Beloved Hidden Flower of My Mother's Immaculate Heart, I give to you My Peace, My Blessing, My Courage, for your path now is the path of redemptive suffering.

      To all of My children everywhere I solemnly tell you that I look with joy upon all who keep this great feast and honor Me in their heart, for the Most Blessed Sacrament cannot be taken from you if your heart is sincere.

      My little hidden flower knows full well the solemnity of this Feast. She knows full well that this is My last message given to all the world through her, for she enters now upon her final mission of love of Me. Therefore, I solemnly say to all the world:

      Give all honor, all reverence and all trust to Me in this most august Sacrament of Merciful Love.

      Do not be deceived by voices of authority who seek to take Me from you in this Sacrament. Beware all who diminish this Sacrament; beware the voices who seek change for the sake of change, disguised as righteousness to make My True Presence more "understandable" to all.

      Woe to those who deceive My little ones, who take My Own words and change them to fit the mode of modern society.

      I Am! I Am unchangeable! That which I have spoken is spoken and cannot be altered.

      All of this My Holy Mother has warned you of for countless years. My Blessed Mother has sought for conversion of heart, beseeching each of you to enter into the Refuge of My Sacred Heart.

      I solemnly say to you: The Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament is the Refuge of My Sacred Heart, and all who enter into this Holy Abode shall persevere until the end.

      I solemnly tell you the Hour of your Visitation is at hand. Therefore, let all men know of the Font of My Divine Mercy! Let all know that all I spoke to My servant and saint, Blessed Faustina, is fulfilled in the Institute of Divine Mercy, which shall grow and bear great fruit and bring torrents of My Infinite Mercy to all the world.

      Do all in your power to help this Institute. Pray much, make sacrifice, give of your treasure, your talent and time. Do this in total Trust as I have asked, and you shall see and know Mercy, and by Mercy shall you be judged.

      The changes shall come rapidly upon the world, My children. Chaos will be everywhere. The schism is already marked in My One Holy Catholic Church for the voices of many cry out, "We are the American Church!"

      No! There is but One Shepherd and One Flock, and all obedience is to be given to My true Vicar on earth, Pope John Paul II.

      Pray much for him. Pray! Pray! Pray! Read Sacred Scripture, My children. Then go back and read the messages given by My Holy Mother and by Me to the world, and your soul shall be enlightened by the Holy Spirit to discern the truth of these words.

      I have spoken to you through My hidden flower, who now draws deeper into My Sacred Wounds and into the Mystery of My Sacred Passion. Yet, out of Infinite Love for all My children, I give to you yet more grace to assist you in these end times.

      My little obedient hidden flower, knowing the extent of her suffering, was given lessons/meditations and teachings by Me upon the Scriptures, upon the teachings of My One True Church. These lessons were given to her from the Feast of the Epiphany of this year 1995 until Ash Wednesday 1995.

      Now that My monthly messages have concluded, I have told My hidden flower that the lessons given in the first part of this year shall be printed in the publication I have requested of My servants. Therefore, beginning with the August issue of A Call To Peace which I solemnly tell you is Mine and not of the world, you will receive My Lessons as I have instructed My hidden flower and her Spiritual Director, My cherished Oblate dedicated to My Immaculate Mother - Fr. Al Svobodny, OMI whom I have chosen from all time.

      These Lessons are a guide for you to secure you in your faith, to anchor you in My Holy Passion, to fill you with hope and trust, and to make of you humble, contrite children.

      Heed well all I have said to you, and keep My words close to your heart.

      Meditate on the future Lessons and draw close to Me, for I await each of you with outstretched arms.

      My children, beware all who deny Me. Love Me. Trust Me. Be of great courage and daily pray for the Triumph of My Mother's Immaculate Heart.

      Do not be afraid. Do not be anxious. Do not become lukewarm. Remember, I am with you always until the end of time.

      Behold, My little ones, I beg you to prepare, for I Come!

      This concludes nearly five years of constant messages to the world from Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart.

Finally the long-awaited books "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." and THE HIDDEN WAY are NOW available!

     With today's final two messages, you can now order the book that contains ALL the messages. This much-anticipated 224-page book of ALL the messages to the world imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart from the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a lasting gift that will inspire you in your faith, and all God asks of us. You can acquire your own handsome, coffee-table top copy of "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." containing all 632 messages or the THE HIDDEN WAY containing 100 inspirational Meditative Lessons from Our Lord and Our Lady on Church Doctrine by clicking on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." or THE HIDDEN WAY or both books at BOOKS

The Vicar of Christ Speaks! His Concluding Message to the Americas: Be united for Christ!

     Following up a year after the Bishops of North, Central and South America, along with the Caribbean contingent, met for the month-long Synod of the Americas in Rome at the end of 1997, Pope John Paul II officially closed the Synod with his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City in January 1999. Because of its significance for all Americans, we have brought you this important document in several installments over the past several months. Today we bring you the twenty-fifth and final installment. For the Conclusion., click on THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS.

Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America

From Pope John Paul II to the Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Men and Women Religious, and all the Lay Faithful on the encounter with the Living Jesus Christ: The Way to Conversion, Communion and Solidarity in America

75. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). Trusting in this promise of the Lord, the pilgrim Church in America prepares enthusiastically to meet the challenges of today's world and those that will come in the future. In the Gospel, the Good News of the Resurrection of the Lord is accompanied by the invitation to fear not (cf. Mt 28:5, 10). The Church in America wishes to walk in hope, as the Synod Fathers declared: “With serene trust in the Lord of history, the Church prepares to cross the threshold of the Third Millennium freed from prejudice, hesitation, selfishness, fear or doubt, and convinced of the fundamental and primary service which she must provide as a testimony to her fidelity to God and to the men and women of the continent”. (290)

      Furthermore, the Church in America feels especially impelled to walk in faith, responding with gratitude to the love of Jesus, “the merciful love of God made flesh (cf. Jn 3:16)”. (291) The celebration of the beginning of the Third Christian Millennium can be the right moment for the People of God in America to renew “their thanks for the great gift of faith”, (292) which they first received five centuries ago. The year 1492, beyond its historical and political meaning, was the great year of grace when America welcomed the faith: a faith which proclaims the supreme gift of the Incarnation of the Son of God two thousand years ago, and which we will solemnly commemorate in the Great Jubilee now so close.

      This twofold sense of hope and gratitude must accompany every pastoral action of the Church on the continent, permeating with the spirit of the Jubilee the various initiatives in the dioceses, parishes, religious communities, ecclesial movements, and the activities which will be organized at both regional and continental levels. (293)

Prayer to Jesus Christ for the families of America

76. I therefore invite all the Catholics of America to take an active part in the evangelizing initiatives which the Holy Spirit is stirring in every part of this immense continent, so full of resources and hopes for the future. In a special way, I invite Catholic families to be “domestic Churches”, (294) in which the Christian faith is lived and passed on to the young as a treasure, and where all pray together. If they live up to the ideal which God places before them, Catholic homes will be true centers of evangelization.

      In concluding this Apostolic Exhortation, in which I have taken up the proposals of the Synod Fathers, I gladly welcome their suggestion to compose a prayer for the families of America. (295) I invite individuals, communities and ecclesial groups, wherever two or more gather in the Lord's name, to strengthen through prayer the spiritual bond between all American Catholics. Let everyone join in the prayer of the Successor of Peter, invoking Christ who is “the way of conversion, communion and solidarity in America”:

      We thank You, Lord Jesus, because the Gospel of the Father's love, with which You came to save the world, has been proclaimed far and wide in America as a gift of the Holy Spirit that fills us with gladness.

      We thank You for the gift of Your Life, which You have given us by loving us to the end: Your Life makes us children of God, brothers and sisters to each other. Increase, O Lord, our faith and our love for You, present in all the tabernacles of the continent.

      Grant us to be faithful witnesses to your Resurrection for the younger generation of Americans, so that, in knowing You, they may follow You and find in you their peace and joy. Only then will they know that they are brothers and sisters of all God's children scattered throughout the world.

      You Who, in becoming man, chose to belong to a human family, teach families the virtues which filled with light the family home of Nazareth.

      May families always be united, as You and the Father are one, and may they be living witnesses to love, justice and solidarity; make them schools of respect, forgiveness and mutual help, so that the world may believe; help them to be the source of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, and all the other forms of firm Christian commitment.

      Protect Your Church and the Successor of Peter, to whom You, Good Shepherd, have entrusted the task of feeding Your flock. Grant that the Church in America may flourish and grow richer in the fruits of holiness.

      Teach us to love Your Mother, Mary, as You loved her. Give us strength to proclaim Your word with courage in the work of the new evangelization, so that the world may know new hope. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America, pray for us!

Given at Mexico City, January 22, in the year 1999, the twenty-first of my Pontificate.

Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo, now the Archbishop of Managua, is a tried and true veteran of the struggles between Somoza and the Sandinistas

     We continue with this special series introducing you to the Princes of the Church. Our eighty-seventh red-hat we feature, in alphabetical order is Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo of the Salesian Order who has been there for the people through the terrible strife and civil war in Nicaragua as well as the most recent devastating earthquakes. He was elevated to the cardinalate in the Pope's Consistory of May 25, 1985. For more on Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

87.   Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo

      Nicaragua's only red-hat Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo has had his trials with the internal strife of guerrilla fighting, corrupt government and recently devastating earthquakes, but he hasn't given up hope or faith in the people he shepherds and God's infinite Mercy. He was born on February 2, 1926 in the village of La Libertad, Nicaragua in the Diocese of Juigalpa in Central America. Ordained a Salesian priest on August 10, 1958 he began teaching in Nicaragua and El Salvador as a professor of mathematics and physics. In 1961 he was appointed Prefect of Discipline at the Salesian Seminar in San Salvador and a few years later promoted to Rector of the seminary, a position he held until 1968 when Pope Paul VI made him a bishop granting him the titular see of Puzia di Bizacena on January 18, 1968. He was installed as Auxiliary Bishop of Matagalpa on March 31, 1968 and promoted to Archbishop of Managua on February 16, 1970.

      Throughout the next two decades, as shepherd to the largest see and city of Nicaragua, he would face the growing threat of liberation theology as well as the inner strife of a country falling apart because of the feud between the Sandinsta guerillas and the Somoza government. He often served as a mediator between the two violent factions, often meeting with success through his amiable demeanor and sincerity as a man of God which translated into the release of many prisoners on both sides. Long a strong pro-life prelate, he has fought all his life for human dignity and the Sanctity of Life; always standing strong for the Church in the face of the crooked regime of Somoza and the guerilla tactics of the notorious Sandanistas.

      He was rewarded by Pope John Paul II in the Consistory of May 25, 1985 with the cardinalate and the the titular church of St. John the Evangelist a Spinaceta. As Archbishop of Managua he oversees a country of 3,779,000 Catholics which is nearly 90% of the total population of Nicaragua. The Faith has been strong in this Central American Republic since the Spanish conquest in 1532 when the first bishop was assigned to the land. The ministry of the Church has had its setbacks with the abdication of Anastasio Somoza Debayle and his family on July 17, 1979 and the ensuing developments with the Sandistas which turned hostile to the Church in the aftermath of the spoils. Despite this and the infiltration of evangelical and pentecostal Protestant sects trying to erode the faith in this land colonized by the Jesuits in the sixteenth century, Cardinal Obando Bravo presses on upholding the banner of Holy Mother Church.

      In addition to his enormous task in Managua, he serves curial membership in the Congregation for the Clergy and the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life as well as the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He resides in the Bishop's quarters at Arzobispado Apartado 3058 in Managua, Nicaragua.

Click here to go to SECTION THREE or SECTION FOUR or SECTION FIVE or SECTION SIX or SECTION SEVEN or return to SECTION ONE or click here to return to the graphics front page of this issue.

August 13-22, 1999 volume 10, no. 152-157   DAILY CATHOLIC