Archbishop, Monsignor Leonardo D’Ascenzo

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The first Sunday of Lent was certainly a memorable day for the city of Corato as it welcomed with great emotion the new Archbishop, Monsignor Leonardo D’Ascenzo.

Last January 14, with the Episcopal Ordination of Monsignor Leonardo D’Ascenzo, the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie, along with the cities linked to it, finally regained its Pastor, after the sudden loss of the Archbishop Giovan Battista Pichierri on 26 July 2017.

A community that felt and experienced in prayer its being “orphan” so that it could soon have its spiritual guidance. As already happened in Trani on January 27th, in Barletta on January 28th and in Bisceglie on February 4th, so, yesterday in Corato, we breathed an air of newfound paternity and thanksgiving to the Lord as He provided for everything and gave back a new Shepherd to His lost herd.

Around 5.00 pm Mons. D’Ascenzo was welcomed by the Mayor Massimo Mazzilli and the municipal administration at the city palace. This was the first stage of his visit. After having spoken about the Patron Saints, the Mayor referred to Luisa Piccarreta: “we pray you so that in your mandate,” he told the bishop, “you want to support her cause of beatification.”

Immediately afterwards, the bishop reached the Church of San Domenico for the “Lenten Statio”. Then, together with the ecclesial community and the many faithful who had gathered in the meantime to address a first greeting to him, He went in procession to the Mother Church Santa Maria Maggiore, for the solemn Eucharistic celebration.

On the notes of the song “Who will follow Me?” Bishop Leonardo made his entrance into the church that was already packed with faithful who joyfully greeted him with a warm applause. From the beginning we could certify his simplicity, his willingness to shake the hand of all those who wanted to do it, and he also paused for a few moments with the Little Children of the Divine Will. In addition to civil and military authorities, many voluntary associations were present.

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21). With these words Don Giuseppe Lobascio, the zonal Vicar, wished to welcome, on behalf of the city of Corato, His Excellency Mons. D’Ascenzo. He explained that that was the image of our community at this time; it, all adorned like a bride, awaited its husband. Moreover, don Peppino also spoke of “the journey that this community is making to be a bride of Christ and become a holy community”.

Corato – the zonal vicar continued – is one of the most demographically extensive cities, where the harvest is plentiful, and thus recalling the words that the Archbishop chose for his episcopal motto “Messis quidem multa” (Lk 10: 2). Corato “has always been welcoming with migrants fleeing war and misery … it is a city that in the past years knew important figures from a spiritual point of view … like the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, a Dominican Tertiary who dedicated her life to God and was considered already a saint in her time; Mons. Luigi D’Oria, Don Ciccio Tattoli, Don Luca Masciavè: all priests who gave their lives for this community.”

“Corato – Don Peppino said – gave so many vocations to the priestly life and above all to the religious life, both women and men…. In this city the laity is very active, both at the zonal level and at the diocesan level, it is always ready to meet the needs  of the pastors”. But it is also true that often our communities are affected by a certain indolence – Don Peppino continued –  they are bent on their certainties that prevent them from taking a step forward, the leap in quality that is certainly synonymous with growth. This phenomenon does not spare even our city that needs novelty to react, as was the appointment of the new Archbishop. We are often overcome by feelings of sadness, of worry and not of joy and therefore we are no longer able to recognize beauty, all that is positive in everyday life.

So, the alternative is to try to change perspective, the correct attitude is to question ourselves, letting our gaze fall on the abundance and beauty that surround us and that God has given to us. A gaze that rests on people to bring out all the beauty, the beauty of hearts, of the relationships, to let themselves be taken by the overwhelming love of Christ, invoking His coming.

Even the Pope at the Angelus invited the faithful not to consider “Lent as a sad time, a time of mourning… We are never sufficiently oriented toward God, and we must continually direct our mind and our heart to Him “

This theme was taken up by Bishop Leonardo immediately after having addressed his greetings to the faithful and thanked the civil and military authorities, the voluntary associations that were present. The Archbishop emphasized that “we must first of all ask the Lord to recognize His presence among us … May the Lord help us to recognize so much beauty around us, to look at positive things, without closing our eyes to reality of suffering, of fatigue. We can start from our paths, from beautiful things, to grow and be able to face many difficulties. We can certainly grow if we start from all this. “

We already undertook this commitment to convert our attitude, on Ash Wednesday, the Bishop reminded us in his homily: “We began the Lenten journey. The liturgy gave us three fundamental instruments to live this strong and beautiful time towards Easter: prayer, almsgiving, fasting … With the first Sunday of Lent we are therefore called to take the first step in this itinerary and the image that the liturgy gives to us is that of the rainbow: it is an extraordinary image that expresses the colors of the divine life that descends from Heaven to the world …; the arch is a symbol of the embrace that God addresses to humanity … It is the Will of God that wants to live Its relations with each one of us, the relationships of Paternity, of Goodness, of Mercy … What the Book of Genesis announces to us as a prophecy becomes concrete in one person: Jesus! “

“This embrace, the Bishop added, this contact between Heaven and earth, between God and man, is fully realized in one person: Jesus! True God and true Man … Here is that Jesus announces that time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is near. God is close to us, he is our traveling companion “. The closeness of God must inspire in us the call to conversion, to look with the eyes of God, “to turn our face towards God, to see what is beautiful … and then to face even the bad things that life does not spare us. … We are called to look at the beautiful face of God,  at His gifts, at His Will  that wants to embrace each of us. This is said by Jesus who fully lived our human experience”.

The Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent shows how Jesus lived in the desert for 40 days; the number 40 in the biblical language symbolizes fullness and life. We could say in the words of Bishop D’Ascenzo: “that Jesus lived a life in the desert, His life was characterized by emotions, by the pushes of the Holy Spirit and by the temptations of Satan. It isprecisely being with the wild animals, and being ministered by the Angels” … Jesus experienced everything we live, except sin, and He can understand what we live, the beautiful moments, but also the most tiring and difficult moments. And He experiences them again, next to each of us, so we must turn with trust to Him “.

Fasting is the other element or means that was given to us on Ash-day. It is a practice – the Archbishop said – that we have almost lost because we have lost its meaning, we fail to understand its deep meaning… The Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus was in the desert, fasting. But to understand the profound meaning of fasting, we must first understand the profound meaning of eating. In the Bible, the Bishop explained, the man who eats accomplishes a religious act, if he succeeds in doing it in a spiritual sense … We are creatures, incapable of procuring life for ourselves, we need to receive it from the outside. To live we must receive life, but it is not we who produce it … not eating means recognizing ourselves as a creature …. It is entering into correct relationship with God and others “. But true life does not come from food, it comes from on High, it is in God. “By fasting we recognize ourselves as equal creatures, in need of the Father, in need of life, of rediscovering the extraordinary sense of our creaturehood … without God our life is no life “.

Before conclusion, the Archbishop turned a thought to the sick and the elderly who stayed at home; because of their situation they couldn’t stay there, but they certainly accompanied us with their prayers. Finally he thanked the ecclesial community of Corato for the gift of the chasuble, saying “you went too far … I hope so much that the service that I will carry out among you may correspond to the beauty of your gift. Many thanks to all“.

For the Little Children of the Divine Will the visit of Bishop Leonardo was particularly significant; we experienced it with great emotion. Only a week ago, the presence of the relics of St. Hannibal exhorted us to make our own the evangelical command that Jesus addressed to His disciples: we need good and evangelical workers so that the harvest may be plentiful (cf. Mt 9,37- 38, Lk 10, 2). This is a passage from the Gospel that also inspired the ministry of the Archbishop. The motto of St. Hannibal “Rogate ergo Dominum messis” is completed with the words chosen by the Archbishop for his episcopal motto “Messis quidem multa“.

It is up to us as faithful to pray for priests, as Jesus told Luisa, that they may be light for the peoples so that, as the light arises again, the people may acquire their sigh. “And it is to the priests, as to new prophets, through the word as well as through writing and through works, that the task is given of acting as trumpeters in order to make my Divine Fiat known”.

Riccardina

Pray for Our Lady’s Mission:

Maternal Appeal of the Queen of Heaven from The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will Book – “Do you see, My daughter? That same Infinite Love of God, Who wanted to use Me in the Redemption to make the Eternal Word descend upon earth, calls Me into the field once again, Entrusting to Me the difficult task, the Sublime Mandate to Form the children of the Kingdom of His Divine Will on earth. Therefore, with Maternal Care I put myself to Work, Preparing for you the Way which will Lead you to this Happy Kingdom.”

Day 8 from The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine Will Book:
One with Luisa: “…Be my Mama, and I, Your little child, will let You do anything with me, so that Your Mandate may be the welcome one by me, and You may bring me in Your Arms to our Celestial Father, as the Accomplished Act of Your Divine Mandate.”

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Saint Jacinta Marto ((1910-1920) and Saint Francisco Marto (1908-1919)
Visionaries of Our Lady of Fatima 

These two young souls witnessed to the world that they could bring about the salvation of numerous souls through their humble submission to Divine Will.

Echo the Prayers of Luisa Book

V8 – 11.21.07 – “I was uniting myself with Our Lord, making His Thought, His Heartbeat, His Breath and all of His Movements one with mine, and then adding the intention of going to (the President and) all creatures, to give all this to all.  And since I was united to Jesus in the Garden of Olives, I also gave to all and to each one, and also to the purging souls, the drops of His Blood, His Prayers, His Pains and all the Good He did, so that all the breaths, movements and heartbeats of (the President and all) creatures might be Repaired, Purified, Divinized; and I gave the Fount of all Goods, which are His Pains, as Remedies for all.”

Book of Heaven
12/15/05 – Vol. 6

Continuing in my usual state, I (Luisa) was thinking about the Passion of blessed Jesus; and He, making himself seen crucified, shared with me a little bit of His pains, telling me:  “My daughter, I wanted to be crucified and lifted up on the Cross, so that, if they want Me, souls may find Me.  So, someone wants Me as Teacher for he feels the necessity to be instructed, and I lower Myself to teach him both the small things and the highest and most sublime, such as to make of him the most learned.  Another moans in abandonment, in oblivion; he would like to find a father, he comes to the foot of my Cross, and I make Myself Father, giving him a home in my wounds, my Blood as drink, my Flesh as food, and my very Kingdom as inheritance.  Another one is infirm, and he finds Me as Doctor who, not only heals him, but gives him the sure remedies in order not to fall again into infirmities.  Another one is oppressed by calumnies, by scorns, and at the foot of my Cross he finds his Defender, to the point of rendering calumnies and scorns back to him as divine honors; and so with all the rest.  So, whoever wants Me as Judge finds Me as Judge; whoever wants Me as Friend, as Spouse, as Advocate, as Priest… such do they find Me.  This is why I wanted to be nailed, hands and feet:  to oppose nothing of what they want – to make Myself as they want Me.  But woe to those who, seeing that I am unable to move even one finger, dare to offend Me.”

While He was saying this, I said:  “Lord, who are those that offend You the most?”

And He added:  “Those who make Me suffer the most are the religious who, living in my Humanity, torment and lacerate my flesh within my very Humanity; while one who lives outside of my Humanity lacerates Me from afar.”

The earliest information we have concerning the liturgical celebration in honor of the martyrs comes from the second century.  For the early Christians, the anniversary of the death of a martyr was a day of joy and festivity.  On that day, they would offer the Unbloody Sacrifice over his tomb, sing various hymns, read an account of his sufferings and death, and then hold an agape or banquet of love.

The earliest testimony relating to the celebration of the anniversary of the death of a martyr is found in the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch (+c.115).  There we read:  “After having spent a few days at his tomb singing hymns, the Christians agreed in the future to pay tribute to his life and sufferings, and thus while commemorating him they gave glory to the Lord Jesus.”

Noteworthy is the fact that the first Christians regarded the day of the death of a martyr as the day of his birth into eternal life.  This was the reason that, afterwards, when the Church Calendar was being formed, it did not give the day of earthly birth of the martyrs and saints, but gave the day of heavenly birth, that is, of birth into eternal life.  The only exceptions were the nativity of our Lord, that of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, and St. John the Baptist.  Only at a much later date did the days of their birth begin to be celebrated.  The agapes which were held at the tombs of the martyrs were called birth-feasts, or birthday banquets.

Book of Heaven
5/3/00 – Vol. 3

The Feast of the Cross in Heaven.

This morning I found myself outside of myself, and I saw all of Heaven studded with crosses – some small, some large, some medium; some which were larger, emanated more splendor.  It was a most sweet enchantment to see so many crosses adorning the firmament, more refulgent than suns.  Then, it seemed that Heaven opened, and one could see and hear the feast that the Blessed were making for the cross.  Those who had suffered more were celebrated more on this day.  One could distinguish in a special way the martyrs and those who had suffered in a hidden way.  Oh, how esteemed were the cross and those who had suffered more, in that blessed dwelling!

As I was seeing this, a voice resounded throughout the whole of Heaven, saying:  “If the Lord did not send the crosses upon the earth, He would be like a father who has no love for his own children – who wants to see them poor and dishonored, instead of honored and rich.”

The rest that I saw during this feast I have no words to describe.  I can feel it within me, but I am unable to express it; so I remain silent.