I then pondered the words the Lord gave me last night:

Abandon yourself into My crucified embrace. Look in the depth of My eyes and contemplate the sorrow of your Beloved.

—I asked the Holy Spirit to bring me into the Lord’s embrace. Immediately, I saw Jesus standing at the top of the Holy Steps, waiting to be condemned to death. I slowly ascended each step until I reached my Lord. His hands were not bound because I was wearing the rope around my waist. My Lord embraced me with His Scourged Body. I gazed into His eyes and saw the sorrow of His Heart. I could hear behind me the roar of the people, “Crucify Him.” The darkness permeated everything except Jesus and the little light in the crowd of Mary, St John, and Mary Magdalene. Jesus had me understand and feel that this cry, “Crucify Him,” is the same cry in the world today. It’s the same cry towards Asia Bibi; it’s the cry against so many Christians throughout the world.

As I contemplate my Jesus scourged, bloody, weak, grieved, mocked, tortured, humiliated, the Glory of God hidden within His Crucified Body, I understand the cry of my Lord, “bring Me victim souls.” It is not through human accomplishments, places of honor, or eloquent words that will pierce this darkness but through the power of God in the Word of the Cross and the power of victim souls.