Dear brothers and sisters, Fiat!
The Gospel passage speaks about two ways of praying, one is false – that of the Pharisee – and the other is authentic – that of the tax collector. The Pharisee embodies an attitude which does not express thanksgiving to God for his blessings and his mercy, but rather self-satisfaction. The Pharisee feels himself justified, he feels his life is in order, he boasts of this, and he judges others from his pedestal. The tax collector, on the other hand, does not multiply words. His prayer is humble, sober, pervaded by a consciousness of his own unworthiness, of his own needs. Here is a man who truly realizes that he needs God’s forgiveness and his mercy. The prayer of the tax collector is the prayer of the poor man, a prayer pleasing to God. It is a prayer which, as the first reading says, “will reach to the clouds” (Sir 35:20), unlike the prayer of the Pharisee, which is weighed down by vanity.
In the light of God’s word, we can ask ourselves: but how can we pray?As the tax collector does, it is clear: humbly, before God. Each one, with humility, allowing themselves to be gazed upon by the Lord and imploring his goodness, that he may visit us. After all, prayer seems to be something personal, and besides there is never a good time, a moment of peace. But it is also a matter of humility, of realizing that we need God, like the tax collector! And all familes, we need God: all of us! We need his help, his strength, his blessing, his mercy, his forgiveness. And we need simplicity to pray as a family: Once Pope Francis told: Praying the Our Father together, around the table, is not something extraordinary: it’s easy. And praying the Rosary together, as a family, is very beautiful and a source of great strength! And also praying for one another! The husband for his wife, the wife for her husband, both together for their children, the children for their grandparents….praying for each other. This is what it means to pray in the family and it is what makes the family strong: prayer.
In the responsorial psalm we find these words: “let the humble hear and be glad” (33/34:2). The Lord hears the cry of the lowly, but do we hear the cry of the poor?
This already opens us to a missionary discourse. St. Paul says: " But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it".
The task of Christians is to proclaim the Gospel to all people, near and far. This is witnessed above all by the Missionaries, Priests, Sisters, lay people, families who in many parts of the world evangelize and make Jesus Christ known. These evangelizers convert to faith and help the poor. We should be happy and thank the young Churches of the world for their vitality. They are the hope of the whole Church and of humanity. It is a faith, a hope, a charity that comes from the poor. Once again God builds His kingdom and carries on the work of salvation of the world through the poor and humble people.
Jesus often spoke to Luisa about prayer in the Divine Will. On July16, 1927 He explained how the prayer done in It, possesses divine power and universal strength.
One who lives in the Divine Will has the wideness, the capacity, to be able to enclose all the acts of God within herself, therefore becoming the depository of the Divine Will. And because of this, God finds in that soul the whole of Himself with all His acts. Therefore, everything – everything is sacred in her, everything is holy, everything is light and beauty; she possesses perfect balance, divine order, and Jesus finds in her the glory of His sanctity, of His light, of His rare beauty. Jesus looks at her and He finds His reflections, His dearest image created by Him, as wanted by Him; and in the excess of His love He keeps repeating: “How beautiful you are – my Will has enclosed everything in you. The Creation is a pale image of you; you are more refulgent than the sun, you are more adorned than the heavens, you are more graceful than the flowery fields. You are all beautiful because the power of my Divine Volition invests you, nourishes you – is your life.”
When the soul prays in the Divine Will, all things and all created beings stand at attention, suspend all things, make everything silent, and while they are all intent on admiring the act done in the Divine Will, all together, they follow the prayer. The power of it calls and imposes itself on everything, in such a way that all do the same thing. If all other prayers were united together in order to compare them with a simple prayer done in the Divine Will, this one surpasses them all, because it possesses a Divine Will, an immense power, an incalculable value. Jesus Himself feels invested by such a prayer, and as He sees that it is His Will that prays, He feels Its power which identifies Him with that very prayer. So, if graces are not obtained by means of the prayer done in the Divine Will, which is universal and divine prayer, if divine justice is not placated and scourges continue to pour upon the earth, it means that that is the Will of God, and that instead of making those graces descend, it makes the effects of It descend into souls; and if one does not obtain much with it, much less will be obtained with other prayers not done in the Divine Will, which contain neither divine power nor universal strength.