That is the sentence St. Faustina heard for herself. She recorded it in her Church-approved diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, when, in a mystical moment, she was “summoned to the Judgment of God.”
“Suddenly I saw the complete condition of my soul as God sees it,” St. Faustina wrote. “I did not know that even the smallest transgressions will have to be accounted for!” Notebook I, 36.
“But I tell you, that of every idle word men speak, they shall give an account on the Day of Judgment!” Matthew 12:36.
The Lord is not fooling around.
He has proven His words in Scripture by allowing His Secretary of Divine Mercy to record her own judgment.
Imagine, Maria Faustina Kowalska — a 20th-century woman who was destined to become a Saint — at that moment in time, was found in the eyes of the “Thrice-Holy God” to be “guilty of one day of fire in Purgatory”!
As we all know, St. Faustina did not suffer the fires of Purgatory because she completed the Divine Mercy mission God gave to her. But there was that moment in time …
And in speaking of time, when God judged St. Faustina, she was, in that mystical moment, in Eternity where a day is but a thousand years and a thousand years but a day to the Lord.
So, in reality, according to God’s time clock, her purgatorial punishment would have been equivalent to 1,000 years on Earth!
Perhaps the reason for God’s Judgment of St. Faustina came from her early days before she became a nun when, at a dance she was attending, she saw the Lord in a vision who said to her:
“How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting me off?”
Or, perhaps, it was God’s stern warning to her in His concern that she complete her mission as He told her:
“Know that if you neglect the matter of the painting of the [Divine Mercy] Image and the whole work of mercy, you will have to answer for a multitude of souls on the Day of Judgment.”
In either case, God’s warnings show that the Lord’s Judgment knows no bounds, even when it came to dealing with His Secretary of Divine Mercy. As Jesus explained to St. Faustina why souls wind up in Purgatory: “My Mercy does not want this, but Justice demands it!” Notebook I, 20.
Notice, most importantly, the admonition to St. Faustina by the Lord that if she fails in her mission, this great Saint will “have to answer for a multitude of souls on the Day of Judgment.”
While the vast majority of human beings who live and die do not have a mission of such intensity and seriousness as St. Faustina, we all, however, will “answer for a multitude of souls” — the souls that we come in contact with. Even the most casual contact.
What we really don’t realize in our every day lives is the simple “cause and effect” scenario when we interact with others; the spiritual ripple stream we create yet cannot see and affects everyone around us.
In this regard, we cannot forget that for centuries, the Church has taught that there are nine ways of being an accessory to another’s sin.
Among them is “silence.”
That is why we have been talking so much about the sin of “omission”; particularly, the sin — as believers in the true faith — of our silence.
Silence in the face of “ecumenism.” Let us not offend a brother or sister in favor of the “live and let live” theology.
Silence in the face of those who defame our God and His Mother.
At the same time, the Church has taught the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy, and the first three involve speaking up:
“to admonish sinners; to instruct the ignorant, and to counsel the doubtful.”
It is time for us to grow up — or grow back, back to where we once were, to the Church Militant.
Are we really so naïve that we believe when the Lord Jesus spoke from the Cross and said those beautiful eloquent and Heart-felt words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” that He was speaking of all?
Was He, at that moment in time, forgiving Judas Iscariot?
“It were better for that man if he had not been born!” Matthew 26:24.
What about the baby killer Herod? Caiphas?
Or were they all about to meet Jesus, not as the King of Mercy, but as the Just Judge?
“Before I come as the Just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. … He who refuses to pass through the door of My Mercy MUST pass through the door of My Justice.”
The Lord spoke those words to St. Faustina in the 1930s and the Church has approved this message from our God. When will the Lord return as the Just Judge? Hopefully, before the insane madmen of this world kill us all. But for most of us, we may not see that moment in time on Earth; we will, however, see it as individuals:
“ ‘And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many good things laid up for many years; take thy ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Thou fool, this night do they demand thy soul of thee ... ’ ” Luke 16:19-20.
And so, what type of believers shall we be? Especially in the light of Eternity. In the Light of Judgment.
On the last day of the nine-day Divine Mercy novena that Jesus gave to St. Faustina, we should be aware of what type of souls we do NOT want to be, for they are the souls the Just Judge spoke most bitterly of:
“Bring to Me souls who have become lukewarm and immerse them in the abyss of My Mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My Soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: ‘Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your Will!’ For them, the last hope of salvation is to flee to My Mercy.”
Interesting. By the Lord’s own words, we see it was not His suffering or death on a Cross that He cried out to be released from — as so many protest-ants teach — but the “dreadful loathing” of having to deal with “lukewarm souls.” Souls who reject Him in the Eucharist. Souls who reject His Mother’s love. Souls who are in danger of eternal damnation.
Today, we see so many people willing to fight for a cause. Willing to speak up.
Some even willing to die for.
Where are we in this?
Are we “lukewarm” in our beliefs, or are we ready to speak up for them?
Are we ready to speak up to those in power in our Church wherever we may find immorality, corruption and heresy?
Are we willing to speak up to those who are not making friends with God when they defame the Father’s Daughter, the Son’s Mother, and the Spirit’s Spouse?
Are we willing to speak up to those who think that by killing innocent people they are doing the Will of God?
Or, in our silence, are we willing to be an accessory to their sin?
And, as such, if we are desirous of not offending others by remaining silent to their sins, are we then willing to hear the sentence from the Just Judge?
A sentence, which if St. Faustina’s moment in time can be used to gauge severity, can only mean a Judgment of Purgatory time we will not escape from.
Indeed, has the Lord himself asked us to be silent, or did He, in speaking with His Secretary of Divine Mercy, ask us to speak up?
“Tell sinners that no one shall escape My hand; if they run away from My merciful Heart, they fall into My just hands.” (Diary 1728)
We have a job to do. It cannot be done in silence. And we will be judge accordingly.
© 2003 Agnus Dei Presents!
And coming up next:
how the World Trade Center attack was our purgatorial warning.