See How Great the Father’s Love Is!

God beholds you individually, whoever you may be, just as you are. He “calls you by your name.” He sees you and understands you, as He made you. He knows what is in you, all your feelings and thoughts, your dispositions and likings, your strength and your weakness. He views you in your day of joy and in your day of sorrow. He sympathizes in your hopes and trials; He interests Himself in all your anxieties and remembrances, in all the risings and fallings of your spirit. He encompasses you on every side and bears you in His arms. He notes your very countenance, whether it smiles or is in tears, whether it blossoms in health or withers in sickness. He looks tenderly upon your hands and your feet; He hears your voice, the beating of your heart, even your breathing. You do not love yourself more than He loves you. St. John Henry Newman

This brochure of the Marian Movement of Priests and Laity gathers the revelations of the Heavenly Father to Mother Eugenia Elisabetta Ravasio (1907–1990): His great longing to be recognized, honored and loved by all people as a loving Father. It also contains testimonies of the Church’s examination of this message, as well as prayers and an Our Father novena to the Heavenly Father.

On the Way to the Father’s Heart

Whether we realize it or not, we are all on the way to the Father’s heart. And St. Augustine speaks from our soul when, on his path of conversion, he prays: Our heart is restless until it rests in You, O God!

When we look at the colorful and varied life stories of the saints, we meet some who found their place in the heart of the Heavenly Father from childhood, and others who discovered the loving fatherly heart and the true faith only after many wrong turns and detours, such as St. Paul, for example. And many a human being who walks over this earth, strewn with thistles and thorns, finds his way home to the saving anchor of the divine Father’s heart only in his last hour of life.

Now the decisive question arises: how do we find the way to the Father’s heart, or rather, how does the Father find the way into our heart?

Jesus gives us a very clear answer in the Gospel, one that every child can understand: No one comes to the Father but by Me! (Jn 14,6)

And the Savior goes on to explain: If a man loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (Jn 14,23)

By this Jesus wants to tell us that God Himself sets out on the way to us when we long for Him with our whole heart, love Him, and unite our will with His.

In this way we build Him, as it were, a golden ladder to heaven, by which He can descend into our poor human heart, in order to set up there the throne of His glory.

For the glory of God is a living man, says St. Irenaeus.

The most beautiful model on this path of union with God is the most blessed Virgin Mary, who through her great love and longing drew the Redeemer into her virginal womb.

At the same time, the Mother of God is also the great mediatrix of grace, who leads us to her beloved Son. For through Mary we come to Jesus, and through Jesus, who made Himself a bridge for us, we come to the Heavenly Father.¹

¹ Because the world has brought forth thorns and suffering through sin, and this river flows on like a stormy sea, I have given you the bridge so that you do not drown. (…) But that My Son has made Himself a bridge for you is not enough to attain life – you must also follow this path across the bridge. (From: Der Dialog, Caterina von Siena, Ein Gespräch mit Gott über Seine Vorsehung, Kleinhain 2017, pp. 52–53, 100)

O Immaculata, when at last will You reign in the hearts of all and each one? When at last will all the inhabitants of the earth acknowledge You as Mother and the Heavenly Father as Father? St. Maximilian M. Kolbe

Virgin with the starry crown,
purest Virgin, hail to you.
Look down from the throne of grace,
there, where our tears flow.

Look down from your joy,
where you walk among the angels
and, in your unstained garment,
stand before the Father’s throne.

Pray there for your children
at the Father’s throne of grace,
and reconcile us poor sinners
there with Jesus, your Son.

To be pure and to live purely,
give us, purest one, your mind.
Help us to strive after virtue,
lead us up to heaven.

God the Father with an angel (Guercino)

The Practice of the Heavenly Father

When a school class was asked the question: Where does the dear God live?, a little girl, the daughter of a doctor, answered bravely, thinking of her own father: The dear God, our Heavenly Father, lives in heaven, but He has His practice on earth. This little girl truly hit the nail on the head, for since the Fall our earth has been transformed into a huge hospital.

How comforting it is to know that among all the “patients” infected by original sin, the divine physician Himself lives and works, to heal His badly wounded children with the most select and precious “treatments” for eternal life, and to bring them home. With everything this earthly life gives us of beauty and joy, but also tests us with hardship, the divine chief physician applies His special therapies, and through His kind providence, which embraces us lovingly at every moment, offers us the best means of healing and sanctification for body and soul.

The most important institution in the great hospital of this world is the holy Catholic Church, which our Lord Jesus Christ Himself founded and to which He entrusted all His redeeming merits.

She is like a new Garden of Eden, in which the bubbling spring of the holy sacraments pours out over the whole world in a sevenfold stream of grace. Those who draw eagerly from this divine spring receive abundant graces to meet the challenges of daily life well, and also to overcome victoriously the temptations of the devil, whose unbridled hatred and envy cannot bear the love between God and man.²

With tender shepherd’s care, God the Father once spoke to St. Catherine of Siena:

Remain like little sheep in the garden of the holy Church, graze here and bring Me a holy longing and constant prayer for her, for I want to have mercy on the whole world. Do not move away from this pasture, neither because of any injustice done to you nor because things go well for you, for I do not want you to raise your head, either in impatience or in disordered joy. Rather, strive humbly for My honor, for the salvation of souls and for the renewal of the holy Church. This will be for Me a sign that you, you and the others, truly love Me.³ The Heavenly Father to St. Catherine of Siena

² Cf. 1 Pet 5,8-9.

³ Der Dialog, p. 359.

God wants to lead souls to holiness. For this reason He lets human society continue to exist, despite the worm that gnaws at it through so many souls who blaspheme His name and disregard His commandments. In His kind providence He turns even the evil that happens in the world to good for all who love Him and trust in Him. In the whole world He allows no event and tolerates no evil without its contributing to the progress of souls.

God takes care of His magnificently built world, and without effort He could build a thousand other, mightier and more beautiful ones. But what occupies His thoughts far more, what above all touches His heart and joyfully moves heaven, are the souls: innocence preserved or regained, an act of love, a soul’s resolve to give itself wholly to the Lord, a sigh of longing for His heart, a prayer. When this longing of the Heavenly Father finds a loving answer in our heart, and the thirst for His honor and for the salvation of souls gives our life ever more meaning and purpose, then we have the most beautiful and deepest reason for true joy. For in this attitude we walk, as it were, in the footsteps of Jesus, for whom the honor of the Father and the salvation of souls were the pulse of His whole divine-human life.⁴

And you who will work for My honor and strive that I may be known, honored and loved, I assure you that your reward will be great, for I value everything, even your smallest effort, and I will repay it to you a hundredfold in eternity. Words of the Divine Father to Mother Eugenia

⁴ Cf. Jn 4,32-34: My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me. The will of the Father, however, is the salvation of men, the rescue of the world. St. Catherine of Siena calls taking part in this care for salvation through prayer and sacrifice “eating souls” or “devouring souls” … This means that concern for the salvation of our neighbor also benefits and nourishes one’s own soul, because this care corresponds deeply to the divine will of the Father. (Ibid., p. 171)

The Little Tree of the Heavenly Father

To remind us anew of the great truths of the Catholic faith, in 1932 the Heavenly Father gave us a very special message through Mother Eugenia Elisabetta Ravasio (1907–1990), to whom He communicated His great longing to be recognized, honored and loved by all people.

But who was Mother Eugenia, whom the Heavenly Father lovingly used to call “My favored daughter, My little tree”?

Mother Eugenia, who came from northern Italy, was a missionary sister in the congregation of Our Lady of the Apostles, and lived in heroic devotion for the unity of all people as children of God in Christ and to the honor of the Heavenly Father.

With this intention she founded in Rome the “Unitas in Christo ad Patrem”, which to this day carries on her charism.

As Superior General she opened numerous novitiates, centers with chapels, schools and hospital wards in Europe. She discovered the first medicine against leprosy and realized the idea of a city for leprosy patients, which she had built in Azopté (Ivory Coast) between 1938 and 1941.

On July 1 and August 12, 1932, she received the message of the Father, who appeared to her in visible form to entrust her with the mission of preparing people to take the Father into their hearts, the Father who wants to establish His kingdom of love in them and with them.

The Heavenly Father and Christ, Alpha and Omega (book illumination)

The Grain of Wheat That Falls into the Earth

In 1947 Mother Eugenia was elected Superior General for a third term, by way of an exceptional dispensation, on account of her extraordinary love and remarkable gift of leadership. But God allowed a sister from her own ranks to accuse and slander her before the Holy Office. Thereupon the gifted superior had to resign from her office. She was forbidden to speak about the message, and the pictures of the Divine Father had to be removed from all the mission houses. Mother Eugenia recognized inwardly that she would also soon be asked to leave her institute, which in fact happened in 1956, after a long series of slanders and accusations. At the same time, however, God also let her understand that she would found a new congregation. In the following years Mother Eugenia struggled for clarity about how to fulfill this mission. There were several years of inner darkness and much outward suffering. Only in 1980 did she receive the ecclesiastical permission to found the missionaries “Unitas in Christo ad Patrem”. And in 1989 the Vicar General of Vatican City State, Petrus Canisius van Lierde OSB, gave the imprimatur for the message.

Mother Eugenia had given God everything, and so He also gave her everything for which she asked Him. For this reason many people turned to her in trust in her power of intercession. One day a paralyzed girl also came to her. Mother Eugenia promised her: Be at peace, I will take your suffering upon myself. You are still young and must still do much good. A short time later several people witnessed how the sick girl stood up and could walk without any help. Mother Eugenia, by contrast, spent the last years of her life in a wheelchair. Thus she gave her life as an atoning sacrifice unreservedly into the Father’s hands, so that what He had already let her recognize in 1947 might be fulfilled as soon as possible:

One day the seed will sprout, and its fruit will shine forth throughout the world and in every heart. And all, from the Holy Father down to the last believer, will speak of the Divine Father, who is and will forever be the Alpha and Omega of our life and of our unity in ourselves, in the family and in the Church. The Heavenly Father to Mother Eugenia, 1947

On August 10, 1990, the prophetess of the Divine Father died at the age of 83, with a reputation for holiness.

I must be the smile of the Father. The tears that are worth something are not those that fall down, but those that rise up.⁵ Mother Eugenia E. Ravasio

⁵ Mother Eugenia speaks here of suffering offered up in love, which bears rich fruit when it is united with the sufferings of the Redeemer.

The Church’s Examination

When Pope Pius XII heard of Mother Eugenia, he sent Fr. Girard Matthieu, a priest he trusted, to her, to obtain information first-hand. While the priest was waiting for Mother Eugenia, he saw her coming toward him from the end of the corridor: floating half a meter above the ground and surrounded by a radiant light that emanated from her. God worked this wonder as proof of the authenticity of His revelations to this chosen soul.

After a ten-year period of examination under the direction of Bishop Alexandre Caillot (1861–1957), the message of the Heavenly Father, which Mother Eugenia received in Latin, was declared authentic.⁶

⁶ This very experienced and zealous shepherd of souls had set up a commission to investigate the message and its recipient. For ten years several theologians worked on this task, concerned not only with the content of the message, but above all with the fact that the Divine Father showed Himself visibly as a person to Mother Eugenia. In January 1934 the theologians found in Thomas Aquinas the answer to their own objections. The answer of the great Doctor of the Church to the distinction between “appearance” and “mission” was convincing. It overcame the hurdle that paralyzed the entire investigation. The fact that the Divine Father gave the message in Latin, although Mother Eugenia, because of her only three years of schooling, did not speak Latin, was a further strong proof of authenticity for Bishop Alexandre Caillot.

To the best of my knowledge and conscience, and in full awareness of my responsibility before the Church, I declare: only a supernatural and divine intervention seems to me able to explain logically and satisfactorily the totality of the facts. Regardless of all other circumstances, this essential fact seems to me full of nobility, sublimity and supernatural fruitfulness. A humble religious sister has reminded souls of the true religion, just as Jesus taught it and as the Church has laid it down in her liturgy. (…) I believe that the hand of God is at work here, and after ten years of investigation, reflection and prayer, I praise the Father, who has deigned to choose my diocese as the place of such a moving manifestation of His love. + Alexandre Caillot, Bishop of Grenoble

I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes. Mt 11,25

The Father Speaks to His Children

The Reason for His Coming

I lay down My crown and all My glory, in order to take on the humble attitude of an ordinary human being!
I come to finally drive out the excessive fear that My creatures have of Me. I want to make it clear to them that it is My joy to be known and loved by My sons and daughters, that is, by all of present and future humanity.
My presence among you is like the sun in the earthly world. If you are willing to receive Me, I will come very close to you. I will take up My dwelling in you, enlighten you and warm you through My infinite love.
Oh, how My fatherly love has been forgotten by people! And yet I love you with such great tenderness.
If you love Me and call Me Father with trust, using this lovable name, you already begin here on earth to live that love and that trust which will make up your entire happiness in eternity.

I have loved you, says the LORD. Mal 1,1 (RSV-CE 1,2)

The Holy Family with the Lamb (painting by Raphael)

The Father of Families

If families honor Me and love Me as their Father, I will send them peace and, with it, My providence.
How great would be My joy if I could see parents teach their children to call upon Me often by My name, to call Me Father, for that is what I truly am. How much I long to see trust and love for Me arise in these young souls, the love of children for their Father! I have done everything for you; will you now do this for Me?
I want to dwell in every family, as in My house, so that everyone can say with the greatest certainty: We have a Father who is infinitely good, infinitely rich and unimaginably merciful. He thinks of us and is near us, He watches over us, He Himself protects us, and He will give us everything we lack when we ask Him for it. All His riches belong to us, we will have everything we need.

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. 1 Jn 3,1

The Heavenly Father (painting)

The Father of All People

If anyone loves Me and entrusts himself to Me, I will send him a ray of peace in all his needs, all his confusion and suffering and every sorrow, especially when he calls upon Me and loves Me as his Father.
If workers, industrialists and the various other craftsmen call upon Me and honor Me, I will give them My peace and My strength and show Myself to them as a good and merciful Father.

The Greatest Good Intention

Heavenly Father, I offer You everything that I shall ever do, sacrifice and suffer, united with the merits of Jesus and Mary, in the name of all souls and for all souls of the whole holy Church, with the will to act and to go on acting thereby for all eternity. Amen.⁷

⁷ When you pray these words, you awaken the good intention in the most perfect way. Also, people who pray in this way take part in the communion of saints, or rather, each time they use these words they enter, as it were anew and even more closely, into the communion of saints – not only of the saints in heaven, but of all members of the triple Church. Therefore no one can begin the new day with God in a more excellent way. (From: Aszese und Mystik, by Prof. Albert Drexel, Jestetten 1977)

If I am called upon and honored in every Christian community, I will give My peace and show Myself as the most loving Father, and by My power I will assure eternal salvation to souls.
If all humanity calls upon Me and honors Me, I will send it the spirit of peace, which will settle upon it like blessed dew.

The return of the prodigal son to the merciful father

The Merciful Father

If all nations call upon Me and honor Me in this way, there will be no more discord and no more wars, for I am the God of peace, and where I am, there will be no war.

How blessed are those who love You! They will rejoice in Your peace. Tob 13,15 (RSV-CE 13,14)

Come close to My spring, which always flows from the depths of My fatherly heart (…) and plunge into the ocean of My love, so as to live only in Me. If you want to drink from this spring, then fathom Me, learn, so that you may come to know Me; and as soon as you know Me, plunge into the ocean of My love by entrusting yourselves to Me with a trust that transforms you and that I cannot resist, so that I will forgive you your faults and fill you with the greatest graces.⁸

⁸ Mother Eugenia notes on this: Our Father said to me in a private conversation: “The spring stands as a symbol of My being known, and the ocean stands for My love and your trust.”

I have come to let you taste true freedom, the freedom from which true happiness springs: all the joys of this earth are nothing compared to this happiness.

You, My children, who are outside the Catholic Church, you should know that My fatherly love does not exclude you. I address you with My tender call, for you too are My children. Even if up to today you have succumbed to the allurements with which the devil enticed you, recognize that he has deceived you; come to Me, your Father, and I will receive you with joy and love!

And you, My children, who live in darkness because you have lost your faith: lift up your eyes, and you will see bright rays that will light you up. I am the sun that shines upon you, that is warm and warms you. See, and you will recognize that I am your Creator, your Father, your only God.

Come, come to Me with trust. (…) Your sins are to Me like iron, your deeds of love like gold. (…) This means that with a little love, infinitely great transgressions are wiped out.

All who call Me Father from the heart, even if only once, will not be lost; no, eternal life in the community of the chosen is assured to them.

LORD, You are my Father, my God, my saving champion. Sir 51,10

The Father takes His sacrificed Son into His arms (Throne of Grace)

The Ways of the Father

I come to you in two ways: through the Cross and the Eucharist.

The Cross is My way to descend to My children, for through the Cross I have redeemed you through My Son. For you the Cross is the way to ascend to My Son, and through My Son to Me. (…)

In the Eucharist I dwell among you like a father in his family. I wanted My Son to institute the Eucharist, so as to make out of every tabernacle a vessel of My graces, My riches and My love, so that I may distribute them to people, My children.

Through these two ways I let My power and My infinite mercy flow unceasingly to people.

I can understand the weakness of My children. Therefore I asked My Son to give them means to rise again after their falls into sin. These means will help them to cleanse themselves from sin, so that they become children of My love once more. These means are principally the seven sacraments, and a very significant, important means is above all the Cross, for it will save you despite your falls; it is the Blood of My Son, which pours over you every moment, provided you accept it, both through the sacrament of Penance and through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.⁹

⁹ The celebration of the holy Mass is the source and summit of the whole Christian life, the highest worship, the mysterious re-presentation of the sacrifice of the Cross of Jesus Christ. In the obedient self-surrender of Jesus all glory and honor is given to the Father. At the same time, Christ’s love opens for every person a way that leads to the heart of the Father. Our whole being, our human weakness, our cares and needs, as well as the guilt of all people, we lay into the event of the consecration in the holy Mass. For in the broken body and the poured-out blood of Christ we find healing and atonement for the sins of the whole world. The gifted Steyl missionary Brother Kostka Wasel (1868–1946) was privileged to experience the mystery of the holy sacrifice of the Mass in visions for over 40 years. He describes especially movingly how, at the moment of consecration, the Heavenly Father takes His sacrificed Son into His arms. In His beloved Son, however, the Father also takes us, His children, into His arms, and we may be sure that this is the greatest and most sublime moment to ask our Heavenly Father for every grace and for the deep personal healing of all our wounds, for now the throne of grace stands open to all who implore help with trust. (Cf. Das heilige Messopfer in Schauungen erlebt, ed. by Klemens Kiser, Lauerz 1996, pp. 69–128)

My children, I will not express the whole greatness of My infinite love, for it is enough for you to open Holy Scripture and to contemplate the Cross, the tabernacle and the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, so that you can understand to what point I have loved you!

Receive the Body and drink the Blood of Jesus Christ, so terribly offended by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their sins and console your God! Words of the Angel to the children of Fatima, 1916

How beautiful it is, how great it is, to know God, to love Him, to serve Him! We have nothing else to do in this world. All that we do besides this is lost time. St. John Vianney

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3,16

The Heavenly Father, surrounded by saints (fresco by Perugino)

A Feast for the Heavenly Father

A day, or at least a Sunday, shall be dedicated to Me, on which I am honored in a very special way under the name Father of all humanity.¹⁰ For this feast I wish to have its own Mass formulary and its own proper for the Liturgy of the Hours. It is not difficult to find the texts for it in Holy Scripture. If you prefer to show Me this special veneration on a Sunday, I choose the first Sunday in August; if you take a weekday, I always prefer August 7.

¹⁰ The object of the mission entrusted to Mother Eugenia is very precise and, from the doctrinal point of view, also, as it seems to me, legitimate and appropriate. The precise mission is: to make the Father known and honored, above all the demand to the Church for the introduction of a special feast. The investigation has shown that a liturgical feast in honor of the Father would fit quite well with the whole line of Catholic worship and agree with the traditional movement of Catholic prayer, the ascent to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit, as the eucharistic prayers of the holy Mass and the liturgical offerings to the Father in the holy sacrifice demonstrate. On the other hand, it is strange that so far there is no special feast in honor of the Father: the Trinity is honored as such, the Word and the Holy Spirit are honored in their mission and in their outward manifestations, only the Father has no feast of His own that would draw the attention of the Christian people in a special way to His person. (Bishop Alexandre Caillot)

The whole clergy should work to bring this veneration to flower; above all, the clerics should make Me known to people as the One I am and who I will always be for them: namely the most tender and most lovable of all fathers.

If all those people who are far from our Catholic Church were to hear of this Father, who loves them and who is their Creator and God, if you were to tell them of this Father, who desires to give them eternal life, then a large part of these people would come to this Father, even the most stubborn among them.

He is our Father for ever. Tob 13,4

The Image of the Heavenly Father

I wish that the clergy would see to it that I am admitted in all families and in the hospitals, also in the workshops and factories, in the barracks and in the assembly halls in which the ministers of the nations make their decisions, indeed finally everywhere where My creatures are present, even if only a single one of them is there.

The visible sign of My invisible presence shall be an image that shows that I am truly here and present. (…) In this way all My children will live, as it were, under the gaze of their tender Father. Undoubtedly I am also everywhere now, but I want to be represented in a way that is perceptible to the senses.

I wish especially to be honored in the seminaries, the novitiates, in the schools and homes. All, from the smallest to the greatest, shall be able to recognize Me and love Me as their Father, their Creator and their Redeemer.¹¹

¹¹ Excerpts from the message of the Heavenly Father to Mother Eugenia E. Ravasio, Imprimatur: Petrus Canisius van Lierde, Vic. Generalis e Vic.Civit. Vaticanae, Roma, die 13 Martii 1989.

Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation. Ps 89,27 (RSV-CE 89,26)

Portrait photograph of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus as an adolescent (1885, before entering the convent)

Lord, show us the Father!

St. Hilary of Poitiers says that the great work of Christ was to make the Father known. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks of the Father 17 times, in the whole Gospel of Matthew 47 times, in John 115 times, of which 43 are in the farewell discourses.

In the service of this great work of Christ also stands the mission that Mother Eugenia received from the Heavenly Father Himself: to tell people how great the Father’s longing is to be recognized, loved and honored by all His creatures.

Jesus is one in being with the Father, whose goodness and love He reflects in the most perfect way.

If we want to know whether our image of the Father is moving in a good direction, we need only ask ourselves whether, in the life and actions of Jesus, we recognize the merciful love of the Heavenly Father.

Even the disciples of Jesus had to win the truth about the nature of the Father step by step, which finds expression not least in the longing request of the holy Apostle Philip: Lord, show us the Father! And Jesus answers him: Philip, he who has seen Me has seen the Father. (Jn 14,8-9)

And when the disciples saw their Master praying, there arose in them the heartfelt wish to pray likewise to the Father. From this longing comes their request: Lord, teach us to pray! (Lk 11,1)

And Jesus leads them into the great Lord’s Prayer, which to this very hour rises from the hearts of countless Christians to the heart of the Father.

In the footsteps of the apostles and the first Christians, who heard the sound of the voice of Jesus and saw His facial expression and bearing when He prayed the Our Father, we may rediscover anew what a tender, great and sublime Father we have.

In this sense St. John Cassian (†435) says: The Our Father is a lifting up to God alone, a great fire of love. The soul melts in it, sinks into holy love and converses with God as with its own father, very intimately, in a very special, tender filial love.

When the little St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus was one day completely absorbed in needlework, her sister Céline came and asked: What are you thinking about? And she answered: I am meditating on the Our Father. It is so beautiful to call the dear God Father! And tears shimmered in her eyes.

This intimate relationship of St. Thérèse with her Heavenly Father is also shown in a letter to her sister Agnes, in which she writes: God is more tender than a mother!

And in a letter to Mother Marie de Gonzague she writes: Sometimes when my mind is in such a great aridity that it is impossible to draw forth one single thought to unite me with God, I very slowly recite an “Our Father” and then the angelic salutation; then these prayers give me great delight; they nourish my soul much more than if I had recited them precipitately a hundred times.

We may be aware that when we pray the Our Father reverently, we take refuge in the arms of the Heavenly Father, who protects us with His all-embracing fatherly love and authority from the attacks of evil, as we ask Him at the end of the Our Father: … deliver us from evil. Thus the precious prayer of the Lord also has an outstanding exorcistic effect, as has been confirmed by many priests active in the ministry of liberation and by numerous Christians.¹²

¹² Cf. Maria, das Zeichen der Zeit, 3rd quarter 2023.

And when, after praying the Our Father, we also greet the Mother of God with the Hail Mary, we place, as it were, the crown upon this grace-filled effect.

When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Lk 11,2

Mary, Madonna of the Mantle (Piero della Francesca, Madonna della Misericordia)

Mary, Queen of Unity

Together with Jesus, Mother Eugenia offered her life for the unity of the sons and daughters in the house of the Father. How could she have done this better than with Mary, the Queen of Unity? Her life was marked by the presence of this lovable Mother: she was the one who had helped her take the first steps of her life. As she grew, she gradually noticed that she had to hold this hand ever more firmly in order to overcome obstacles and to walk safely on the way of the Holy Spirit. One day it seemed to her as if she touched this hand again, so vividly, and she felt led into a light so immeasurable as she had never seen before, and she found herself as in a new world: the heavenly Mother led her very gently and taught her to recognize the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Unfathomable mystery …!

The most holy Mother said to her: See, you belong to our family. Mother Eugenia no longer knew whether she was in heaven or on earth. This realization has deeply imprinted itself on her soul. Now she knew how this unity could be attained. At any cost:

Mother of Jesus and my most loving Mother, I place my whole life in Your hands, adoring always and in all things the Divine Will of the Father. Offer it to Jesus for the glory of the Father and in the love of the Holy Spirit, so that all may come to the Father’s house. All! I am ready for every sacrifice, so that no one may be missing. Help me, my Mother, to live one with Jesus as a true child of the Father in perfect surrender to the Gospel. Queen of Unity, pray for us! Mother Eugenia E. Ravasio

Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one. Jn 17,11

The Holy Family on the flight into Egypt (painting by Murillo)

The Fatherhood of St. Joseph

When the Heavenly Father sent His Son into the world to save us and to make us His children, He chose St. Joseph to represent His divine fatherhood on earth. The perfect trust that Jesus showed His foster father is a shining example for us all. Jesus loved, obeyed and imitated His earthly father, and each time Jesus saw St. Joseph, heard him speak, saw him work or experienced his chaste love for Mary, the humanity of Jesus experienced a perfect mirror image of the Father in heaven.

We too may place all our trust in him and regard ourselves as his children. If Jesus needed St. Joseph according to the plans of the Father, how much more do we need him, this great patron of the holy Church. If our fathers of families take St. Joseph as their model, then this great saint will help them to live their fatherhood entirely according to the heart of the Heavenly Father.

In this way they lay for their children a supporting foundation of life, which becomes a source of divine blessing for their future.¹³

¹³ Cf. Weihe an den hl. Josef by Donald H. Calloway, MIC, Kislegg 2021, p. 36 Imprimatur: Most Rev. Jeffrey Monforton, DD, Bishop of Steubenville, Ohio, October 22, 2019.

St. Joseph with the Child Jesus

Prayer to St. Joseph

To you, O blessed Joseph, we turn in our distress. Having implored the help of your most holy Spouse, we confidently ask for your protection also. Through that charity which bound you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and through the paternal love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beseech you: look graciously upon the precious inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased with His Blood, and come to our aid in our need with your power and strength. O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family, watch over all who are chosen to be children of God; keep far from us, O most loving father, every error and every vice. O mighty protector, assist us graciously from heaven in our struggle with the powers of darkness. And as you once rescued the Child Jesus from the greatest peril of His life, so now defend God’s holy Church against her enemies and adversaries. Take us all under your constant protection, so that, following your example and with your help, we may live holy lives, die a happy death, and attain eternal bliss in heaven. Amen. Pope Leo XIII

Prayer and Praise

Our prayer possesses an outstanding value and a power which far surpasses all physical forces taken together. Corporeal beings and created spirits, together with all their works, remain light-years behind the power and worth of a single act of love for God and do not outweigh it. But prayer has the power to obtain for us the grace with which we perform this act of love. Therefore Christian prayer has a greater meaning and scope than the most astonishing discoveries and the greatest talents. It is the great power on earth. So we must learn to think about our prayer in this way.

Jesus spoke to St. Faustyna about the great value of a single act of love:

My daughter, if you knew what great merit and reward is earned by one act of pure love for Me, you would die of joy. I am saying this that you may constantly unite yourself with Me through love, for this is the goal of the life of your soul.¹⁴ Jesus to St. Faustyna Kowalska

¹⁴ Tagebuch der hl. Schwester Maria Faustyna Kowalska, Hauteville/Schweiz 2003, No. 576.

Prayer and praise are the two wings through which our soul flies to heaven.

Praise fills the heart with joy and gives our whole being a radiance. It is a secret of a blessed life that praise not only adds blessing, but also multiplies every blessing of God. When you begin to praise, the restlessness gradually disappears from your heart, and the fear from your soul like mist before the sun. When you begin to praise, your worry is transformed into joy, and the peace of your soul increases. When you begin to praise, grumbling and criticism fall silent; the breath of heaven blows the clouds away, and you feel pure and new again.

Praise sets an ambush for the devil and raises you above the accusations of Satan. When you begin to praise, Satan turns away in terror and flees. Praise prepares the way for the Holy Spirit in your life. Praise transforms your mountains of difficulties into hills of blessing. The praise of God fills you with joy and peace in faith. (Cf. Rom 15,13)

Praise gives you eagle’s wings, and with the eye of faith you already see the victory!

The holy angels of God, who constantly behold the face of the Heavenly Father and in all clarity recognize the will of God for our life, hasten to help you achieve the victory.

When Paul and Silas prayed and praised God, the Lord opened the prison doors at Philippi. (Cf. Acts 16,23-24)

Let every day become a day of praise. Begin, right in the morning when you wake up, to praise the Lord. Every time you are tempted to despair, to be afraid, to worry, to criticize, or to yield to some temptation, begin to praise God. Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have being. (Ps 146,1-2)

Praise is a fruit of amazed, thankful and adoring love for the Lord. Therefore, without this love, which the Holy Spirit gives us again and again, we can hardly praise God. When we invite the holy angels and saints to love and praise God with us, they grant us a share in their glory and fill our lives with the atmosphere of heaven.¹⁵

¹⁵ Cf. Die Macht des Lobpreises, Missionswerk “Stimme des Glaubens”, Konstanz 1972, pp. 43–46.

How much praise helps us to look beyond our own little self and become receptive to the love of God is shown by the following example from the life of St. Francis of Assisi:

After this seraphic saint received the wounds of Christ on Mount La Verna in 1224, he composed his great “Praise of the Most High.”

This praise is wholly directed to the You of God, for Francis is not concerned with himself, but solely with God. He never tires of addressing God again and again as You. You, You are, You, You alone! You are the almighty Father, King of heaven and earth!

Brother Leo, his confessor and most intimate fellow friar, who was with him on the mountain, was tormented at that time by severe temptations. Through his dejection and the feeling of being neglected by God, he fell back more and more upon himself and became ever more depressed. St. Francis recognized his distress, wrote down by hand his “Praise” and a special blessing for Brother Leo, and handed him this precious document with the following words: Take this sheet and keep it carefully until the day of your death.

Immediately every trace of that temptation fled.

The document was kept and in the time that followed worked wonders.¹⁶

¹⁶ Cf. “Bruder Leo, schreibe …” by Gottfried Egger OFM, St. Ottilien 2023, pp. 88, 96.

Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love and bear infirmity and tribulation. Blessed are those who endure in peace, for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned. From the Canticle of the Sun of St. Francis

St. Francis receives the wounds of Christ

Descent from the Cross

Give Thanks to the Father with Joy!

When St. Paul calls us to always give thanks to the Heavenly Father, he does so because he knows that sincere thanks is most pleasing to God and at the same time draws countless new spiritual and bodily blessings upon the grateful soul. Joy and contentment go together with the gratitude for all that the Heavenly Father gives us day by day. Gratitude, joy and contentment are, as it were, “sisters” who gladly walk together through this life and find favor with God and with people. Even a person who is weighed down by sin and worry cannot resist these three “sisters” for long when he meets them on his way, for these “three” are “contagious”.

It is still relatively easy to give thanks for everything joyful and beautiful, but what about our thanks when God tests us through cross and suffering, and our prayer requests seemingly go unanswered?

To St. Mariam Baouardy, who was afflicted by countless sufferings and persecutions, the Mother of God once said: Mariam, always be content with your lot, even when you must suffer. The good God will always send you what is necessary.

St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort says: Who could ever explain, who could grasp, what eternal treasure of glory a single moment of a cross willingly borne works in us?

The cross is spared no one in this world, for the cross is the bridge that leads us over the abyss of this world to heaven.

Through the cross God wants to draw to Himself those who do not love Him, to draw closer to Himself those who do not love Him enough, and to unite with Himself those who love Him wholly.

If we also follow the counsel of the Mother of God to St. Mariam and always remain content, saying our grateful “Fiat” to the Divine Will and to all His permissions, then God will lead all situations of our life to good. (Cf. Rom 8,28)

We cannot imagine what great joy and honor we give to the Heavenly Father when, with childlike trust, we entrust our life, prayer and sacrifices to His kind fatherly care.

When St. Gertrude once asked Jesus why He does not grant all prayers, He gave her the following answer: Beloved daughter, when I sometimes do not grant your prayers and wishes, it happens only so that I may give you even more at the right time. In your human weakness you cannot recognize what is most advantageous for you.

If in our human short-sightedness we ask God for a “scorpion,” He will certainly not fulfill this wish, for He will not give us anything that would be to our harm. But, as the Catholic faith teaches, we may be quite certain that every, even the smallest, prayer is carried by our guardian angel to the throne of God and, transformed into a rain of grace, will fall back upon us and upon all for whom we pray.

always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. Eph 5,20

The Heavenly Father before the Crucifixion (Throne of Grace)

Prayers to the Heavenly Father

My Father

My Father, I abandon myself to You. Do with me what You will. Whatever You may do with me, I thank You. I am ready for all, I accept all, if only Your will be fulfilled in me and in all Your creatures; I desire nothing more, my God. Into Your hands I commend my soul. I give it to You, my God, with all the love of my heart, because I love You, and because this love compels me to give myself to You, to place myself in Your hands without measure, with boundless confidence, for You are my Father. St. Charles de Foucauld

Divine Father

Divine Father, fill me entirely with Your love! Let me be Your docile child, in whom Your fatherly plan can be fulfilled. Make me teachable in understanding and in accepting all the manifestations of Your Divine Love. Amen. Mother Eugenia E. Ravasio

Mary with the Child Jesus in the starry sky

The Our Father Novena

Our Father, who art in heaven!

I call upon You, Heavenly Father, have mercy on me and on all people on earth who are of good will. Let us all come to recognize more and more that we are called to love You in this world and to serve You, so that one day we may share in Your eternal glory.

Hallowed be Thy name!

Like Your Son Jesus, I long for Your name to be praised and honored everywhere.

Thy kingdom come!

May Your kingdom seize all humanity more and more: may it grow, blossom and bear abundant fruit in the hearts of Your sons and daughters on earth.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Let people understand ever more deeply that true peace and happiness are found only in the perfect fulfillment of Your will, in keeping Your commandments.

Give us this day our daily bread!

Father of mercy, give Your children throughout the world the food they need for soul and body. Let us recognize more and more how salutary the daily, worthy reception of Holy Communion is.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!

Kind Father, in atonement for my sins and the sins of all people, for our indifference and our faults, I offer You the Blood, the wounds, the sufferings and the merits of Your Son Jesus. Accept His great love in place of our deficient love of God, neighbor and enemy.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!

Merciful Father, keep far from us the evil spirit, the world and its cunning, and the “near occasion of sin,” so that I and all who are dear to You may live and serve You in Your grace and in Your peace. Send Your holy angels to protect us, at the intercession of their Queen, and bless us. Amen.¹⁷

¹⁷ Imprimatur: Archiepiscopal Secretariat Salzburg, February 20, 1985.

Father, glorify Thy name! Jn 12,28

The Heavenly Father at the Crucifixion (Throne of Grace)

God Is My Father

My Father in Heaven, how sweet and healing it is for me to know: You are my Father, and I am Your child.

Above all when it is dark in my soul and my cross grows heavy, I feel the need to tell You again and again: “Father, I believe in Your love for me.”

Yes, I believe that at every moment of my life You are Father and that I am Your child. (…)

I believe! But strengthen in me faith, hope and love. Teach me to see Your love as my guide in all the events of my life. Teach me to abandon myself entirely to You, like a child in its mother’s arms. Father, You know everything, and You see everything. You know me better than I know myself. You can do all things, and You love me.

My Father, because You want us to come to You with trust, I come to ask You, together with Jesus and Mary … United with their Most Sacred Hearts, I offer You for this intention all my prayers, sacrifices and renunciations, all my actions and greater fidelity in the fulfillment of my duties.¹⁸ Grant me the light, the strength and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Strengthen me in this Spirit, so that I may never lose Him, nor grieve Him, nor weaken Him in me. (…)

Divine Father, loving hope of our souls, may You be known, honored and loved by all people.

Divine Father, infinite goodness poured out upon all nations, may You be known, honored and loved by all people.

Divine Father, life-giving dew of humanity, may You be known, honored and loved by all people. Amen.¹⁹
Mother Eugenia E. Ravasio

¹⁸ If this prayer is prayed as a novena, the following should be added: “I promise You to be more generous, especially during these nine days, on a particular occasion … or toward a particular person ….”

¹⁹ Imprimatur: Jean Cardinal Verdier, Archbishop of Paris, May 8, 1936. The Father grants many graces through the intercession of Mother Eugenia by the prayer God Is My Father, which He Himself gave to her, especially for families, for every need of families. Mother Eugenia said that the title of the prayer God Is My Father alone is a full prayer. She recommended that we repeat often during the day: God is my Father, for she stressed that the Father is very pleased and delighted with His child who lovingly calls Him My Father.

The Most Holy Trinity, surrounded by saints (sketch by Sebastiano Conca)

Healing Prayer

Father, I praise and extol Your goodness and Your love. I ask You in the name of Jesus, Your beloved Son, to send me Your Holy Spirit with all His fruits and gifts.

Sanctify my body and my soul with Your presence. Grant me a strong faith in You and in Your word.

Give me the grace to love You with all my heart and to put You first in my life, by renouncing all my idols, addictions, sins and attachments.

In Your infinite mercy have mercy on me, a poor sinner, and forgive me my guilt.

I, too, forgive from my whole heart all who have offended me in my life (N.N.).

Free me from all the snares and attacks of the evil enemy. May he have no power over me. Free me from all the seductions of the world that lead me away from You and Your will. Free me from all the weaknesses of the flesh that urge me to sin.

Heal my body of all illnesses and my spirit of all distress, sadness and confusion. You know what negative things I have experienced since the day of my conception in my mother’s womb.

Holy Father, with the grace of the Holy Spirit heal my heart of all wounds, above all of those that come from rejection, loneliness, lack of love, hatred, envy, indifference or the malice of people.

Give me a new heart, like the Heart of Jesus, meek and humble, full of joy and peace and overflowing with love.

Today I want to begin a new life and give You glory in everything, in all that I think, say and undertake. On this pilgrimage to You I want to be accompanied by Mary, my dear Mother, and by all Your angels and saints. Amen.
Fr. Sousa-Lara, prayer of the Capuchin Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Ps 51,12 (RSV-CE 51,10)

Father, Dear Good Father

Father, dear good Father,
I plead with You from my heart:
You my God and You my All,
bend down to me!

In words I cannot express
all that fills my whole being.
Look and read in my heart
what You Yourself wrote there!

See how ardently I long
to love You deeply and faithfully,
to know but one concern:
that my life may please You!

That I may always clearly know
Your holy will,
and joyfully fulfill it,
may my heart be ever ready!

Father, bend down,
see how, with a child’s heart,
I spread out in prayer before You
the deepest depths of my being!

That Your kingdom may unfold here,
that peace may come to our time,
and that Your priests may reflect
the love and holiness of Christ!

Oh, how I long to burn and be consumed
for Your honor,
that all the children of men
may open themselves to Your love!

Father, dear good Father,
bend down from the heights of heaven.
Hear in the longing of my heart
the plea of Your own love!

See how often I still fail,
how I struggle, day after day,
and how the fidelity I so ardently desire
still will not succeed for me.

Come to the help of Your child,
give me what You desire of me!
Give it to me for Jesus’ sake,
I implore You through Mary!

See how gladly I would
stand in Your grace,
so that I might obtain for all people
the fullness of Your blessing!

You have given me the will,
now also grant the accomplishment.
Let me glow in love and longing
until my last breath of life!

River Adda in Lombardy (painting by Uberto Dell'Orto)

Look how the water of the Adda comes and flows on … If it stood still, a foul pool would arise. So it is also with your sufferings, tears and struggles: they come and go. Take care that you do not hold on to them. Everything passes. Give everything to God … Do not look at the person who causes you suffering, but accept it from His hand. Nothing happens by chance. God accompanies His creatures step by step. He certainly means well for us, even when we do not understand every why. Do not let yourself be discouraged, always go forward and wait until the suffering passes. From the instructions that Mother Eugenia received as a child from her deeply believing grandfather

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” Rom 8,15