Sunday, April 24, 2022

Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy by Kazimirowski, 1934

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in AD 2000. I find it fascinating that particular devotions arise when they are most needed. I've only read excerpts of St. Faustina's diary but these words of our Lord Jesus to St. Faustina fill me with great hope and so I share them with you:

I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in You." Diary 327 

Let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice.Diary 848

Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of My Mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity… tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near.Diary 965

He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice... Diary 1146

And this last one is scary, no? Who wants to face His Justice? I know I deserve hell for what I've done. It is precisely because hell exists that we need Divine Mercy. I love that the final prayers are the same as the ones in the Reproaches that we sing on Good Friday: Sanctus Deus. Sanctus Fortis. Sanctus Immolatus, miserere nobis.  For I am washed clean in His Blood. He reached into the pit of sin and drew me out of it...and though I sin again and again, He is patient with me, absolving me, strengthening me. And with His Grace, I am able to conquer some of my sins. And I am confident that what He has begun in me He will perfect, so that I can be the person He created me to be. So, run, run to Jesus! Fling yourself into His Arms and tell Him you trust in His Merciful Love. I love 33 Days to Merciful Love by Fr. Gaitley because it gives me so much confidence and trust in our Lord. He uses the spirituality of St. Therese of Lisieux. She's one of my favorite companions.


Unlike the Rosary, which has Mysteries attached, and one can picture them, the Divine Mercy chaplet has none, making it far too easy to be thinking about dinner—what is it about the 3 o’clock hour that makes one so distracted? Meggie Daly comes to the rescue with a book that allows you to focus on our Lord’s Passion. In her signature fashion, she has Sacred Art for each decade and a line from the Passion narrative for each bead allowing you to walk with Christ. Her organization is brilliant—three sequences of five each from the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. John, and St. Luke, another set of three sequences of five using Stations of the Cross with her own original prayers, and finally combining both the Rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet. On any particular day, we can choose what elements of the Passion we’d like to focus on. And with practice, we might begin to do this mentally by ourselves.
Just like Ms. Daly composed a Scriptural Rosary book, which I also have, she has now composed one for the Divine Mercy chaplet, the only book of its kind. Thank you, Meggie, for writing this most necessary book. I pray this chaplet more often now thanks to this book.

There is no other book like FOR THE SAKE OF HIS SORROWFUL PASSION. It’s a most necessary and useful aid to praying the Divine Mercy chaplet with several options of entering the Passion narrative. Part confession, part history, part prayer book—I love it all.

3 comments:

Mirka Breen said...

Divine mercy is always needed <3

Vijaya said...

Precisely because hell exists. I love that the final prayers are the same ones after the reproaches we sing on Good Friday. Sanctus Deus. Sanctus Fortis. Sanctus immolatus, miserere nobis. Ah, should add this to my post :)

Carol Soisson said...

Funny you should mention Father Gaitley's book. Just found it on the bookshelf, but haven't read it yet.