Fr. Gobbi’s Circular Letter 2002 – English

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Ave Maria
Milan: January 1, 2002

TO THE NATIONAL AND REGIONAL DIRECTORS OF THE M.M.P. :

Dear Brothers,

At the beginning of the second year of the third millennium, I offer to all my affectionate wishes of peace, of trust and of great hope.
In the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the light of the Spirit, let us try to understand the signs of the times in which we live.
The time of the great trial has now arrived, and our Blessed Mother offers us her Immaculate Heart as a safe refuge.

“[For this], I have caused to spring up…my Marian Movement of Priests, so that the message of Fatima, often contested and rejected by many, might in your days come to its complete fulfillment.” (May 8, 1997 – #594)

During the year 2001, I was able to participate in regional cenacles in Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and England. With 40 flights, I visited 60 cities and presided over 90 cenacles, in which 38 bishops, 1,800 priests and 400,000 faithful participated.

16 archbishops and bishops, and 300 priests from the five continents took part in the Spiritual Exercises (Retreat) held in Collevalenza.

During this past year, I suffered greatly because of the murder of P. Nazareno Lanciotti, the National Director of the MMP in Brazil, which I experienced first hand. Now we have compiled the acts of his martyrdom. I trust in his help and protection because he was the first known martyr of our Movement.

Now I share with you the program of cenacles which I have prepared for this year, whose realization I entrust to the Will of the Lord and to the design of our heavenly Mother.

1. THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES
In Collevalenza, from June 23 – 29, at the Shrine of Merciful Love, there will take place the Spiritual Exercises (Retreat) for the bishops and priests of the Marian Movement of Priests from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Concerning the retreat, I must inform you of the following:

a.There will be room for all in the same house. Few laypersons will be allowed to attend, and only those who have a responsibility in the M.M.P.

b.I invite the priests to bring with them their surplus Mass intentions to be offered as fraternal assistance to those who find themselves in financial difficulty.

c.[In the United States], address all inquiries and reservation requests to:
Rev. Albert G. Roux, National Director — St. Francis, ME 04774-0008
Tel. (207) 398-3375

2. REGIONAL CENACLES ABROAD:
In spite of the hardship which is increasing on account of my age and precarious health condition, this year I am scheduled to go to: Brazil from January 15 to March 24; Fatima on May 8th for the thirtieth anniversary of the birth of the M.M.P.; France from May 15-30; Slovenia on June 22; Austria from August 30-September 4; Germany from September 5-30; Portugal from October 12-26.

3. REGIONAL CENACLES IN ITALY:
Genoa-April 9; Bologna-April 11; Florence-April 16; Collevalenza-April 18; Rome-April 25; Pompei-April 26; Bari-April 29; S. Gabriele-May 2; Turin-May 6; Caravaggio-May 13; S. Vito-June 4; Caltana-June 8; Loreto-June 13; Sicily-from November 9-23.

4.THE TIME OF THE GREAT TRIAL
“Never as in your days has peace been so threatened, because the struggle of my Adversary against God is becoming stronger and stronger, more insidious, continual and universal.
You have thus entered into the time of the great trial.

-The great trial has come for all of you, my poor children, so threatened by Satan and stricken by the evil spirits.

-The great trial has come for the Church.

-The great trial has come for all humanity, already lacerated by spreading violence, by destructive hatred, by wars which are expanding menacingly, by great ills which no one is able to heal…How many people will have to suffer the scourge of hunger, of famine, of discord, and of fratricidal struggles which will spill much blood on your roads.”
(January 1, 1993 – #486)

5.COMFORT IN THE GREAT TRIAL

a.The Immaculate Heart of Mary:
“If the time of the great trial has come, the time has come also for all to hasten into the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart. Do not lose courage. Be strong in trust and confidence. I have told you beforehand of the times which await you, painful and difficult times, precisely in order to help you live in trust and in a great confidence in your heavenly Mother.
The further you enter into the time of the great trial, the more will you experience, in an extraordinary way, my motherly presence close to you, to help, defend, protect and console you, and to prepare for you new days of serenity and peace.” (January 1, 1993 – #486)

“Never as in your days has peace been so threatened, because the struggle of my Adversary against God is becoming stronger and stronger, more insidious, continual and universal.
You have thus entered into the time of the great trial.

-The great trial has come for all of you, my poor children, so threatened by Satan and stricken by the evil spirits.

-The great trial has come for the Church.

-The great trial has come for all humanity, already lacerated by spreading violence, by destructive hatred, by wars which are expanding menacingly, by great ills which no one is able to heal…How many people will have to suffer the scourge of hunger, of famine, of discord, and of fratricidal struggles which will spill much blood on your roads.”
(January 1, 1993 – #486)

And we enter into this maternal refuge by our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

b.THE CENACLES OF PRAYER:

“…I renew again today my invitation to multiply the cenacles of prayer, which I have asked for, with such motherly insistence.” (May 30, 1993 – #496d)

“…At this time above all, I am asking you to pray with fervor and joy by means of the holy rosary. It is the weapon which is to be used by you today in fighting and winning this bloody battle; it is the golden chain that binds you to my Heart; it is the lightning rod that will keep far from you, and from those who are dear to you, the fire of the chastisement; it is the sure means of having me always close to you.” (May 1, 1983 – #264h)

“Spread these cenacles everywhere, like rays of light which come down to lighten up the earth, in these days of great darkness.

“The spiritual cenacle of my Immaculate Heart is the refuge into which all of you must enter in order to receive the gift of the second Pentecost.” (Oct. 7, 1990 – #434f,h)

6.THE TRIUMPH AFTER THE GREAT TRIAL

“In the end, after the time of the great trial, there awaits you the time of great peace, great joy, great holiness, the time of the greatest triumph of God in your midst…live in that expectation which sweetens the bitterness of your daily suffering.” (January 1, 1993 – #486wx)

And the triumph of Mary as prophesied at Fatima: “IN THE END, MY IMMACULATE HEART WILL TRIUMPH!”

“My Immaculate Heart will triumph over this ailing and materialistic humanity…which has built a new civilization without God and has again become pagan, after almost two thousand years since the first announcing of the Gospel. (d)
Go and preach the necessity of penance and conversion, of return to the Lord along the way of prayer and repentance… (e)
Go in search of the little sheep, straying along all the roadways of the world. Convert sinners; support the wavering; lead the wandering; heal the sick; comfort the dying. To all, give the grace and the love, the salvation and the life which my Son Jesus has given to you through his passion and death on the Cross. (n)
It is you who must be the apostles of this second evangelization, so strongly requested by my Pope. (g) (June 30, 1994 – #523)

“- My Immaculate Heart will triumph over this, my suffering and divided Church.
It is you who must be the instruments of the interior renewal of all the Church, you who are called to be the new heart of the new Church, purified, enlightened and sanctified.
For this reason I invite you to be today courageous apostles of faith and unity, of holiness and love. Bend down with me to soothe her great pain, to place balm and comfort on her many open and bleeding wounds. In this way you become for her today expressions of my motherly tenderness…” (June 30, 1994 – #523h,jk)

“…My Immaculate Heart will triumph…in the greatest triumph of Jesus, who will bring into the world his glorious reign of love, of justice and of peace, and will make all things new.
Open your hearts to hope.
Throw open the doors to Christ who comes to you in glory.
Live the trembling hour of this second Advent.
Become thus the courageous heralds of this, his triumph, because you – little babes consecrated to me who live from my very own spirit – are the apostles of these last times.
Live as faithful disciples of Jesus, in contempt for the world and for yourselves, in poverty, in humility, in silence, in prayer, in mortification, in charity and in union with God, while you are unknown and despised by the world.
The moment has come for you to come out from your hiddenness in order to go and shed light upon the earth.” (December 31, 1997 – #604o-t)

“…Turning our eyes to the future, we confidently await the dawn of a new Day. Those who work at the outposts of the Church are like watchmen on the walls of God’s City. We ask them: ‘Watchman, what of the night?’ (Is 21,11), and we hear the answer: ‘Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy: for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.’ (Is 52,8) (…)
May Mary, the Morning Star, help us to say with ever new ardor our ‘yes’ to the Father’s plan for salvation, that all nations and tongues may see his glory. (cf. Is 66,18)” (Pope John Paul II, May 23, 1999)

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with ardor we say our ‘Yes’ to the Father’s plan of salvation, which is realized in his only-begotten Son who was born and died on the Cross, and is Risen, because He is the Living One, He is God with us, He alone is our Redeemer, He alone is our Savior.

In these times the Church must proclaim to all the world with the courage and the strength of her witness to the point of shedding her blood, that which St. Peter announced before the Sanhedrin: “For of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one [Jesus Christ] by which we can be saved.” (cf. Acts 4:12)

Jesus Christ is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the luminous Morning Star, who leads us to live the new Day, awaited and prepared with so much suffering.

With Mary, Mother of the second Advent, to Him we entrust our ardent invocation: “COME, LORD JESUS!”, so that all people and nations of every tongue will see your Glory.

I entrust to you, who are the directors, the task of sending this letter to the members of the Marian Movement of Priests, so that it may bring to all my affectionate greeting along with my priestly blessing.

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

Your little brother,
Don Stefano Gobbi