THE LIGHT IN THE NIGHT

“Calls from the Message of Fatima”

THERE IS ONLY ONE COMMANDMENT, CHARITY

YOU SHALL NOT STEAL

(Ch. 30, pp. 242-245)

« “You shall not steal.” (Ex 20.15)

God forbids us to steal, because stealing is an act contrary to justice ; it is unjust to take possession of something that does not belong to us. Such an act is contrary to God’s justice; hence, He tells us: “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house (...), nor anything else that belongs to him.” (Ex 20.17)

« “You shall not covet your neighbour’s goods.” With this commandment God forbids us to covet what belongs to our neighbour; and, if we do not covet, we will not steal either, because it is covetousness that leads to theft.

« If we do not have all that we need – and if we are able-bodied – we must work seriously and honourably to earn it. In fact, anyone who, despite good health and appropriate age, does not work fails to observe the law of work imposed by God on the whole human race: “Yahweh took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” (Gn 2.15) »

This reminder of a law as old as the world is a burning issue in these days when generalised, assisted and “insured” unemployment establishes our society in an idleness that is the mother of all vices. Let us pay attention to the Word of God taught by the greatest saint of our times:

« In the beginning, when God gave this command to man, work was a form of entertainment and recreation. After man sinned, however, by disobeying the order that God had given him not to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, the command to work was felt as a penance and a punishment for the sin committed.

« “Then Yahweh gave the man this command: "You may eat of all the trees of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall certainly die (...). So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable in order to acquire discernment, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate (...). Then the Lord God said to the man: Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, cursed be the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gn 2.16-17; 3.6, 17-19)

« Thus, according to this sacred text, because of the sin of the first human beings, we are all subject to the law of work and to temporal death: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread until till you return to the ground from which you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I say that we have all been subjected to temporal death, since we were all ransomed from eternal death by the Redemption wrought by Jesus Christ. Now, in order to be saved, it only remains for us to co-operate with the grace that He has won for us.

« The only ones exempt from the law of work are children, because they have not yet the necessary physical strength, the ill who cannot work and those who, because of their age and the work they have done in the past, have exhausted their strength. To provide what is necessary for all these people is the task of all those who are bound in justice to do so, especially those who are now enjoying what was gained by their effort and sacrifice; and the charity of all who understand and love their neighbour can also serve this end. In this way, all will be able to live, seriously and honourably, as the brothers we are, children of the same Father Who is in Heaven, without transgressing His commandment: “You shall not steal.”

« There are so many different ways of stealing that it is impossible for me to enumerate them all here, but I will mention a few. Thus, in business, it is stealing to charge more than a just price for any goods, perhaps taking advantage of need, or of our neighbour’s ignorance. On the part of those who work and receive payment for it, it is stealing not to give the proper amount of time to our work and not to work with the diligence and perfection required if things are to be done properly. »

There are so many ways, in our impious, godless society to steal from one’s neighbour in all forms of economic, social, commercial and electoral activities.

« On the part of employers, not to pay what they owe, and on time, is stealing. . It is theft to deprive another of his legitimate rights, either by oppressing him in such a way that he cannot use something to which he has a right, or by depriving him of his personal liberty as a free being, since God created him thus, or in any other way whatsoever.

« It is also stealing to deceive our neighbour, by selling goods as of high quality when in reality they are damaged or worthless, or selling sick or unsound animals as if they were healthy and perfect.

« God has forbidden all these forms of stealing, saying to us: “You shall not steal, nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your fellow countrymen.” (Lv 19.11) St. Paul recommends the observance of this commandment in the following words: “Give no opportunity to the Devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.” (Ep 4.27-28) Elsewhere he says: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who is living an undisciplined life, not in accordance with the tradition that you received from us (...). For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If any one will not work, neither let him eat. Now we hear that some of you are living lives without any discipline, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now we urge and call on such persons, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to do their work calmly, earning the food that they eat.” (2 Th 3.6; 10-12)

The Apostle bids us not to associate with those whose bad habits are known to us, those who break God’s laws, because they will lead us into evil ways and ruin us. And he exhorts us, if we ourselves have got into bad habits, to amend our ways, beginning once more to work honestly, in order to earn our living and help our neighbour in need.

« Another type of theft is when we rob someone of his good name. Slandering our neighbour, depriving him of the esteem and confidence of others is the most serious kind of theft we can commit, because we steal what he valued above all else, his good name, his honour, the confidence and appreciation of others, thereby placing him in a difficult situation in his private, public and social life.

What can be thought of a priest who, since 1966, has a suspense hanging over him, without there being any concrete offence that could produce a judgment to justify this sanction? The Ordinary was not concerned about the public opprobrium cast in this way on the person of the Abbé de Nantes, and only sought a practical, sure, and instant means of seeing him leave his diocese…

To demand for this priest the right of enjoying the same consideration and esteem from the Pastors and the faithful, as do all of his confreres of the Church of France, without sectarian discrimination, is therefore a duty of justice. Let us read what Sister Lucy recalls to those who scorn such duty:

« Condemning all this, God declares to the sinner: “What right have you to recite My commandments or take My covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you. If you see a thief, you are a friend of his, and you are at home among the adulterers. You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done and am I to say nothing? Do you think that I am like yourself? Now I rebuke you, and lay charge before you. (Ps 50 / 49.16-21) And the Psalmist concludes: “Meditate seriously on this, then, you who forget God, lest I carry you off, and there be none to deliver you.” (Ps 50 / 49.22)

« Let us accept this divine reminder with attention, because what is involved is our eternal salvation. Let us make sure that our life with God is all that it should be by our faithful and constant observance of His Law and His Word, which is His Word incarnate, Jesus Christ our Saviour: “He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life; he does not incur condemnation, but has passed from death to life.” (Jn 5.24)

« Ave Maria! »

YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOUR

(Ch. 31, pp. 246-248)

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour” (Dt 5.20)

« With this commandment, God forbids all kinds of calumny and lies, which damage our neighbour. The Lord speaks thus: “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not lend support to the wicked by testifying falsely. You shall not follow the multitude in doing evil; nor shall you bear witness in a suit, following the majority so as to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his suit. (...) You shall not deny the right of one of your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not slay the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. You shall take no bribe, for a bribe corrupts, blinding the prudent and ruining just causes.” (Ex 23, 1-8)

« This commandment of God also forbids all unjust criticism, backbiting and slander of our neighbour: that great defect of putting the worst interpretation on our neighbour’s actions, attributing to them an evil intention that they never had! Condemning this conduct, St. James says:

« Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He who speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver and Judge, He who is able to save and destroy. Who are you that you judge your neighbour?” (Jm 4.11-12)

« All backbiting, censure, and unjust and slanderous criticism are contrary to this commandment because they are founded on falsehood and calumny. In the holy Book of Proverbs, it is written: “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who utters lies will perish.” (Pr 19.9)

« If we apply this to ourselves, we understand the meaning of this commandment very well, since we would like to see it observed with regard to ourselves. Why, then, do we not understand it in the same way in our neighbour’s case? Surely it is because we live carelessly or else in ignorance of the truth?

« In St. John’s Gospel, there is a passage, which has always impressed me greatly, the one which refers to Jesus’ trial before Pilate. At a given moment, the accusation is made that Jesus called Himself a king, the true sense of which the Lord sought to make clear. “Pilate said to Him: So you are a king? Jesus answered: You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Pilate said to Him, What is truth? After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again, and told them: I find no crime in Him.” (Jn 18.37-38)

« This Gospel text shows us what life in the world is like. Pilate was a man who occupied a very high place in the society of his day, wielding great power, including that of judge of the Supreme Court, and, yet, he does not know what truth is!

« Neither did he want to know, because he did not wait for Jesus’ answer. He was not interested in learning. He simply went out and spoke to the Jews. So many people in the world live like this: they are not interested in the truth, and yet we will never arrive in Heaven unless we follow the way of truth.

« Thus, Pilate, having listened to calumny, condemned an innocent man to death. Yet he was aware of this, since he himself admitted that the victim was innocent; moreover, to stifle the voice of his conscience, he staged the hypocritical ceremony of washing his hands, declaring before all the people that he himself was innocent of the blood of that just Man. “Pilate (...) took water and washed his hands before the crowd saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just man.” (Mt 27.24) “Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.” (Jn 19.16)

« If it were possible to unwind the whole web of human history, how many examples would we not find of people condemned to death or to punishments just as cruel as death, victims of calumny, lies, perjury, hatred, envy, jealousy and vengeance?! »

Beginning with Sister Lucy herself, accused of being a fibber by Fr. Dhanis, then reduced to silence and kept locked up. How many cases of priests could be cited, such as the parish priest of Vic-Fezensac, in the Gers, whose bishop, yielding to a minority of “activist Christians”, dismissed him from his parish, instead of defending his priest, without any concern for the rumours which fuelled this humiliating disgrace. The unfortunate priest thought it necessary to make it clear: I have neither killed, stolen, nor raped. » Then he added, so as to ask pardon for these details: « One sees so many things these days. » Then he gently pointed out:

« No one is capable of creating unity in the place where he lives and within the responsibilities he has. Christ Himself prayed for unity. He was surrounded by enemies, traitors and cowards. Yet he always forgave. » Then he humbly added:« I apologise to those whom I may have unintentionally and unwittingly offended. I also ask everyone to keep faith, hope and charity in their hearts. Remain in the Church. » Then he admitted: « I know that this is a lot to ask for some people! It is not because there is an injustice in one place that the entire body of the Church is ill. »

Alas! This remark honours its author, but… but… What is true is that God’s Law is always valid, as Sister Lucy firmly says in continuing:

« Yet, the Law of God has been given to us and is still living,, repeating always: “You shall not kill. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. You shall not spread a false report. You shall not lend support to the wicked, to be a false witness. You shall keep away from anything dishonest.”

« Even if people do not want to heed this voice of God, its echo will vibrate in the human conscience for as long as it lives and afterwards, in eternity, in the despair of those who, because they did not follow it, are lost forever.

« To transgress this commandment is a very grave matter: for, in doing so, we offend God in the person of our neighbour. It is a sin against the precepts of the justice and charity with which Jesus Christ bids us treat our neighbour: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15.12); and the Lord loved us to the point of giving His life for us. In another passage, He recommends the same thing, saying: “So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Mt 7.12)

« Ave Maria! »

YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOUR’S WIFE

(Ch. 32, pp. 249-252)

« “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife nor shall you desire his house (...), or anything that is your neighbour’s.” (Dt 5.18)

« There is so much disregard of this commandment in the world today that I ask myself: is it even worthwhile talking about it? The answer is in the affirmative, for even if the whole world is drowning in the abyss, the word of God remains, repeating: “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife!”

« The sin against this commandment is so serious that in the Old Testament it was punished by death. “If a man commits adultery with the wife of another man, with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Lv 20.10) Elsewhere in Holy Scripture we read: “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman,” (Dt 22.22)

« In the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus Christ was talking to the multitude which had gathered around Him, He said: “You have heard that it was said: You shall not commit adultery. I say to you: whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mt 5.27-28) We see from this that God forbids not only the act in itself but also the covetousness and the desire involved, since these lead afterwards to the consummation of the act. The Divine Master concludes His affirmation with this very harsh advice: “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into Gehenna.” (Mt 5, 29) By the extreme measure that we have just cited, Jesus wants to emphasise the gravity of this sin and how it incurs the punishment of eternal damnation.

« The sin against this commandment involves the violation of two others, namely, the one which orders the observance of chastity, and the one which forbids theft. In fact, to take possession of someone who belongs to, or has been entrusted to another is stealing. Such an act is thus contrary to both justice and charity. Hence, God includes in this commandment a list of things which we may not covet: “Neither shall you covet your neighbour’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbour’s house, or field (...) or anything that is your neighbour’s.” (Dt 5.21)

« The law of civil divorce, which various nations permit, is opposed to the law of God which lays down that the marriage bond is indissoluble: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” (Mt 19.6)

One summer day in 1977, at the end of August, a wedding photo taken outside the church of a Chalonnais market town could be seen in the pages of a local newspaper of Saône-et-Loire, with its banal caption: “The young couple smile with happiness.” In the diocese, everyone was aware that, for her, it was the second time: exchange of vows, nuptial blessing, ring placed on her finger, Mass, photographs taken on the square outside the little church, without her first husband having died and without their marriage having been annulled. She was therefore a bigamist before God with the blessing of Mgr Le Bourgeois, the Bishop of Autun.

The Abbé de Nantes wrote to him: « If the deed is not denied it must be sanctioned. Otherwise, it will soon be repeated everywhere in your diocese and under your auspices. Christian marriage, which is the glory of the Catholic Church alone, will be sullied by you as bishop and the sacrament will thereby be discredited. »

Not only did our Father receive no reply, but Mgr Le Bourgeois continues to widen the breach in favour of « religiously married Christians who then divorce and contract a new civil marriage » in a “Note” widely circulated in his diocese and beyond. « The upshot of this Note, observed our Father, is that bigamy, legalised by republican law, is no longer a sin » This is tantamount to saying that « Christ has lied and the Church with Him for nineteen centuries. » (Marriage subverted at Autun, CCR n^o 92, Nov. 1977).

But Sister Lucy dissuades us from believing this. She continues :

« St. Paul, wishing to discuss the limits proper to this law, proposed the concrete case of the union of man and woman, which only the death of one of them can sever. “Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies she is no longer bound to him by the law. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, but if her husband dies she is free from the law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.” Rm 7.2-3)

« The same Apostle does not conceal from us the terrible fate awaiting those who transgress this law: “Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure man, or miser – who is like an adorer of idols – has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them.” (Ep 5.5-7) This is what he wrote to the Christians of Corinth: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not meaning, of course, the immoral of this world, or the greedy and the robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to leave the world. But rather I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who, while calling himself your brother, is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. You must not even eat with such people.” (1 Co 5.9-11)

« St. Paul also reminds us that God has called us all to holiness: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God; that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we solemnly forewarned you. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you.” (1 Th 4.3-8)

« Concerning St. Paul’s remark: “The Lord always avenges all these things”, here is a page from the Prophet Jeremiah, where God resolves to exterminate His unfaithful people. “How could I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me, and have sworn by that which is not God. I have loaded them with gifts, and they have committed adultery and trooped to the houses of harlots. They were well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbour’s wife. Should I not punish them for these crimes? – says the Lord – and should I not avenge Myself on a nation such as this? Scale her walls and destroy them! Strip away her shoots, for they are not the Lord’s!” (Jr 5.7-10)

« The story of King David tells that he sinned against this commandment; and as one sin usually leads to many others, he also violated the commandment which forbids us to appropriate to ourselves the rights of our neighbour, the precept which commands everyone to observe chastity according to his state of life, the commandment which forbids us to make an attempt on our neighbour’s life, etc.

« God dealt mercifully with him, sending him the Prophet Nathan to make him acknowledge his sins, and let him know the chastisements with which God had intended to punish him. After hearing the Prophet’s words, David repented and did penance. Therefore, God ordered the Prophet to say: “The Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the son that is born to you shall die.” (2 S 12.13-14)

« In the New Testament, St. John the Baptist, too, had to rebuke King Herod for having taken his brother Philip’s wife. He told him: “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” (Mk 6.18) In John’s case, however, zeal for God’s law brought him the palm of martyrdom: he was imprisoned and, at the request of the adulterous woman, beheaded.

« How happy I should be if God were to give me, too, the grace of giving my life in defence of His Law and if, by so giving it, men, in imitation of David, acknowledged their sins, asked God’s pardon, amended their lives and did penance, so that thus they might be saved and gain eternal life!

« Let us not delude ourselves by thinking and saying that that these divine laws were given solely for the Israelites because they were the people chosen by God to be saved. For Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, told us that He did not come to abolish the Law but to complete and perfect it. He commanded His apostles to bring it and teach it to the whole world, so that all people might be saved: “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mk 16.15-16)

« This command that Jesus Christ gave to His Apostles proves that all of us belong to the People of God. We were chosen, or rather, created in order to be saved, on condition that we believe, are baptised, and fulfil the Law of God. Yes, we must fulfil the Law of God, as Jesus tells us: “Think not that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly I say to you, until Heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Mt 5.17-18) It will last until the last day when the same Word of God will pronounce the sentence of condemnation on the transgressor: “If anyone hears My words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world (…). The word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.” (Jn 12.47-48)

« Thus we see that we will be saved by observing the Law of God, whereas by violating it we will be condemned. It is certain that God is a kind Father, always ready to receive the repentant sinner but only when He sees sorrow for the sin and a firm purpose of amendment in the sinner’s heart. It was for the benefit of souls like this that the Lord said: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I prefer mercy to sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt 9.12-13) Yes, because the just already follow the Lord’s ways; it is the sinners who have gone astray that must be called back and led into the ways of truth, of purity, of justice and of God’s love.

« Ave Maria! »

THE COMMANDMENTS ARE SUMMED UP IN CHARITY

 (Ch. 33, pp. 253-259)

« We have gone through the commandments of God’s Law, one by one, to discover how we should observe them. We have seen that by observing them we can be saved, and by violating them we can condemn ourselves.

« And we cannot say, as do some indifferent or cynical persons who are going astray or who are individualists: That only concerns me!

« Yet… if all Heaven was moved in order to save you! How can you assert that this business of saving your soul only concerns you? »

This is precisely what the Abbé de Nantes preaches according to his relational metaphysics: « Sin is not something individual that can be settled with God in the Spirit, as Protestants and the Orthodox, all the heretics and all the schismatics, all the innovators outside the Church claim. Sin is a stain that Christ, through the Church, is going to cleanse, because He died on the Cross for that reason. The divinising contact with the Church, the flesh of Christ continued, performs this redeeming purification. Those who believe in this divine touch of the flesh are the elect, the blessed, the satisfied, the pure. Thus, the prime virtue, the operation that follows being, is perfect love. »

This is indeed what Sister Lucy explains in continuing:

« The Son of the Eternal Father died on the Cross in place of you. Are you now going to hand yourself over to Hell, which He has already conquered? Stop this nonsense of defying eternal death! Your Heavenly Father does not want to lose you; how can you forget Him, despise Him, destroy Him within you? Does a Father’s grief, your Father’s grief, leave you utterly indifferent? »

Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta saw with their very eyes « the sadness of God. » Francisco wept over it at night in his bed.

« If that is so, even if you are sure that you are still in the realm of the living, have you not, rather, gone down alive into the realm of the dead? »

Here once again, Sister Lucy is speaking from experience, since she saw those « corpses » on 13 July 1917 at the end of the great “Secret”.

« God’s suffering because of the sins of men is very great! In the apparition of October 1917, Our Lady ended her series of spoken messages, saying: “Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already too much offended.” We offend God when we transgress His Law, the Commandments.

« But why is God so deeply offended when we sin against His commandments? God Himself, in His own Being, is not affected by it. God continues to be what He is: eternally happy, great, powerful, immense, source of life and of all good. God, however, is love, and by sin we diminish love: not the love of God for us, but our love for Him. The moment we transgress one of His laws, we cease to love God; we create a void in our love. How can a son say he loves his father, if, in the father’s own house, he disobeys and despises his orders, his instructions, his favours and his caresses? He could only be – and he is – a rebellious son, not a son who loves his father.

« All true love demands self-sacrifice, renunciation, giving, self-surrender. This was how God loved us from the beginning. He created us in His image, making us sharers in His life, in His gifts such as intelligence, power of reflection, wisdom, free will, freedom, and destined us for eternal life. All this sharing in His gifts which He has granted us, in the order of nature as well as of grace, is, on God’s part, a self-giving, a self-surrender, a self-revelation and a condescension, out of love, so as to raise us up, to ennoble us, to perfect us and to identify us with Himself.

« All sin is, on our part, a breach of love. When God saw us in our fallen state, He was inflamed with great love and compassion for us, and He gave Himself for our redemption in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom the Father sent into the world to save us. Unfathomable abyss of divine love, which St. John described thus:

« And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory He has as the only Son of the Father (...). For if the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (Jn 1.14-17) »

The Abbé de Nantes explains: « God’s gift is given in stages, from one grace to another, from a first divine aid to a second and better one, and thereafter a more perfect one. The first of these two great graces of the Covenant was the Law given by Yahweh to His chosen people through the intermediary of Moses, and it was a good that it would be wrong to place in opposition to what would come later. The Law, however, was not the fullness of grace. The Divine Word Himself would need to come in person, in the flesh among us and to dwell among His own long enough to be seen, contemplated, heard and understood by us, thus delivering to us something better than the Law, which is only a rule of conduct rather the Truth which is Himself. » (CCR no 234, December 1990, p. 13)

« And Jesus declares that He came down from Heaven, continues Sister Lucy, because that was His Father’s will, and that He came to save us and give us eternal life, which we had lost through sin:

« All that the Father gives Me will come to Me; and him who comes to Me I will not cast out. For I have come down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me; and this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but that I should raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life; and I will raise Him up on the last day.” (Jn 6.37-40) »

Commenting on this passage of the Gospel of St. John, the Abbé de Nantes wrote: « The Work of God is being announced here for the first time. So mysterious is it that it totally surpasses the understanding of His audience. This gift made to the Son by the Father, of the souls whom He is given to evangelise, is utterly new for the Jews! The very mention of this special attention to each individual person, on which his salvation depends provided he consents to it and allows himself to be led to the Son by the Father and to the Father by the Son, seems to move, delight and impress Jesus with the grandeur of His mission and, even, of its responsibility. » (CCR n^o 235, January 1991, p. 17)

Let us admire how two souls echo one another, without knowing one another, in the same love:

« How much the Father loves us! Sister Lucy continues. This may be seen in the gift He makes to us of His own Son: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God. The cause of this condemnation is this: that the light has come into the world, and men have loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.” (Jn 3.16-21) »

On this text of the forth Gospel, the Abbé de Nantes wrote: « This is the first time that Jesus reveals to us, in such divine and chaste terms, the love of the Creator for His creatures to the extent of dying for them on the Cross! » (ibid.,p. 9)

Sister Lucy comments in the same vein:

« Thus, Jesus Christ is the manifestation of the Father’s love; this love was sent into the world to be poured into the hearts of men, and enkindle in them the fire of that charity which burns and consumes Him for the good of His children, so as to unite them in the same ideal of supernatural life, of faith and of love, with Him who created and saved them. God is love, St. John tells us: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God for us was made manifest , that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. His love consists in this: not that we have loved God but that He has loved us and sent us His Son as a victim of propitiation for our sins.” (1 Jn 4.8-10)

« As we see, God gives Himself to us through love, and this love, when it is kindled in a heart, calms everything, sooths everything, because it extinguishes the fire of unruly passions and smoothes the ways of holiness, which consist in the observance of the divine Law, through love. It is then that the love between the person and God intensifies, and the union between them is made closer by strong and unbreakable bonds, until this love becomes the person’s very life. Then led by this love, such a person gives himself completely to God, and to his neighbour for the love of God. What one then desires is to communicate to others this treasure of grace and happiness which we ourselves now possess within us, to make the way smooth for them and help them to continue on it, so that they may enjoy the same blessing that makes us happy: love.

« It is the new commandment which Christ came to give the world, and which, until then, was unknown or badly interpreted: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, you also must love one another.” (Jn 13.34) Christ loved us and delivered Himself unto death for us. Thus Christ is for us the model of pure, chaste love, sacrificed for God and for our brothers; He is the model for our self-surrender, our consecration and our fidelity to God and to our neighbour. In saying these words, I am not thinking only of religious, but of everyone, for through Baptism we are all consecrated and dedicated to a supernatural life of love of God and our neighbour.

« Already in the Old Testament, God had given this law: “You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord. You shall keep my statutes.” (Lv 19.18-19) Yes, God ordered us to love our neighbour; He asked us to love Himself: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. These commandments that I impose on you today shall be graven upon your hearts. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall meditate on them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and on your forehead as a pendant. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Dt 6.4-9)

« Although this commandment was so explicit in the Ancient Law, it was misinterpreted and distorted, as Jesus showed the Scribes and Pharisees in the case of the commandment to honour our father and mother. “So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophecy of you, when he said: This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines what are only the precepts of men.” (Mt 15.6-9)

« It is patently obvious that a further proof of the confusion and difficulty with which people surrounded the Law of God can be seen in this question that was put to Jesus by an expert in the Law and some others: “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the Law ? He said to him: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like to it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Mt 22,36-40)

« As Jesus teaches us, the whole Law is summed up in the love of God and of our neighbour for love of God; in other words, we love our neighbour because he is a son of God like ourselves and, therefore, he is our brother, with free will like ours, with the same rights as we have, and destined for eternal life. Accordingly, it is this love which leads us to observe each and all of the commandments, because all of them, in one way or another, refer to God and our neighbour. Their observance always redounds to the glory of God, our own good and that of our neighbour. On the other hand, their transgression affects God’s external glory – that is, in His creation, not in Himself –and does harm to our own good and the good of our neighbour, considered both as an individual and as a member of society.

« The reason is this: we are members of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is His Church. What happens in it is similar to what occurs in any living body: if one member is ailing, the whole body suffers; and, when one member is lost, the whole body feels the deprivation. Now, to transgress the commandments is a breach of love. Whenever we break a Commandment in a serious matter, the bond of charity, which binds us to God and our neighbour, is broken. We cannot say we love when we offend!

« In fact, with our transgression, we lessen the application of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ to ourselves and, consequently, its fruit; we offend our neighbours by our bad example, either by leading them into evil ways or by harming them in their rights, their health, their life, their possessions, their good name, honour, reputation, personal dignity, etc.

« But we also harm ourselves, depriving ourselves of the grace of God, putting ourselves in danger of eternal damnation, stripping ourselves of our personal dignity, our good name, honour, material, moral and spiritual goods and, in many cases, even the possibility of exercising our freedom, since, as the Lord says: the sinner becomes the slave of sin. We sacrifice our health and, very often, our temporal and eternal life. Sad consequences of our transgressing the Law of God!

« It is not difficult to see how any and every violation of the different Commandments always ends by breaching the law of charity: of charity towards God, since we cease to love Him when we transgress His Law; of charity towards our neighbour, since he is offended directly or indirectly; of charity towards ourselves because we diminish and defraud ourselves by depriving ourselves of good things which are irretrievable both in time and in eternity. Without realising it, we disgrace ourselves completely.

« The Commandments are summed up in love. They are all the expression of that living fire of love which is God. God is charity, God is love! It was through love that God gave us these precepts; like a good father who gives his children precise instructions so that they may walk in the right paths and be happy.

« The Commandments are our best guardians, the best defence of human life. If everyone kept these divine precepts today, there would be no assailants, thieves, adulterers, idolaters, no enemies of any kind. We would all love one another as brothers, helping one another in joy, peace and comfort, like children in their father’s house. Yes, because the world is just that: the house of our God and Father Who created us all, so that we might live united under His Fatherly eye, enjoying the same goods and the same caresses, following the same road marked out by the same laws, living the same ideal which leads to the possession of the same Kingdom, where life never ends, joy has no limits, and love is eternal; eternal because love is God. Love is the life of God, which is poured out on His children.

« But how can we say that we possess charity if we do not love God and our neighbour; if we cannot manage to make the sacrifices necessary in order to fulfil each and all of the Commandments? We have no charity if we cannot deny ourselves sufficiently in order to be pure, chaste, humble, faithful to God and to our neighbour; if we cannot sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of our brothers who are poor and need our help, our assistance, our alms and our comfort; if we cannot deny ourselves enough so as to give to our needy neighbour our surplus rather than preferring to waste it ourselves on what is useless and unnecessary.

« Think of all the money wasted on sinful amusements, to satisfy vices, on alcoholic drink, in cafes, in gambling houses and dens of vice, in luxuries and exaggerated vanities, on smoking, etc.! If we are foolish and selfish enough to waste completely what we could, and should, give to our brothers who are in need, who suffer from cold and hunger, where, then, is our charity, our love of God and of our neighbour.

« Where is our charity, if we cannot forgive from our heart, or render good for evil? If we allow ourselves to be led by the spirit of vengeance, by envy, jealousy, prejudices, slander, hatred, etc.?

« Sacred Scripture tells us: “You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand forth against the life of your neighbour. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart (...). You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the children of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself I am the Lord. You shall keep my statutes.” (Lv 19.16-19) Jesus Christ taught us to ask the Father to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have offended us, and He tells us why: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.” (Mt 6.14-15)

« In his Gospel, referring to the question put to Jesus by a scribe: “Which is the first of all the commandments?” St. Mark provides a glimpse of the overflowing joy that filled that scribe at the answer he received and to which he replied: “You are right, Master, you have truly said that God is one, and there is no other besides Him; and to love Him with one’s whole heart, and with all one’s understanding, and with all one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is worth much more than all holocausts and sacrifices.” (Mk 12.32-33) In these words, we have a marvellous explanation of the first and greatest of all the Commandments, that is to say, love – love of God and of our neighbour. But we must keep in mind that we will not be fulfilling it completely as long as we transgress even one of the various commandments given by God, all of which are included in these two; it follows that any transgression involves a sin against the commandment of charity. The commandments are a kind of more detailed explanation given to us by God of the manner in which we should observe the commandment of love.

« And, to end this little reflection on the Ten Commandments of God’s Law – as an integral part of His Message, sent to us through His Mother and ours, as a call and a new attempt to draw us along the path traced out by Him for all who wish to be saved – I refer you to what Jesus Christ recommended to His Apostles, and to us also, during the last hours of His earthly life: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love each one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than one who gives his life for his friends. You will be My friends if you do what I command you (...). This I command you, to love one another. » (Jn 15.9-14; 17)

« But Jesus takes the perfection of love of God and of our neighbour even further. It is easy to love our friends; but we also have to love our enemies, repaying with good the evil we receive from them. It is here that our charity touches the sphere of heroism! The Lord gave His life for His friends and also for His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23.34) He asked pardon for His enemies and wanted to save them, leaving an example to confirm what He had once said: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who calumniate you (...). Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is good, even to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6.27; 35-36)

« Ave Maria! »

Taken from  He is Risen n^o 23, July 2004