It is important to underline once again that Mary is educating and teaching us in a simple way. As a Mother, she says only what deeply touches the life of the faithful. She also told us about how we should treat churches as buildings, because the King of kings and the Lord of lords dwells in them.

In the message of 25 April 1988, she said that Holy Mass is the centre of life, life itself, that a church as a building is consecrated by the divine presence, and that all the faithful are invited to holiness, which proceeds from the encounter with what is holy.

“Dear children! God wants to make you holy; that is why He is inviting you through me to complete surrender. Let Holy Mass be your life. Understand that a church is God’s palace, a place in which I gather you and want to show you the way to God. Come and pray. Do not look at others or gossip, but let your life be a testimony on the way of holiness. Churches are worthy of respect and they are consecrated because God, who became man, dwells in them day and night. Therefore, little children, believe and pray to the Father to increase your faith, and then ask for what you need. I am with you. I look forward with joy to your conversion and I protect you with my motherly mantle. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (25 April 1988)

To make us holy is the first and the final goal of Our Lady’s education. To be holy means first of all to be healthy in soul and purified of sin and of its consequences. It means also to have peace and love in the heart and to grow spiritually. Holiness does not mean to do miracles and perform miraculous signs, to be a visionary or to have the gift of prophecy or something like that. Mary’s desire to make us holy is deeply present in our spiritual being. Holiness is our vocation. The will of God for us is to be holy and blameless like our heavenly Father. (Cf. Eph 1:1f) Therefore, Mary’s duty and task is to lead us on the way of holiness. All Christians are invited and they can be holy.

Each space and each time, each community and each individual, just as they are, are the right place and the right time for holiness. We would deceive ourselves if – as a condition to take a personal decision to grow in holiness – we wanted other times and other people around us. In order to become holy, we need only to cooperate with the will of God wherever we are.

God Gives Holiness

Mary, the servant of God, preserved from sin and immaculate, is an example and a mirror for what God has in mind for us. In her, we can feel all the beauty of the growth in holiness. She can encourage us to grow in holiness, but she cannot make us holy. Only God gives holiness. That is why we should do what she did and what she tells us: we should abandon ourselves to God, trust Him and allow Him to lead us.

In Mary’s messages, abandonment is an expression of faith. To believe means to give the heart to God, to trust God, to say with Mary, “Here I am, O Lord”. Lack of trust and resistance to the will of God is godlessness. God would contradict Himself – which is impossible – if His will was not our holiness, our growth into His image and likeness. We destroy ourselves if we do not cooperate with the will of God.