Paul Suski –
June is the month that seems to be quite renowned among those eager to celebrate “Pride“, and on the other hand, it is the special Month of the Sacred Heart for those Catholics who cherish such devotions.
When Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1675, He asked the faithful to pray a Eucharistic Holy Hour in reparation for the blasphemies committed against Him.
“Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me, that treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask of you that the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special Feast to honour My Heart, by communicating on that day, and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which It has received during the time It has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed in abundance the influence of Its Divine Love upon those who shall thus honour It and cause It to be honoured.”
Meaning and Purpose
Reparation is an ambiguous term. It comes from the Latin word reparatio, meaning restoration to a previous state. Thus, when we make reparation to God, we render our souls—and indeed the world—to be once again ready and disposed to receive His grace. This theological concept is closely connected with the concepts of atonement and satisfaction.
Man is a creature who fell from the original state of justice in which he was created but was then restored to grace through the merits of Christ’s Passion and Death on the Cross. In this way, Jesus Christ made reparation to the offended majesty of God for the outrages committed by the creatures He created out of pure love. Our Savior atoned for all the disobedience and sins committed in the past, present, and future and thereby offered due satisfaction to God.
Reparation also implies punishment (Col 3:5–6). One of the ends for which it is offered is the propitiation of God’s wrath (Jb 1:5). Had Christ not redeemed mankind through His Passion and Death, human beings would have continued to be born deprived of sanctifying grace and the gates of Heaven would have remained closed to all people.
On an individual level, when someone commits an evil deed—such as harming a child, or when a politician supports abortion while citing his or her Catholic faith, or if a person blatantly lies—justice requires that a penalty be imposed.
Numerous Church scandals have created vast “spiritual gaps” within the Body of Christ: the destruction of young people’s faith, the desecration of Holy Orders, the erosion of the Church’s credibility along with the growing lack of reverence for Our Eucharistic Lord and the ever-greater tendency to conceal evil beneath wealth and power. The list of transgressions seems infinite and only God knows the full extent of it. Many also find the latest news from the Netherlands utterly heartbreaking.
Until recent times, most Catholics regarded Bishops, Priests, and consecrated religious as invaluable sources of holiness and righteousness. Regrettably, the controversies surrounding the Church seem to have demolished that belief once and for all.
Pope Pius XII warned: “Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.” And this is exactly what we see now—not only rampant sin but also the complete loss of any awareness of it.
However, the Virgin Mary Herself cooperated in the redemptive act of Jesus and so there are many ways in which we can easily participate in it as well.
Ways of Making Reparation
1/ Eucharistic Adoration
It is not essential to present the Lord with particular thoughts or words. It is enough to come with an adoring heart, full of love and thanksgiving for the ceaseless presence of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.
If you cannot make a full Holy Hour, you may consider visiting a Church where the Eucharistic Lord is exposed and spending a few minutes before Him there.
2/ Request Masses
Catholics can request Masses for specific intentions, including Reparation for offences against Our Eucharistic Lord. You could consider approaching your local Parish Priest to request a Mass for this particular intention.
3/ Meditation
In response to an encouragement given by Jesus to Saint Faustina, you may choose to spend time meditating on the Passion of Our Lord for a specific intention. In this way, meditation offers the opportunity of repairing for sins, both personal and those of the world.
“There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood; the contemplation of My painful wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy.” (Diary, 369)
4/ Offer Your Daily Crosses
Consider offering your daily sufferings and trials to Jesus in reparation for the sins of the clergy, of politicians, on behalf of your nation or for your loved ones.
5/ Prayer of the Angel at Fatima
Sometime during the Summer of 1916 in Fatima, the Angel of Portugal appeared to the three children—Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia—and spoke the following words:
“O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg the conversion of poor sinners.”
Those children eagerly offered their sufferings for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
This prayer is short, and you can say it at any time, such as on your drive to work, if you are pressed for time.
The Living Witnesses of the Holy Church
Numerous Canonized Saints, Beatified and Holy Servants of God have continued to give strong emphasis to the profound need for reparation.
The stronger their love for the Divine Bridegroom, the more they sought to be conformed to Christ in suffering. Nevertheless, throughout the successive stages of their journey, the Lord called them to manifest this love in different ways: at times through prayer and fasting, at others by offering their suffering for poor sinners. Not all of them were given the grace to become victim souls and indeed not all were able to accept the weight of such a difficult gift.
Yet the efficacy of an act of reparation does not depend on the amount of suffering offered, as one might think, but on the depth of love and union with God’s will.
First, let us hear from Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, whose beatification has been highly anticipated by many of the faithful:
“Deep sorrow does not come because one has violated a law, but only if one knows he has broken off the relationship with Divine Love. But there is yet another element required for regeneration, the element of repentance and reparation. Repentance is a rather dry-eyed affair; tears flow in sorrow but sweat pours out in repentance. It is not enough to tell God we are sorry and then forget all about it. If we broke a neighbour’s window, we would not only apologize but also would go to the trouble of putting in a new pane. Since all sin disturbs the equilibrium and balance of justice and love, there must be a restoration involving toil and effort. To see why this must be, suppose that every time a person did wrong, he was told to drive a nail into the wall of his living room and every time that he was forgiven he was told to pull it out. The holes would still remain after the forgiveness. Thus, every sin after being forgiven leaves “holes” or “wounds” in our human nature, and the filling up of these holes is done by penance, a thief who steals a watch can be forgiven for the theft, but only if he returns the watch.”
This is what St. Faustina Kowalska tells us:
“Jesus pressed me to His Heart and said, My beloved daughter, you have come to know well the depths of My mercy. I will do what you ask but unite yourself continually with My agonizing Heart and make reparation to My justice. Know that you have asked Me for a great thing, but I see that this was dictated by your pure love for Me; that is why I am complying with your requests. (Diary, 873)
One of the Church Fathers, St. Augustine of Hippo, reminds us of the value of reparation:
“Trials and tribulations offer us a chance to make reparation for our past faults and sins. On such occasions the Lord comes to us like a physician to heal the wounds left by our sins. Tribulation is the divine medicine.”
Although distant in time, yet so close, the Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Ávila tells us:
“One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much, more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.”
Reparation Begins Where Denial Ends
Human nature typically rejects painful truths about itself. We all remember the Prophet Nathan’s admonition to David, recorded in 2 Samuel 12:1–14. This event took place after King David’s grievous sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the orchestrated death of her husband, Uriah the Hittite. Before David could repent, he first had to accept the truth of his actions. Thus, Truth precedes Mercy.
Sacred Scripture speaks with clarity:
“Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it”
(Is 13:9).
These are not easy words. They remind us that when grave evil spreads through a society, silence is not an option. Only truth counts.
On the “Day of Pardon,” March 12, 2000, Saint John Paul II celebrated the Eucharist with the Cardinals and asked forgiveness of the Lord for the past and present sins of the sons and daughters of the Church. Many found that ceremony contentious, but the Holy Pontiff was adamant about the need for the “purification of memory,” an important phrase for him. He would cite John 8:7 in support: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
The recognition of past wrongs, according to the Pope, was meant “to serve to reawaken our consciences to the compromises of the present.” It paves the way for “the conversion of everyone.”
The Successor of Peter said:
“Let us forgive and ask forgiveness! While we praise God who, in His Merciful Love, has produced in the Church a wonderful harvest of holiness, missionary zeal, total dedication to Christ and neighbour, we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions.”
Thus, at the individual, communal, and national levels, one must face the whole truth, even the most painful parts of it, in order to receive Divine Mercy.
Human history is stained with the atrocities of war and with genocides committed in the service of insane ideologies. More often than we care to admit, we encounter such wounds in our own family inheritance: adulteries committed by fathers and grandfathers, abortions concealed by mothers and grandmothers, and other wounds passed silently from one generation to the next.
The sea of accumulated wickedness requires reparation. If the perpetrators are still in Purgatory, this may help hasten their entry into Heaven. Yet without the recognition of sin, this is not possible. Such reparation can benefit both the living and the dead (CCC, #1414).
Epilogue
On May 17, 1987, the contemporary Polish mystic Alicja Lenczewska (†2012) recorded in her diary:
“† Make reparation for the coldness of My chosen ones. On Sundays I endure many humiliations when My priests offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with hardened hearts. Make reparation for their indifference and for the interior emptiness with which they come to Me. Give Me instead the sweet drink of your love, so that I will not have to taste the vinegar mingled with bitterness which so many offer Me to drink.”
As I conclude this reflection, I must acknowledge the elephant in the room. The Church herself is holy, yet within her are sinful men and women.
Make no mistake: scandals involving priests—whether ultimately proven or merely alleged—wound the entire Body of Christ and become a trial for the faithful. As our Lord foretold: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Mk 14:27).
If the Devil can lead us to hatred, contempt, or bitterness toward our Priests, he strikes at the very means by which Christ continues to nourish and sanctify His people. Through the ministry of the Priesthood, Christ gives us the Eucharist and the Sacraments, those indispensable channels of grace by which the Christian life is sustained. As St. John Paul II reminded the Church: “There can be no Eucharist without the Priesthood, just as there can be no Priesthood without the Eucharist.”
Therefore, if you desire the renewal and sanctity of the Church, offer yourselves completely to God, as St. Catherine of Siena did for the reform of the Church in her own troubled times. Unfortunately, there are also devout Catholics among us who claim that one can enter the Kingdom of God through the wide gate rather than the narrow one. (Mt 10:38)
The Holy Spirit is able to uproot these sins and every other evil from the face of the earth. Your sacrifice, even if very small, united with the sufferings of Christ, is invaluable. It can help to hasten the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In this way, the ‘Good Friday’ in which we are currently living will then give way to the joy of Easter Sunday and the glory of the Resurrection!
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Paul Suski is based in Poland.