ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

"The first three chapters of Revelation

are essentially

an 'illumination of conscience.'"

REVELATION ILLUMINATION

by Mark Mallett (April 17, 2013)

THERE is a grace coming to the whole world in what may be the most singularly astonishing event since Pentecost.

THE ILLUMINATION IN PROPHETIC REVELATION

Mystic and stigmatist, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, who was revered by popes for the accuracy of her prophecies, referred to it as an “illumination of conscience.” St. Edmund Campion referred to it as “the day of change” when “the terrible Judge should reveal all men’s consciences.” Conchita, an alleged visionary in Garabandal, called it a “warning.” The late Fr. Gobbi called it a “judgment in miniature,” while Servant of God, Maria Esperanza, called it a “great day of light” when the consciences of all will be shaken” -- the “hour of decision for mankind.” [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2007/05/eye-of-the-storm/]

St. Faustina, who proclaimed to the world that we are living in a prolonged “time of mercy” based on revelations given to her directly by Jesus, may have witnessed in a vision the actual event:

Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort:

All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day. -- Diary of Divine Mercy, n. 83

This vision is similar to what an American seer, who goes by the name of “Jennifer,” allegedly saw in a vision. She calls this event “the warning”:

The sky is dark, and it seems as though it is night, but my heart tells me it is sometime in the afternoon. I see the sky opening up and I can hear long, drawn out claps of thunder. When I look up, I see Jesus bleeding on the cross and people are falling to their knees. Jesus then tells me, “They will see their soul as I see it.” I can see the wounds so clearly on Jesus and Jesus then says, “They will see each wound they have added to My Most Sacred Heart.” To the left I see the Blessed Mother weeping and then Jesus speaks to me again and says, “Prepare, prepare now for the time is soon approaching. My child, pray for the many souls who will perish because of their selfish and sinful ways.” As I look up, I see the drops of blood falling from Jesus and hitting the earth. I see millions of people from nations from all lands. Many seemed confused as they were looking up toward the sky. Jesus says, “They are in search of light for it should not be a time of darkness, yet it is the darkness of sin that covers this earth, and the only light will be that of which I come with, for mankind does not realize the awakening that is about to be bestowed upon him. This will be the greatest purification since the beginning of creation.” -- see www.wordsfromjesus.com, September 12, 2003

A REVELATION ON REVELATION?

While preparing to go to Mass in Paray-le-Monial, France in 2011-- that little French village where Jesus revealed His Sacred Heart as a “last effort” to reach mankind -- I had a “word” suddenly enter my mind like lightning out of the clear blue. It was impressed interiorly upon my heart that the first three chapters of Revelation are essentially an “illumination of conscience.” After Mass, I picked up my bible to begin reading the Apocalypse in that new light to see what was meant by that…

The book of Revelation (or “apocalypse”, which literally means “unveiling”) begins with St. John greeting seven churches and quoting the prophet Zechariah:

Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen. (Rev 1:7)

John then describes the vision he had of Jesus appearing in the midst of these churches in a gleaming apparition where “his face shone like the sun at its brightest.” [Rev 1:16] John’s response was to fall down at His feet “as though dead.” [Rev 1:17] This scene invokes a similar illumination that St. Paul had. Before his conversion, he was persecuting Christians, having them put to death. Christ appeared to him in a bright light:

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? (Acts 9:4)

Suddenly, Saul (who took the name Paul) was “illumined” and realized that he was not as righteous as he thought. His eyes were covered over with “scales,” a symbol of his spiritual blindness. Thus, his sight was turned inward as he came face to face with the light of truth.

After St. John’s powerful vision of Christ, he hears the Lord say…

Do not be afraid… (Rev 1:17)

…and immediately Jesus begins to illumine the conscience of the seven churches, calling them to repentance, praising their good works, and pointing out their spiritual blindness.

I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth… Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. (Rev 3:15-16, 19)

Then John is taken up to Heaven where he now begins to view things from a divine perspective.

After this I had a vision of an open door to heaven, and I heard the trumpet-like voice that had spoken to me before, saying, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards.” (Rev 4:1)

That is to say that the illumination that John just witnessed will now be placed in the context of not just the universal Church (symbolized by the “seven churches” where the number “7” denotes fullness or completeness), but of the entire world as it approaches the end of the age, and eventually, the end of time. Another way to put it is that the illumination of the Church culminates in a global illumination.

For it is time for the judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, how will it end for those who fail to obey the gospel of God? (1 Pet 4:17)

THE ILLUMINATION OF THE CHURCH…

Could we not say that the illumination of the Church has indeed already begun? Haven’t the forty years (today, 56 years!) since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (the “charismatic renewal”) [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/charismatic-part-i-2/] and release of the documents of Vatican II led the Church through a profound season of pruning, purification, and trial leading up to 2008, “the year of the unfolding”, [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2011/10/the-great-revolution/] forty years later? Hasn’t there been a prophetic awakening, led chiefly by the Mother of God, as to the threshold that we now stand upon?

Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)

Did not Blessed John Paul II, leading up to the new millennium, make a deep examination of conscience of the entire Church, apologizing to the nations for her past sins?

For a long time, we had been preparing ourselves for this examination of conscience, aware that the Church, embracing sinners in her bosom, “is at once holy and always in need of being purified” … This “purification of memory” has strengthened our steps for the journey towards the future… -- POPE JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millenio Inuente, n. 6

And are we not seeing come to light before us the once hidden and grave scandals that have taken the form of sexual abuse among clergy? [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2010/03/the-scandal/] Are not the religious orders that have abandoned the true faith now dying out in their apostasy? Have we not been sent many prophets and seers to call us back to true life in God? [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2009/01/the-prophecy-at-rome/] Is the Church not clearly being given the very warning that St. John penned in his apocalyptic scroll?

The judgment announced by the Lord Jesus [in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 21] refers above all to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. Yet the threat of judgment also concerns us, the Church in Europe, Europe and the West in general. With this Gospel, the Lord is also crying out to our ears the words that in the Book of Revelation he addresses to the Church of Ephesus: “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” Light can also be taken away from us and we do well to let this warning ring out with its full seriousness in our hearts, while crying to the Lord: “Help us to repent! Give all of us the grace of true renewal! Do not allow your light in our midst to blow out! Strengthen our faith, our hope and our love, so that we can bear good fruit!” -- POPE BENEDICT XVI, Opening Homily, Synod of Bishops, October 2nd, 2005, Rome.

So too, at the end of the Israelite’s forty years in the desert, a profound illumination came upon them that led them into a spirit of repentance, thereby ending their exile from the promised land.

…read aloud in the house of the LORD this scroll that we send you:

…We have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him. We have not listened to the voice of the LORD, our God, so as to follow the precepts the Lord set before us… For we did not listen to the voice of the Lord, our God, in all the words of the prophets he sent us, but each of us has followed the inclinations of our wicked hearts, served other gods, and done evil in the sight of the Lord, our God. (cf. Baruch 1:14-22)

Just the same, the illumination that is here and coming is to prepare the Church to enter into the “promised land” of an era of peace. So too, the letters to the seven churches were written upon a scroll, publicly revealing their shortcomings. [Rev 1:11]

Study congresses helped us to identify those aspects in which, during the course of the first two millennia, the Gospel spirit did not always shine forth. How could we forget the moving Liturgy of 12 March 2000 in Saint Peter’s Basilica, at which, looking upon our Crucified Lord, I asked forgiveness in the name of the Church for the sins of all her children? -- POPE JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millenio Inuente, n. 6

And now, Pope Francis, in stunning fashion, has brought the seven letters of Revelation into a new prophetic light [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2018/11/19/the-five-corrections/].

“Afterwards,” St. John sees the Lamb of God take a scroll in His hands to begin unsealing the judgment of the nations. This includes a global illumination in the sixth seal.

….THE ILLUMINATION OF THE WORLD

I sensed in my heart a mysterious word in the autumn of 2007: [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2008/10/the-breaking-of-the-seals/]

The seals are about to be broken.

But I was hearing “six seals,” and yet in Revelation Ch. 6 there are seven. Here is the first:

I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider had a bow. He was given a crown, and he rode forth victorious to further his victories. (6:2)

[The Rider] is Jesus Christ. The inspired evangelist [St. John] not only saw the devastation brought about by sin, war, hunger and death; he also saw, in the first place, the victory of Christ. -- POPE PIUS XII, Address, November 15, 1946; footnote of The Navarre Bible, “Revelation”, p.70

That is, the first seal appears to be the beginning of the illumination of the Church that John foresaw at the beginning of Revelation. [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2009/01/the-coming-transfiguration/] This Rider upon the white horse [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2007/10/look-to-the-east/] prepares the remnant to cross the threshold of hope into the “promised land,” an era of peace and justice that St. John later denotes symbolically as a “thousand year” rule with Christ. [Rev 20:1-6] Can we not describe the quiet and often hidden formation of this little army of God, [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2009/10/our-ladys-battle/https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2008/03/the-battle-cry/] especially the laity, [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2011/07/the-hour-of-the-laity/] as the furthering of Christ’s victory and triumph over evil? Indeed, we see later in Revelation that this Rider upon the white horse is now followed by an army. [Rev 19:14] This is all to say, the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary has already begun in the hearts of those who heed her messages.

The approach of a universal “illumination of conscience” is signaled by the hard labor pains that follow the first seal: peace is taken away from the world (second seal); [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/the-hour-of-the-sword/] food shortages and rationing (third seal); pandemic and anarchy (fourth seal); and a minor persecution of the Church (fifth seal). [I say “minor” because the “major” persecution comes later under the reign of the “beast” (Rev 13:7)] Then, in the midst of global chaos, as the sixth seal is broken, it seems the entire world experiences the vision of the “lamb of God”, the paschal sacrifice, the crucified Lamb (though clearly, this is not the Final Return of Christ in glory):

Then I watched while he broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; the sun turned as black as dark sackcloth and the whole moon became like blood. The stars in the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs shaken loose from the tree in a strong wind. Then the sky was divided like a torn scroll curling up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military officers, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in caves and among mountain crags. They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come and who can withstand it?” (Rev 6:12-17)

Just as in the vision of Faustina and others, the sky is darkened, and the ensuing vision of the Lamb announces that “the great day of their wrath has come.” [https://www.markmallett.com/blog/faustina-and-the-day-of-the-lord/] There is a "great shaking," spiritually and even literally. [https://www.markmallett.com/embracinghopetv/archives/473] It is the hour of decision for the world to either choose the path of darkness or the path of light, which is Christ Jesus, before the earth is purified of wickedness. [Rev 19:20-21] Indeed, the seventh seal marks a period of silence -- the calm in the storm -- when the wheat is to be separated from the chaff after which the winds of judgment will begin to blow again.

The world at the approach of a new millennium, for which the whole Church is preparing, is like a field ready for the harvest. -- POPE JOHN PAUL II, World Youth Day, homily, August 15th, 1993

For we read that those who choose to follow the Lamb are sealed upon the forehead. [Rev 7:3] But those who refuse this moment of grace, as we read later, are marked with the number of the beast, the Antichrist. [Rev 13:16-18]

The stage will then be set for the final confrontation between the last armies of this age…

https://www.markmallett.com/blog/2013/04/17/the-illumination-revelation/

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TEMPTATIONS OF THE DEVIL

Dictated by St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) during a state of ecstasy while in dialog with God the Father.

 

Of the use of temptations, and how every soul in her (his) extremity sees her (his) final place either of pain or of glory, before she (he) is separated from the body.

 

“The Devil, dearest daughter, is the instrument of My Justice to torment the souls who have miserably offended Me. And I have set him in this life to tempt and molest My creatures, not for My creatures to be conquered, but that they may conquer, proving their virtue, and receive from Me the glory of victory. And no one should fear any battle or temptation of the Devil that may come to him, because I have made My creatures strong, and have given them strength of will, fortified in the Blood of My Son, which will, neither Devil nor creature can move, because it is yours, given by Me. You therefore, with free arbitration, can hold it or leave it, according as you please.

 

It is an arm, which, if you place it in the hands of the Devil, straightway becomes a knife, with which he strikes you and slays you. But if man do not give this knife of his will into the hands of the Devil, that is, if he do not consent to his temptations and molestations, he will never be injured by the guilt of sin in any temptation, but will even be fortified by it, when the eye of his intellect is opened to see My love which allowed him to be tempted, so as to arrive at virtue, by being proved. For one does not arrive at virtue except through knowledge of self, and knowledge of Me, which knowledge is more perfectly acquired in the time of temptation, because then man knows himself to be nothing, being unable to lift off himself the pains and vexations which he would flee; and he knows Me in his will, which is fortified by My goodness, so that it does not yield to these thoughts. And he has seen that My love permits these temptations, for the devil is weak, and by himself can do nothing, unless I allow him. And I let him tempt, through love, and not through hatred, that you may conquer, and not that you may be conquered, and that you may come to a perfect knowledge of yourself, and of Me, and that virtue may be proved, for it is not proved except by its contrary.

 

You see, then, that he is my Minister to torture the damned in Hell, and in this life, to exercise and prove virtue in the soul. Not that it is the intention of the Devil to prove virtue in you (for he has not love), but rather to deprive you of it, and this he cannot do, if you do not wish it. Now you see, then, how great is the foolishness of men in making themselves feeble, when I have made them strong, and in putting themselves into the hands of the Devil. Wherefore, know, that at the moment of death, they, having passed their life under the lordship of the Devil (not that they were forced to do so, for as I told you they cannot be forced, but they voluntarily put themselves into his hands), and, arriving at the extremity of their death under this perverse lordship, they await no other judgment than that of their own conscience, and desperately, despairingly, come to eternal damnation. Wherefore Hell, through their hate, surges up to them in the extremity of death, and before they get there, they take hold of it, by means of their lord the Devil.

 

As the righteous, who have lived in charity and died in love, if they have lived perfectly in virtue, illuminated with the light of faith, with perfect hope in the Blood of the Lamb, when the extremity of death comes, see the good which I have prepared for them, and embrace it with the arms of love, holding fast with pressure of love to Me, the Supreme and Eternal Good. And so they taste eternal life before they have left the mortal body, that is, before the soul be separated from the body. Others who have passed their lives, and have arrived at the last extremity of death with an ordinary charity (not in that great perfection), embrace My mercy with the same light of faith and hope that had those perfect ones, but, in them, it is imperfect, for, because they were imperfect, they constrained My mercy, counting My mercy greater than their sins. The wicked sinners do the contrary, for, seeing, with desperation, their destination, they embrace it with hatred, as I told you. So that neither the one nor the other waits for judgment, but, in departing this life, they receive every one their place, as I have told you, and they taste it and possess it before they depart from the body, at the extremity of death -- the damned with hatred and with despair, and the perfect ones with love and the light of faith and with the hope of the Blood. And the imperfect arrive at the place of Purgatory, with mercy and the same faith.”

 

The Dialog of St. Catherine of Siena

A Treatise of Discretion (pp. 47-48)

 

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HELL EXISTS!

“For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” (Mark 8:36)

Souls of the Damned in Hell being Tormented by Demons

I remember thinking:

“A fire that consumes without destroying.”

And then the Holy Spirit responded,

“Like the burning bush.”

Moses and the Burning Bush

Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. (Matthew 5:22,29;10:28;13:42,50 / Mark 9:43-48) Jesus solemnly proclaims that He “will send His angels, and they will gather… all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,” (Matthew 13:41-42) and that He will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!” (Matthew 25:41)

The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of Hell and its eternity. Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishments of hell, “eternal fire.” The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in Whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

… Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed, we may merit to enter with Him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.” (Matthew 22:13; 25:13,26,30,31-46 / Hebrews 9:27)

[Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1034 - 1036]

THE “LAKE OF FIRE” IN REVELATION

IS “SYMBOLIC” OF GOD’S PUNISHMENT

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and if any one’s name was not found written in the book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14-15)

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

ONE TORTURE IN HELL IS

A PURELY “SPIRITUAL” FIRE

THAT CONSUMES WITHOUT DESTROYING

St. John Paul II - Divine Mercy image - St. Faustina

Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska
“Divine Mercy in My Soul”
(Notebook 2, Paragraph 741)

Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth (torture) is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it -- a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like.

I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God. What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend You by the least sin.

“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins,

save us from the fires of Hell,

lead all souls to Heaven,

especially those who are in most need of 
Thy mercy.”

Prayer requested by the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima

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FOUR PRINCIPAL TORMENTS IN HELL

 

Dictated by St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) during a state of ecstasy while in dialog with God the Father.

 

Of the four principal torments of the damned, from which follow all the others; and particularly of the foulness of the Devil.

“My daughter, the tongue is not sufficient to narrate the pain of these poor souls. As there are three principal vices, namely: self-love, whence proceeds the second, that is love of reputation, whence proceeds the third, that is pride, with injustice and cruelty, and with other filthiness and iniquitous sins, that follow upon these. So I say to you, that in Hell, the souls have four principal torments, out of which proceed all the other torments. The first is, that they see themselves deprived of the vision of Me, which is such pain to them, that, were it possible, they would rather choose the fire, and the tortures and torments, and to see Me, than to be without the torments and not to see Me.

This first pain revives in them, then, the second, the worm of Conscience, which gnaws unceasingly, seeing that the soul is deprived of Me, and of the conversation of the angels, through her (his) sin, made worthy of the conversation and sight of the devils, which vision of the Devil is the third pain and redoubles to them their every toil. As the saints exult in the sight of Me, refreshing themselves with joyousness in the fruit of their toils borne for Me with such abundance of love, and displeasure of themselves, so does the sight of the Devil revive these wretched ones to torments, because in seeing him they know themselves more, that is to say, they know that, by their own sin, they have made themselves worthy of him. And so the worm of Conscience gnaws more and more, and the fire of this Conscience never ceases to burn. And the sight is more painful to them, because they see him in his own form, which is so horrible that the heart of man could not imagine it. And if you remember well, you know that I showed him to you in his own form for a little space of time, hardly a moment, and you chose (after you had returned to yourself) rather to walk on a road of fire, even until the Day of Judgment, than to see him again. With all this that you have seen, even you do not know well how horrible he is, because, by Divine justice, he appears more horrible to the soul that is deprived of Me, and more or less according to the gravity of her (his) sin. The fourth torment that they have is the fire. This fire burns and does not consume, for the being of the soul cannot be consumed, because it is not a material thing that fire can consume. But I, by Divine justice, have permitted the fire to burn them with torments, so that it torments them, without consuming them, with the greatest pains in diverse ways according to the diversity of their sins, to some more, and to some less, according to the gravity of their fault. Out of these four torments issue all others, such as cold and heat and gnashing of the teeth and many others. Now because they did not amend themselves after the first reproof that they had of injustice and false judgment, neither in the second, which was that, in death, they would not hope in Me, nor grieve for the offense done to Me, but only for their own pain, have they thus so miserably received Eternal Punishment.”

The Dialog of Saint Catherine of Siena

A Treatise of Discretion (pp. 42-43)

 

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