The Reparation.

“You have offered yourself to me for the accomplishment of my designs; this offering has won my heart” (Words of Our Lord to the Sister.)

” … on the feast of our father, St John of the Cross, as soon as Jesus had entered my soul, He took possession of all its powers, and caused me to hear these words, ‘I have as yet revealed but apart of the designs of My Heart; today, I desire to show them to you in their fullest extent. The earth is covered with crime! The sins against the three first commandments have provoked the wrath of My Father; the Holy Name of God blasphemed, and the profanation of the Lord’s Day fill to overflowing the measure of iniquity; this sin has mounted even to the throne of the Most High, and has aroused His wrath, which will burst forth over mankind in an impetuous torrent, if His justice be not appeased; in no other time has iniquity reached such a degree. I most ardently desire the formation of a society well approved and properly organised, to honour the Name of My Father. Your superior is right in remaining inactive until this work can be established on a solid and permanent foundation, for otherwise, my designs would not be accomplished.’ “

Poor France! Whom the Saviour points out as the nation the most guilty. Complaining of her blasphemy, He likens her unto a ‘viper’ gnawing at the bowels of His Mercy. He threatens to withdraw from amidst her children, if they do not hasten to repair by voluntary expiation the odious sin committed with so much impunity. She has suckled unto blood, the breasts of mercy; justice is ready to fall down upon her head. What French heart could listen to such menaces without emotion! Could hear such severe and solemn threats unmoved! The reproaches of the Saviour were, alas! but too well merited, for her guilt is glaringly palpable. From every rank of society blasphemy issues forth with frightful impetuosity, attacking the Godhead openly, and wounding Him as if with a poisoned arrow. To the vile blasphemy of the common people is added the doctrinal blasphemy of the free-thinker. From the streets and thoroughfares of the city, it has succeeded in gaining entrance to the public-room, to the schools, even to the family fire-side; it enthrones itself in our theatres, in our club-rooms; it parades itself unblushingly before the public; it is to be heard in ordinary conversation; it forces its way into our books, our pamphlets, our newspapers, and in short, into the multitudinous collection of periodicals with which our literary market is daily inundated. It disguises itself under every possible form to suit every taste, but by preference adopting the tone of jest and pleasantry, so natural to the French character; it provokes the mocking laugh; by turns it can be philosophical or common-place, yet is always influential on the multitude. It attacks, first of all, the dignitaries of the Church, those most worthy of respect and the most elevated, then dogmatic teachings, aye, the very existence of Christianity itself; yet more, it hesitates not to attack God Himself, to deny His nature, His rights, nay, His very existence.

This it is that ‘fills the measure of iniquity to overflowing,’ and cries to heaven for vengeance.

France, among all other nations, is named as the most guilty, because she is the one most favoured by heaven, the Beloved of Christ, and the Eldest Daughter of the Church. Blasphemy impedes her from fulfilling the providential role assigned her. She places at the service of the impious of all other nations, the influence and ascendency which her wonderful resources and the natural genius of her people place at her disposal. Through the spirit of revolution of which she has become the centre and the most active agent in Europe, and the practical atheism which she professes both in her government and in her laws, she plays the part of a universal proselytiser as baneful to the individual as to society at large. Need we be astonished that she in particular has been threatened with the wrath of God!

… to be continued…

Excerpt taken from: The Holy Face and the Work of Reparation, by Sr Marie de St Pierre, & Abbè P. Janvier (ed.), (1884), reprinted in 2026 by A.D. Press.