanctioning, also in this case, the profound spiritual bond between the Little Children of the Divine Will and the daughters and sons of Father Annibale.

Fiat!

Antonella

Prayer of the little children of the Divine Will

For each day from Ash Wednesday to Divine Mercy Sunday

Heavenly Father, In the Name of Jesus, In the Unity, Love and Power of the Holy Spirit, Under the Mantle of Mary Our Blessed Mother, with all the Angels and Saints, and through the Intercession of The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, we, the little children of the Divine Will, echo her Prayer to help fulfill her task, to repair and re-do all the acts, thoughts, words and deeds of all souls, past, present and future, and to hasten the Salvation and Sanctification of mankind, and with our voice, give You, Triune God, the Divine Glory as if it was done by all in a Divine Manner, as You Originally Wanted from Adam and his children. And so we say:

‘Heavenly Father, we come to Your Throne to bring to You Your dear children, broken and separated from You, so that You may bind and re-tie once again that Divine Will which was severed from You by Adam. We the little children of Your Most Holy Divine Will asks this of You and we take on the commitment to satisfy You for everyone. Please bind again the human will with the Divine Will bringing the Kingdom of Your Will so that It may come and Reign upon earth as it is in Heaven. Nothing is denied to Your little ones because what they ask is nothing other than the Echo of Your Own Divine Will and of what You Yourself Want.’

We pledge to pray these prayers each day from Ash Wednesday to Divine Mercy Sunday, 

for the complete healing and restoration of all Your children and situations:

February 14 – For Our Holy Father Pope Frances, and for all Popes from Peter to the last

February 15 – For all Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and Deacons of all time

February 16 – For all Seminarians, all Religious men and women of all time

February 17 – For all teachers and Promoters of the Faith of all time

February 18 – For all Fathers, Adoptive Fathers, Grandfathers, throughout the generations

February 19 – For all Mothers, Adoptive Mothers, Grandmothers throughout the generations

February 20 – For all the unborn, newborns, infants, toddlers, and all children

February 21 – For all young people, teenage, young adult, and all seeking their vocations

February 22 – For all the single men and women and for all elderly

February 23 – For all the infirm and suffering, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally

February 24 – For all souls before death, at any age and circumstance

February 25 – For all soldiers, law enforcement, fire protectors, service persons of all types

February 26 – For all farmers, workers, slaves of all time

February 27 – For all Your chosen people, the Hebrews, Israelites, Jews

February 28 – For all Patriarchs, Prophets, saints of the Old Testament

March 1 – For the Apostles, disciples, for all saints of the New Testament

March 2 – For all missionaries and martyrs

March 3 – For all Saints having aided Redemption and Sanctification

March 4 – For all Catholics of the East, of the West, of all Rites

March 5 – For all Protestants and all Christians

March 6 – For all Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and for all who do not know You, O God

March 7 – For all sinners and all in need of Your Infinite Mercy

March 8 – For all leaders, from Kings to politicians, from high authority to low

March 9 – For all medical persons, lawyers, professors, business persons of every sort

March 10 – For all astronomers, scientists, intellects of every degree

March 11 – For all handicapped and all suffering imperfections of mind and body

March 12 – For all abandoned, outcast and unwanted

March 13 – For the poor, homeless, week, the unloved everywhere

March 14 – For the cancellation of all debts and curses in all family lines

March 15 – For the generational healing of all family lines

March 16 – For the exorcism of all demons in souls and in or on the earth anywhere

March 17 – For the Angels to descend upon earth in the aid and protection of all Your chilren

March 18 – For the Angels of the Last Times to come and fulfill Their Tasks according to the Divine Will

March 19 – For all displaced people, those in refuges and in transition 

March 20 – For all homosexuals and those uncertain of their Divine dignity

March 21 – For all addicts of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, food, entertainment, sex and of every vice

March 22 – For all aborted babies at any stage of development 

March 23 – For all persons in having supported abortion by politics, human reasoning or indifference

March 24 – For all mothers, fathers, medical or evil persons responsible for killing any unborn child

March 25 – For the conversion of all souls, for their Salvation and Sanctification

March 26 – For the Proclamation 5th Dogma of Our Lady Mediatrix, Co-Redemptrix and Advocate

March 27 – For Our Lady, Mother and Queen of the Divine Will, to Honor Her as such

March 28 – For Luisa Piccarreta, the Little Daughter of the Divine Will, to Honor Her as such

March 29 – For the Gift of the Divine Will be given to the Holy Father

March 30 – For the release of all souls from Purgatory

March 31 – For the Unification of the East and the West Churches under the Roman Pontiff

April 1 – For the intentions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the fulfillment of all Her Requests

April 2 – For the Glorification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta

April 3- For the blessing of the little family of which we are members.

April 4 – For the Book of Heaven to be known, loved and possessed by all

April 5 – For the Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Coming, all for His Glory

April 6 – For the Great Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Second Pentecost

April 7 – For One Church, One Flock, One Shepherd

April 8 – For the Kingdom of the Divine Will on earth as It is in Heaven

*****

The Command Prayer

Abba Father,

In the name of Jesus

In the Unity and Power

of the Holy Spirit,

under the Mantle of Mary

with all the Angels and Saints

through the Intercession of

The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta

please take my humble prayer

of Today

and make it Your Command.

that all be accomplished and completed

in Your Most Holy Divine Will.

Fiat!

Amen!

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To hear about the death of Fr. Robert Young was such a terrible thing. There is an immense sorrow and a great consternation. He was loved by a lot of people here in Belgium. Many years he came to teach and to learn us about the gift of all gifts: his so important mission!

Each time he stayed here at the House of the Divine Will Belgium (his European home) for several days. Meantime we organized always different conference days, retreats, meetings with all the leaders of the Belgian groups, afternoons with priests and a contact with the local Bishop (who liked him very much).

So for the Divine Will Belgium his passing means a very, very great loss. But, as Luisa learned,  FIAT – FIAT – FIAT, even when it is very difficult now.

But there is not only a deep pain and sorrow but also an enormous gratitude for all Fr. Robert meant to us, for all the things he learned again and again about the writings of Luisa.

He was still here two months ago and should certainly come back next year.

I even went to see for an Abbey to organize again a retreat in 2018.

And there is also joy. A heavenly joy knowing Fr. Robert is living now where the Divine Will reigns perfectly. Now he must know and see and experience the effulgence of the Light of the Sun of the Divine Will! How often he spoke about it…

Also this:

His only program on Radio Maria during his last stay in Europe happened from here, from the House of the Divine Will Belgium on Saturday September 9…

And another beautiful thing:

On Monday September 11, Fr. Robert celebrated here the 35th anniversary of his priesthood. Sitting alone with him in the chapel of the House of the Divine Will for Eucharist, he was so happy with the first reading taken from the letter to the Colosians 1,24-29.2,1-3 (maybe you can look yourself to read and to see the beauty of this passage and to see what it meant to Fr. Robert). ‘This is a reading for me – it seems really written for me, for my priesthood in the Divine Will’. And this he repeated different times during the day…

Our so dear Divine Will priest will never come back to Belgium… He’ll find now all the rest he needs and an unspeakable happiness in the Eternity of God’s Willing, together with Luisa and Annibale. I’m so happy for him…

Goedele – Divine Will Belgium

Archbishop Mgr. Leonardo D’Ascenzo
“I stand at the door and knock ” (Rev. 3:20)

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On Saturday January 27, the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie joyfully welcomed its new Archbishop Mgr. Leonardo D’Ascenzo, after having lived the important day of his Episcopal Ordination, held on Sunday January 14 in the “Bandinelli” Palasport, in Velletri .

After being received in the early afternoon by the mayor of Trani and the diocesan Administrator Mgr.  Giuseppe Pavone, Archbishop D’Ascenzo went first to the Caritas dormitory named after his predecessor, Mgr.Giovan Battista Pichierri, where he met a group of immigrant women.This is a sign of attention towards the last, already manifest at the dawn of his episcopal ministry and that it is also possible to see in his greeting to the civil and military authorities that was held immediately afterwards. In fact, addressing himself to them, he affirmed: “… I thought that if the Lord had not called me to the priesthood, I would have had no difficulty in devoting myself to political life, seen as a service to the ‘polis’, to the human community, because I see a common fundamental element between political commitment and priestly ministry, that is, as service to the  people and to the person. This makes our lives precious and noble: the service to the common good and to the good of the individual, especially of the little ones, that is, the poor, the elderly, the sick, those who have erred, the weakest… ” And, then, citing the example of Giorgio La Pira, the holy mayor of Florence who looked to a world without barriers, to the expectations of the poor, he emphasized that “we are all Samaritans, everyone … Every day we have to go down from Jerusalem to Jericho …. The parable of the Good Samaritan is an invitation to come down, to go towards the last who are in need and ask for our help “. Hence his exhortation “Let us never forget to attend the school of service and respect for the person, as such, without distinction or discrimination of any kind … This is particularly true today ‘day of remembrance’ in which we commemorate all the victims of the holocaust;let’s pray for them, because this horror never happens again. “

Accompanied by the faithful who enthusiastically greeted him along the way, Archbishop D’Ascenzo afterwards proceeded to the Church of San Giovanni to meet the clergy, the religious and consecrated people, the deacons and seminarians of the diocese. The impression about him is that of a man belonging to the people: he stopped, he embraced, he greeted people familiarly and blessed all those who approached him.

Then, he arrived at the Church and after kneeling for a few minutes before the Crucifix and having listened to the greeting of Mgr. Pavone on behalf of the whole diocesan Church of Trani, Barletta, Bisceglie, in his speech he highlighted that all the clergy is invited to live a real communion and a profound and true friendship, because it is only this that allows us to give an authentic testimony to Christ. And recalling the words taken from a text very familiar and dear to him”NEW VOCATIONS FOR A NEW EUROPE” – Final Document of the Congress on Vocations to the Priesthood and to Consecrated Life in Europe (1997) he said that “the first testimony we are called to give is the gift of our life “.

“Life – he quoted-is a good received which, by its nature, tends to become a good given. It is the truth of life, its logic: good received, good given! “And echoing Pope Francis, he continued clarifying that ‘though it is true that this mission demands great generosity on our part, it would be wrong to see it as a heroic individual undertaking… the primacy always belongs to God, who has called us to cooperate with him and who leads us on by the power of his Spirit “(EG12).

Then, starting from the Church of San Giovanni, there was the procession with which His Exc. Mgr. Leonardo D’Ascenzo entered the Cathedral for the solemn Celebration of the Eucharist. Among those present, in addition to the numerous bishops and civil authorities, also the Archbishop’s family, the new dean of the Pontifical Leoniano Collegio in Anagni, a large delegation of the Diocese of Velletri – Segni, some representatives of other religious faiths, as well as some members of Mgr. Pichierri’s family who wanted to take part in the solemn liturgy.

Mgr. D’Ascenzo greeted the many faithful who were in the cathedral recalling a passage from the Book of Revelation, the letter to the Church of Laodicea: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”(Rev 3: 20)”The door mentioned today by Jesus is the door of the heart of this Church of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie, it is the door of each of you, in front of which I want to stand discreetly, knock gently to enter and eat, that is, to share the Bread, the Bread of life which is Jesus“.

«And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God».With these words of St. Paul to the Corinthians, during his first homily, the Archbishop referred to his mandate: “I am aware of my limitations and weaknesses and therefore I ask the Lord that He uses me so that I can spread His Word “.

He also explained the meaning of the motto he chose “Messis quidem multa”: the harvest is plentiful. “Those words invite us to look at a reality that is able to recognize beauty, the positive things that precede us and accompany us …Those words – he continued – surprise us, because we all know that we must first plow, sow and cultivate in order to harvest abundantly at the right time..Jesus says instead that ‘the harvest is plentiful’. But who worked for the result to be such? The answer is only one: God. We often look at reality with depression and negativity: we should instead direct our gaze on the abundance of the harvest”.

The appointment of Archbishop D’Ascenzo surprised everyone. The Archdiocese of Trani – Barletta Bisceglie is “a Church with long tradition, it is lively, numerically large“, therefore, “it is customary to appoint in it a Bishop who has experience, not newly appointed… I carry with me no experience in this regard. It is this Church, it is youwho will help me to learn the service that lies ahead. For my part, as it is said, I must study “.

We, the Little Children of the Divine Will, would like to express our good wishes to His Excellency so that “this new adventure” as he himself called it, may be enlightened by the Light of the Divine Will; we assure him our prayers for a fruitful episcopal ministry and for all the effort that he will also be called to give to further the process of beatification and canonization of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, so that the Kingdom of God can be fulfilled “on earth as it is in Heaven “.

Fiat!

Antonella

MESSIS QUIDIM MULTA
The Harvest is Plentiful

Coat of Arms of Archbishop Leonardo D’Ascenzo

“The harvest is plentiful. This is the expression that I chose as my motto after the announcement of my appointment as archbishop of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie. It is the expression that more than any other recurs in pastoral work for vocations, the area that characterized in particular my priestly ministry. It is the expression that marked my whole story”. Those were the first words of thanksgiving that the newly ordained Archbishop Leonardo D’Ascenzo said in his greeting at the celebration.”

Above Quote from Archbishop D’Ascenzo’s Episcopal Ordination on January 14, 2018

***

The Rogationist Apostolate

Since the time of his youth, Saint Annibale felt himself singularly drawn to prayer in order to obtain priests for the Church. Particularly in his lengthy adorations before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, he would sorely lament the need for “other Christs.” When he read in the Gospel the words of Jesus: “Rogate ergo Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in messem suam (Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest),” Matt. 9, 38; Luke10, 2, a supernatural light illuminated his mind. He understood that the Lord was calling him to devote his life and every energy to propagating the divine command and beseeching others to obey this categorical order from the Divine Master. He would say over and over: “People pray for the rain, for good crops, for freedom from divine punishment, and they forget about praying to God so He’ll send good evangelical workers into the mystical harvest.” He accordingly wrote and promulgated a series of glowing prayers which are compiled in a booklet form and translated into different languages. “The salvation of the world,” he said, “depends on priests, and the means we have to obtain them is found surely and infallibly in the prayer commanded by Our Lord Jesus Christ; not to obey the command of Jesus means not to desire priests, not to desire the salvation of the world.” In an ardent invocation to the Sacred Heart, he fervently entreated: “How come all those who love You don’t address to this wholesome prayer? How come, when so many souls are perishing…the Catholic world doesn’t rise up in one body to implore from Your Divine Heart…numerous priests? Spread, O Lord, from the north to south and from east to west, this spirit of prayer. May the hearts of all Your cardinals, Your bishops, Your priests, and the entire Church burn and spill over with this spirit… May the hearts of all the virgins and nuns consecrated to You be inflammed with this spirit … We ask You, Lord Jesus, that the evangelical prayer of Your Heart will triumph throughout the Church and throughout the world. Let it become a universal prayer … May the eyes of all be penetrated by that ceaseless sound from Your longing Heart: ‘The harvest indeed is abundant, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest …'”

The excerpt above is from a Biography of St. Annibale Di Francia, who was both the confessor and ecclesial advisor of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. 

https://youtu.be/tAgMVd-gd2I

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