This is the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart

I am increasingly convinced that everything we're watching on the world scene right now is part of the unfolding of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

Consider: The current, unfolding crisis engulfing the Church is beyond imagining.

That's not just a convenient phrase. It is really and truly beyond imagining--that is to say, this sort of ecclesial meltdown is practically unprecedented in the recent history of the Church. This is bizarre. This is not the way things work. This is improbable, though not impossible.

Oh, yes, cynical non-Catholics and wounded ex-Catholics will claim they knew all along, all of it was foreseeable, of course they are this corrupt, etc., etc., ad infinitam.

You're not seeing what I'm saying.

This sort of institutional meltdown is unexpected. We had 2002. Why on earth would McCarrick's crimes and sins hit so hard? We knew already that a parade of horrors had taken place throughout the last century. Why does the PA grand jury report hit so hard now? Why are we suddenly seeing calls for accountability, and a groundswell of rage from the laity that the hierarchy is scrambling to stay ahead of?

And pull back the lens. McCarrick's malfeasance was reportedly an open secret throughout much of his ecclesial career. Journalists such as Rod Dreher and Julia Duin have both emerged in the wake of the June outing of several of his misdeeds to announce that. So good people as well as corrupt people knew.

The abuse of kids was something of an open secret among the professional Catholics of Boston, as the movie Spotlight shows so well. Why did 2002 make such a difference?

We'd seen the litigation and been reading the stories since 2002. But the PA grand jury report hit like a rock through a cracked window, shattering it.

Why did it all make a difference now?

As I said, this is all beyond imagining because all too many victims of abuse had been conditioned by their experiences, both of abuse and their attempts to report that abuse, to expect cover up; to expect to be attacked; to expect not to be believed; to expect for nothing to happen.

There have been three great eruptions in the sex abuse scandal: 1992, documented by Philip Jenkins in Pedophiles and Priests; 2002, the "Long Lent," thanks (and I do mean thanks) to the Boston Globe's Spotlight team; and now 2018.

And I'd say there is no Abuse Crisis of 2018 in the Catholic Church without the #metoo movement, the fall of Harvey Weinstein, and especially the fall of Kevin Spacey.

There's a ton that could and should be said about all of that, but I want to focus on one particular oddity that most people might not notice, but that resonates for someone whose work tends to involve both Fatima and Divine Mercy.

The Weinstein scandal broke on October 5, 2017.

That matters because:

• Oct. 5 is the feast of St. Faustina, the secretary and apostle of the Divine Mercy, a Polish nun and mystic whose visions of Jesus are the source for the Divine Mercy message and devotion, transmitted through her Diary. Experts say her revelations are the fulfillment and culmination of the Sacred Heart devotion.
• October 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, which took place on Oct. 13, 1917.

Weinstein had been known by some of the richest, most powerful, most famous, most influential people in the world to be malfeasant when it came to sex. Some knew more; some knew less; and his victims included some of the elite of Hollywood.

Why did the stories matter in 2017 when they hadn't risen above the level of rumor, innuendo, and Oscar jokes until then?

Why did #metoo launch in the 100th anniversary of Fatima on the feast of St. Faustina?

I'd say because any Triumph of Our Lady is going to look like the Magnificat. Give it a read:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever. (Lk 1:46-55)

She will vindicate her children. She will vindicate the innocent victims. And she will not stop until this is all purged.

That is why, today, we see this bombshell of coverage of abuse in Catholic orphanages in the U.S., and this call for a grand jury to be empaneled in every state in the U.S., and significantly, this indication of who knew what and when about Cardinal McCarrick.

This is the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

Here is the source of my present hope for the next years of the Church:

... You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world”. ...

So the answer to present circumstances is quite clear:

• Pray the Rosary daily for peace in the world.
• Make the First Saturdays of reparation.
• Be devoted to the Immaculate Heart, especially through total consecration to Jesus through Mary.
• Spread the devotions to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, as well as to the Divine Mercy.

Note: The Triumph is a lot bigger than just this one purging of the Church--but I bet you it's part of it.