Illumination of Consciences?

 “No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account” (Heb 4:13). 

A relatively new aspect of chastisement literature is the declaration that at least a part of “the chastisement” will involve the “illumination of consciences.” This teaching seems to be mostly drawn from the alleged apparitions at Garabandal, Spain, and from the writings of Father Stefano Gobbi (†2011), whose “revelations” are not recognized by the Church. In Father Gobbi's words, the Holy Spirit "will open the doors of hearts and illuminate all consciences. Every person will see himself in the burning fire of divine truth. It will be like a judgment in miniature. And then Jesus Christ will bring his glorious reign in the world." 

Now, there are people to whom this kind of light has been given in this life as a “grace freely given.” Some of them testify that, far from a “chastisement,” it was a moment of tremendous mercy; a saving grace. Among those said to have had such experiences is Dynamic Catholic founder Matthew Kelly. I was told that he once had a rather active ministry testifying to this, but that he has since (wisely, I believe) removed most traces of it. Graces like this are personal. There is a marked difference between a personal grace of an “illumination of conscience” and the kind of universal pre-Judgment Day judgment that is described in some of the chastisement literature. 

In general, the chastisement literature that takes a universal “illumination of consciences” as a given supports this with select quotes from holy men and women of the past and present who reported such experiences, including St Margaret Mary and St Faustina. But St Margaret Mary (to delve into one example) experienced an “illumination of conscience” after she had already undergone a mystical “exchange of hearts” with Jesus Christ! That’s not exactly replicable across the board.

Graces given to individuals as part of their spiritual journey cannot be extrapolated to the entire human population at a given moment in history. God treats each one of us as unique and unrepeatable. You and I have a distinct relationship with our Good Shepherd. The spiritual life is not a “one size fits all” proposition.

Ideally, every examination of conscience brings us closer to genuine illumination of conscience, so that we live more and more in the light of God. Seeing the daily showering of grace we live in can open our eyes to the depth and breadth of sin and the compromises we make. Little by little, we learn to recognize that our actions and omissions have an effect not only on our own spiritual life, but on the spiritual lives and actual lives of those around us and on the entire Church. This in can provoke profound repentance and allow us to receive even more mercy from the infinitely good Heart of God.

 

What the “illumination of conscience” anticipates has a name in the Catholic faith tradition. It is the particular judgment. And each one of us has an appointment of our own, at the moment of our death. There we will see, in the light of God, the extent to which we let Christ live in us. 

 

In the particular judgment, we will recognize all the ways divine life and love was poured into our lives so that it might be magnified in us and shared in the world. We will see the choices we made to correspond or delay, receive or refuse, draw near or turn away. We will recognize, as God does even now, all the circumstances that surrounded those choices: the limiting factors like abuse, poverty, neglect, shame, fear, lack of support, bad example and worse; and the extra help that was available from the sacraments and actual grace, the intercession of Mary, of our Guardian Angel and our patron saints, the kindness of our neighbors, even our own good deeds and hard-won habits of virtue. We will see, in other words, the story of grace and mercy as we allowed them to play out during our limited time on earth.

 

When the Last Day comes, all people who ever lived will rise from the dead for the Second Coming of Jesus. Together, with bodies that reflect lives of grace or evil, the saints and the damned will experience the universal Judgment (the Final Judgment), described in imagery in the Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46):

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left….

Not only the saints, but the whole universe will be renewed, “set free from its bondage to decay,” as St Paul said (Rom 8:21) in a new creation that surpasses all imagining. God will be all in all, and each will experience that existence in God according to the way he or she lived during this short span of time we call “life” (but that is really only the beginning of real life). 

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church

1021 Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul—a destiny which can be different for some and for others.

1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification or immediately, — or immediate and everlasting damnation.

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love [St John of the Cross].

I have been researching "chastisement prophecies," and as I develop these themes, hope to include them in future posts. I think this is important for the peace of many hearts. You might also be interested in 

Private Revelations: https://romans8v29.blogspot.com/2021/03/private-revelations-you-can-be-mystic.html

Three Days of Darkness? https://romans8v29.blogspot.com/2021/03/three-days-of-darkness.html

 

Private Revelations: You Can Be a Mystic!

Detail of Our Lady of Lourdes
window; St Adalbert Church (Chicago).           

In the course of the research I have been doing for this series of posts, I have become aware of at least a dozen people who are reporting heavenly visions or apparitions, in addition to the sequence that began in Medjugorje in the 1980’s.

There’s no question that people are longing for signs of God’s presence among us here and now, and flocking to wherever they hear it may be found. It is not that Divine Revelation is incomplete or lacking in any way, but surely the desperate hunger to hear from living witnesses signals that whatever may have been communicated in religious formation, it wasn’t a convincing testimony from someone who seemed to have seen or heard God in a vitally personal way. Private revelations seem to fill that gap.

 

In one case the local bishop is actively involved in all the events surrounding the alleged seer. The bishop is acting as a wise pastor, accompanying the faithful who are seeking God through the intercession of Mary, and so as the phenomenon develops, it is unfolding with solid instruction by the bishop himself. Whether the mystical aspect is later recognized as authentic or not, the process will not have been “crowdsourced” but “pastored,” and the people of the diocese will have been catechized and supported in a process of faith development that respects their desire to be close to God and his holy Mother.

 

The Church is quite familiar with the concept of private revelations. There is a well-established tradition in the lives of the saints of recounting their mystical experiences. The Solemnities of Corpus Christi and the Sacred Heart originated in private revelations (though both feasts have solid Scriptural and theological foundations); the Marian feasts of Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Fatima also commemorate significant private revelations. 

 

So what is private revelation? How is it different from Divine Revelation? And how are we to determine our own attitude toward reports of “apparitions” or “locutions” by people in our time?

 

Divine Revelation (public revelation) is the self-revelation of God that reached its apex in the Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Once God has come to earth and given himself completely to us, even leaving himself (Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity) in the Eucharist, there is nothing left to say or reveal! Until the end of time the Church, with its teaching role exercised by the Pope and the Bishops in union with him (Magisterium), will continue to unpack the infinite mysteries left in her hands. It is absolutely complete, and is “contained” in Scripture and Tradition (the life of the Church). We see the “unpacking” happening when dogmas of the Church define truths of the faith that are implicit in Scripture and the Church’s liturgy or moral practice, but were not articulated until hammered out through controversy, theological reflection, liturgical piety or even the growing awareness within the Church that this was a reality that was always treasured and defended.

 

Private revelations are given to individuals or groups of people, often for a specific need at a particular point in time. Not every experience of prayer has to be submitted to the local bishop! (More about that soon.) If intended to be shared with the Church at large, the story and/or message must be “recognized” (authenticated) by the local Bishop. It is part of the bishop’s task to “discern all spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 Jn 4:1). In the case of private revelations, the bishop seeks to determine the supernatural origin of an experience. 

 

Most of the time, as in the recent case of “Our Lady of America,” investigations find that what a person reports are “inner religious experiences rather than objective external visions and revelations." That is not to say that people are deluded! It is just saying that what was experienced was a deeply personal form of prayer, not a message or visit from Heaven sent for the sake of the wider Church.

After 45 years of religious life, I have gotten to know a lot of people (and not just sisters!) who practice a consistent life of prayer. And it seems to me that most people who are faithful to a life of prayer seem to experience some kind of communication from God. It may be one-off; it may be sporadic; it may take one form or another. But I have heard so many examples that I can’t help but assume that God is waiting, waiting, waiting for all of us to be ready for a familiar relationship with him. God wants to share our life with us. All of it! He wants to reassure us in our uncertainties, enjoy the big and little delights of the day, shed light on our regrets in real time, even tease us. (Really; I’ve heard lots of stories about how playful God can be.)

 

The thing is, this seems to require a sort of training in prayer; something that calms the inner conversations with oneself to the point that God can get a word in edgewise. Still, pretty much everyone I know who has ever maintained some kind of daily pattern of silent space with God for years on end can probably report (in private, with extreme reserve, to a really close friend) something on the order of a communication from God.

 

But I also suspect that most Catholics don’t know that. 

 

So maybe what happens is that when something God has been saying (probably for years) finally breaks through the distraction, and a person recognizes God’s “voice,” he or she may think that this is an absolutely extraordinary thing; that they are receiving locutions and are now a designated messenger who must promulgate what has been received. 

 

Because no one ever talks openly about their prayer life except messengers, right?

 

What if some (or most, or all) of the people reporting messages from Heaven are simply devout persons who have reached a stage in their relationship where they have become receptive to God’s self-communication, but the social media culture we all live in has convinced them to share everything with the world? 

 

It is extremely unwise to seek out, follow, and promote unrecognized (unauthenticated) private revelations. Persons who have these experiences may be quite convinced of the truth of what they have heard or seen, but unless that has been affirmed by the local bishop, this should be at the most considered a personal grace for themselves alone. The examples and teachings of the saints tells us as much. Let the recipient rejoice in the mercy of the Lord and share the message not in words or declarations, but in a transformed way of living that is more powerful than any verbal message. Let them discover new ways to spread the Gospel, rather than promote a message that is necessarily linked with their own ongoing experience of prayer. 

 

The apparitions of Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima are examples of private revelations that had a significance far beyond their original context and are still bearing fruit. However, they are still private revelations and do not belong to the “deposit of faith” (the core of authentic Church teaching). No one has to believe that Our Lady appeared to St Juan Diego in what is now Mexico City, or told Bernadette of Lourdes to tell the people to do penance; no one is obliged to believe that the saintly shepherd children of Fatima saw the Virgin Mary (although their lives alone give an extraordinary witness to divine love).

 

Private revelations can be accepted or not according to the degree to which they assist us in our life of faith. They are not essential and cannot be. Nothing can be added to Divine Revelation. In giving us his Son, God held absolutely nothing back.

 

It’s possible that there is a genuine visionary (or two) in the world right now. Personally, I am unconvinced that there are a dozen or more. But I do believe that there are thousands of people with whom God is in daily, intimate communication. And billions more with whom he would gladly converse if they would accept the conditions that are necessary for that kind of relationship. It’s not that God needs the conditions (he speaks freely!); we do. We might be unable to listen because we are too busy, or nervous, or distracted, or set on putting too many lesser things in place when all we really need to do is slow down just enough (on the inside) so we could hear all the ways God is already talking to our hearts and sharing our lives.

 

Helps for slowing down on the inside:

If your life permits it, set aside 15 minutes every single day for you and God alone. (Pre-pandemic, many people used their commute as their time alone with God; public transit systems are probably still full of people at prayer every morning.)

If your family duties do not leave you personal time for prayer right now, the “Jesus prayer” fosters communion of mind and heart with God in the midst of life’s activities. It connects the words “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” with one’s breathing.

 If you need to just start small, your morning coffee ritual or some other morning must-do could be a time of quietly receiving the new day from God’s hands.

 

  

The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Revelations

66 "The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries. 

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. 

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such "revelations".

I have been researching "chastisement prophecies," and as I develop these themes, hope to include them in future posts. I think this is important for the peace of many hearts.

You might also be interested in "Three Days of Darkness?"

Three Days of Darkness?

One afternoon about thirty years ago I got a call from my mom. She had been talking to some of the ladies at Church, the really holy ones (that was Mom’s way of speaking about someone who did a lot of Church things). “Anne, what is this about three days of darkness? Do I need to get blessed candles? How many would we need?” Her voice was pinched with anxiety. 

The Church ladies had scared Mom to death. 

It took me a while to talk her down with the help of the Ignatian rules of discernment of spirits: St. Ignatius had noticed that the Holy Spirit leads the devout onward by tender urgings, and generally uses “tough love” only when he has to wake up someone who is stubbornly entrenched in patterns of sin. The evil spirits, however, work the other way around, choking the devout in anxiety, fear, scruples and the like, while coddling those who are already under the dominion of sin.  So I asked: “Mom, is this helping you to trust God’s love more or making you worry? Is it helping you to believe in God’s love and in the power of grace, or are you more inclined to trust in what you can do to protect yourself from God’s power?” 

According to the usual rendition of the “three days of darkness prophecy,” a supernatural darkness will cover the earth for three days, during which time all the faithful must shut themselves in their homes with the windows completely covered up. The only source of light will be from blessed candles made from beeswax. Outside, demonic forces will have full sway, so all are warned to resist any temptation to curious peeking. 

The origin of the “three days of darkness” prophecy seems to come from Bl Anna Maria Taigi (1769-1837), though there is no direct quote from her as to the “three days.” It was, rather, her confidante, Msgr. Natale who insisted that there would be “three days” of darkness. Even after his death, people kept wondering if this was symbolic or meant actual physical darkness. Considering that most of Taigi’s prophecies seemed to center on the takeover of Rome by the process of Italian unification, and that they were understood also by Bl Pope Pius IX as referring to himself and to the various crises of the 19^th century, it might be wise to put Taigi’s prophecies to one side.

The only only other credible voice that I have found to refer to “three days” is that of Padre Pio, but even here the references are vague and untraceable. Only one offers dates, but it is from a YouTube transcription in English and does not provide a photograph of any original, so there is very little for me to go on (in pandemic conditions) to authenticate its contents.  (I am inquiring of the Franciscans in San Giovanni Rotondo if originals of his letters in this regard exist.) This is a process I am still working on.

So let's go to the most reliable source of all: the Bible! Any mention of “three days” should first of all direct our attention to the death and Resurrection of Jesus: there is nothing (“nothing in all creation,” St Paul tells us) that can come close to the darkness of Good Friday or the power of the Resurrection. 

In the Bible, a period “three days” connected to suffering usually signifies a  limited timeframe and points to God’s mercy and/or power over the forces of death

• In Genesis 42, Joseph in Egypt, recognizing his brothers, had them thrown into jail “for three days” while preparing to provide them abundant supplies and reunite the family in Egypt.
•  When King David sinned against God by ordering a census (counting on his military might rather than on God’s power); he was given a choice of penalties: three years of famine, three months of fleeing from his enemies, or three days of severe pestilence. David prefaced his answer with: “Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great. But let me not fall into human hands.” And so, of all the options, he chose the three days of plague (2 Samuel 24:13-17). Here, the "three days" are explicitly associated with God's mercy.
• Queen Esther called on the Jewish community of Susa to join with her in fasting for three days in preparation for her intervention with the King (Esther 4:15-17). She was gloriously triumphant, and the enemies of the Jewish people were overcome.
• Jonah famously spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale in a sign of the death and Resurrection of Christ (Jon 1:17).
• Mary and Joseph spent “three days in sorrow” searching Jerusalem for the child Jesus at Passover time, finally finding him in the Temple among the teachers (Luke 2:46-50).
• Jesus spent “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” from his death to the moment of the Resurrection (Matt 12:40).

 In the Book of Revelation, 3½ is a repeated symbolic number. According to Dr James Papandrea (The Wedding of the Lamb), the ½ is like a “signal” of a new thing about to spring forth from an as-yet incomplete situation. These prophetic visions all take place in the earthly domain; they are in the dimension of time, where things are still unfolding. (The Book of Revelation alternates between events in Heaven and on earth.) 

•  In Revelation 11: 2, the nations will trample the Holy City for “42 months” (3½ years), while in 11:3, two witnesses in sackcloth will prophecy for 1260 days (3½ years) before being killed by the beast from the Abyss.
•  The witnesses’ bodies will remain on display for 3½ days before they are raised from the dead and taken to Heaven.
•  In Revelation 12:6, the Woman was given refuge in the wilderness for 1,260 days (3½ years)
•  In Revelation 12:14, the Woman was given wings to fly from the Dragon and she was again protected and nourished, “for a time, and times, and half a time” (1+2+½= 3½).
•  In Revelation 13:5, the beast was given a mouth to speak and authority to act for 42 months (3½ years).

The definitive action in the Book of Revelation takes place in Heaven, and culminates in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb: this is the Wedding to which we are all invited (as the Bride!).

Conclusions

In the Bible, “three days” of suffering is a sign of God’s mercy. It sets a brief limit to human pain and promises that God’s power will triumph over all the forces of death (whether in the form of sickness, war, or death itself). To speak of “three days of darkness” is to speak of a limited time completely within the merciful, all-powerful Providence of God, to be followed by the bright light of day.

 

Authentic prophecies always direct our attention to the glorious outcome guaranteed by the Resurrection of Jesus. 

Any “chastisement” authentic prophecies may refer to is not the point, any more than the sepulchre of Holy Saturday is the main message of Christianity. In this light, a helpful rule for discerning purported prophecies could be: How much explicit emphasis does the message give (not just an individual message or in its verbal expression, but as a whole, and in its overall emotional convincing power) to the Resurrection of Jesus and his complete triumph over all the “principalities and powers…of darkness”? 

In these last weeks of Lent, that is an important question!

 

 

I have been researching other similar "chastisement prophecies," and as I develop these themes, hope to include them in future posts. I think this is important for the peace of many hearts.