Newsletter N. 2/26 – Don’t let hope be stolen from you! Today, perhaps more than ever, the temptation is great..

According to many, the beasts of the Apocalypse seem today to be converging to lead us away from eternal salvation. The Dragon of Rev 20:2 – that is, the devil cast out of Heaven and cast down to earth, filled with hatred for God, and therefore thirsting for vengeance and wishing to unleash all his wrath upon us humans – is the instigator of evil, of every form of evil, both material and spiritual. The first Beast that rises from the sea (Rev 13:1), often interpreted as a figure of the Antichrist – that is, dictatorial or totalitarian political power – persistently uses every means to ensure that men freely turn against God and the good. The second Beast that rises from the Earth (Rev 13:11), that is, the False Prophet – which, for many, represents propaganda and deception – has the same aim of depriving man of God and the eternal Kingdom. Lies, Violence and Wealth are used by them to seduce mankind, urging them to believe that by going against the good revealed to us by God in Jesus and by separating themselves from Him, they may finally find justice and peace. All this through their own efforts (intellect, memory and will) without asking for help from anyone, least of all from God. To cast God and all His influence aside in order to give free rein to one’s desires using the means at humanity’s disposal: this is what the two Beasts relentlessly urge. And even though people constantly see for themselves that this enticement is utterly false, it nevertheless seems to them to be a positive thing because they ideologically believe that through this freedom from God they can finally attain the happiness they have always hoped for. It is a deception that proves fatal for many, yet it is chosen with incredible clarity. Thus, however, hope in God who saves is replaced by the human strength of the earth, which nonetheless faces death and with it the end of all hope, both human and heavenly.

Hence the absolute necessity of not allowing our hope in God to be stolen from us, despite every force of seduction and violence. God never lies; He must not lie, even when He leaves man free to shape his own earthly and heavenly destiny. Man alone is capable of creating a countless multitude of sorrows, anxieties and despair, both in the individual and in global society. Abandoning Christian hope (which is the eternal certainty of God’s intervention towards everyone and all) thus leads to a world of shadows where nothing is concrete, objective or true. Eternal darkness could be the ultimate end and final destination.
We therefore need strong support and an example to follow. In the writings of Maria Valtorta, Jesus gives us this model and this suggestion: the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“She is Hope, as well as Faith and Charity. The three theological virtues find their embodiment in her, for no one in the world loved as she did, no one believed, and above all, no one hoped. She was an abyss of hope. And so I have made her your star to show you the way to Heaven. If you always believe in her, you will never know the horror of despair, nor will you destroy yourselves through despair. May Mary, the Hope of God who awaited her to bring about the Redemption of mankind, be the hope of mankind. Do not lose sight, O mortals, of the Morning Star, whose rays are made up of the seven swords pierced into her most sweet and pure Heart, pierced for your sake. Live in her. And in the Holy One who is the Mother of God and who prays for you, without ceasing, before Our Throne, die” (15 September 1943, Q43).

Let us draw near to her, the Virgin blessed by God, by the angels and by the righteous, so that we may believe ever more deeply in Jesus and thus place ever greater hope in his words and in all that he has done for each one of us. This hope-certainty must be our ever-present companion at every hour of the day and night, filling our gestures and prayers, our actions and words, time and eternity. 

— fr. Ernesto Zucchini

[This text was automatically translated by Deepl.com – quotes included]