January 12, 1977

THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST

Write, my brother; I am Don Orione.

Could my voice be lacking in the chorus of my other brothers who spoke to you? Of course not. I also desire to express some ideas that could be of use to you in performing your duty, and especially in these moments, truly crucial, that all of you, members of the Church militant, ate now living.

Others already preceded me in indicating to you the remote and proximate causes of the crisis of faith, that today afflicts the Church; the evil is so great, that it deserves a keen and precise diagnosis, a truthful evil diagnosis.

Truly, the Church suffers today in its nature of the Mystical Body of Christ; the head of this Mystical Body is Christ himself, a head who is really and personally present in his divinity and in his humanity. Its founder, Christ, who can no longer suffer physically, rather suffers spiritually and morally, on account of the sins of Men, who repudiate his Redemption, his infinite Love; this is paradoxical, absurd, and the height of madness.

Jesus, the eternal Word of God made man, is not an impostor nor a dissembler; he is the truth, the total truth. How many times he has realized extraordinary interventions, in order to make men comprehend his love, men who are distracted, indifferent and apathetic, and sometimes even evil and perverse, filled with hatred against him!

They are afraid of believing

How many times he has complained, to souls who are beloved by him; in numberless apparitions to saints, to whom he has confided his infinite sadness and suffering, for the ingratitude of Christians, for the ingratitude of consecrated souls, priests, religious men and women!

To Saint Margaret Mary he said: "Behold this Heart," (showing his Heart encircled with thorns) "that has so loved men, and in return I receive only offenses, ingratitude and scorn." Did he not manifest himself shedding so much blood?

You yourself and others are witnesses of this. To so many others he has shown his Heart, encircled with thorns, and what did he mean with these thorns?

These manifestations, testimonies of his sorrow and of his infinite sadness, do not count for anything, especially in these times of darkness. In spite of all this, consecrated souls and even bishops remain skeptical, apathetic, and passive.

They do not believe (crisis of faith); they do not believe, and they do not want to believe; they are afraid of believing; they do not want to admit the supernatural, because of all the inevitable consequences that this would bring; here I allude to the consecrated souls, precisely to those who should bear witness to him before the atheistic world. It is precisely the consecrated souls who so greatly sadden the merciful Heart of Jesus, and make him suffer so much.

If to all this apathy, indifference, coldness, and incredulity of the consecrated souls, you add the uninterrupted avalanche that they pour out upon him, of their sins, crimes, obscenities, transgressions of all kinds, as in Gethsemani, that are committed by Christians, and by men of the entire world, you could conjecture his immense, infinite suffering.

For one who loves souls infinitely, for whom he has suffered infinitely, and continues suffering, there is not, nor can there be, a greater sorrow, than to see such a vast number of these souls becoming putrefied, and falling into eternal perdition.

The Pope beneath the weight of the cross

Brother, how unspeakably great is the suffering of the invisible head of the Church! In different measure, but also unspeakably intense, is the suffering of the visible head of the Church, the Roman Pontiff. He is at the very top, and from the top he sees the Church, as no other mortal sees it.

He sees the pride with which it is filled and saturated; he sees the darkness that envelops it entirely; he see the lacerations that divide and tear it; he sees the errors and the heresies that presumptuous theologians have flooded it with; he sees the spiritual and moral laxity, the anarchy in which it is discussed; he knows the scandals; he knows the hatred and the conspiracies that are contrived in the shadows by his enemies; his heart is as if crushed and torn asunder; only a very special grace and divine assistance have prevented him from succumbing so far.

If to all this, you add the insincerity of those who are, and should be, closest to him, then you will understand how the measure of his suffering has reached the limit.

Many bishops and nearly all priests ignore the immense sufferings, both of the invisible, and of the visible head of the Church.

If the motives of suffering for the visible head of the Church are so many and so grave, brother, consider how infinitely more grave are those of the invisible head, for he not only sees them all together, as does the visible head, but he sees the personal wickedness of each one of all the members of his Mystical Body and of all humanity.

What escapes even the sharpest human eye, does not escape the divine eye.

Tremendous spiritual anemia

My brother, the Church suffers in its saints and in its just members; they suffer in the measure in which they love; they suffer because they are conscious of the intense sorrow caused to them because of the grave spiritual anemia that affects bishops, priests, and consecrated souls in general.

The saints and the just suffer because the efforts of the powers of hell are concentrated upon them, and at times they subject them to real martyrdoms.

Brother, I did not tell you everything; it would be too long, but I want to remind you that the healthy members are subjected to sufferings that are not light, and also the common faithful, who feel moral and spiritual aversion toward the cold, and often evil behavior, of many priests.

In spite of everything, I advise you not to permit yourself to become discouraged, or influenced or frightened by those who make so many efforts to do so; do not worry about human foolishness. I would not have accomplished anything during my life upon earth, if I had listened to the voices of men; you need to listen carefully to the voices that come from on high; these are the ones I always obeyed, and it was in this way that I became an instrument in the design of providence, for my personal sanctification and that of a large number of other souls.

Courage, brother, the earthly road is very short; but the reward that awaits you is eternal.

You are not alone; we ale with you and with your friends, for we have preceded you into the house of our common Father.