Speaking to Souls About Their Evil

Divine Appeal Reflection - 149

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 149: "... speak to souls for all the evil they do... I give you the words to speak and I give you light to see their consciences."

One of the deepest mysteries of Our Adorable Jesus' mercy is that He refuses to remain silent while a soul slowly hardens its heart against His love . Like the Lord who warned Cain before sin mastered him (cf. Gen 4:6–7), called Samuel (cf. 1 Sam 3:1–10) until he recognized His voice , pursued Jonah  despite his flight , sought Elijah (cf. 1 Kgs 19:9–18) in his discouragement  through the gentle whisper , and addressed Judas (cf. Mt 26:47–50) as "friend" even in the hour of betrayal , Christ always seeks restoration before ruin. Thus, when He says, "Speak to souls for all the evil they do," He invites us to share in His redeeming compassion—a love that enters another's darkness not to condemn, but to awaken conscience, heal what sin has wounded, and gently lead every wandering soul back into the Father's embrace . Divine love does not expose sin to shame the sinner but to rescue the image of God that sin has disfigured . Like a surgeon who must first uncover a hidden wound before healing it, Christ gently uncovers the illnesses of the soul so that grace may restore what sin has wounded . This was the mission of the prophet Nathan. Instead of publicly humiliating David after his adultery and murder, Nathan entered the king's heart through a simple parable until David himself recognized the darkness within him (cf. 2 Sam 12:1-13). God desired not humiliation but conversion. The same mystery unfolds today. A father notices that his adult son has slowly abandoned Sunday Mass. Every family gathering becomes an exercise in pretending nothing has changed. For months, a father remains silent, fearing that speaking will push his son further away. Yet after many hours before the Blessed Sacrament, he gently tells him that his deepest fear is not the loss of family harmony but the loss of his soul . His words carry tears rather than anger because they have first been purified in prayer. St. John Vianney often reminded others that hearts are won more by love than by eloquence. Only those who have first wept with Christ can speak with the tenderness that awakens sleeping consciences .

Jesus does not simply promise, "I give you the words to speak." First He says, "I give you light to see their consciences."This order is profoundly important. Before speaking about another soul, Christ teaches us to see that soul through His own eyes. Human judgment notices behaviour; divine wisdom perceives hidden wounds, forgotten battles, silent fears, and buried hopes . Many outward sins are the visible cries of hearts that have never experienced authentic love. Without the light of the Holy Spirit, correction easily becomes criticism. With His light, even difficult truth becomes an act of healing mercy . This mystery shines beautifully in  Ananias of Damascus. To every Christian, Saul appeared to be nothing more than a violent persecutor deserving fear. Yet God revealed another reality invisible to human eyes: (cf. Acts 9:10-19) beneath the persecutor was an apostle waiting to be born . Had Ananias trusted only appearances, the Church might never have welcomed Paul. Every Christian faces similar moments. A teacher may see a rebellious student and assume laziness until she discovers the child spends each night caring for an alcoholic parent (cf. 1 Sam 16:7). A parishioner may quietly judge a priest's reserve, unaware of the hidden burdens he carries for his flock . A wife may mistake her husband's silence for indifference, not knowing he is privately entrusting his family's future to God amid the fear of losing his job . St. Francis de Sales taught that patient gentleness reflects the Heart of God because it seeks first to understand before judging. Christ's light transforms not only our words but also our vision, teaching us to look upon every person with the compassion and mercy of His Sacred Heart .

Perhaps the greatest mistake in correcting others is speaking before praying. Jesus never asks His disciples to become prosecutors of souls but intercessors for souls. Before His public words, Christ spent entire nights alone with the Father, allowing divine love to shape every action . Every apostle who wishes to touch consciences must first learn this hidden school of contemplation. The person who has never carried another soul before God will often carry hidden frustration into every conversation. Prayer purifies motives until correction no longer seeks victory but salvation . This truth appears powerfully in Moses after Israel worshipped the golden calf. Although the people had deeply offended God, (cf. Ex 32:30-32) Moses did not first accuse them. He ascended the mountain, wept, pleaded, and even offered himself for them before returning to speak to Israel . His words possessed authority because they had already been purified by intercession. This same mystery unfolds quietly today. A mother discovers that her daughter has become trapped in an unhealthy relationship. Though every instinct urges an immediate confrontation, she first spends weeks before the Blessed Sacrament, asking Jesus to prepare her daughter's heart before opening her own lips . When the conversation finally comes, it is marked not by fear or control but by compassion shaped through prayer. St. Monica wept and persevered in prayer for years before witnessing the conversion of her son, Augustine of Hippo . Her tears accomplished what arguments alone could not. Christ still seeks apostles who kneel before they speak, adore before they advise, and allow His Heart to form their own before leading souls back to Him .

When Our Adorable Jesus says, "I give you the words to speak," He reveals that there are words born of human impulse and words born of the Holy Spirit . Human words often defend pride, win arguments, or express frustration. Christ's words always seek the salvation and healing of the person before Him . Before He spoke, Jesus first entered the wounds of those He met, seeing beyond outward sins to the deeper thirst, fear, and loneliness that held them captive . This mystery shines through the prophet Hosea, whose faithful love for an unfaithful wife became a living sign of God's unwavering pursuit of His people . Mercy never excuses sin, (cf. Lk 15:11–32; CCC 1846–1848) yet it never ceases to seek the sinner's return . The same grace is urgently needed today. A physician must gently tell a patient that addiction is destroying both body and soul . A superior must lovingly correct a religious whose hidden resentment is weakening community life . A friend must courageously challenge dishonest business practices that cannot be reconciled with the Gospel . Such conversations often cost tears because authentic charity refuses both harshness and indifference. St. Philip Neri corrected souls with such fatherly joy that difficult truths were received as gifts of love. He won hearts before he corrected lives. This is the Heart of Christ: souls are rarely converted by arguments alone, but by encountering a love that speaks the truth with humility, patience, and unfailing tenderness .

The final and perhaps most humbling dimension of this appeal is that the light Jesus gives to see another person's conscience first shines upon our own. Before the apostle becomes a messenger, he must become a penitent. The more deeply one enters God's light, the less one feels superior to anyone else. Contemplation gradually replaces judgment with compassion because it reveals how much mercy we ourselves have received . This mystery appears profoundly in St. Peter. After denying Christ three times,  (cf. Lk 22:61-62; Jn 21:15-17) Peter no longer possessed the pride of a man who believed himself incapable of falling. When the risen Lord later entrusted him with the care of the Church, Peter led not from remembered strength but from remembered mercy . His tears became the foundation of his ministry. He could strengthen his brethren because he knew what it meant to be restored by grace. Every Christian experiences this hidden school. A father who has wrestled with anger often learns to guide his son with greater patience because he remembers the mercy that changed his own heart . A woman restored through God's forgiveness welcomes returning sinners with compassion because she knows the joy of coming home to the Father's embrace. A priest formed by long hours before the Blessed Sacrament gradually discovers that every confession is holy ground where Christ has already begun His work of healing . Saint Faustina Kowalska discovered through her intimate communion with Divine Mercy that the more profoundly a soul allows itself to be transformed by Christ's merciful Heart, the less it judges and the more it reflects His compassion toward others. Having experienced its own poverty before God, such a soul no longer looks upon human weakness with superiority but with patient charity, recognizing that every sinner is someone for whom Christ shed His Precious Blood . This is the summit of Our Adorable Jesus' appeal: He desires not merely eloquent witnesses, gifted evangelizers, or zealous workers, but hearts so united to His own that His mercy continues to flow through them. Then Christ Himself quietly seeks the lost through their kindness, heals hidden wounds through their compassion, strengthens the discouraged through their hope, forgives through their gentleness, and patiently leads wandering souls back to the Father's house through lives that radiate His Sacred Heart .

Prayer 

My Adorable Jesus, purify my heart before You send my voice. Give me Your light to see souls with mercy, Your wisdom to speak only what heals, and Your humility to remember my own need for grace. May every word I utter lead souls gently back to Your Sacred Heart. Amen.

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