Fr. Gobbi’s Circular Letter 2007 – English

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Milan: January 1, 2007
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Ave Maria

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

Dear Brothers,

At the beginning of this new year which marks the 90th Anniversary of Our Lady’s apparitions at Fatima, I am spiritually close to you with my affectionate wish of peace and holiness. The Fatima Shrine has proclaimed it as the year of Mercy. Why? Because the Divine Mercy descends upon the Church and upon humanity by means of the Immaculate Heart of Her who is Mother of Mercy. For this reason, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will come to pass with the triumph of the Merciful Love of Jesus.

To us who belong to the Marian Movement of Priests – the little children of Mary and the Apostles of these last times – is entrusted the task of announcing this, her triumph.

a.“…Allow yourselves also to be carried in my motherly arms, with humility, with docility and with meekness. I am leading you to the temple of the Lord. I am bringing you to the full manifestation of his light and of his glory.

b.These are the times of your full manifestation. The days of your public testimony have arrived. Show yourselves to all as little children consecrated to me and as great apostles of your heavenly Mother…”
(To the Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons (TTP),
February 2, 1988, 372ab)

* * *

In 2006, I was able to take part in regional cenacles in these fourteen countries: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Great Britain, Slovenia, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal.

With 55 flights, I visited 90 cities and presided over 110 cenacles, in which 70 bishops, 1750 priests and 450,000 faithful participated.

In Collevalenza [Italy], at the Spiritual Exercises [Retreat] held in the form of a continuous cenacle, two Cardinals, 23 archbishops and bishops, and about 300 priests from the five continents took part.

With affectionate concern, I feel myself close to those who are carrying the cross of great sufferings, because many members of our Movement have been afflicted with grave and painful illnesses. We can see that the Blessed Mother is asking us to share in the sorrow of her Immaculate Heart for her children, because the hour of the great trial has now arrived.

I entrust, to the Will of the Lord and to the plan of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the fulfillment of the schedule of cenacles which I have prepared for this year.

1. THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

In Collevalenza, from June 24 – June 30, 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.

I 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 position of 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.As always, address all inquiries and reservation requests to:

 P. Florio Quercia S.J.
Via Fagiuoli, 1
57125 Livorno
Tel. & Fax: +39 0586 211082
Tel. +39 333 6322248 (Personal)
Email: querciaflorio@tiscali.it

Priests from the United States may contact:
Rev. Albert G. Roux, National Director
St. Francis, ME 04774-0008
Tel. (207) 398-3375

2. REGIONAL CENACLES ABROAD:
Because of my age and my precarious state of health, prudence prevents me from subjecting myself to cenacle schedules that are too burdensome. Still, I propose to go from January 11 to March 27 to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela; on June 23 to Slovenia; from September 14-18 to Austria; from September 19 to October 4 to Germany.

3. REGIONAL CENACLES IN ITALY:
Bologna-April 19; Florence-April 24; Collevalenza-April 26; San Gabriel-April 30; Rome-May 2; Naples-May 3; Bari-May 8; Caravaggio-May 14; Genoa-May 17; Turin-May 22; San Vito-May 29; Padua-May 31; Loreto-June 14; Sardinia-October 17-23; Sicily-October 23-30.

The cenacle schedule is published on the Marian Movement of Priests website in Italy: www.msm-mmp.org

4. THE GLORY OF MARY

The task that has been entrusted to the Marian Movement of Priests, in this time of the purification and the great tribulation, is that of proclaiming THE GLORY OF MARY to the Church and to all humanity.

a)The Glory of Mary in the light of the faith “— I glorify myself in you, if you walk with me in the light of the faith.
Accept with humility the word of God; meditate upon it in your mind; keep it in your heart; live it in your daily life. Let Holy Scripture, above all the Gospel of Jesus, be the only light which illumines you in these times of darkness. Believe in the Gospel; live the Gospel; proclaim the Gospel in its fullness.

You, my beloved ones, must, today, be the Gospel alone, lived out and preached to the letter, against the errors which are being spread about and against the great betrayal being perpetrated by so many of my sons who have torn to pieces the Gospel of Jesus by means of human, rationalistic and natural interpretations. Thus, by means of you, the light of the faith shines forth once again, and in you I am glorified.”
(To the Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons (TTP),
February 2, 1988, 372cd)

b) The Glory of Mary in the light of Love

“ — I glorify myself in you, if you walk with me in the light of love. Love, with the beating of my Immaculate Heart, the Most Holy and Divine Trinity. Love the Father who surrounds you with his tenderness, carries you in his arms and ever assists you through his providence. Love the Son who has become your Brother and has given you a new heart and a new spirit so that you yourselves might become a lived out expression of his divine love. Jesus awaits only love from you. Love the Holy Spirit who dwells within you to bring you to the perfection of charity and who communicates Himself to you with his seven holy gift, that you may become today a strong witness of love.

And then love, with the very Heart of Jesus, all your brothers, especially the poorest, the sinners, those furthest away, the sick, the wounded, the stricken, the marginalized, the weak, the littlest. Then, in these days of violence and hatred, of unbridled egoism and of aridity, you cause the heavenly dew of divine mercy to descend upon the immense desert of the world. Thus, by means of you, the light of love shines forth once again, and in you I am glorified.” (TTP, February 2, 1988, 372ef)

c) The Glory of Mary in the light of Holiness

“ — I glorify myself in you, if you walk with me in the light of holiness. Walk along the road of disdain for the world and for yourselves, of unceasing prayer, of the mortification of the senses, of penance. Be opposed to the spirit of the world which spreads about everywhere tolerance in matters of morality, the satisfaction of all the passions, pleasure which is sought after and desired, and sin which is carried out with full awareness and in open disdain for the holy Law of the Lord.

Then, in these days of impiety and of a so great immorality, you spread about the perfume of sanctity. Thus, by means of you, the light of purity and of divine grace shines forth once again, and in you I am glorified.

I am glorified in you when you are humble, poor, little, pure and merciful. I glorify myself in you when you walk in the light of faith, of love and of holiness. And thus you spread my glory; you anticipate my triumph; you become the rays of light which come down from my Immaculate Heart to enlighten the earth in these days of intense darkness.”
(TTP, February 2, 1988, 372ghi)

d) The Glory of Mary in the light of the Eucharist

We proclaim the Glory of Mary above all in glorifying her Son Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist.

“In the tabernacle, hidden beneath the Eucharistic veil, the same risen Jesus is present who …is sitting at the right hand of the Father, in the splendor of his glorified body and of his divinity, even though, for love of you, He hides Himself under the white appearance of the consecrated Bread.

Beloved sons, today you must believe more in his presence among you; you must spread, with courage and with force, your priestly invitation for a return of all to a strong and witnessed faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.” (TTP, August 21, 1987, 360pq)

“…as Mother, I am always at the side of my Son. I was there on this earth; I am there now in paradise…and I am still to be found wherever Jesus is present, in every tabernacle on earth.

(…)

My Immaculate Heart becomes, for Him, a living, beating, motherly tabernacle of love, of adoration, of thanksgiving and of unceasing reparation.” (TTP, August 8, 1986, 330 l,n)

“O Church, pilgrim and suffering…you must understand that the center of your life, the fount of your grace, the source of your light, the beginning of your apostolic action is found only here in the tabernacle where Jesus is truly kept. And Jesus is present to teach you how to grow, to help you to walk, to strengthen you in giving witness, to give you courage in evangelizing, to be a support for all your sufferings.

O pilgrim and suffering Church of these times, who are being called to live the agony of Gethsemane and the bloody hour of your Calvary, I want to bring you here today with me, prostrate before every tabernacle, in an act of perpetual adoration and reparation, so that you too may be able to repeat the action that is always being carried out by your heavenly Mother.” (TTP, August 21, 1987, 360de)

“I ask that there be once again a return to the practice of making everywhere hours of adoration before Jesus, exposed in the Most Holy Sacrament. I desire that there be an increase in the homage of love towards the Eucharist and that this become manifest also through evident but most expressive signs of your piety. Surround the Eucharistic Jesus with flowers and with lights; encircle Him with delicate attention; draw close to Him with profound acts of genuflection and of adoration.” (TTP, August 21, 1987, 360r)

“And so, my beloved ones and children consecrated to my Heart, it is you who must be today a clarion call for the full return of the whole Church Militant to Jesus present in the Eucharist. Because there alone is to be found the spring of living water which will purify its aridity and renew the desert to which it has been reduced; there alone is to be found the secret of life which will open up for it a second Pentecost of grace and of light; there alone is to be found the fount of its renewed holiness: Jesus in the Eucharist!”
(TTP, August 8, 1986, 330B)

“It is not your pastoral plans and your discussions; it is not the human means on which you put reliance and so much assurance, but it is only Jesus in the Eucharist which will give to the whole Church the strength of a complete renewal, which will lead it to be poor, evangelical, chaste, stripped of all those supports on which it relies, holy, beautiful and without spot or wrinkle, in imitation of your heavenly Mother.” (TTP, August 8, 1986, 330C)

Proclaim to all the Glory of Mary in the Eucharist, and the Heavenly Mother will bring to Jesus “an ever greater number of her sons, because these are the times when the Eucharistic Jesus must be adored, loved, thanked and glorified by all.”
(TTP, August 21, 1987, 360G)

e) The Glory of Mary in the light of the glorious return of Jesus

The Glory of Mary will have reached its summit with the return of her Son Jesus in glory.

“As the love of my motherly Heart was the most precious crib for his first nativity, so also the triumph of my Immaculate Heart will be the crib at his glorious return.
(TTP, December 24, 1986, 342k)

“…In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph.
This will come about 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.” (TTP, December 31, 1997, 604opq)

“…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)”
(from Pope John Paul II’s Message for World Mission Sunday,
May 23, 1999, Solemnity of Pentecost)

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 the Redeemer. He alone is the Savior: there is none other!

In the face of a Sanhedrin – more universal and hidden, more subtle and dangerous – with the courage and power of our witness, even unto martyrdom, we must today proclaim that which St. Peter said before the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem: “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, longed for and prepared for with so much suffering.

“…in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present, He remains ever with you, and this presence of his will become increasingly stronger, will shine over the earth like a sun and will mark the beginning of a new era. The coming of the glorious reign of Christ will coincide with the greatest splendor of the Eucharist. Christ will restore his glorious reign in the universal triumph of his Eucharistic reign, which will unfold in all its power and will have the capacity to change hearts, souls, individuals, families, society and the very structure of the world.
When He will have restored his Eucharistic reign, Jesus will lead you to take joy in this habitual presence of his, which you will feel in a new and extraordinary way and which will lead you to the experience of a second, renewed and more beautiful earthly paradise.” (TTP, August 21, 1987, 360vw)

(…) “Above all, let us listen to Mary Most Holy, in whom the mystery of the Eucharist appears, more than in anyone else, as a mystery of light. Gazing upon Mary, we come to know the transforming power present in the Eucharist. In her we see the world renewed in love. Contemplating her, assumed body and soul into heaven, we see opening up before us those ‘new heavens’ and that ‘new earth’ which will appear at the second coming of Christ. Here below, the Eucharist represents their pledge, and in a certain way, their anticipation: ‘Veni, Domine Iesu [Come, Lord Jesus]!’ ” (Rev 22:20).
(Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, #62)

“[Be the] apostles of the last times, because you must announce the closely approaching return of Jesus in glory, who will lead humanity into the new times, when at last there will be seen new heavens and a new earth.
Proclaim to all his forthcoming return: ‘Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!’ ” (cf. Rev 22:20)
(TTP, December 8, 1994, 533 lm)

“In the Liturgy, the Parousia is already fulfilled, but this comes to pass by directing us toward the Lord who is coming, and precisely by teaching us to invoke COME LORD JESUS! It [the Liturgy] leads us to perceive, even today, his response and to experience its truth: YES, I AM COMING SOON!” (Rev. 22, 17-20)
(Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, from Il Timone, n. 22, p. 40)

“[Then he said to me], ‘Do not seal up the prophetic words of this book, for the appointed time is near.’ (…) ‘Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds.’ (…) ‘I, Jesus, sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star.’ The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ Let the hearer say, ‘Come.’ ”
(Rev 22: 10,12,16-17)

I entrust to you, who are the directors, the task of sending this letter to the members of the Marian Movement of Priests that it may be read and well meditated upon by them.

To all of you, I offer my affectionate greeting along with my priestly blessing.

I await your response, informing me of your news.

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

Your little brother,
Don Stefano Gobbi