The words of the Father:
The more evil grew, the more My goodness urged Me to communicate with just souls so that they could transmit My commands to those who were creating disorder. Thus, I was sometimes obliged to be strict in order to reprove them; not to punish them – that would only have done harm – but to take them away from vice and lead them to their Father and their Creator, Whom they had forgotten and ignored in their ingratitude. Later, evil overwhelmed men’s hearts to such an extent that I was compelled to send calamities upon the world to purify men through suffering, the destruction of their possessions, or even their death. These were the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, man’s wars against man, etc.
So much for the text.
God Father uses a very important term here, which can serve us as a key to a deeper understanding. The severity of God, as it is here mentioned, is not to be interpreted simply as punishment; it is a rebuke when men have abandoned the ways of God. In this context, reproof is obviously a measure for the conversion of men, who must abandon their ways of perdition and return to God.
Parents and teachers or others who are involved in education, will understand it well. It is not a matter of taking revenge for unseemly behaviour, but rather of making the consequences of one’s actions clear to those who transgress the law of the Lord and miss the path.
People – so the text says – should be freed from their vices. Vices are deeply ingrained bad or evil behaviour that violates both the commandment of God and the dignity of being a child of God. They are not simply disorderly tendencies, to which one sometimes or even more often succumbs, but then gets up again.
To get rid of such vices, a deep purification is required, because many times one has surrendered to it and, in the worst case, even justifies it.
When rebukes are given from God, they have the same goal: man should repent. If he does not listen to God, then he must experience what it means to act against truth and love. This can mean suffering, destruction of goods, even in extreme cases the destruction of life like the Flood, the wars between people, the downfall of Sodom and Gomorrah mentioned in the text.
Now it is reasonable to ask ourselves whether God wants to rebuke us human beings with the present pandemic.
I respond to this with a clear “yes”, even if today even in the Church such a connection is avoided. But why would God have changed?
In the world in which we live there are terrible sins and vices, which cry out to heaven. Just think of the horror of abortion, sexual perversions, euthanasia, the growing estrangement from God, which in some countries has gone as far as apostasy and even insult to religion. In not a few governments there is corruption; violence and criminality are the order of the day; political systems hostile to God rule; men seek a false security in material well-being… This to mention only a few points.
We are already accustomed to living in such a world, which daily testifies to its remoteness from God. But God certainly has not got used to see his creatures and children staggering into the abyss. It is then precisely the proof of his love not to leave everything to its own devices and instead, as a good shepherd, not to hand his sheep over to the wolves. Our Father always calls people to come to him. If they do not listen to his gentle invitations of love, then he rebukes them so that they do not get lost.
And what about his church?
She would be called to face the disastrous developments in the world with wisdom! Does she do this enough? Does she not weaken herself with the course she has taken? Where has her supernatural sense of faith gone? Does she not adapt herself too much to this world and adopt her way of thinking? Is she still fulfilling her task of saving souls with all her might?
But according to the Abu Dhabi Declaration, how is that possible? Which faith still prevails when one no longer wants to see the obvious, that a Pachama idolatry in the Vatican Gardens is not a harmless thing, but an abomination before the Lord, to name only two clear failures of the way.
Which shepherds are still speaking out, opposing these aberrations and giving the faithful helpful instructions. They are only few and that is a tragedy.
Can that please God?
Thus the response of the Church leaders to the pandemic is weak. The Church seems all too ready to adapt herself to the demands of the State and not to seek her own solutions. Where are the official spiritual responses and the call to prayer and conversion, to repentance? Can it be a solution to close the churches in times of need and even deny the faithful access to Holy Communion?
To summarize my personal view: Through disobedience and a life far from God, we human beings have brought to ourselves these events which are now happening and which may be coming even further towards us. In the increasing remoteness of people from God, the devil can work well and try to use everything for his plans.
God’s admission becomes a rebuke for us, so that we may repent to him.
So what is to be done?
It is a call to return to the Father and to leave the wrong and reckless ways. Such a pandemic clearly shows us the helplessness of us human beings and how much we need the protection of our Father.
For this reason, the following applies: Those who are already on the path of conversion should deepen it and also offer this path to God for other people. Furthermore, we must pray for the sick and for all those who serve them. Then it is important to pray for the end of the pandemic, but in the sense that the rebuke – we can also understand the pandemic as a warning – is understood, and people turn to God.
Let us, as believers, accept all circumstances and limitations as a Lenten offering and pray for the Church, so that she may turn undividedly to her real task of proclaiming her message with authority, especially now, when it is needed. If it is possible, it would be good to have additional Eucharistic adoration in the Church as an act of penance and special attention to God, even before a closed tabernacle.
One final word, which I would like to say myself in Spanish and which is intended for all who like it:
Today I have placed under my protection all those who listen to our daily meditations in the Lord and His Mother!
Harpa Dei accompanies the daily scriptural interpretation or spiritual teaching of Br. Elija, their spiritual father. These meditations can be heard on the following website www.en.elijamission.net
