Stop Offending God

Divine Appeal Reflection - 280

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 280:  "I have seen him with a club in hand and looking very severe glance at the earth and repeat these words: 'In a few minutes I will destroy this earth of mire, insults, hideous blasphemy, scandal, infamy, infanticide and sacrilege. How much evil. I will soon destroy everything if the world is not converted.'"

There are moments in history when heaven bends low and speaks with a voice too piercing to ignore. Fatima was one such moment. A sorrowful Mother looked upon her children and cried out that God is already so much offended, and that humanity must stop offending Him. Divine Appeal 280 is cut from the same cloth of urgency: Our Lord appears with a club in hand, His gaze severe upon the earth weighed down by blasphemy, sacrilege, scandal, and infanticide. This is not the language of cruelty but of desperate love, a cry from the Heart of Christ who has endured mockery, ingratitude, and indifference from those He died to save. The apostles remind us that the wrath of God is revealed against sin even as His mercy restrains judgment (cf. Rom 1:18; 2 Pt 3:9). We live in an age that mistakes divine patience for absence and silence for approval. But heaven has spoken with clarity: mercy cannot be abused forever. What is asked of us is not vague piety but decisive conversion, a deliberate turning from sin toward love. The voice of Fatima remains alive, warning us that every offense deepens the wound, and every act of fidelity consoles.

The early Christians took holiness very seriously, as the Acts of the Apostles demonstrates. Ananias and Sapphira believed that by feigning charity while hiding the truth, they could fool the society. Their abrupt demise served as a horrifying reminder that God is not to be laughed at (cf. Acts 5:1-11). That tale is a reflection of our own and is not limited to the first century. Our generation also pretends fidelity while keeping back obedience, appearing religious while profaning the sacred. The Mother at Fatima wept for precisely this: the hypocrisy of a world that honors God with lips but pierces Him with deeds. How often do we profess reverence, yet approach the Eucharist with little awe? How easily do we speak of compassion, yet fall mute before the silent holocaust of the unborn? True worship and true mercy demand integrity—adoration of Christ in the Eucharist and defense of Christ in the least. Real compassion and disregard for the blood of innocent people cannot coexist. In the first preaching of the Church, the apostles cried out for separation from a corrupt age (cf. Acts 2:40). Their cry echoes to us now. That same command pierces our time. Each vocation carries its own battlefield: priests at the altar, parents in their homes, youth in a culture of scandal. The appeal is painfully human—stop offending the Lord who is already so deeply offended.

St. Paul reminds us of God's kindness and severity (cf. Rom 11:22). To the Corinthians, he warned that the unworthy reception of the Eucharist brought weakness, sickness, and even death (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-30): not empty threats but real consequences of profaning the sacred. Today again, those old wounds are being reopened: blasphemy labeled as liberty, sacrilege as art, scandal as culture, and the killing of the innocent as progress. In Divine Appeal 280, the gentle smile has melted away and has been replaced by warning grief. The rod is not one of hatred but of awakened justice that hears the cry of blood and the stench of sin. The martyrdom of Stephen, who was crushed yet radiant with forgiveness, revealed this blindness of hearts oppressed against the Spirit (cf. Acts 7:51-60). The same blindness is upon our generation. Christ's hard glance is not rejection but thus consuming love , which is unwilling to tolerate deceit. From Fatima and again in the Divine Appeal: Heaven is begging humanity, stop offending God, for mercy is eager to triumph, but justice shall not sleep forever .

What then shall we do? The apostles answered this very question when hearts were cut by the truth: repent, be renewed, and live as a people set apart (cf. Acts 2:37-42). To cease offending God is not vague sentiment but concrete fidelity. Families are to be schools of prayer and sanctity. Priests are to guard the altar with trembling reverence, offering sacrifice as though it were their last. Youth are to witness to purity in a world intoxicated by scandal. Workers are to sanctify labor with honesty and justice. Each vocation is a chance to repair what has been torn. Fatima called for the rosary, penance, and devotion to the Immaculate Heart—not as options but as weapons of survival. Divine Appeal 280 shows the urgency: the Judge’s hand is lifted, yet the Mother still pleads. The choice before us is not theoretical but cosmic: repentance or ruin, fidelity or destruction. God is already so much offended; the time for delay has passed. If we answer, His mercy will flow like fire to heal the earth. If we refuse, the raised hand will strike, and the world will learn too late that His justice is real.

Prayer 

Our Adorable Jesus, Heart so wounded yet still waiting for us, teach us to stop offending You. Through prayer, penance, and fidelity in daily life, may our love console Your sorrow. By the plea of Our Lady of Fatima, spare the world from judgment and flood it with Your mercy. Amen

Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.