Greetings from the PRESIDENT OF THE APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT

TO THE CARDINAL
HIS MOST REVEREND EMINENCE
MONSIGNOR CARLO CAFFARRA
METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOP OF BOLOGNA

(Catanzaro: Politeama Theatre – March 14, 2007)

Most Reverend Eminence,

with feelings of sincere faith and gratitude, I offer you a warm welcome on my own behalf, of the Inspirer and Founder, of the Committee and of all the Apostolic Movement. Your presence among us, on this final day of our II National Convention, is cause for great joy, because, as Bishop and Cardinal, a successor of the apostles, you bring us the gifts of Christ the Lord, and his truth. Moreover, your presence also gives our assembly, a specifically ecclesial prerogative, supported by the fact that it is placed, almost as a hinge between two ecclesial events of major importance: the Congress of the Italian Church in Verona recently passed and the final phase of the celebration of the VII Diocesan Eucharistic Congress of your Church which is in Bologna, whose theme is: “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor 5.17).'” In your Pastoral Note “… until Christ be formed in you (Gal 4.19),” that is how you justify the choice of the theme, emphasizing the two perspectives guides: “With the expression in “Christ” the new way of being of the human person, his fundamental structure are expressed: Christ becomes the foundation and root of all our lives. The second is that today many people have really lost the measure of their humanity; therefore, they are incapable to understand the meaning of their own life. The Eucharist is the complete interpretive key of the life of man.”

Eminence the Apostolic Movement, founded in Catanzaro November 3, 1979, by the Inspirer and Founder Mrs. Maria Marino, loves the Eucharist. It is the real presence of Jesus Christ, live and true, in his Body and Blood, and in his divine and human nature. In it every one of us finds the inexhaustible source of life in God, as it is the source and summit of the grace and communion with God and with the brothers.
I take this opportunity to remember how H.H. John Paul II of blessed memory, at the hearing time granted us in Castel Gandolfo, August 16, 1987, stated that the Apostolic Movement is born from the Last Supper, the proper place of the Eucharist and the manifestation of the Spirit. Through the announcement and remembrance of the word of Jesus we want to be faithful and joyful witnesses.
To all of you who wanted to participate in this Second National Convention of the Apostolic Movement: Most Excellencies the Bishops, Civil and Military Authorities, Reverend Priests, male and female Religious persons, lay consecrated, representatives of Groups, Movements and Associations, Holy People of God; my personal thanks and of all the staff of the Apostolic Movement.

Your Eminence, we remember with joy when you met for the first time some members of the Apostolic Movement of Bologna, in the St. Mary and S. Dominic of Mascarella Parish. It was a short, but exciting and very friendly meeting. Now we are here to listen to you carefully and with the attitude of faith; Yours is not a word among many, but a word announced in the name and with the authority of Jesus Christ. This mystery is a great!
Let us entrust Your Person to the thoughtful care of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption. May the Angels and Saints, protect and guard you, and intercede with Lord Jesus, so that Your high Episcopal Ministry, for the abundant blessings of God, is always rich in fruits of grace and conversion to the gospel. Thank you Eminence.

Catanzaro, March 14, 2007 Cettina Marraffa President of the Apostolic Movement