196    The Bible and the Future of the World 

    The  Victim without blemish  is Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice on the 

Cross and whose presence in the Eucharist we should offer to God the 

Eternal Father to obtain mercy for the world. The Virgin Mary is 

complaining especially about the lack of persons among those consecrated to 

God who are worthy to implore mercy for the world through Jesus Christ. 

    In every age, there are some priests and religious who are unfaithful to 

Christ. In the present time, there is much sin and lack of faith among priests 

and religious. Many priests and religious do not even believe all that the 

Church teaches. Many priests and religious do not believe all that is written 

in Holy Scripture. Many priests and religious today live in a way which 

shows, at best, a lukewarm love for God. 

    However, God is going to change all that. Over the course of the Forty 

Years (A.D. 2000 to 2039/2040), there will be an increase in holiness among 

many priests, religious, and bishops. Some unfaithful members of the clergy 

and the religious life will be removed, will be utterly cast down. The whole 

Church will make advances in holiness, so that, by the end of the Forty 

Years, the members of the priesthood and the religious life will, in general, 

be much holier and more dedicated to God and to the Church than was the 

case before the Forty Years. 

    The Virgin Mary's cry against those priests who are unfaithful to Christ is 

like her Son Jesus' cry against the scribes and Pharisees (Mt  23). Those 

words of Jesus, and Mary's words at La Salette, apply to unfaithful priests of 

every generation, but they will be especially true in the 24th century (the 

2300's), in the time leading up to the reign of the ten kings. In those years 

and for a long time, much of the Christian clergy will fit Mary's complaint 

well. The priests then will be far worse than they were for this generation. 

3.   God is going to strike in a manner without example.  

4.   Woe to the inhabitants of the earth! God is going to exhaust His wrath, 

and no one will be able to take himself away from so many afflictions 

combined.  

    The Virgin Mary is referring to the afflictions of the seven seals from the 

book of Revelation. The first six seals and the first six trumpets of the 

seventh seal all occur during the Forty Years, beginning in 2010 and ending 

in late 2039 or early  2040. During that time, God will send one affliction 

after another upon the earth. 

    The Virgin Mary here uses expressions similar to those found in 

Revelation.   `Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth....'   (Rev 

8:13). The three woes are a warning given to the earth about punishments 

from God which are part of the events of the seventh seal. The seventh seal