Victim Soul Offerings: Into the Future?

Someone asked good questions on a separate blog, and the thoughts to share, now, seem suited to that of the victim soul blog. Here are the questions/comments:

"I have read about suffering to console Jesus, to share His cross, out of love for Jesus, in reparation for the sins of mankind (which brought to mind sins being committed or already committed). Can a victim soul suffer so that a sin may never be committed?

"As an example: could a victim soul have a vocation to suffer so that children would be protected from abuse, that their innocence not be taken from them in any form of evil? That they may be spared and remain wholly God's for a while longer?

"My heart says yes because I have trust and faith in God, but my mind cannot comprehend the logic of it as we all have free will. I know one can stand between God and sinner to obtain forgiveness for the sinner, but can one deflect it from even occurring in the first place somehow thru their sufferings?"

Yes, a victim soul may offer his or her suffering with the intention that a certain sin may never be perpetrated. A victim soul may offer to Jesus any and all sufferings for group categories, specific persons and illnesses and sins--past, present and future. God's realm is timeless.

Will the offering made keep someone from sinning or keep someone from being harmed? That is all up to Divine providence and includes humankind's free will.

My confessor (thankfully returned but himself not feeling well, so this one offered the gut-sickening pain of this week along with some prayers to the Virgin Mary, asking for his relief and recovery, citing his many important responsibilities in the Diocese) commented that it is well for a victim soul to offer the suffering for the person or persons who God knows need it most.

Also, there seem to be levels of progression for victim souls in their offerings and work. At one level, the victim soul offers for specific persons and/or groups or categories, usually known. At another level the victim soul offers for specific groups or categories, but not specifically known. At yet another level the victim soul simply offers the suffering and/or offers to suffer, for whatever and however the Lord has need, for souls, for situations, for sins, for reparation, for love of Him. This latter is the level to which a victim soul does well to strive and attain.

Sometimes the Lord allows the victim soul to know for whom or what category the suffering has been utilized. Perhaps He does this to encourage the victim soul, as a kind of consolation. But often and perhaps most often, the victim soul suffers in blind faith; and this is best to not expect any feedback and to squelch curiosity. Just do the work of suffering and be thankful for it, keeping in mind it never approaches Christ's suffering but is all the same pleasing to Him!

A good offering to make is not only for future victims of suffering or sin but also for the prior conversion of the one who may perpetrate an evil. As the questioner suggests, this all must be offered and the suffering effected, in faith, without knowing outcomes.

The same goes for suffering offered for souls of the past and sufferings and evils of others of the past.

(We may never know or fathom how many sins and sufferings were and are alleviated and also averted as a result of the work of victim souls all over the world, in various centuries. But we know from some victim soul saints, that this is so, for the Lord showed them some results of their offerings and sufferings.)

At some point, the victim soul may sense within, from the Lord or His messenger, that the victim soul is to offer suffering or to suffer for a particular group, cause, or individuals. This takes the victim soul yet further from self and allows and agrees to the suffering without personal preference. However, it is not wrong to suggest and offer to suffer for those causes and cases close to our hearts. These may very well be the ones for which Jesus wants us to offer and suffer.

Or, there may be something or someone that we would not have thought of, or felt desirous of suffering for that cause or person! Then we know that Jesus is in charge of the who, what, where, when and why of victim soulhood!

And that is where the crux of this cross stands: Ultimately, we become victims of love, willing holocausts, agreeable and cooperative immolations. We take the assignments as they come, not seeking that which is beyond us or above our means. We remain with hearts and bodies open to whatever the Lord desires to bring in suffering, having told Him that we are willing to offer all, no matter the agony. And even if that agony is that He does not seem to utilize us often or at all!

Nonetheless, the victim soul continues to make offerings of every detail of every day that can be offered to the Lord for souls! Sort of like: the right hand knoweth not what the left hand doeth! Give without expecting anything in return. Go in faith.

For example, one is suffering. Assume in love and joy that the Lord is utilizing that suffering since one has made a victim soul offering. Or, perhaps one has had a glimpse interiorly of some group or persons--even in a dream!--and then feels a strong desire and draw to offer to suffer for the same. Then some suffering comes along--perhaps not physical; maybe it is an emotional suffering such as feeling down, or a financial hardship, or a sorrow within one's family or friendship base, or a spiritual suffering such as a sense of abandonment or rejection. Without doubting, know that the Lord is utilizing the suffering, so be sure to suffer it as well as one can! Even in that, know that if one does not suffer as well as one would like, it is suffering, and the victim soul offered it and tried to suffer well. If the suffering didn't go so well and there was complaining, doubt, or fear--offer that!

And don't ask to know if the suffering effectuated the prevention of, for example, a child being abused, or if it caused the conversion prior of one who would have abused, or if it kept a child's innocence and closeness to God preserved for a longer time. Try to not even think of it. The Lord will know if the victim soul needs encouragement, and He will provide the encouragement necessary, according to His will and pleasure.

The sufferings of a victim soul may be utilized for souls and for past sufferings and sins. Think of the souls in purgatory who are in this category! Think of Jesus' sacrifice being re-enacted daily in the timelessness of God, on the altars of Catholic Churches all over the world. So, yes, past and future and very much present: offer to suffer, offer any and all sufferings, and offer to be ignored in the offerings, if God so wills.

A person may have an interior inclination that it is to offer to be a victim soul, for example, for priests in a Diocese. If so, then offer this and agree to it. Then even if a priest is in a terrible predicament of sin, and the suffering so detestable: offer oneself. Learn to love to suffer, suffer to love. And the best way to learn to love to suffer is by suffering, over and over and over, and particularly for that which is most difficult to suffer. Even if a priest has a virus, offer to suffer for the relief of that virus, or to be given that virus vicariously, or to offer chronic suffering for that soul.

If the Lord does not need the offering, He doesn't have to accept! That doesn't mean one should stop offering the suffering for good intentions and purposes. And, in God's timeless realm, one might find oneself suffering at some other time, long after the offering was made. And, always, part of the suffering is utilized in the purgation of one's own sins.

Offer, offer, offer. Past, present, future. No questions asked. No answers needed. Sacrifices of praise, suffering becomes!

[These are thoughts submitted by this victim soul, after prayer, augmented by some years of reading and vicarious suffering, and after today's consultation with the regular confessor. Hope it is pleasing to the Lord and agreeable to His purposes.]