LITURGICAL FEAST

In the message which the Father dictated to Mother Eugenia He asked for a feast to be established in His honour:

“I desire that one day, or at least a Sunday, be dedicated to honouring Me in a special way under the title of Father of all Mankind. For this feast, I would like a special Mass and Office. It is not difficult to find the texts in the Holy Scriptures. If you prefer to offer Me this special devotion on a Sunday, I choose the first Sunday of August; if you prefer a weekday, I would like it to be always on the seventh day of the same month”.

Many years ago we started a subscription to ask the Church for the institution of a liturgical feast in honour of God the Father and we collected a considerable number of signatures (over 100,000) which we then sent to the appropriate Church authorities.
We are praying and waiting.

We find it appropriate to highlight what various people have written in this regard: H.E. Msgr. Caillot, Bishop of Grenoble, who instituted the canonical enquiry regarding Mother Eugenia and the Father’s Message which she received; his Vicar Msgr. Guerry, a member of the theological Commission that examined Mother Eugenia; P. Raniero Cantalamessa, Capuchin, Preacher of the Papal Household; P. Jean Galot sj, professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University:

 

To make God the Father known and honoured by Mgr. A.Caillot:

“The object of the mission which would appear to have been entrusted to Mother Eugenia is precise and, from the doctrinal point of view, I see it as legitimate and timely. Its precise object is to make God the Father known and honoured, mainly by the institution of a special feast which has been requested of the Church. The enquiry established that a liturgical feast in honour of the Father would be quite in keeping with Catholic practice as a whole. It would accord with the traditional trust of Catholic prayer, which ascends to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit, as shown by the prayers of the Mass and the liturgical oblation to the Father during the Holy Sacrifice.(… ) A special feast would thus have the effect firstly of re-establishing order in the spirituality of many Christians and, secondly, of leading them back to the Divine Saviour’s instructions: “Everything you ask the Father in My name…” and again “You will pray like this: ‘Our Father…” (Mgr. Alexandre Caillot, relazione conclusiva all’inchiesta circa Madre Eugenia Ravasio)

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Devotion to the Father, its appropriateness and its doctrinal value

by Mgr. Guery:

Devotion to the Father began with Jesus. How can it not be ours too?
The divine Saviour taught it to us in the only prayer He composed for us. From the Gospel we know that He always told His apostles about His Father. But for how many Christians is the Father, today, a living person ?
They almost always have a feeling of fear towards Him. They don’t dare draw near to Him.
Among God’s attributes we willingly acknowledge His fatherhood. But, for many, it is only a sort of metaphor or abstraction. Now, worship isn’t directed towards an abstract attribute: it rises towards a person.
In fact, the whole liturgy of the Mass invites us to raise our souls to the Father, to offer ourselves to Him, with His beloved Son, to pray “for our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit”.
“Every Catholic prayer, an eminent liturgist says, is offered to the Father by means of the Son, in the Holy Spirit”. Thus we can be certain that this devotion won’t lead us to doubtful innovations; to us it seems something new only because we have forgotten it.
Those – preachers and spiritual directors – who have spread it, have pointed out with joy the profound effects of purification and sanctification which it brings forth in souls. It seems as though there is a special grace attached to it. Why?
First of all, perhaps, because spreading this devotion means continuing the Saviour’s mission itself. Before Jesus, God was known, but not as Father”.

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A feast for the Father by F. Raniero Cantalamessa:

«It’s sad that in the whole liturgical year there isn’t a feast dedicated to the Father, that in the whole Missal there isn’t even a votive Mass in His honour. Come to think of it, it’s very strange; there are many feasts dedicated to Jesus the Son; there is a feast of the Holy Spirit; there are many feasts dedicated to Mary… There isn’t a single feast dedicated to the Father, “source and origin of all divinity”. We could almost say that the Father, and no longer the Holy Spirit, is “the unknown divinity”. It’s true, there is the feast of the Holy Trinity, which, however, is the feast of a mystery, or a dogma and not of a person and, nevertheless, not of a single divine person. Besides, the fact that there is a feast of the Holy Family doesn’t make up for the fact that the Church may feel the need the celebrate, even individually, the three persons of the Holy Family. Couldn’t this be the moment to fill this gap?»

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The new devotion to the Father by F.Jean Galot:

«The number of special feasts dedicated to the saints has continued to grow, but up until now there is no feast day dedicated especially to the Father. We have observed that the new devotion which Jesus started consists of adoring the Father: and yet there is no day in which this adoration is directed more particularly to the person of the Father. The observation is all the more surprising when in today’s humanity there is a growing conviction of the importance of fatherhood.
In the past there were attempts to introduce a feast of the Father. In the XVII century, for example, in 1684 the king of Spain Charles II started a petition in Rome in order to obtain, at least for Spain or for the whole Church, the institution of a special feast dedicated to the Father. In 1694 about thirty bishops subscribed to this petition.
A certain number of Congregations of the Father were founded and they desired to celebrate this feast; the celebration had already been introduced in Tarazona, Spain and in Tours, France…»

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for further information:
Jean Galot “Festeggiare il Padre. Conoscere e celebrare la paternità di Dio”, ed. Dehoniane, Roma, 1999, prima ed. francese “Fêter le Père”, ed Mame, Paris 1993.