BLESSING OF APRIL 5^TH, 2003. FIRST SATURDAY OF MONTH, AT PRADO NUEVO OF EL ESCORIAL (MADRID)

THE VIRGIN:

"This blessing, my daughter, will be special for the protection of homes and families.
Raise all your objects.
I bless you as the Father blesses you, through the Son and with the Holy Spirit"

COMMENTARY UPON MESSAGES

October 23^rd, 1981

"My daughter, here I am as Merciful Mother in order to help you to endure such horrible sufferings. Offer them to the Eternal Father, my daughter, for the conversion of the whole world" (The Virgin)

The Virgin is Merciful Mother because She is the Mother of the One who is mercy himself; at the end of each mystery of the Rosary, we say this short prayer: "Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of piety, love and mercy…" In a biblical sense, such a wonderful divine quality is the most precious fruit of God’s endless love for men. All this is summarized in one of the most beautiful and deep sentences from the Holy Scripture found in the New Testament: " For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life"(Jn 3,16). Saint Mary F. Kowalska, apostle of the Divine Mercy, sets a valuable relationship between love and mercy, and she says: "God’s love is a flower and mercy is its fruit"1

John Paul II writes in his apostolic letter "Dives in Misericordia": "Mary, then, is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God’s mercy (…) In this sense, we call her Mother of mercy: our Lady of mercy, or Mother of divine mercy (…) the above titles which we attribute to the Mother of God speak of her principally, however, as the mother of the Crucified and risen One; as the One who, having obtained mercy in an exceptional way, in an equally exceptional way "merits" that mercy throughout her earthly life and, particularly, as the One who (…)was called in a special way to bring close to people that love which He had come to reveal: the love that finds its most concrete expression vis-à-vis the suffering, the poor, those deprived of their own freedom, the blind, the oppressed and sinners" (nº 9).

Our current Pope expressed firmly when he talked about mercy: " From the beginning of my pontificate I have considered this message as my special task. Providence has assigned it to me" (22-11-1981). Therefore, it is time to call the divine mercy; once the Lord revealed to the saint mentioned above: "There is still time to get close to this spring which is my mercy in order to take profit from the Blood and the Water that sprang for them"2

" Be obedient and humble, my daughter. Your obedience must be dumb, my daughter, so that no one notices it"

How important obedience is! For this reason the Virgin insists Luz Ampere on practicing such an essential virtue to achieve Christian perfection. And She says that obedience " must be dumb so that no one notices it"; it seems a curious piece of advice because She points out that we have to avoid being noticeable to others when we obey. This fact implies two main aspects: firstly, every act of virtue must be hidden, if it is possible; secondly, obedience must be humble…a dumb obedience can also be understood as that which does not resist or argue or rebels against the divine will, it accepts everything promptly and joyfully…How certain the adage is! " He obeys is not wrong". What an inner freedom the soul who always tries to take willingly God’s will feels! A lot of times – Saint Theresa writes – it seemed to me that I was not able to do my tasks because of my weak nature; the Lord told me: " my daughter, obedience gives strength"3. Obedience is a main clue in Christ’s redeeming action because He " revealed His mystery and made Redemption with his obedience"4. A true disciple of Jesus has to be obedient and imitate his master " who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped (…) becoming obedient to death, even death on a Cross"5. "Obedience makes our acts and sufferings suitable in such a way that they can be very virtuous, although they seem useless"6

The message makes some announcements about the future and it gives some advices for those difficult times: "tell them they have to be better than they are; a great punishment for all Humankind is coming (…); this punishment will be horrible and no one will escape from it. Everybody will see the warning and they will understand its meaning, my daughter. Be all prepared for not being involved in the punishment". Mysterious words which will only be cleared by time…they are also a warning for us to change our hearts and turn to God, they remind us of trying to live according to Jesus Christ’s words: " Stay awake and pray, so that you may not slip into temptation"(Mt 26, 41). "Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour" (Mt 25, 13)

In other paragraph, the Virgin refers to pride as opposed to humility: "notice the sin of pride is the sin that leads to the rest of the sins existing in the world. You have to be humble; think about the fact that my Son chose the humblest woman on Earth as His Mother. Humility is the base of everything". No doubt, in spiritual life humility is like the foundations of a building; without them, it tumbles down. Appart from this, She warns against the action of the Devil: " They must not allow the enemy to deceive them because Satan wants to take possession of the whole Earth". How can we escape from his traps? In Saint Anthony the Abbot’s life there is an answer that precisely deals with humility: it is said that God showed him the world full of snares prepared by the Demon to catch men. The saint was frightened by this vision and he asked: "Lord, who will be able to escape from so many snares?" And he heard a voice that answered him: " Anthony, the one who is humble, for God gives humble persons the necessary grace whereas proud men are caught in all Demon’s traps; nevertheless, the Demon does not dare to attack humble people"