The Gospel today is Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Excerpt from the Twentieth Hour, from 12 to 1 PM, of the First Hour of Agony on the Cross, from the Hours of the Passion.

My Jesus, Adored Crucified, in these three hours of most bitter agony, You want to give Fulfillment to everything; and while, silent, You remain on this Cross, I see that in Your Interior You want to satisfy the Father in everything.  You Thank Him for all, You satisfy Him for all, You beseech Forgiveness for all, and for all You impetrate the Grace that they may never again offend You.  In order to impetrate this from the Father You go through all of Your Life, from the first instant of Your Conception, up to Your last Breath.  My Jesus, Endless Love, let me go through all Your Life together with You, with the Inconsolable Mama, with Saint John, and with the pious women.

The Parish of Santa Maria Greca in Corato Italy
is getting ready to celebrate their Patron’s Feast Day!

Santa Maria Greca
Protector of Corato
Feast Day July 18th

From their website (it’s in Italian):

On the occasion of the Feast of the Madonna Greca, after a complex process of restoration, the crypt of the Shrine which houses the icon depicting the Madonna Greca (oil on panel), (see above picture) will be reopened. According to tradition, it is the portrait from the miraculous events that took place in 1656 and that made Her (Santa Maria Greca) protector of Corato.
Located in the historic center, the Diocesan Shrine of Santa Maria Greca is a valuable building that has for the city and for the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie great importance in historical, artistic and religious terms.
Throughout the ages, it has been a place of pilgrimage related to Marian devotion. Since 1963, with the re-burial of the mortal remains of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta (who is in the process of beatification ), the church has also become a destination for visitors from all over the world.
The growing number of visitors who are attracted to other items of artistic relevance present in it, has made it increasingly necessary to adapt the facilities, services and spaces to the changing needs.
The building consists of an upper church and a crypt that has had over time up to the present day, various changes, demolitions, reconstructions and additions.
The restoration was made ​​possible in part thanks to the financing of the fund 8xmille of the Catholic Church and the Financing of the Italian region of Puglia.  Above all, however, the economic effort of so many parishioners who have generously contributed must be counted, because this place was restored for the benefit of all in the city.  I wish to extend a special thank you to those who actually carried out the restoration. First, the designer and director of the work,  arch. Rosalia Lojodice, of the Company Co.me.st. of Giuseppe Storelli, as well as all the workers who helped with competence and generosity.

Father Sergio Pellegrini, pastor

Gospel from Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
(The Parable the two sons)

We are all exiles on this earth and far away from our Heavenly home.  The parable of the Prodigal Son has a deep symbolic meaning.  When we ponder it, we spontaneously perceive that the Prodigal Son is non other than every person who through a sinful life has become estranged from God.  For this reason, the parable is very real to us; it is the story of our lives.  It is a symbol of our infidelity to God.  But it is also the symbol of God’s unbounded mercy toward us.  Today, as the world teems with prodigal sons and daughters, this parable is dramatized in countless millions.  Every person is either that older son who is ever faithful to his father or that younger son who only through hard and painful experience becomes convinced that outside the father’s house there is no happiness.

The parable teaches us that God forgives and mercifully receives even the greatest sinners, if they repent and are sorry for their sins.  The history of the human race is nothing but the history of God’s mercy.  “The mercy of the Lord is from eternity to eternity upon them that fear Him.”  (Psalm 103,17)

An awareness of one’s own misery induces sincere sorrow and repentance, as well as a desire to beg God for forgiveness and mercy.  And where there is sorrow for sin and repentance, there one will find the ever generous mercy of God.

***

Taken from the Seventeenth Hour, from 9 to 10 AM, of the Hours of the Passion, when Jesus is once again before Pilate, who shows Him to the people:

My Jesus, forgive me if I too, a miserable sinful soul, want You dead!  But, I pray You to make me die together with You.

In the meantime, O my tormented Jesus, moved by my sorrow, You seem to say to me, “My child, cling to My Heart, and take part in My pains and in My Reparations.  This moment is solemn:   either My death or the death of all creatures must be decided.  In this moment, two currents pour into My Heart.  In one there are all the souls who, if they want Me dead, it is because they want to find Life in Me; and so, by My acceptance of death for them, they are released from the eternal condemnation, and the doors of Heaven open to receive them.  In the other current there are those who want Me dead out of hatred and as confirmation of their own condemnation; and My Heart is lacerated, and feels the death of each one of them, and the very pains of hell!  Ah, My Heart cannot bear these bitter pains; I feel death at each heartbeat, at each breath, and I keep repeating, ‘Why will so much Blood be shed in vain?  Why will My pains be useless for so many?’  Ah, child, sustain Me, for I can take no more.  Take part in My pains; may your life be a continuous offering for the salvation of souls, so as to soothe pains so excruciating for Me!”

Today’s Gospel is Matthew 21:33-45-46
(The Parable of the vineyard the wicked husbandmen who killed the son)

Excerpt from the Fourteenth Hour, from 6 to 7 AM, of the Hours of the Passion:

Crowds of people await You—but no one to defend You.  And You, my Divine Sun, come out into their midst, wanting to envelop everyone with Your Light.  And as You move the first steps, wanting to enclose all the steps of the creatures within Yours, You pray and repair for those who move the first steps to operate with evil purposes—some to take revenge, some to steal, some to betray, some to kill, and more.  O, how all these sins wound Your Heart!  And in order to prevent so much evil, You Pray, You Repair, and You Offer all of Yourself.

Today’s Gospel is from Luke 16: 19-31
(The parable of Lazarus and the rich man)

Except from the Seventeenth Hour,  From 9 to 10 AM, of The Hours of the Passion:

With this reed You (Our Lord Jesus Christ) hold in Your hand, You Repair for so many works—good, but empty of interior spirit and also done with evil intentions.  In the insults and the blindfold, You Repair for those who ridicule the holiest things, discrediting them and profaning them; and You also Repair for those who blindfold the sight of their intelligence in order not to see the Light of Truth.  With this blindfold, You impetrate that the blindfolds of passions, of riches and of pleasures may be removed from us.  

… it is not the diversity of states that prejudices sanctity, but the lack of Divine Will, and of the fulfillment of one’s duties to which God calls the creature. All states are holy, marriage too, as long as the Divine Will is present in them, as well as the exact sacrifice of one’s duties. But the great part are indolent and lazy, and not only do they not make themselves saints, but they make of their state, some a purgatory, and some a hell.

Excerpt from The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will

Today’s Gospel:  Matthew 17:1-9
(St. Matthew’s description of Our Lord’s mysterious and glorious Transfiguration)

Letter #67.  To Sister Clara

In Voluntate Dei!

My good daughter in the Divine Volition,

(…) But as a mother who loves her daughter, I want to see my daughter growing in the Divine Will.  How happy you will be, and how content will be dear Jesus!  You will be His favorite. 

Do you want to know how to grow in the FIAT?  By calling it in everything you do, whether natural or spiritual.  In fact, everything belongs to the Divine Will; therefore It wants to love together with you, and if you call It, It gives you Its Love in your power in order to be loved; It gives you Its sanctity to make yourself a saint, Its light to allow you to know yourself and to eclipse weaknesses, miseries and passions, so that they may no longer have life in you, but only Its Will, which lays and forms Its life in your little act… If you do so, It will feel as a Queen in my daughter who is far away – but a ruling Queen.  You will give It much to do, and whatever you do, It will do.  It will not leave you one instant; on the contrary, It will form your breath, your heartbeat, motion, step, and, even while you sleep, It will form your rest and will rest together with you.  But all Its contentment will be to feel as the Queen and Mother of her daughter and mine…

Therefore, my dearest daughter, be attentive; listen to dear Jesus who speaks to you in your heart.  How many calls does He not send you?  How much grace and divine sweetness does He not make you feel?

But do you know why He wants to trust you?  He wants to give you the greatest task of making of you a true daughter of His Will; and when you feel His Life in you, you will feel the need to make it known to others… Therefore, say to dear Jesus with all your heart that you want to live in His Will, that you want to know nothing but His Will alone.  He will take you by the word and will do the facts, and – oh, what a transformation will you feel within you!  You will feel perennial peace, unceasing love, divine strength; in a word, you will feel harmonized with Jesus, and He will be the actor and spectator, enjoying all that you do together with Him.

My good daughter, I wrote you to make you content, and to make Jesus content, so that you may grow and remain in the Divine Will; and even though you are far away, you will form my joy – that of having a daughter who lives and grows in the Holy Volition.

Now, I am happy that you leave my work for the work of the altar of Padre Pio.  How beautiful it is to think that our works can serve Jesus!

I commend myself to your prayers and I leave you in the center of the Divine Fiat, that you may receive His continuous Life, His loving kisses, His squeezes, so tight, that you will never be able to go down His paternal knees.  You will remain in His arms like a little baby, to receive the food of His Will and of His Love.

Make yourself a saint soon; and sending you the greeting of the Fiat, I say,

most affectionately yours,

the little daughter of the Divine Will.

Corato, January 2, 1939