Mary’s Prophecies and the Coming Chastisement is a Wake-Up Call for What’s Going On Today

I know the world has always been pretty messed up, and I’ve been told that the things we’re seeing today are nothing new. On one hand, I agree, but it really does feel like something is in the air—something evil.

I’m not denying that social media and the internet play a huge role in bringing us information that most people wouldn’t have had 50 or 100 years ago. We don’t have to wait for the five o’clock news to bring us the sickness in the world; it’s there right in your face every time we get online.

Still, I know that the Blessed Virgin has warned us through various apparitions that a great chastisement is coming, and it feels like we’re at the beginning of that now.

Our culture feels like it’s collapsing under the weight of anger, hate, violence, division, and confusion. Social media and the internet—meant to connect us—have become a platform that magnifies evil, and in some cases, moves people to violence.

As a Catholic, I have to ask: Are we living in the very times that Mary warned about?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, the murder of Iryna Zarutska, the murder of Melissa Hortman, and her husband, and the countless other tragedies that are too numerous to mention, have made me feel that something dark is brewing.

Throughout history, Our Lady has given us prophetic messages and warnings that things are going to get bad if we don’t repent. At Fatima, she warned that “the errors of Russia” would spread throughout the world if men didn’t repent and turn back to God. Those errors—atheism, materialism, and moral relativism—are now deeply rooted in the modern world.

At Akita, Japan, in 1973, she told Sr. Agnes Sasagawa:

If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before.

She also warned us at La Salette, France, about worldwide apostasy.

If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let go the arm of my Son…God will allow the old serpent to cause divisions among those who reign in all societies and in all families. Physical and moral pains will be suffered.

These warnings aren’t threats; they’re cries from a loving mother who sees her children running towards a cliff, pleading for them to stop before going over the edge.

As mentioned, it doesn’t take much to see how our present day mirrors the sins and warnings Mary spoke about. Things such as:

Moral Confusion

What was once considered obviously true—that life is sacred, that marriage is holy and between a man and a woman, that truth exists—has been tossed aside. We live in a world where even basic realities about men and women, even what it means to be a man or woman, are disputed. Schools often push ideologies that separate children from their faith (if they had any) and their parents.

Violence and Division

Crime is rampant in many big cities. Streets echo with riots, protests, and rage. The political arena, our politicians, don’t seem to be concerned about citizens uniting around a common good, instead becoming a battlefield of bitterness and suspicion. Wars and the rumors of wars are threatening the planet.

Loss of Faith

To me, the biggest tragedy of our modern society is the nearly complete collapse of faith. Churches that were once full now stand half-empty. Many Catholics don’t even believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and openly defy the Church’s teaching on things like abortion, divorce and remarriage, and contraception.

For countless people, God is irrelevant, and when man forgets God, he loses his humanity.

Earlier, I mentioned social media, which I think is the catalyst for the coming storm. For all the good that it offers (and I’m seeing less and less of that every day), it’s provided the enemy the perfect opportunity to suck in and destroy souls. Not even the invention of the printing press can match the ability of information and ideas to spread to as many people as social media. If you want to twist hearts and minds, encourage them to hate, sow division and chaos, well, social media is the perfect vehicle to accomplish it. And the devil knows it.

These platforms serve as echo chambers where people are encouraged to react, mock, and tear down rather than listen and build up. Algorithms promote outrage because that keeps people hooked and scrolling. Anger sells. Hate spreads faster than charity. And if you don’t think there’s a demonic element behind it, you have your head buried in the sand.

Violence and Desensitization

People are also bombarded with viral videos that glorify crime and violence, which desensitizes us. Children are exposed to these horrors at younger ages than ever before.

And let’s not forget about the proliferation of pornography. According to FHE Health:

• 58% of Americans have viewed pornographic materials at least once, and around 27% have watched it in the last month.
• 1 in 3 Americans seek out porn.
• Roughly 11% of people in the United States watch porn daily.
• The porn industry in the United States generated $1.15 billion in 2023.
• PornHub reported that it had more than 100 million visits per day in 2023.

It’s easy to tell people to just get off the internet, and yes, I think we (myself included) need to spend less time online. But closing our eyes isn’t going to make these problems go away.

So, is what’s happening in our culture today a sign of a great chastisement that Our Lady warned about?

Throughout Scripture, chastisements come when people harden their hearts and refuse to repent. Noah’s flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Babylonian exile weren’t random punishments, but were consequences of turning from God. We can see these things today.

Increases in natural disasters, economic instability, wars and terrorism, spiritual confusion—Mary’s words at Akita could be describing precisely what we’re seeing today.

Fortunately, Our Lady doesn’t want us to despair and gave us the remedy for all of the nonsense. At Fatima, she called for daily Rosary penance and consecration to her Immaculate Heart. At Akita, she urged prayer, especially the Rosary, as the weapon against the devil’s plans.

It’s easy to read these prophecies and become paralyzed with fear, but we’re not helpless. God is merciful, and as long as we turn back to Him, chastisement can be mitigated or delayed.

But herein lies the other problem. We have had, for a long time now, a weakened, ineffectual Church. The ones who are supposed to be shepherding us have left us adrift. I believe that if the Church were strong and led by good, holy men, the state of affairs wouldn’t be so bad.

There are too many in the Church who have embraced the evils of modernism, leaving the flock ripe for the picking by the devil.

So where does that leave us? We have a crumbling society, a culture that’s gone off the rails, and an impotent Church that’s largely abdicated its mission to remain firm to Christ’s teachings and the Gospel.

The jury’s still out on Pope Leo XIV and in what direction he’s going to take the church. His pontificate is too young as of this writing to know exactly, but I think it’s fair to say he’s not going to be like Pius XIII as portrayed in HBO’s The Young Pope.

I’m not arguing that we should leave the Church, but for the time being, we as Catholics have to toughen up and roll up our sleeves and take matters into our own hands. That means returning to prayer with fervor. The Rosary has, for centuries, been a powerful weapon against the forces of darkness, and we all need to start praying it every day.

We need to stay close to the sacrament of confession to heal our sins, be clean of heart, and be ready for whatever is coming.

Now is also the time to proclaim the faith boldly. I know, it’s getting more dangerous now, and I admit that I’ve been cowardly about being open about my faith. I have to work on it, but we all have to get out in the public and start evangelizing.

No, I’m not talking about going out and beating people over the head with a Bible or preaching on a street corner (although that last one might be okay). I’m talking about letting others see Christ through your actions. This means standing up for life, honoring the sacrament of marriage, raising children in the faith, refusing to compromise with the ever-changing culture, and unapologetically declaring that Christ is King.

Allowing people to see Christ living in you and not being ashamed of the Gospel can be enough to spark someone’s interest in Christianity or encourage them to return to the faith.

We’re not voting our way out of this, despite what you might think. There’s no politician, no president, who can fix the culture. They can fix symptoms, but not the root cause. Only Christ can do that.

And until the Church gets its act together, and the culture continues to be faithless and degenerate, it’s on our shoulders to be the light of Christ in the world.

Pray the Rosary.

Go to Confession.

Go to Mass.

We may not be able to stop the punishment that’s coming, but we can ensure we get through it and hopefully bring others with us.

Ave Maria!