Today is a feast day! The Church celebrates the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!
It is therefore beautiful to celebrate with an apostle of the Sacred Heart: Don Elia Bellebono, whose life - first as a shoemaker and then as a priest - was devoted to serving the Lord and His Heart!
Don Elia was a man of extreme simplicity, to whom Jesus appeared in visions and conversations, sending him as a minister of His mercy.
In October 1969, he receives a mission “within” the mission, a calling “within” the calling. Jesus appears to him and says: «I desire that you have a Sanctuary dedicated to My Most Sacred Heart built. You will have a painting made as you see me, which will reign in the center of the Sanctuary itself, and there I will shower many graces».
The mission the Lord is entrusting to him requires an unconditional, strong, and profound love for Jesus. Elia nurtures this love in his heart, and the Lord knows it well. The revelation that a Sanctuary dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to be built represents a special calling for Elia: spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart of the Savior throughout the world is a grace that touches not only him personally, but also every person he meets along his journey as a gift.
On September 3 and 4, 2021, Don Elia can finally see his dream fulfilled from heaven: the Sanctuary is consecrated by Bishop Giovanni Tani and inaugurated by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti.
In his homily, Bishop Giovanni Tani said these words: “One clear and simple thing must be said: this church exists because Father Elia existed, with his story and his presence in Urbino. Life is made up of encounters; this church is the fruit of a series of encounters, and only the Lord, in his Providence, knows why here and not elsewhere. We acknowledge this with hearts full of gratitude. It is a story that begins in Cividate al Piano in 1912 and ends in a small cell in the hermitage of Monte Giove in Fano in 1996, leaving its most evident mark here in Urbino. This sign points us precisely to the Sacred Heart. Father Elia tells us to look to him. […]
Looking to Jesus, we are certain of our rebirth and know how important this is for us and for the life of the world, of this world so full of resources, but also deeply troubled: a world that has lost its center. The Heart of Jesus invites us to return to the center, from which we can set out again, renewed and strengthened: from here, like water flowing from the temple, we too go out each time to bear witness to our faith everywhere, to proclaim “the wonderful deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light” (cf. 1 Pet 2:9).
Today we honor and pray to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the words recommended by Father Elia:
Prayer to the Sacred Heart
Heart of Jesus, you know.
Heart of Jesus, you can.
Heart of Jesus, you see.
Heart of Jesus, provide.
Heart of Jesus, grant.
Heart of Jesus,
We believe in your love for us.
Heart of Jesus, take care of it.
