Opera Omnia

28. THE MASS OF THE WOMAN DISCIPLE APOSTLE

The persons enrolled in Confraternities call themselves Congregation. You call yourselves Sisters. You are daughters of the same Father, God, and you belong more intimately to the Mystical Body of the Church.

Speaking of the eucharistic practices, I would tell you: participate well in the Holy Mass, make the Holy Communion well, however, this is not sufficient for you. The Holy Mass and Communion must become apostolate. Everything that is suggested concerning the practices of piety has to be done. It is a good thing to purify the soul with confession and contrition, to prepare oneself in the spirit of penance, to make acts of faith, hope, charity. All that you have heard and read about the Holy Mass and Communion are to be confirmed, but let us see how to transform these practices into means of apostolate.

The Holy Mass is offered for four purposes and it has its fruits.
When the (P)Disciple participates in the Holy Mass, she never feels alone; before God she joins the whole Church: triumphant, suffering, militant. With the Church, she adores, thanks, atones, supplicates. She is united with the triumphant Church and she glorifies the Most Holy Trinity; she makes reparation for the suffering Church which she represents; she obtains grace, blessing, mercy, salvation for all the militant Church of which she is invested.
Through Him and with Him and in Him.¹
The (P)Disciple feels a member of the Church, she has to fulfill indeed, that which is written in her Constitutions: To be living and active members of the Church,² always in Christ, since He is the Head.

The Mass has four purposes:
To adore. God is the beginning and the final end¹ of all creation, he constitutes our eternal happiness. God is infinite in his perfection, in his holiness. We, small creatures adore him with all the nine choirs of angels, with all the associations of the Saints: the Apostles, Confessors, Virgins; with all and every single soul in purgatory; with all the persons spread on earth, of one nationality or another, of one religion or another. The Pious Disciple who prays, serves as the voice of all.

To thank. God is the beginning of everything. All that exist and have life are from him. Thank him in behalf of all humanity; thank him for the heavenly Church filled with the benefits of God and which praises him eternally. The eternal Magnificat¹ is sung in Heaven, intoned by Our Lady and joined by all the Saints.

To make expiation. Many persons get lost because there is no one who prays enough and makes penance for them. We our-selves do not have sufficient power to help them, and so, we offer in reparation the blood of Jesus, the thorns, the scourging, all his sufferings.
We feel sorry for the sad fact that so many are getting lost. Jesus said so: The gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is clear and many choose to travel it.¹ If there was a great number of hungry, barefooted, dirty children, how much suffering, indeed! You who are kindhearted, feel the suffering of whoever suffers. Oh, have compassion for the multitude of people who are on their way to hell, help them! Faith is needed in the Holy Mass; God forgives and saves through it. Great is the plurality of sins, but great as well is the unceasing offering of the Divine Lamb.² Jesus celebrates his eternal Mass in heaven, here on earth, the Mass is celebrated incessantly. The Pious Disciple is always united to the Mass of Heaven and to the Mass here on earth.

To supplicate. The Mass is the great prayer, since all the graces are obtained through it; it is the greatest prayer.
Jesus Christ prays in the midst of his (P)Disciples. The Pious Disciple always pray in the plural: Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins;¹ grant forgiveness to all. Parce nobis, Domine; ab omni peccato, libera nos, ut ad veram paenitentiam nos perducere digneris² - (spare us, O Lord; from every sin, save us; lead us to true repentance).
Let us pray that peace may be established in families, among men, among all peoples, that the evil caused by the bad press, film, radio, forms of entertainment may be averted; that these dangers which are real traps of the devil may cease. Deliver us, O Lord, from all evils, past, present, future.³ May persons be freed from the chains of sin, may the innocence of children be conserved, may the souls in Purgatory be liberated.
The (P)Disciple brings everybody in her heart. Hidden in Jesus, united to the choirs of Angels and of the Saints, to all the souls in Purgatory and to all the earth, she feels capable to do everything. She is specially united to the Church that Jesus acquired in his Blood and made beautiful, immaculate. Acquisivit eam in sanguine suo⁴ (He has acquired at the price of his own blood).

Fruits of the Holy Mass. There is the most general fruit, general, special and most special.
The Pious Disciple aims at these fruits in conformity with her apostolic heart. She considers Jesus Christ not only as Priest, but also as Apostle and Pontiff, who offers the Divine Victim, namely himself, for souls.

The very general fruit is extended to all, hence, the benefits of the Mass are granted to all. The whole Church benefits from the Mass. Sinners gain from it; the Souls in Purgatory benefit from it; the Angels and Saints rejoice in it; the Most Holy Trinity receives glory from it. Those who are without guilt, the sinners, priests, teachers, government leaders, all delight in it. The (P)Disciple who participates well in the Holy Mass, knows that she fulfills a universal work and her action is lifted up to penetrate the Heavens, going beyond the limits of time and place.
The (P)Disciple-Apostle includes all and embraces all.
- She is the most silent and active soul;
- the most withdrawn and laborious soul;
- the most recollected and expansive soul; she works with means that shall never fail, since Jesus' Blood does not fail.
In the Introit of the Mass, the (P)Disciple enters with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. She is also laden with her sins and those of humanity; she accepts the chalice of the passion and places in it all her sacrifice, consummated in faithfulness to duties and in the daily renunciations. She is the small victim of love. Weighed down by her sins and those of others, she humbles herself before God and asks for pardon. She accompanies Jesus on the road of sorrow, with a repentant heart and with tears in her eyes. He is the Innocent One and the (P)Disciple is hidden in him.

The general fruit is extended to whoever takes part in the celebration of the Mass, in the construction of the Church, in the making of the sacred vestments; to the person who prepared the altar, the wine and hosts; to whoever serves in the Mass, who lights the candles, etc. It is extended to all those who have contributed, directly or indirectly, in the celebration of the Mass.
The Disciple has at heart especially the vocations. It is a precious contribution to prepare the material for the Sacrifice, the altar linens, but if you prepare the hands that hold the Holy Host, the tongues that repeat: Hoc est Corpus meum,¹ how much precious then, is your work!
Ask, implore, you are to obtain still: 1 million and 600 thousand Priests.
The woman Disciple-Apostle has an immense field of operation and her work shall lasts until the end of the world, to be perpetuated in eternity.

The special fruit of the Mass is for the person for whose intention the Mass is celebrated. For example, it is celebrated for that deceased person, for that sick person, for the alumni. etc. The Priest puts the offerer's intention.

How is this fruit transformed into apostolate? The Pious Society of St. Paul offers about 2,300 Masses annually for its benefactors and cooperators. All the more, the members of the Pious Society of St. Paul, Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, Daughters of St. Paul, Pastorelle Sisters, participate in these Masses. The (P)Disciple participates in the Mass for all the other Pious Disciples, for the Priests, Men Religious and members of the Pious Society of St. Paul, for the Daughters of St. Paul, for the Pastorelle. She must nourish and sustain all, she has to obtain for everyone good spirit and the graces they need. The Pious Disciple shall get the merit of all in the Pauline Family and shall have a share of the good, that is accomplished by all.

With your life of prayer and sacrifice, you nourish the root and you give life to the trunk, to the branches, flowers, fruits. May the root be holy, or without guilt; may it be well fertilized, hence, religious life is really lived; may it be nourished with the eucharistic life and watered well with prayer.
Abide in humility, well hidden. Do they say that you are the servants? Is Our Lady not called the servant, the handmaid of the Lord?¹ She who was at the root of the Church and of every apostolate.
May you thirst for hiddenness, like Jesus who loves to hide himself under the eucharistic species.
I think you should only have one fear: that of not understanding enough the nobility, greatness, sublimity of your call. Be as well hidden, take the wrongdoings in peace, pray the Lord to send you as many humiliations as necessary to become the root that spreads and gives the nourishing grace .
May you also be fertilizers, dung, water, which are absorbed altogether by the plant and become the lymph which rises and gives life.

The most special fruit is reserved only to the Priest celebrant. Pray for the clergy. Do you understand the value of the Priest in the world? It is necessary that the missionary Priests, those who teach, the preachers, all Priests, be holy! Holy Sisters are also formed by holy Priests.

I have just told you something. Do not think that the argument is already exhausted. The Lord shall still tell you nicer things. I speak in his name and I tell you the things that I learned from Him.

Ask for pardon, ask for the grace to be able to participate in the Holy Mass well and to transform it into apostolate. Go ahead, and the Mass of the little, hidden Pious Disciple shall produce immense fruits. You cannot imagine nor find a vocation in the world better than yours. The more you will do like the Host, the more you will produce the fruits of the Host. Jesus is hidden under the eucharistic veil, but he semper vivens ad interpellandum pro nobis¹ (forever lives to make intercession for us)