"You wanted the year of realization of the promises, it is more appropriate the year of faith. It is up to your Bishop to decide"

On December 8, 2008, the Bishop ordained by God, H. E. Monsignor Claudio Gatti, opened the Year of Faith, which will end on December 8, 2009. The year of faith follows the year of hope: to have faith is to hope against all hope (Rom. 4:18), in the certainty that God will implement all his plans and that the triumph of truth will come. After the triumph of Jesus the Eucharist and the Mother of the Eucharist, there will be also the triumph of truth that will coincide with the rebirth of the Church. The last ones, those who were wrongly convicted and who have experienced martyrdom, will be the first. The men of the Church will recognize the works of God and his prophets, they will accept the divine origin of the Episcopal ordination of the Bishop of the Eucharist. God the Father, before intervening to restore the truth, is still awaiting men's conversion, especially that of his beloved children: the priests, and He is calling again for prayers and sufferings. The great suffering is asked only to special souls that he is taking all for Himself, as the seer Marisa Rossi, who is always praying, suffering and offering for the rebirth of the Church. God is asking us to let ourselves go to Him totally, and to have no doubt that He will do what He has planned. Faith, in fact, is about giving up to God totally, is to believe blindly in our Lord even when everything, from a human point of view, seems to go against what He has promised.

The most shining example of faith was given to us by Our Lady. Who more than Mary has received from God the gift of the theological virtue of faith? No one. Mary is the Mother and teacher of every virtue, including the virtue of faith, about giving up to God totally.

The quantity and highness of the theological virtues, which are faith, hope and charity, depends on the amount of sanctifying grace present in the loving, believing and hoping soul. In the Mother of the Eucharist an immense grace is present and hence her faith is immense. We must watch, love and imitate Our Lady's faith.

God has often spoken about faith In the Sacred Scripture, this means that He gives this theological virtue a very big significance. Faith is the luminous lamp leading us to God, without faith no one comes to Him. Faith is a precious ladder by which we can reach God climbing the highest spiritual peaks, it is a virtue that requires a never ending work on ourselves and a special commitment, because, sometimes, due to our human frailty, we can offend it and fall. God knows our weaknesses and is helping us. Jesus, in the hours immediately prior His passion, death and resurrection, made a final recommendation to the apostles concerning faith. "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32).

Our community is now in the same situation as Simon Peter, for us too, it is difficult to maintain our faith, not as far as dogmas are concerned or the main truth of faith, but for the realization of everything that God, directly or through the Mother of the Eucharist, in all these long, tiring and suffered years, has promised us.

As Jesus instructed Peter to strengthen his brothers, so the Bishop of Love, in his 8th December 2008 homily, has encouraged us to increase our faith: "I find myself in the position as Peter due to function I exercise, for the fullness of priesthood that I was given directly by God I have to strengthen each of you and, through my faith, yours must be strengthened. Through my association with God your bond with Him must increase, through my faith you must sustain your faith". Monsignor Claudio Gatti, later, opened his heart to his spiritual children: "For everybody there are moments of darkness, weariness, frailty, when it seems that the suffering is going to crush our strength under a heavy burden I, before you, as apostles successor, and just like them, directly ordained by God, I must pray for me and for you: our Lord increase our faith. We need to grow in faith, because God is manifested and understood in a better and perfect way just by those who go to Him taking up in their hand the lamp of faith. As the lamps light up the path and keep the darkness away, so the faith will be that light we have with us and within us and will help us to proceed more quickly in our spiritual journey, allowing us to see, were they were there, hurdles, rocks and gaps that might hinder us and slow down our pace".

In order to have faith, it is important that men know the word of God. For the faithful to have faith, in fact, and grow in this theological virtue, it is necessary that it is preached and the word of Christ made known to them, as St. Paul says: "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17). The Mother of the Eucharist told us that the preaching of the Bishop of Eucharist has helped our spiritual growth. Faith, in fact, is born from preaching; without announcement there can be no faith, without catechism, Bible meetings, without comments to the sacred text, you cannot grow in it. Today, the lack of faith in various countries around the world who have had an origin, a beginning, a history based on Christianity, is explained by the fact that preaching has faded and weakened. We must preach the word of Christ, make it known, only in this way it is possible to grow faith in men. St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, writes: "I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor. 2:3-5). No minister of God must stand back from preaching citing excuses. Each of them receives from the Holy Spirit the light and wisdom necessary to be effective and credible with their brothers to explain the Word of God. If every priest would commit to be an instrument of preaching the Gospel, the spiritual condition on earth would be significantly better because you can love God only if you know Him.

The Bishop of the Eucharist has urged us to have faith in the realization of God's promises, to blindly let ourselves go to Him like a child in the hands of parents and to wait, as the wise virgins with torch in hand, the coming of our Lord. We know that God will keep his promises, even if we do not know when He will intervene. We very much hope that He will intervene in the year of Faith. God is merciful, but He is also righteous and will put down the mighty from their seats by raising the last ones, and leading them to amazing heights. We pray that, as St. Paul, at the end of his life, we too can say: "In the hardship, in trials, in shipwrecks, in the flogging and imprisonment I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Cor. 11:23-25 and 2 Tim. 4:7). This will give us the opportunity to go and meet the divine spouse, the divine friend, when He will knock at our door to come and take us.

Below we list a few biblical passages of the New Testament speaking about Faith, chosen by our Bishop:

Hushed storm

"Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25)

Prayer for Simon

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32)

Thanksgiving

"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world" (Rom. 1:8)

Origin of Faith

"Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17)

"I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor. 2:3-5)

"If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Cor. 15:14)

"If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile" (1 Cor. 15:17)

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" (Jas. 2:14)

"Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (Jas. 2:17)

"For everyone born of God overcomes the world, and the victory that has overcome the world is our faith" (1 John 5:4)

"We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith" (1 Thess. 1:3)

"Fight the good fight of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12)

"The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5)

"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law" (Rom. 3:28)

"Fight the good fight, holding on to faith" (1 Tim. 1:18-19)

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7)

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13)

"The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20)

"Continue in your faith" (Col. 1:23)

"Among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith" (2 Thess. 1:4)

"Rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith" (Tit. 1:13)

"My righteous one will live by faith" (Heb. 10:38)

"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6)

"Resist the devil steadfast in the faith" (1 Pet. 5:9)