When the Sacrifice is No Longer Greater

At the end of November, I shared with you the powerful counter-witness of Kirsten and David MacDonald against the strong tide of the culture of death that is sweeping through Canada. As the country’s suicide rate soared through euthanasia, Kirsten — bedridden with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) — became a prisoner in her own body. Yet, she refused to take her life, instead offering it up for “priests and humanity.” I went to visit them both last week, to spend time together watching and praying in the last days of her life.

Two nights ago, after having fallen asleep surrounded by five sisters from the Queenship of Mary community from Ottawa, and without drugs, Kirsten went Home leaving behind her eight-year-old daughter, Adessa, and husband David.

While I was with them, I looked Kirsten in the eyes and said to her, “I am concerned what will happen to Canada when God takes you home. For your sacrifice (refusing to be euthanized and even refusing drugs) is, I believe, holding back the hand of justice for this country — a country that has embraced the culture of death as a solution to its problems, from the womb to the tomb. Sometimes, it’s just one or two souls that can change the course of time…” Then I shared with her this passage from St. Faustina’s diary:

I saw a resplendence beyond compare and, in front of this brilliance, a white cloud in the shape of a scale. Then Jesus approached and put the sword on one side of the scale, and it fell heavily towards the ground until it was about to touch it. Just then, the sisters finished renewing their vows. Then I saw Angels who took something from each of the sisters and placed it in a golden vessel somewhat in the shape of a thurible. When they had collected it from all the sisters and placed the vessel on the other side of the scale, it immediately outweighed and raised up the side on which the sword had been laid…Then I heard a voice coming from the brilliance: Put the sword back in its place; the sacrifice is greater. —Divine Mercy in My Soul, Diary, n. 394

Holding Back the Hand of God

You have heard the words of St. Paul:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church… (Colossians 1:24)

In the footnotes of the New American Bible, it says:

What is lacking: although variously interpreted, this phrase does not imply that Christ’s atoning death on the cross was defective. It may refer to the apocalyptic concept of a quota of “messianic woes” to be endured before the end comes; cf. Mk 13:8, 19–20, 24 and Mt 23:29–32. —New American Bible Revised Edition

Those “messianic woes”, also recorded in the “seals” of chapter six of Revelation, are for the most part man-made. They are the fruit of our sin, not God’s wrath. It is we who fill up the cup of justice, not God’s anger. It is we who tip the scales, not God’s finger.

…the Sovereign Lord patiently waits until [nations] reach the full measure of their sins before punishing them… he never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he does not abandon his own people. (2 Maccabees 6:14,16)

“A general uproar,” must now happen, Jesus told Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, “and many things are suffered in order to reorder, renew and give a new shape to the kingdom, or the house.” ^[1]cf. A General Uproar Must Happen This is due in part, He said, to “the blindness of the leaders of nations who want the destruction of the peoples.” ^[2]cf. The Blindness of Leaders Who Want Destruction

It is our prayers, sufferings, and sacrifices that seem to restrain the course of divine justice that would simply allow man to reap what he has sown. And my God, the blood we have sown into the soil through wars, genocides, abortion, and euthanasia is crying out!

The Lord said to Cain: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Gen 4:10) —POPE ST JOHN PAUL II, Evangelium Vitae, n. 10

But can we not tip the scales the other way? In a talk with pilgrims from Fulda, Germany, John Paul II gave a measured answer:

If there is a message in which it is said that the oceans will flood entire sections of the earth; that, from one moment to the other, millions of people will perish… there is no longer any point in really wanting to publish this [third] secret message [of Fatima]… We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because it is only in this way that the Church can be effectively renewed. How many times, indeed, has the renewal of the Church been effected in blood? This time, again, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong, we must prepare ourselves, we must entrust ourselves to Christ and to His Mother, and we must be attentive, very attentive, to the prayer of the Rosary. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, interview with Catholics at Fulda, Germany, Nov. 1980; “Flood and Fire” by Fr. Regis Scanlon, ewtn.com

In the part of the message of Fatima that was published on the Vatican’s website, we hear one of the seers of Fatima telling us what the stakes were even a century ago:

God… is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. —Sr. Lucia, Message of Fatima, vatican.va

But as Sr. Lucia herself would later say:

…let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are responsible. –Sr. Lucia, one of the Fatima visionaries, in a letter to the Holy Father, May 12th, 1982

Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel, for the LORD has a grievance against the inhabitants of the land: there is no fidelity, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land. False swearing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery! In their lawlessness, bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everything that dwells in it languishes: the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and even the fish of the sea perish. (Hos 4:1-3)

No, this is not an easy message to give — but it is the truth. And the truth will set us free, even if it is the hard truth. We have come to the end of our era; the purification of the world is inevitable. And yet, “through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation” even if we cannot avert it. And so, we continue to fast and pray, especially with the Rosary.

Still, even Divine Justice is God’s mercy as He uses chastisement to discipline those whom He loves:

The chastisements [are] to serve as a call for creatures, as speaking voice, as sentries, in order to shake them from the sleep of sin; as a spur, in order to place them on the way; as light in order to lead them.—Jesus to Luisa, May 12, 1927, Vol. 21

The Divine imperative today is not to preserve our comfortable way of life in the West but to purify a Bride for the wedding feast of the Lamb. As one of the Church’s foremost prophets warned us,

The threat of judgment also concerns us, the Church in Europe, Europe and the West in general… the Lord is also crying out to our ears… “If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” Light can also be taken away from us and we do well to let this warning ring out with its full seriousness in our hearts, while crying to the Lord: “Help us to repent!” —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Opening Homily, Synod of Bishops, October 2nd, 2005, Rome

See the Related Reading below for crucial links that explain why and how the purification of the West and the world is now at the threshold.

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, I am the first to admit this is a very sobering message. And so I leave you with a glimpse into my final moments with Kirsten. She wanted me to sing and so I grabbed David’s guitar, and we spent a few times over the next day entering into God’s presence in prayer and song. Kirsten is now worshipping Jesus face to face, I imagine, as her purgatory was likely spent on earth. But she is also praying for us in the Communion of Saints that the sacrifice she joined to Christ — and the witness she gave the world — will work for the salvation of all of us who are still on this earthly pilgrimage.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1	cf. A General Uproar Must Happen
↑2	cf. The Blindness of Leaders Who Want Destruction