 To be a victim of love is to enter into the love of Christ Crucified, moved by the Spirit, to be all for the Father. |
God's love and victimhood
Fr. Jordi Rivero
See also "Victim Love" from many authors
In a search for a synonym for "victim", the first word that came up was "unfortunate". That reflects the popular understanding of "victim" as someone who suffered a loss, often due to an injustice. Thus victimhood is viewed as something to be avoided, something feared.
In Catholic thought there are diverse definitions for the term "victim" and "victim soul". According to Fr. Hardon, victim soul is a person "chosen by God to suffer more than most people during life, and who generously accepts the suffering in union with the Savior and after the example of Christ's own Passion and Death." This is a traditional definition.
Many understand "victim soul" as a person who not only accepts God's invitation to suffer but actually asks God to send them extra suffering, such as illnesses, accidents, etc. An objection is then raised. Is this a wise choice for young people or for parents who can best care for their children when they are healthy? Is it not enough, they ask, to fulfill the duties of their state in life with all its inherent sufferings? If God wants victim souls, would He not call them from the ranks of priests and religious?
In light of the mystery of Christ, the above definitions are incomplete. They focus on a legal view of the economy of justice but do not take into account that Christ's redemption is above all a revelation of divine love.Victimhood needs to be understood as an essential aspect of dying to self to be transformed in Christ. He came to bring back to the Father a people who were alienated because of selfishness. He did so by giving Himself in love without counting the cost. As a man, He gave to the Father what for all eternity He had given Him: total loving obedience. This is manifested in His Victimhood. Thus the heart of victimhood is divine love. The Cross is the full expression of victim love. The Father is pleased with love of the Son. In Him all things are restored. Salvation is only possible through union with Christ.
Jesus does not free us from the dominion of darkness to let us fend for ourselves. That would only cause us to revert into darkness. Salvation brings about the restoration of God's marvelous plan that we be sons and daughters in virtue of our union with the Son, Christ. This is what Christ came for. He unites us to the Father in Himself. We are a new creation in Christ, one Body.
Thus we must be united to the ONE pleasing Victim of Love: Christ our Savior. We must put to death in us the ways of the old man.
All the baptized participate in the in Christ's priestly office.
The Catechism #901-902:
Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvelously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit maybe produced in them. For all their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit - indeed even the hardships of life if patiently born - all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. And so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives. cf. LG 10, 1 Pet 2:5.
In a very special way, parents share in the office of sanctifying "by leading a conjugal life in the Christian spirit and by seeing to the Christian education of their children." can. 835 # 4.
Benedict XVI
Our Lord instituted the Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood. Jesus’ gift of himself anticipates his sacrifice on the Cross and his glorious Resurrection. The Eucharist is the supreme prayer of Jesus and of his Church... His act of breaking the bread and offering the cup on the night before he died becomes the sign of his redemptive self-oblation in obedience to the Father’s will: he thus appears as the true paschal lamb who brings the ancient worship to fulfilment. Jesus’ prayer also invokes strength for his disciples, especially Peter (cf. Lk 22:31-32). May our celebration of the Eucharist, in obedience to Christ’s command, unite us more deeply to his prayer at the Last Supper and enable us, in union with him, to offer our lives ever more fully in sacrifice to the Father. Benedict XVI, 1/11/12 -Full text
St. Paul writes about the love of the cross.
See also: Christian love of the cross vs. Pathological love of suffering
It is false, therefore, to say that Christ became a victim so that we don't have to be. Sacred Scripture and the magisterium clearly teach the opposite: In Christ and with His grace, we become victims of love. We live no longer for ourselves but in loving obedience, giving all to the Father. We must have the same heart of Christ, the same will, the same love and thus the same total surrender of our lives to Him. This is to be a victim of love.
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Mt 16:24-25
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer by human passions but by the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2
Jesus is not speaking here about an optional spirituality. Jesus is proclaiming the way for all, the way for "ANY" man that would follow Him. We, the body, must follow the way of Christ the Head. This is the faith of the Church. This is the path followed by all the saints since the beginning.
Call it as you wish as long as you do not dilute the reality: The way of Christ is the way of the victim of love. One Body in Christ, offering in love to the Father. This is not a burden but rather the priviledge of the children of God that Christ earned for us.
Christ gives Himself to us first to enkindle in us the fire of His love. This love embraces any suffering or trial. Sacrificial self giving is the very nature of love. It brings us to closer union with Christ and thus to great joy. We are not additional victims. Rather, we share in the one victimhood of Christ.
Victimhood understood this way is at the heart of the life of all the baptized and therefore cannot be the exclusive privilege of priests and religious.
Let us see how the term "victim" is used in the spirituality of the cross. A happily married woman, mother of 9, the Ven. Concepcion (Conchita) Cabrera de Armida wrote in her diary what Jesus told her about His mother:
"She nourished Me to be a Victim attaining the supreme immolation of her soul when She delivered Me up to be crucified. It was one and the same sacrifice. Mine on the Cross and the one which took place in her heart… (Diary April 6, 1928)
"I must be offered by you, at every moment, as a victim on behalf of men; and you, united with the great Victim with all His perfections. I want you to offer yourself as did Mary, with her very virtues and qualities,. Imitate her and model your own heart on this so beautiful an image." (Diary, 2/2/1907)
The Ven. Archbishop Luis Maria Martinez:
To offer ourselves as a victim does not mean that after a few days a terrible suffering will come upon us, be it of the soul or the body. No; to offer ourselves as victim is to tell Our Lord that we are disposed to suffer whatever He wants.
We could say, speaking in human language, that it is like signing a blank check for the Lord, so that He can put whatever amount he wants. He can put there a great sacrifice or the ordinary sacrifices of life.
But there is great merit in saying to Him: "Lord, I am for whatever you want" And every soul of the Cross is a soul that offers itself as a victim, because that is the spirit of the Cross."
-Bishop Luis Maria Martinez, El Camino Regio del Amor, pg. 168-169
T
he Venerable Fr. Felix Rougier, MSp.S.:"To be self-sacrificing is to say many times during the day: "Nothing for me, all for Jesus."
"The most perfect advice I can give you regarding this point is what our spirituality points out: ‘To be victims in union with Jesus who always offered himself to the Father, moved by the great love that the Holy Spirit had poured out of Him.
To be victims with Jesus does not necessarily mean to do penance. Rather it is an internal attitude. It is a constant YES to everything God wants; a big YES AS LARGE AS THE SKY; A CONFIDENT GENEROUS SURRENDER, WITHOUT LIMIT OR CONDITION. That is what it means to be a victim; it does not mean to do something, but to really love, accepting all the consequences of true love.
Jesus’ time came. Perhaps He did not do penance, but one night the hour of Gethsemani arrived, of the unjust judgment and of the condemnation and the lashes and carrying the cross and being nailed to it; and Jesus said YES to the Father. "Not my will but your’s be done." "Father, I place my life in Your hands."
"Our time" will come to each of us. A time of sickness, of a very violent temptation; a time to lose our beloved relatives or friends; a time of misunderstandings, false accusations, persecution, unjust judgments. And then we will say the same YES of Jesus, closely united to Him and with the force of the same Holy Spirit who always gave Jesus the courage and light and love to offer Himself to the Father for the salvation of all."
"Do you understand the Spirituality of the Cross? It is to be self-sacrificing, it is to carry one’s cross together with Jesus." -Risking the Future Pg 103-104.
A growing awareness of Victimhood
"Victim love" may not be popular to modern man; it may be much rejected even by Christians, but God is actually increasing the Church's understanding of its necessity and urgency. The XX Century had more martyrs than any other century, hundreds already canonized. It is notable how many modern day saints explicitly offered themselves as victims of love and wrote about it as THE path of love.
Hebrews 10:5-7
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’
Victimhood calls immolation and oblation in Him.
A victim in the Old Testament was a living creature offered to God in adoration. How can does this apply to us today?
The victim was immolated (destroyed) in the sacrifice: we do not kill our bodies but we must put to death the rebelliousness of our body, a death to self, so that we are born again in the Spirit.
It required oblation (offering): the voluntary surrender of the victim who gives all to unite with the beloved. All in our life becomes an opportunity to unite with Christ. Life becomes a gift of love freely offered.
In the Church we say "Lex orandi, lex credendi" (what we pray is what we believe) We must pay attention to what we pray at Mass: Eucharistic Prayer III: "Look we pray upon the oblation of our Church and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with the Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.
The same canon links our being an offering with Christ with our salvation: "May he make us an eternal offering to you, so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect"
Victimhood is a grace of participation in the victimhood of God, as required by love.
To understand victimhood we need to turn our gaze to the Trinity.
From eternity the Father gives Himself to the Son because He loves Him. The Son likewise loves the Father and gives Himself to Him. Their love is a Person, the Holy Spirit. Thus God is Trinity abiding in the unity of love.
We think of loving as giving something, even perhaps giving something of ourselves. But the Father does not give the Son
"something". Rather, He gives Himself in totality. There is nothing of the Father that is not in the Son. This total giving of self is the essence of victimhood! Thus the Father, in this sense, is a victim of love!The Son receives all from the Father and gives Himself in totality to the Father, thus the Son is a victim of love given to the Father. Father and Son are in each other in their total mutual self giving, so perfectly that they are one in being.
"Thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee" (Jn 17:21).Love revealed to us
The love between Father and Son, hidden from eternity because of our sins, became visible at the incarnation. T
he Father gave us His all by giving us His Son. The Son, now with a human heart, continues to receive all from the Father and gives all back to Him."He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, "show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? (Jn 14:9-10)
All of Jesus' words and actions throughout His life, culminating at the cross, reveal the victim love of the Father who is in Him. By giving Himself as a victim, Jesus is giving what He has received from the Father. That means He learned to be victim of love from the Father. The Father is not a victim that is destroyed but a victim in the sense that He gives Himself without ceasing.
Christ died that we be one with God.
Christ, in his final prayer at the Last Supper, reveals that He was sent by the Father to draw us into their unity and thus into their victim love.
Jn 17 "21 T
hat they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee; and these know that thou hast sent me. 26 I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."Jesus renders His heart open in this prayer showing His most profound desire for our unity with Him and with each other. Notice how many times He pleads for us to abide in divine unity.
This unity is such that it makes us Christ's Body, able to receive the Father's love and offer ourselves in union with Christ. Thus, we are not additional victims but rather the living body of the one Victim: Christ. When we unite to Him our daily duties, our sufferings and joys, our sacrifices for the sake of our brethren, we are allowing Him to live in us and this becomes our joy.
Col 1:24
"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church"Holy Mass
As victims of love we unite ourselves at every Holy Mass to Christ the Victim, giving all to the Father. We go to Mass to die with Christ and rise with Him. All in us is surrendered through Him, with Him, in Him.
"I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Rom 12:1-2
We silently join the offering as Christ speaks through the priest the words of consecration: "For this is My Body, which will be given for you"; "For this is the chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me"
L.C. members say this prayer we learned from Ven. Conchita at the moment of the consecration of the Precious Blood >>>:
Beloved Father! Through the immaculate hands of Mary, receive my blood which I place in that chalice in union with the blood of Jesus, sacrificing it for love of you, for your priests and for the salvation and regeneration of the world through the cross. Accept it, Father, and sprinkle with it the good and the bad, the living and the dead, making fruitful the field of the Church through this sacrifice. Amen Jesus savior of mankind, save them!
We continue the offering during the day. This will be so if we open our hearts and share in the disposition of the Christ the Victim. -Eucharist
Fire upon the earth
Jesus holds nothing back because His Heart is filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit. His Heart is bursting with love.
Lc 12:49-51 "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!
He wants to cast this Holy Spirit fire upon the earth, upon each one of us, to make us one with Him. Notice that for the fire to come, Jesus must enter His baptism. That means that he was immersed in the will of His Father unto its fulfillment at the cross. If we are one with Christ, we too must be immersed in the will of God and become an offering, a victim of love given without reserve.
God waits
God waits for the FIAT that signals our total surrender. We dont just offer something. We offer ourselves without reserve, our entire being, our will, our heart, our body and soul, one with Him. This is to be with Christ victims of love.
Our life is an offering of love. Our crosses, including the injustices we suffer, as well as the daily duties, are powerful when done with great love and united with Christ. "The smallest movement of pure love is worth more to the Church than all works put together." -St. John of the Cross. See also: "The little way of St Therese".
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". Gal 2:20
We realize that our offering is imperfect and unfinished. We are, like St. Paul, running the race, learning to love and to offer. It is a process and we shall not despair due to our failures and setbacks. The summit is not reached without struggle and perseverance. We also offer to the Lord our falls as long as we get up and keep on the race.
Mary, the perfect Victim.
At the cross Mary suffered with her son as the perfect victim of love. Both consummated the victim love they always lived by. The two were one in love to the depth of their hearts, thus they were also one in suffering and in victimhood. "a sword will pierce your own soul too" Lc 2:35. Their lives became one offering. He as Redeemer and she as co-redeemer. Since we too are members of Christ's body, she helps us in our weakness by taking us to the cross as she took St. John. Our offering is perfected when we respond by living our consecration to our Blessed Mother.
Our FIAT opens the way for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit we are a new creation in Christ, empowered to live in His Love. Then Jesus can cast fire upon the earth through us. This is the only way that evangelization is effective.
Our offering obtains from Christ many graces for others too. We offer ourselves for many, specially for the priests. It is a joy to know that we are cooperating in the salvation of souls.
St. Therese of Lisieux:
"To offer oneself as a victim to Divine Love is not to offer oneself to sweetness - to consolation; but to every anguish, every bitterness, for Love lives only by sacrifice; and the more a soul wills to be surrendered to Love, the more must she be surrendered to suffering."
Jesus to St. Faustina:
"My Daughter, I want to instruct you on how you are to rescue souls through sacrifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone. I want to see you as a sacrifice of living love, which only then carries weight before Me. You must be annihilated, destroyed, living as if you were dead in the most secret depths of your being. You must be destroyed in that secret depth where the human eye has never penetrated; then will I find in you a pleasing sacrifice, a holocaust full of sweetness and fragrance. And great will be your power for whomever you intercede. Outwardly, your sacrifice must look like this: silent, hidden, permeated with love, imbued with prayer. I demand, My daughter, that your sacrifice be pure and full of humility, that I may find pleasure in it. I will not spare My grace, that you may be able to fulfill what I demand of you." Diary #1752
"I will now instruct you on what your holocaust shall consist of, in everyday life, so as to preserve you from illusions. You shall accept all sufferings with love. Do not be afflicted if your heart often experiences repugnance and dislike for sacrifice. All its power rests in the will, and so these contrary feelings, far from lowering the value of the sacrifice in my eyes, will enhance it. Know that your body and soul will often be in the midst of fire. Although you will not feel my presence on some occasions, I will always be with you. Do not fear; My grace will be with you... #1767
Blessed John Paul II:
"United with Christ, Priest and Victim, I offer my sufferings for the Church and for the world. To you, Mary, I repeat: 'Totus tuus ergo sum.'" (I am all yours).
Jesus to Mother Teresa of Calcutta:
I want victims of My love "Wilt thou refuse? When there was a question of thy soul I did not think of Myself but gave Myself freely for thee on the cross and what about thee? Wilt thou refuse? I want Indian nuns victims of My love, who would be Mary and Martha, who would be so very united to Me as to radiate My love on souls. I want free nuns covered with My poverty of the Cross. - I want obedient nuns covered with My obedience on the Cross. I want full of love nuns covered with My charity of the cross. - Wilt thou refuse to do this for me?"
"You have become My Spouse for My love - you have come to India for me. The thirst you had for souls brought you so far. - Are you afraid now to take one more step for your Spouse - for Me - for souls? Is your generosity grown cold? Am I a second to you? You did not die for souls - that is why you don't care what happens to them. - Your heart was never drowned in sorrow as was My Mother's. - we both gave our all for souls - and you? You are afraid, that you will lose your vocation - you will be wanting in perseverance. No - your vocation is to love and suffer and save souls and by taking the step you will fulfill My Heart's desire for you."
Messages to our LC community:
That is why I desire many victim souls, for it is only the power of pure love that will pierce the darkness that is seeping into the hearts and minds of My people. Bring Me victim souls My little one. Do not be afraid. 1/29/11
St. Joseph and Mary were perfect holy victim souls. They were united as one to the Victim of Love. St. Joseph never uttered a complaint during his many trials, struggles, and sufferings. The human existence here on earth is full of struggles, challenges, difficulties, sufferings, trials and tears because of the fall. I came to transform human suffering through My death and resurrection. The Holy Family lived the human condition through Me, with Me and in Me, thus their lives were transformed into Love, the love of the Most Holy Trinity. The world is foundering into the abyss of evil and darkness because My Spirit is not sought and loved. It is through Mary, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, that you obtain most perfectly the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that will unite you as One Body to My crucified Love to participate in the salvation of the world. It is only My victim souls who participate in the work of Redemption and who will conquer the principalities of death with Me. Therefore, My little one, bring me victim souls! 1/31/11
Remain steadfast in your preaching and teaching about victim souls. You will bring many to find the secret passage that leads to transformation into Me; the passage that brings a soul into the life of the most Holy Trinity. St. Paul entered this passage as he declares when he says, "I have been crucified with Christ". It is a victim soul's 'yes' that 'stirs into flame' the power of the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit can lead a docile and willing soul to die with Me. It is this voluntary death that brings the soul to new life. That is why St. Paul can now say, " It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." I continue to thirst for love, but it is only the love of My victim souls that satisfies My thirst. It is only the love of My victim souls that has the power to appease the justice of God. Therefore, bring Me many victim souls. 2/1/11
The Power of a Victim Soul
During an exorcism, a demon was forced to speak thus: "The crucified souls are the ones," said the demon, "that will wage war against us. A faithful soul is more powerful than hell, but a crucified soul is more powerful than a thousand hells." Thus the victim souls will bring peace back into the Church when they have completed their suffering.
"Mary Crushes the Serpent -30 Years of Experiences As An Exorcist Told In His Own Words"--Sequel to "Begone Satan". Edited by Rev. Theodore Geiger.
Translated: by Rev. Celestine Kapsner, O.S.B.
Jesus, the absolute master, rules in love
“The divine heart [of Jesus] wishes to be absolute master of yours . . . It has loved people so much that it utterly spent itself on the tree of the cross to prove its love, and continues to do so in the Blessed Sacrament” -St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Paray le Monial.
Be constant in practicing every virtue, and especially in imitating the patience of our dear Jesus, for this is the summit of pure love. Live in such a way that all may know that you bear outwardly as well as inwardly the image of Christ crucified, the model of all gentleness and mercy. - St. Paul of the Cross
Plead for mercy united to Christ
Oh my God, I am conscious of my mission in the Holy Church. It is my constant endeavor to plead for mercy for the world. I unite myself closely with Jesus and stand before Him as an atoning sacrifice on behalf of the world. God will refuse me nothing when I entreat Him with the voice of His Son. My sacrifice is nothing in itself, but when I join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it becomes all-powerful and has the power to appease divine wrath. God loves us in the Son; the painful Passion of the Son of God constantly turns aside the wrath of God. -St Faustina, Diary No. 482
Coherence
Vatican II deplored "the dichotomy between the faith which many profess and the practice of their daily lives." The council called this "one of the gravest errors of our time" (Gaudium et Spes, 43).
Beware of becoming lukewarm.
"Easily we become comfortable, self centered. We must keep on the fire of love. We are more responsible since we have received much. "Lukewarm souls who have just enough warmth to keep them alive: MY HEART cannot bear this. All the graces that I pour out upon them flow off them as off the face of a rock. I cannot stand them, because they are neither good nor bad. The great sins of the world are superficial wounds on MY HEART, but the sins of a chosen soul pierce My Heart through and through.." St. Faustina's Diary #1702-3
Zeal to conquer
"And this was his strength (St Paul's): He did not seek a tranquil, comfortable life, far from difficulties and contradictions; rather, he wore himself out for the sake of the Gospel, he gave himself entirely and without reserve, and in this way he became the great messenger of Christ's peace and reconciliation. The sword that St. Paul holds also recalls the power of truth, which can often wound, can hurt: the Apostle remained faithful to this truth to the end; he served it; he suffered for it; he gave over his life for it. This same logic holds true also for us if we want to be bearers of the kingdom and peace announced by the Prophet Zechariah and fulfilled by Christ: We must be willing to pay personally, to suffer in the first person misunderstanding, rejection, persecution. It is not the sword of the conqueror that builds peace, but the sword of the sufferer, of he who knows how to give his very life -Benedict XVI >>
Encounter with Jesus is the essence of all reform
"The essence of the crisis of the Church... is the crisis of faith. If we find no answer to this, if faith does not take on new life, deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus Christ, then all other reforms will remain ineffective" -Benedict XVI, Dec 22, 2011
