THE WARNING: THE PUNISHMENT WILL PURIFY THE EARTH

The Punishment will purify the earth. Whether or not The Punishment actually occurs, the "Triumph" of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will unfailingly emerge "in the end," and an "Era of Peace" will be given to the world. The "Triumph" means that hearts on earth will become like hers in heaven---free from sin. Peace in our hearts, like the peace in her Heart in heaven, will bring peace to the whole world. If The Punishment does not come, it will be because the world, through The Warning and The Miracle, will have repented, receiving contritely the gift of "The Triumph" in the forgiveness of Jesus. Thus "there will be peace," and the earth will be purified, without The Punishment.

But if we do not heed The Warning or let the lesson of The Miracle touch us deeply enough to give up our sin, then God's only and last recourse is The Punishment. He Himself will directly intervene, after a century and a half of tearful pleadings from Our Blessed Mother have failed to move us, and will remove sin from the face of the earth by removing sinners themselves from it. By His patient delay of the drastic surgery implied in The Punishment, He mercifully gives more time to those who are "on their way to perdition," but He cannot wait any longer, since it has become evident that their hearts are so hardened that the Holy Spirit will never be able to convert them. Since the danger is very great that if their course is not terminated they will "take many souls with them," then, "for the sake of the elect, the time will be shortened," and The Punishment will come to them to take them away.

God could have acted in such a manner at any time in history if He wished. There is even an Old Testament story describing how the world became so sinful that God "repented" that He had made men, and He sent a flood that drowned everyone except His faithful servant, Noe, and his family, and animals of every kind. It teaches the people of God that
there is a limit to the lawlessness and degradation that the Lord will permit. God is holy and He is sovereign ruler; all creation must acknowledge Him. We must live according to His commandments, otherwise we will destroy ourselves and encounter the mysterious
"wrath" of God.

Perhaps, with The Punishment, the story of Noe will acquire an apocalyptic significance that the author never envisioned, for The Punishment, like the Flood, may come upon an unheeding and scornful world to destroy its evil, while those who have cleansed their heart of sin and trusted in the Lord's mercy will be saved.

The survivors of The Punishment will be protected by the Lord for the Era of Peace, when the dove of the Holy Spirit will announce to us that the flood of wickedness has passed, and we can begin to live life anew, in the time of conversion when "all will love Our Hearts." In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, all men and women on earth will learn to be faithful, and they will fill the earth with love.

[To be continued . . .]