From Jesus, “Your Good God”, to Valeria Copponi on May 5th, 2021:

If you do not become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 18:3). Yes, my children, you see the spontaneity, the joy, the grace, the goodness of little ones — all riches that belong to those who have a pure heart. I say to you again, blessed and pure, for theirs will be the Kingdom of Heaven.

Little children, when growing up, instead of trying to be more perfect in love, you allow yourselves to be taken over by jealousy, envy and malice of all sorts; you do not resist temptation, and thus these weaknesses of yours make you lose the good and healthy habits that used to allow you to live in peace among you and above all with God. Therefore, in these dark times, seek to put God back in the first place. I am reserving a place for you; do not lose it because of your disobedience towards your Creator and His Word.

My dearest children, be humble, for humility is the virtue that makes you rich. Not with the richness that you covet, but that which pleases your God, Creator and Lord of the whole earth. Therefore, my dearly beloved little children, from today, start going back to being like children, and I will give you back the joy that you have lost over the course of your lives. I want you all to be children, trusting only in the goodness and greatness of your Father.

Pray and make others pray, so that your brothers and sisters would go back to desiring the virtue of humility. I bless you from on high with My goodness: be worthy of My salvation.

Your Good God.

To “become like children” in the Christian ethos is not to return to juvenile immaturity. Rather, it is to enter into a state of absolute trust in God’s providence and abandonment to His Divine Will, which Jesus says is our “food” (John 4:34). In this state of surrender — which is really the death of one’s own rebellious will and the sinful inclinations of the flesh — is “resurrected” the fruits of the Holy Spirit that were lost by Adam through original sin:

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ [Jesus] have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal 5:19-24)

The question is how to return to this state? The first step is to simply acknowledge the “works of the flesh” in one’s own life and sincerely repent of these in the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the intention of never repeating them. The second is, perhaps, even more difficult: to “let go” of the control over one’s life, insofar as one is “seeking first” his or her own kingdom rather than the Kingdom of Christ. Few know that Our Lady of Medjugorje requested that, on each Thursday of the week, we meditate on the following passage of Scripture. Given all that is happening in the world, and about to happen, this Scripture will soon become the lifeline of many Christians, particularly in the Western World, as the present order collapses. The antidote to the fear of that reality is to become like little children!

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. (Matt 6:24-34)

Hard to let go? Yes. That, in fact, is the Great Wound of original sin. The first sin of Adam and Eve was not taking a bite of the forbidden fruit — it was not trusting in their Creator’s Word. Henceforth, the Great Wound that Jesus came to heal was this breach in childlike trust in the Holy Trinity. That’s why Scripture tells us:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God… (Eph 2:8)

Today is the day to return to that childlike faith, no matter who you are. In this seedling of faith is the “tree of life”, the Cross, upon which is hung your salvation. It’s that simple. Eternal life is not that far out of reach. But it demands that you enter into this childlike faith that, in turn, is proven — not by an intellectual exercise — but by the works in your life.

…if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing… So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (1 Cor 13:2, James 2:17)

In truth, though, we get so tangled in our sin and that of others that it can become very hard to enter this state of abandonment. So we want to recommend to you a most beautiful and powerful novena that has helped countless souls not only find a childlike heart, but find healing and help in the most impossible situations.

—Mark Mallett

Novena of Abandonment

by Servant of God Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo (d. 1970)

A novena comes from the Latin novem, which means “nine.” In Catholic tradition, a novena is a method of praying and meditating for nine days in a row upon a certain theme or intention(s). In the following novena, simply reflect on each meditation of Jesus’ words as if He is speaking them to you, personally (and He is!), for the next nine days. After each reflection, pray with your heart the words: O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!

Day 1

Why do you confuse yourselves by worrying? Leave the care of your affairs to Me and everything will be peaceful. I say to you in truth that every act of true, blind, complete surrender to Me produces the effect that you desire and resolves all difficult situations.