Governance and Responsibility Through Grace

Divine Appeal Reflection - 15

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 15: "If magistrates do not do penance and fulfil their responsibility they will perish one after the other."

Authority in the eyes of Heaven is not privilege—it is participation in the Cross. Every office of leadership, from the governance of nations to the care of one soul, is a sharing in the Father’s providential rule, meant to reflect His justice tempered by mercy (cf. Rom 13:1; Wis 6:3–6). Yet when man claims authority as ownership rather than stewardship, he repeats the primal rebellion of Lucifer: seeking to govern apart from God. Divine Appeal 15 reveals the spiritual law behind every historical fall—that leadership without repentance cannot endure, for it resists the very order that sustains it. The Lord’s warning, therefore, is not condemnation but compassion. It is the cry of a wounded God who beholds His image distorted in those meant to mirror His governance. Every magistrate, ruler, or parent is entrusted with a spark of divine authority, but that spark either becomes a light for the world or a fire that consumes. Penance is the difference. It is the act that re-aligns authority to its divine source. The proud ruler imagines himself untouchable, but the humble one sees his responsibility as a sacred weight carried under God’s gaze. The unrepentant magistrate perishes not because God destroys him, but because pride severs him from the living current of grace that alone sustains leadership.

To fulfil responsibility before God is to act as a living bridge between divine justice and human frailty. Leadership, rightly understood, is sacrificial mediation—it participates in Christ’s own intercession (cf. Heb 7:25). Yet the tragedy of our age is that leaders seek influence without intercession, authority without interior poverty. The Catechism teaches that authority must serve the common good, respecting the dignity of persons and reflecting divine order (cf. CCC 1902–1904). But without repentance, this divine order cannot flow through a heart. Where light should flow, shadows gather when those entrusted with souls forget the Presence. The ruler who no longer prays soon governs from ego, not grace. The father who ceases to examine himself before God mistakes control for care. The priest who no longer confesses preaches words emptied of power. Every vocation withers when self-reflection before the Divine is lost. Authority, without the humility of prayer, becomes noise without wisdom. 

Consider Moses: hesitant of speech, yet radiant in spirit, because his authority was born not from charisma but from communion. His face glowed—not from ambition—but from standing still before the Burning Love (cf. Ex 34:29). In every age, leadership falters when men forget the mountain and the tent of meeting. The crisis of our times is not first a failure of systems but of souls estranged from God. True renewal begins where the heart kneels again—where the conscience is examined, confession is restored, and prayer reopens the channel of grace. Only those who stand in divine light can bear the weight of authority without it crushing them. The modern magistrate, politician, or parent often stands before the glare of men but not before the fire of God. Divine Appeal 15 calls them back to that trembling reverence where governance becomes prayer. Communion, not competence alone, is what fulfils responsibility. Because it sees as God does, through mercy that never compromises truth and truth that never extinguishes mercy, a repentant heart governs better than a strategic mind.

Penance is the hidden strength of all holy authority. It cleans the conduits that allow heavenly grace to rule the earth. Power corrupts without repentance because it becomes self-referential; when repentance occurs, it becomes luminous and transparent to God. King David's tears, not his victory, restored his authority (cf. Ps 51). The covenant that his transgression had broken was restored by his repentance. This same call is reiterated in Divine Appeal 15: that people in positions of leadership may rediscover the sanctifying power of repentance. The world mocks penance as weakness, yet in Heaven it is the mark of true kingship. The Cross, paradoxically, is the throne of the universe, for there, authority was stripped of every earthly symbol and clothed instead with obedience and love (cf. Phil 2:8–9). Every vocation of leadership—spiritual, familial, civic—is cruciform. It can only bear fruit when united to the redemptive humility of Christ. A father who weeps for his children’s sins, a parish priest who fasts for his flock, a leader who confesses his failures before God—these wield greater power in the invisible order than armies or parliaments. The Kingdom advances not through domination but through sanctified responsibility, where authority becomes intercession, and governance becomes a participation in the sufferings of Christ for the salvation of others.

Divine Appeal 15 strikes the hidden root of human governance—it unmasks the delusion that authority can survive without repentance. Leadership detached from penance becomes self-consuming; for when the creature no longer bows before the Creator, order disintegrates into chaos. Yet God’s mercy remains an open threshold through which even fallen rulers may return. Across Scripture, He restores authority through humility: Mary’s fiat that surrendered all control (cf. Lk 1:38), Peter’s tears that washed away denial (cf. Lk 22:61–62), and Moses’ reverent awe before the burning bush (cf. Ex 3:5). These gestures are not weakness but divine strength clothed in contrition. Every vocation—whether priestly, civic, parental, or professional—finds renewal only at this altar of humility. When power refuses purification, collapse follows not as punishment but as consequence; yet one repentant heart can steady an entire people. The intercession of a single soul—silent, hidden, obedient—can stay divine justice and reopen the channels of grace. Heaven still seeks such souls who lead by kneeling, command by serving, and reign through surrender. Divine Appeal 15 thus resounds as both judgment and mercy: a call to every entrusted soul to let penance become participation in redemption. For only contrite hearts allow God’s governance to flow again through humanity.

Prayer 

O Adorable Jesus, Eternal King of Kings, teach us the majesty of repentance. Purify every heart that governs, that our authority may become Your instrument of mercy. Strip us of pride, clothe us in humility, and let our responsibilities mirror Your Cross. May our penance draw down grace upon those we serve, until Your justice and peace reign in all hearts. Amen.

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