Text of the Eucharistic adoration of September 14, 2017

22nd Anniversary of the first eucharistic miracle
18th Anniversary of the Bishop's 1st vestiture
17th Anniversary of the signature of episcopal decree in recognition
of the apparitions of the Mother of the Eucharist to Marisa Rossi, of the eucharistic miracles and of trinitary teophanies happened in the thaumaturgical place

Today, feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we celebrate several anniversaries that lead us to stop and think: "What did God do for us? What meaning do these events have? What importance do we give to these events that happened over the years? What graces did they generate?" We refer to the anniversaries of the first Eucharistic miracle in 1995, the beginning of the episcopal service of Mons. Claudio Gatti, the signing of the decree recognizing the apparitions, the Eucharistic miracles and the Trinitarian theophanies, all of which took place in this location rendered thaumaturgic by God. Just any of these events could be used to convert many people, bring them closer to God and encourage them to embark on a true path and Christian life.

This path, even if hard and tiring, is filling and transforming every moment of the day if it is lived as a gift of oneself to the others, as we have been taught and imparted by the Mother of the Eucharist, by the Bishop and by Marisa. The Christian's life, as we know, is every day uphill, a tiring climb that sometimes exhausts, discourages and consumes, but if approached in the right way it encourages, spurs and fills with love towards oneself and the others. This is exactly what is most needed today.

Now we are in a historical moment when it seems that the suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross was vain: there are wars in different countries of the world and strong is the danger of a third world war. There is talk of hatred, violence, abuse and oppression, there is total absence of love. Men and facts change, but history repeats itself. So, today more than ever, prayer remains a powerful weapon in the face of wars, violence and lack of love for your neighbor, from the closest to the farthest.

Today, in particular, day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we want to pray that the death of Christ was not in vain but with the graces it has given, would lead man closer to God pushing him to devote and to place himself at the service of the neighbor.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (Jn 3:16-17).

God the Father has a great love for man, a love so deep that he revolutionizes and subverts every reasoning. For ancient Romans the cross was an instrument of death for the wicked and evildoers, therefore completely devoid of a meaning of glory but a mark of atrocious death and humiliation.

The cross was a punitive instrument with which the Romans maintained order and discipline, because it inspired terror. Instead, the cross of Christ, for us Christians, is a source of light and glory, which springs from the mystery of redemption. Jesus gave himself to the world through His Passion: He, being God, identified this as the only possible path that would have led him to open the Heaven to every man. With his sacrifice Jesus repaired the sins committed by men before and after his coming; he has given us the grace, he forgives us when, repented, we approach the sacrament of confession.

Within us, follower of the Christian path, the cross arouses two opposing feelings: suffering and joy. Suffering because by embracing the cross we embrace pain, both in our body and our soul, and only in the light of the love of Christ and only by nourishing our own soul with the Eucharist we can bear and accept our cross and see in it the light of Jesus' love asking to participate in his cross. But the cross is joy too, for we know that from the cross comes redemption, happiness and the triumph of pure love.

Our Bishop and our sister Marisa gave us a great example of total love for the cross and continued acceptance until complete martyrdom; they have covered their cross with authentic love for Jesus, for their neighbor and for their mission from which they never withdrew, even if it cost them huge sufferings. The light that emanated from their cross reached people and sites far from this thaumaturgic place and showed the world the prototype of Christian life embracing the cross of Christ.

During a homily, our bishop explained to us the centrality of the cross in the Christian life.

"We are accustomed to consider history divided into two parts, before and after Christ's birth. But today I would like to point out another division criterion: the cross. If you look at the world history, its evolution, peoples succeeding one after the other and watch all this before the cross, before Christ's passion, death and resurrection, you will see that there are situations where you, at best, can get up to justice, understanding and acceptance of others, but neither to holiness nor to address or even less to live the concept and substance of love.

Then imagine with the soul eyes, not with those of the flesh, a big cross suddenly towering over the world: it is death, it is passion, it is redemption. The situation does not change to the uninitiated eye, but in the eyes of God, the ones that count, changes radically: darkness is rejected and is replaced by light. Respect and attention is accompanied or replaced by love; justice, as meant in human terms, is replaced by justification and by the grace of God.

What would be our life without the cross? We would be in the same condition as the Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and the peoples who lived in the Americas before its discovery, or in Asia or somewhere else. Compare the truth coming from God and the truth coming from men: only the truth coming from God, only His word has the force of justification, redemption and change.

And here is the cross that stands out.

It is the cross that we have in our soul that opens the doors of Heaven, is a sign of belonging to God, allegiance to God, is a sign that we bow before Him, that we accept the redemption and the cross. In your life look at the cross, do not go inattentively past it almost without stopping or giving it a look, for it is there that you find the One who amazes us for the love He gave us. Love it, look at it often, talk to the cross and then your days will be brighter and you will feel stronger because just as from the cross on the famous September 14, 1995 the Eucharist was released, so from the cross love and the grace of God are continually being released."

(Taken from the homily of Mons. Claudio Gatti of September 14, 2008)

Eternal salvation is this tree for me:

I feed on it, I get sustain from it.

For its roots I sink my roots,

through its branches I am expanding, from its dew I get inebriated,

from its spirit, as a delicious breath, I am fertilized.

Under his shadow I planted my tent and found shelter from the summer heat.

This tree is nourishment for my hunger,

fountain for my thirst, mantle for my nakedness;

its leaves are spirit of life and not fig leaves.

This tree is my safeguard when I fear God,

support when I hesitate, prize when I fight,

trophy when I win.

This tree is for me "the restricted path and the narrow way";

it is Jacob's ladder, it is the way of the angels

at whose summit the Lord is really "leaning".

This tree with celestial dimension has risen from earth to heaven

foundation of all things, support of the universe,

support of the whole world,

cosmic bond that holds unsteady human nature together,

securing it with the invisible nails of the Spirit,

so that it can no longer be separated from being close to divinity.

With the upper end touches the sky,

with its feet is hard on earth,

holds tight on every side, with boundless arms,

the numerous and intermediate spirit of the air.

It was in all things and everywhere.

And while it fills the whole universe with itself,

he has undressed to go naked in contention against the powers of the air.

From the Treatise "Holy Easter" by Anonymous Quartodeciman (Pseudo-Hippolytus)