blessing 1.11.03

BLESSING OF NOVEMBER 1^st, 2003. FIRST SATURDAY OF MONTH.
AT PRADO NUEVO DE EL ESCORIAL (MADRID)

OUR LADY

A very special blessing for all your dead relatives, to shorten the trials of Purgatory.

I bless you as the Father blesses you, through the Son and with the Holy Spirit.

COMMENTARY UPON MESSAGES

December 11^th, 1981

Due to Luz Amparo’s sufferings, Our Lord tells her at the beginning of this message: " receive this cross with all respect and love for the salvation of so many souls being in mortal sin". How awful sin is! And how destructive its consequences are! every pain and suffering, illness, death, hatred, wars, catastrophes of any kind, etc... they are the sad inheritance of the original sin and all sins man has committed through History. Referring to Jesus Christ and his innermost knowledge of men, John Paul II explains: " He was also perfectly aware of the consequences of sin, of that "mystery of iniquity" working in human hearts as the bitter fruit of the obscuring of the divine image"¹.

God has made us in his image, to his likeness, and sin distorts our souls in such a way that we cannot imagine. Let us listen to the voice of saints whose fervent words will lead us to abhor sin:

"In Christ’s wounds we read the malice of sin" (Saint Alphonse Mary of Ligorio)
"If angels could cry, they would cry for seeing the disaster caused to the soul who has committed a mortal sin" (Saint Francis of Sales).
"Take this advice and warning because it is very important: you must resolve so strongly that you would prefer to lose a thousand lives to commit a mortal sin, and be careful about not making venial sins" (Saint Theresa of Jesus²)
"If we had faith and saw a soul in mortal sin, we would die of terror" (Saint Priest of Ars³)
"If we take notice, we will understand that there are more fearful deaths than Lazarus’: all men who sin die. all men are afraid of corporal death but there are only a few who fear the death of their soul (…) mortal men try not to die, should these same men destined to live eternally try not to sin?" (Saint Austin⁴).

When we sin grievously, we not only offend God but also hurt ourselves as well as our neighbour because of sin’s effects upon others, for we are all members of the same Body. Sin leads us to lose our way and the sense of life, it darkens our conscience and our mind leaving our soul unprotected and at the mercy of our enemies; it is doubtlessly the worst tragedy that can happen to a Christian.

The II Vatican Council teaches in "Gaudium et Spes": "Therefore, the council focuses its attention on the world of men, the whole human family along with the sum of those realities in the midst of which it lives; that world which is the theater of man's history, and the heir of his energies, his tragedies and his triumphs; that world which the Christian sees as created and sustained by its Maker's love, fallen indeed into the bondage of sin, yet emancipated now by Christ, Who was crucified and rose again to break the strangle hold of personified evil, so that the world might be fashioned anew according to God's design and reach its fulfillment."(nº 2)

In this message, Our Lord tells Luz Amparo a really beautiful prayer; it gathers offering and acceptance, it invites to pray for the conversion of souls, it moves to practice penance as a virtue, and it encourages us to receive the sacrament of Confession, it prays for priests and all souls…It is the longest and most complete prayer taught by Heaven in Prado Nuevo:

"Eternal Father, for your Son’s Passion, for what He suffered, for such great sufferings, I join myself to that cross. Oh my father! Oh celestial Father! Look at your Son’s wounds and receive them so that souls should open themselves to the touches of grace. May the nails that pierced his Hands and Feet penetrate into their hearts hardened by sin; mayHis Blood soften them and move them to penance, the weight of the Cross upon your Divine Son’s shoulders move souls to unburden their offences to the court of penance. I ask you, Eternal Father, for all those souls.

For your Son’s Passion, I offer you all my sufferings. I also offer you, Oh celestial Father!, this crown of thorns of your beloved Son; for all these sufferings I ask you for priests: their vocation be greater, may they be pure, and good God’s sons, worthy of consecrating the Holy Mysteries of the Holy Mass. I also offer you what your Son endured tied to that cross, his burning thirst, and the rest of his agony’s torments for all sinners in order that they repent of their offences. By means of that perseverance that your Son begged of you and that humbleness with which He asked you for those who were crucifying him: "Father forgive them, they know not what they do", I beg you that you give all souls a great love for their neighbours and that they be faithful to your Son. Yes, my Jesus, I beg you for these things because Jesus asks me to do so".

Apart from this one, He teaches her another prayer to say when she may feel afflicted:

"Make an act of compensation for sins, and repeat every moment: Oh God! Infinitely Saint! I humbly cast myself on my knees before your Divine Majesty; I adore you, I ask you for your Son, I ask you for the Pope; I also ask you to forgive so many sinners who offend you" (to be continued)

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1 "Mulieris Dignitatem", 12
2 "The way of Perfection", chapter 43,3 (Valladolid codex)
3 Letter "Sacerdoti nostri primordial", John XXIII
4 "Treatise on Saint John’s Gospel", 49