The Peak of Divine Mercy
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March 31, 2019. Fourth
Sunday of Lent
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Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
The tax collectors
and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and
scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats
with them." So to them he addressed this parable. Then he said, "A
man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ´Father, give me
the share of your estate that should come to me.´ So the father divided the
property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his
belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his
inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a
severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired
himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the
swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but
nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ´How many of my
father´s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I,
dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer
deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired
workers."´ So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still
a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with
compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to
him, ´Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer
deserve to be called your son.´ But his father ordered his servants, ´Quickly
bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals
on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate
with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.´ Then the celebration began. Now the older
son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house,
he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and
asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ´Your brother has
returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him
back safe and sound.´ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the
house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in
reply, ´Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your
orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.
But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes,
for him you slaughter the fattened calf.´ He said to him, ´My son, you are
here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate
and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was
lost and has been found.´"
Introductory Prayer: Jesus, I renew my lively hope, firm faith and passionate love
for You in this meditation. I want to thank You for this opportunity to
encounter You and spend some time with You.
Petition: O Lord, open my heart to Your loving
forgiveness.
1. Mercy in
Abundance: The “lenient” mercy
of the father in this parable is scandalous. The son has cast his inheritance
to the four winds without the least hint of remorse or concern for the
consequences. Yet, he forgives his son without even the slightest taint of
reproach. The father’s visible outpouring of forgiveness hinges on a constant
and patient benevolence. He shows his son forgiveness in word and thought.
When seen solely through human eyes, this attitude is incomprehensible.
However, this is God the Father’s response to the repentant sinner. This is
how God treats us in confession. How marvelous it is for us that we are on
the receiving end.
2. An Object of God’s
Mercy: The father stayed
glued to the window for countless days, unwaveringly expecting the return of
his lost son. The son must have thought that he was “in for it” as he slowly
made his way up that all-too-familiar footpath. Ordinarily, a father would have
prepared a lengthy, scolding speech. In this parable, however, the father was
quick to forgive because his love is boundless. In this parable, Jesus
reveals to us the mercy that fills the paternal heart of the Heavenly Father.
3. A Lenten Treat: As we seek God’s forgiveness this Lent, we
don’t have to travel far or long to discover it. The love of God is tangibly
available to us in confession. Confession can be as joyful a reception as the
tender embrace of the father in today’s Gospel. To make this encounter
profound, the Church recommends that we prepare for the sacrament by
examining our conscience, arousing in our hearts a true sorrow for the
offenses committed, making a proposal to avoid sin in the future, confessing
all of our sins, and fulfilling the penance that the priest gives us. In this
way, the conversion the Father desires will be deeper. The Lord waits eagerly
for our return. Will I meet him at the door of confession?
Conversation with
Christ: Heavenly Father, too
often I have failed to seek your love and mercy. Keep me close to you, in
thick and thin, until we embrace and celebrate our union in heaven. Then my
homecoming will be a hundred times more joyful than this prodigal son’s
return. Thank you, Jesus, for your tender and merciful heart.
Resolution: I will prepare myself for the reception of
the sacrament of reconciliation by doing a thorough examination of my
conscience.
Excerpts from the DIARY of
Saint Faustina Kowalska
1 O Eternal Love, You command
Your Sacred Image [1]
to be painted And reveal to us the inconceivable fount of mercy,
You bless whoever approaches Your rays, And a soul all black will turn into snow. O sweet Jesus, it is here [2] You established the throne of Your mercy To bring joy and hope to sinful man. From Your open Heart, as from a pure fount, Flows comfort to a repentant heart and soul. May praise and glory for this Image Never cease to stream from man's soul. May praise of God's mercy pour from every heart, Now, and at every hour, and forever and ever. O My God
2 When I look into the future,
I am frightened, But why plunge into the future?
Only the present moment is precious to me, As the future may never enter my soul at all. It is no longer in my power, To change, correct or add to the past; For neither sages nor prophets could do that. And so, what the past has embraced I must entrust to God. O present moment, you belong to me, whole and entire. I desire to use you as best I can. And although I am weak and small, You grant me the grace of your omnipotence. And so, trusting in Your mercy, I walk through life like a little child, Offering You each day this heart Burning with love for Your greater glory.
+
J.M.J. [Jesus, Mary, and Joseph]
3 God and souls King of Mercy,
guide my soul.
Sister M. Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament Vilnius, July 28, 1934
4 O my Jesus, because of my
trust in You, I weave thousands of garlands, and I know That they will all
blossom.
And I know that they will all blossom When God's sun will shine on them. + O great and Divine Sacrament That veils my God! Jesus, be with me each moment, And no fear will enter my heart. +Vilnius, July 28, 1934 J.M.J+ First notebook God and Souls.
5 Be adored, O Most Holy
Trinity, now and for all time. Be adored in all Your works and all Your
creatures. May the greatness of Your mercy be admired and glorified, O God.
6 I am to write [3]
down the encounters of my soul with You, O God, at the moments of Your
special visitations. I am to write about You, O Incomprehensible in mercy towards
my poor soul. Your holy will is the life of my soul. I have received this
order through him who is for me Your representative here on earth, who
interprets Your holy Will to me. Jesus, You see how difficult it is for me to
write, how unable I am to put down clearly what I experience in my soul. O
God, can a pen write down that for which many a time there are no words? But
You give the order to write, O God; that is enough for me.
47 In the evening, when I was in my cell, I
saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand [was] raised in the
gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From
beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were emanating
two large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze fixed on
the Lord; my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy. After a
while, Jesus said to me, Paint an image according to the pattern you see,
with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image be
venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world.
48 I promise that the soul that will
venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its]
enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will
defend it as My own glory.
49 When I told this to my confessor,[29]
I received this for a reply: "That refers to your soul." He told
me, "Certainly, paint God's image in your soul." When I came out of
the confessional, I again heard words such as these: My image already is
in your soul. I desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this image,
which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday
after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy.
50 + I desire that priests proclaim this
great mercy of Mine towards souls of sinners. Let the sinner not be afraid to
approach Me. The flames of mercy are burning Me - clamoring to be spent; I
want to pour them out upon these souls.
Jesus complained to me in these words, Distrust on the part of souls is tearing at My insides. The distrust of a chosen soul causes Me even greater pain; despite My inexhaustible love for them they do not trust Me. Even My death is not enough for them. Woe to the soul that abuses these [gifts].
53 For the present you are coming
to me for confession, but understand, Sister, that you must have a permanent
confessor; that is to say, a spiritual director."
I was very upset by this. I thought that I would get myself free from everything, and it turned out quite the opposite-an explicit command to follow the requests of Jesus. And now, still another torment, as I had no permanent confessor. Even if I went to the same confessor for a certain period of time, I could not open my soul to him in respect to these graces, and this caused me ineffable pain. So I asked Jesus to give these graces to someone else, because I did not know how to make use of them and was only wasting them. "Jesus, have mercy on me; do not entrust such great things to me, as You see that I am a bit of dust and completely inept." But the goodness of Jesus is infinite; He had promised me visible help here on earth, and a little while later I received it in Vilnius, in the person of Father Sopocko. I had already known him before coming to Vilnius, thanks to an interior vision. One day I saw him in our chapel between the altar and the confessional and suddenly heard a voice in my soul say, This is the visible help for you on earth. He will help you carry out My will on earth.
56 O my God, I understand well
that You demand this spiritual childhood[32]
of me, because You are constantly asking it of me through Your
representatives.
At the beginning of my religious life, suffering and adversities frightened and disheartened me. So I prayed continuously, asking Jesus to strengthen me and to grant me the power of His Holy Spirit that I might carry out His holy will in all things, because from the beginning I have been aware of my weakness. I know very well what I am of myself, because for this purpose Jesus has opened the eyes of my soul; I am an abyss of misery, and hence I understand that whatever good there is in my soul consists solely of His holy grace. The knowledge of my own misery allows me, at the same time, to know the immensity of Your mercy. In my own interior life, I am looking with one eye at the abyss of my misery and baseness, and with the other, at the abyss of Your mercy, O God.
66
O inexhaustible treasure of purity of intention which makes all our actions
perfect and so pleasing to God!
O Jesus, You know how weak I am; be then ever with me; guide my actions and my whole being, You who are my very best Teacher! Truly, Jesus, I become frightened when I look at my own misery, but at the same time I am reassured by Your unfathomable mercy, which exceeds my misery by the measure of all eternity. This disposition of soul clothes me in Your power. O joy that flows from the knowledge of one's self! O unchanging Truth, Your constancy is everlasting!
69 +O Jesus, eternal Truth, strengthen my feeble forces; You can do
all things, Lord. I know that without You all my efforts are in vain. O Jesus,
do not hide from me, for I cannot live without You. Listen to the cry of my
soul. Your mercy has not been exhausted, Lord, so have pity on my misery.
Your mercy surpasses the understanding of all Angels and people put together;
and so, although it seems to me that You do not hear me, I put my trust in
the ocean of Your mercy, and I know that my hope will not be deceived.
O Divine Sun, in Your
rays the soul sees the tiniest specks of dust which displease You.
72 O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equaled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages.
73 O my Jesus, despite the deep
night that is all around me and the dark clouds which hide the horizon, I
know that the sun never goes out. O Lord, though I cannot comprehend You and
do not understand Your ways, I nonetheless trust in Your mercy. If it is Your
will, Lord, that I live always in such darkness, may You be blessed. I ask
You only one thing, Jesus: do not allow me to offend You in any way. O my
Jesus, You alone know the longings and the sufferings of my heart. I am glad
I can suffer for You, however little. When I feel that the suffering is more
than I can bear, I take refuge in the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and I
speak to Him with profound silence.
80 O Jesus, Divine Prisoner of
Love, when I consider Your love and how You emptied Yourself for me, my
senses fail me. You hide Your inconceivable majesty and lower Yourself to
miserable me. O King of Glory, though You hide Your beauty, yet the eye of my
soul rends the veil. I see the angelic choirs giving You honor without cease,
and all the heavenly Powers praising You without cease, and without cease
they are saying: Holy, Holy, Holy.
Oh, who will comprehend Your love and Your unfathomable mercy toward us! O Prisoner of Love, I lock up my poor heart in this tabernacle, that it may adore You without cease night and day. I know of no obstacle in this adoration, and even though I be physically distant, my heart is always with You. Nothing can put a stop to my love for You. No obstacles exist for me. O my Jesus, I will console You for all the ingratitude, the blasphemies, the coldness, the hatred of the wicked, the sacrileges. O Jesus, I want to burn as 'a pure offering and to be consumed before the throne of Your hiddenness. I plead with You unceasingly for poor dying sinners.
81 O Holy Trinity, One and
Indivisible God, may You be blessed for this great gift and testament of
mercy. My Jesus, to atone for blasphemers I will keep silent when unjustly
reprimanded and in this way make partial amends to You. I am singing within
my soul an unending hymn to You, and no one will suspect or understand this.
The song of my soul is known to You alone, O my Creator and Lord!
83 Write this: before I come
as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of
justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this
sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great
darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the
sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were
nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a
period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.
84 O Blood and Water, which
gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in
You!
Vilnius, August 2,
1934.
85 On Friday, after
Holy Communion, I was carried in spirit before the throne of God. There I saw
the heavenly Powers which incessantly praise God. Beyond the throne I saw a
brightness inaccessible to creatures, and there only the Incarnate Word
enters as Mediator. When Jesus entered
this light, I heard these words, Write down at once what you hear: I am
the Lord in My essence and am immune to orders or needs. If I call
creatures into being - that is the abyss of My mercy. And at that
very moment I found myself, as before, in our chapel at my kneeler, just as
Mass had ended. I already had these words written.
88 +During adoration
I felt God close to me. A moment later I saw Jesus and Mary. At the sight of
them I was filled with joy, and I asked the Lord, "What is Your will,
Jesus, concerning the matter about which my confessor told me to ask
You?" Jesus replied, It is My will that he should remain here
and that he should not take the initiative of dispensing himself. I asked
Jesus whether the inscription could be: "Christ King of Mercy." He
answered, I am King of Mercy, but He did not say
"Christ." I desire that this image be displayed in public
on the first Sunday after Easter. That Sunday is the Feast of Mercy. Through
the Word Incarnate I make known the bottomless depth of My mercy.
95 +A Deeper Knowledge of God
and the Terror of the Soul.
In the beginning, God lets himself be known as Holiness, Justice, Goodness - that is to say, Mercy. The soul does not come to know this all at once, but piecemeal, in flashes; that is to say, when God draws near. And this does not last for long, because the soul could not bear such light. During prayer the soul experiences flashes of this light which make it impossible to pray as before. Try as it may to force itself to pray as it did before, all is in vain; it becomes completely impossible for it to continue to pray as it did before it received this light. This light which has touched the soul is alive within it, and nothing can either quench or diminish it. This flash of the knowledge of God draws the soul and enkindles its love for Him. But this same flash, at the same time, allows the soul to know itself as it is; the soul sees its whole interior in a superior light, and it rises up alarmed and terrified. Still, it does not remain under the effects of terror, but it begins to purify itself, to humble and abase itself before the Lord. These lights become stronger and more frequent; the more the soul is crystallized, the more these lights penetrate it. However, if the soul has responded faithfully and courageously to these first graces, God fills it with His consolations and gives himself to it in a perceptible manner. At certain moments, the soul, as it were, enters into intimacy with God and greatly rejoices in this; it believes that it has already reached the degree of perfection destined for it, because its defects and faults are asleep within it, and this makes it think that they no longer exist. Nothing seems difficult for it; it is ready for everything. It begins to plunge itself into God and taste the divine delights. It is carried along by grace and does not take account of the fact that the time of trial and testing may come. And, in fact, this state does not last long. Other moments will soon come. I should add here, however, that the soul will respond more faithfully to divine grace if it has a well - informed confessor to whom it can confide everything.
116 My Jesus, You know what my soul goes through at the
recollection of these sufferings. I have often marvelled that the angels and
saints hold their peace at the sight of a soul suffering like that. Yet they
have special love for us at such moments. My soul has often cried out after
God, as a little child who cries as loudly as he can when his mother covers
her face and he cannot recognize her. O my Jesus, honor and glory to You for
these trials of love! Great and incomprehensible is your mercy. All that You
intended for my soul, O Lord, is steeped in Your mercy.
118 The tongue is a small member, but it does
big things. A religious who does not keep silence will never attain holiness;
that is, she will never become a saint. Let her not delude herself-unless it
is the Spirit of God who is speaking through her, for then she must not keep
silent. But, in order to hear the voice of God, one has to have silence in
one's soul and to keep silence; not a gloomy silence, but an interior silence;
that is to say, recollection in God. One can speak a great deal without
breaking silence and, on the contrary, one can speak little and be constantly
breaking silence. Oh, what irreparable damage is done by the breach of
silence! We cause a lot of harm to our neighbor, but even more to our own
selves.
In my opinion, and according to my
experience, the rule concerning silence should stand in the very first place.
God does not give himself to a chattering soul which, like a drone in a
beehive, buzzes around but gathers no honey. A talkative soul is empty
inside. It lacks both the essential virtues and intimacy with God. A deeper
interior life, one of gentle peace and of that silence where the Lord dwells,
is quite out of the question. A soul that has never tasted the sweetness of
inner silence is a restless spirit which disturbs the silence of others. I
have seen many souls in the depths of hell for not having kept their silence;
they told me so themselves when I asked them what was the cause of their
undoing. These were souls of religious. My God, what an agony it is to think
that not only might they have been in heaven, but they might even have become
saints! O Jesus, have mercy!
119 I tremble to think that I have to give an account of
my tongue. There is life, but there is also death in the tongue. Sometimes we
kill with the tongue: we commit real murders. And we are still to regard that
as a small thing? I truly do not understand such consciences. I have known a
person who, when she learned from someone that a certain thing was being said
about her, fell seriously ill. She lost a good deal of blood and shed many
tears, and the outcome was very sad. It was not the sword that did all this,
but the tongue. O my silent Jesus, have mercy on us!
163 JMJ The Year 1937
General Exercises +O Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart beats, as many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to glorify Your mercy. +I want to be completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living reflection, 0 Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor. Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors' souls and come to their rescue. Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors' needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings. Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all. Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks. Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor. Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me. +You yourself command me to exercise the three degrees of mercy. The first: the act of mercy, of whatever kind. The second: the word of mercy-if I cannot carry out a work of mercy, I will assist by my words. The third: prayer-if I cannot show mercy by deeds or words, I can always do so by prayer. My prayer reaches out even there where I cannot reach out physically.
164 +JMJ
Warsaw, 1933.
Probation
Before Perpetual Vows[56]
When I
learned I was to go for probation, my heart beat with joy at the thought of
such an immense grace, that of the perpetual vows. I went before the Blessed
Sacrament; and when I immersed myself in a prayer of thanksgiving, I heard
these words in my soul: My child you are My delight, you are the
comfort of My Heart. I grant you as many graces as you can hold. As
often as you want to make Me happy, speak to the world about My great
and unfathomable mercy.
167 Today [November, 1932], I arrived in Warsaw
for the third probation. After a cordial meeting with the dear Mothers, I
went into the small chapel for a moment. Suddenly God's presence filled my
soul, and I heard these words, My daughter, I desire that your heart be
formed after the model of My merciful Heart. You must be completely imbued
with My mercy.
177 +Renewal of vows. From the moment I woke
up in the morning, my spirit was totally submerged in God, in that ocean of
love. I felt that I had been completely immersed in Him. During Holy Mass, my
love for Him reached a peak of intensity. After the renewal of vows and Holy
Communion, I suddenly saw the Lord Jesus, who said to me with great kindness,
My daughter, look at My merciful Heart. As I fixed my gaze on the Most
Sacred Heart, the same rays of light, as are represented in the image as
blood and water, came forth from it, and I understood how great is the Lord's
mercy. And again Jesus said to me with kindness, My daughter, speak to
priests about this inconceivable mercy of Mine. The flames of mercy are
burning Me-clamoring to be spent; I want to keep pouring them out upon souls;
souls just don't want to believe in My goodness. Suddenly Jesus
disappeared. But throughout that whole day my spirit remained immersed in
God's tangible presence, despite the buzz and chatter that usually follow a
retreat. It did not disturb me in the least. My spirit was in God, although
externally I took part in the conversations and even went to visit Derdy.[59]
178 Today we are beginning the
third probation. All three of us met at Mother Margaret's, as the other
sisters were having their probation in the novitiate. Mother Margaret began
with a prayer, explained to us what the third probation consists of, and then
spoke on how great is the grace of the perpetual vows. Suddenly I began to
cry out loud. In an instant all God's graces appeared before the eyes of my
soul, and I saw myself so wretched and ungrateful toward God. The sisters
began to rebuke me, saying, "Why did she break out crying?" But
Mother Margaret came to my defense, saying that she was not surprised.
At the end of the hour, I went before the Blessed Sacrament and, like the greatest and most miserable of wretches, I begged for His mercy that He might heal and purify my poor soul. Then I heard these words, My daughter, all your miseries have been consumed in the flame of My love, like a little twig thrown into a roaring fire. By humbling yourself in this way, you draw upon yourself and upon other souls an entire sea of My mercy. I answered, "Jesus, mold my poor heart according to Your divine delight."
180 +During Advent, a
great yearning for God arose in my soul. My spirit rushed toward God with all
its might. During that time, the Lord gave me much light to know His
attributes.
The first attribute
which the Lord gave me to know is His holiness. His holiness is so great that
all the Powers and Virtues tremble before Him. The pure spirits veil their
faces and lose themselves in unending adoration, and with one single word
they express the highest form of adoration; that is-Holy... The holiness of
God is poured out upon the Church of God and upon every living soul in it,
but not in the same degree. There are souls who are completely penetrated by
God, and there are those who are barely alive.
The second kind of
knowledge which the Lord granted me concerns His justice. His justice is so
great and penetrating that it reaches deep into the heart of things, and all
things stand before Him in naked truth, and nothing can withstand Him.
The third attribute
is love and mercy. And I understood that the greatest attribute is love and
mercy. It unites the creature with the Creator. This immense love and abyss
of mercy are made known in the Incarnation of the Word and in the Redemption
[of humanity], and it is here that I saw this as the greatest of all God's
attributes.
186 +Today Jesus said to me, I
desire that you know more profoundly the love that burns in My Heart for
souls, and you will understand this when you meditate upon My Passion. Call
upon My mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say
this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I
will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer:
187 "O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You."
206 The next day, after Communion,
I heard the voice saying, My daughter, look into the abyss of My mercy and
give praise and glory to this mercy of Mine. Do it in this way: Gather all
sinners from the entire world and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. I
want to give Myself to souls; I yearn for souls, My daughter. On the day of
My feast, the Feast of Mercy, you will go through the whole world and bring
fainting souls to the spring of My mercy. I shall heal and strengthen them.
+ For the Greater
Glory of God.
The Eight-day Retreat
before Perpetual Vows.
218 I am beginning
the retreat today. Jesus, my Master, guide me. Govern me according to Your
will, purify my love that it may be worthy of You, do with me as Your most
merciful Heart desires. Jesus, there will be just the two of us during these
days until the moment of our union. Keep me, Jesus, in a recollected spirit!
A Moment Before the Blessed Sacrament.
220 O my eternal Lord and Creator, how am I going to thank You for this great favor; namely, that You have deigned to choose miserable me to be Your betrothed and that You are to unite me to yourself in an eternal bond? O dearest Treasure of my heart, I offer You all the adoration and thanksgiving of the Saints and of all the choirs of Angels, and I unite myself in a special way with Your Mother. O Mary, my Mother, I humbly beg of You, cover my soul with Your virginal cloak at this very important moment of my life, so that thus I may become dearer to Your Son and may worthily praise Your Son's mercy before the whole world and throughout all eternity.
223 O living Host, my one and only
strength, fountain of love and mercy, embrace the whole world, fortify faint
souls. Oh, blessed be the instant and the moment when Jesus left us His most
merciful Heart!
224 To suffer without complaining, to bring comfort to
others and to drown my own sufferings in the most Sacred Heart of Jesus!
I will spend all my free moments at the feet of [Our Lord in] the Blessed Sacrament. At the feet of Jesus, I will seek light, comfort and strength. I will show my gratitude unceasingly to God for His great mercy towards me, never forgetting the favors He has bestowed on me, especially the grace of a vocation. I will hide myself among the sisters like a little violet among lilies. I want to blossom for my Lord and Maker, to forget about myself, to empty myself totally for the sake of immortal souls-this is my delight.
225 As regards Holy
Confession, I shall choose what costs and humiliates me most. Sometimes a
trifle costs more than something greater. I will call to mind the Passion of
Jesus at each confession, to arouse my heart to contrition. Insofar as
possible with the grace of God, I will always practice perfect contrition. I
will devote more time to this contrition. Before I approach the confessional,
I shall first enter the open and most merciful Heart of the Savior. When I
leave the confessional, I shall rouse in my soul great gratitude to the Holy
Trinity for this wonderful and inconceivable miracle of mercy that is wrought
in my soul. And the more miserable my soul is, the more I feel the ocean of
God's mercy engulfing me and giving me strength and great power.
+O
Jesus, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament,
228 You see that in pronouncing my perpetual vows I am leaving the novitiate[68] today. Jesus, You know how weak and little I am, and so from today on, I am entering Your novitiate in a very special way. I continue to be a novice, but Your novice, Jesus, and You will be my Master to the last day. Daily I will attend lectures at Your feet. I will not do the least thing by myself, without consulting You first as my Master. Jesus, how happy I am that You yourself have drawn me and taken me into Your novitiate; that is to say, into the tabernacle. In making my perpetual vows, I have by no means become a perfect nun. No, no! I am still a weak little novice of Jesus, and I must strive to acquire perfection as I did in the first days of the novitiate, and I will make every effort to keep the same disposition of soul which I had on that first day the convent gate opened to admit me. With the trust and simplicity of a small child, I give myself to You today, O Lord Jesus, my Master. I leave You complete freedom in directing my soul. Guide me along the paths You wish. I won't question them. I will follow You trustingly. Your merciful Heart can do all things!
229 +At the beginning of the retreat, Jesus told me, During
this retreat, I myself will direct your soul. I want to confirm you in peace
and love. And so the first few days passed by. On the fourth day, doubts
began to trouble me: Is not this tranquillity of mine false? Then I heard
these words, My daughter, imagine that you are the sovereign of all the
world and have the power to dispose of all things according to your good
pleasure. You have the power to do all the good you want, and suddenly a
little child knocks on your door, all trembling and in tears and, trusting in
your kindness, asks for a piece of bread lest he die of starvation. What
would you do for this child? Answer Me, my daughter. And I said,
"Jesus, I would give the child all it asked and a thousand times more.
"And the Lord said to me, That is how I am treating your soul. In
this retreat I am giving you, not only peace, but also such a disposition of
soul that even if you wanted to experience uneasiness you could not do so. My
love has taken possession of your soul, and I want you to be confirmed in it.
Bring your ear close to My Heart, forget everything else, and meditate upon
My wondrous mercy. My love will give you the strength and courage you need in
these matters.
237 Holy Hour. During
this hour of adoration, I saw the abyss of my misery; whatever there is of
good in me is Yours, O Lord. But because I am so small and wretched, I have a
right to count on Your boundless mercy.
239 Prayer during the
Mass on the day of the perpetual vows. Today I place my heart on the paten
where Your Heart has been placed, O Jesus, and today I offer myself together
with You to God, Your Father and mine, as a sacrifice of love and praise.
Father of Mercy, look upon the sacrifice of my heart, but through the wound
in the Heart of Jesus.
244 Now a gray, ordinary day has begun. The
solemn hours of the perpetual vows have passed, but God's great grace has
remained in my soul. I feel I am all God's; I feel I am His child, I feel I
am wholly God's property. I experience this in a way that can be physically
sensed. I am completely at peace about everything, because I know it is the
Spouse's business to look after me. I have forgotten about myself completely.
My trust placed in His Most Merciful Heart has no limit. I am continuously
united with Him. It seems to me as though Jesus could not be happy without
me, nor could I without Him. Although I understand that, being God, He is
happy in himself and has absolutely no need of any creature, still, His
goodness compels Him to give himself to the creature, and with a generosity
which is beyond understanding.
249
+Jesus, I trust in You; I trust in the ocean of your mercy. You are a Mother
to me.
256
+Thank You, Jesus, for the great favor of making known to me the whole abyss
of my misery. I know that I am an abyss of nothingness and that, if Your holy
grace did not hold me up, I would return to nothingness in a moment. And so,
with every beat of my heart, I thank You, my God, for Your great mercy
towards me.
264 +O
my Jesus, keep me near to You! See how weak I am! I cannot go a step forward
by myself; so You, Jesus, must stand by me constantly like a mother by a
helpless child-and even more so.
272 But previously, this priest had put me
through many trials. When I told him that the Lord wanted these things of me
[that is, the painting of the image, the establishing of a feast of The
Divine Mercy, and the founding of a new community], he laughed at me and told
me to come to confession at eight in the evening. When I came at eight, a
brother was already locking the church. When I told him that Father had
ordered me to come at that time and asked him to let Father know I was there,
the good brother went to let him know. Father told him to tell me that
priests do not hear confessions at that time of day. I returned home
emptyhanded and did not go to confession to him again, but I made a whole
hour's adoration and took on certain mortifications for him, that he might obtain
light from God in order to know souls. But when Father Sopocko left, and he
substituted for him, I was forced to go to confession to him. Yet, while
previously he had been unwilling to acknowledge these inner inspirations, he
now put me under obligation to be faithful to them. God lets such things
happen sometimes, but may He be glorified in everything. Still, it requires
much grace not to falter.
275
Jesus loves hidden souls. A hidden flower is the most fragrant. I must strive
to make the interior of my soul a resting place for the Heart of Jesus. In
difficult and painful moments, O my Creator, I sing You a hymn of trust, for
bottomless is the abyss of my trust in You and in Your mercy!
280 Jesus
commanded me to celebrate the Feast of God's Mercy on the first Sunday after
Easter. [This I did] through interior recollection and exterior
mortification, wearing the belt for three hours and praying continuously for
sinners and for mercy on the whole world. And Jesus said to me, My eyes
rest with pleasure upon this house today.
281 I
feel certain that my mission will not come to an end upon my death, but will
begin. O doubting souls, I will draw aside for you the veils of heaven to
convince you of God's goodness, so that you will no longer continue to wound
with your distrust the sweetest Heart of Jesus. God is Love and Mercy.
282 Once
the Lord said to me, My Heart was
moved by great mercy towards you, My dearest child, when I saw you torn to
shreds because of the great pain you suffered in repenting for your sins. I
see your love, so pure and true that I give you first place among the
virgins. You are the honor and glory of My Passion. I see every abasement of
your soul, and nothing escapes my attention. I lift up the humble even to my
very throne, because I want it so.
283 I want to love You as no human
soul has ever loved You before; and although I am utterly miserable and
small, I have nevertheless cast the anchor of my trust deep down into the
abyss of Your mercy, O my God and Creator! In spite of my great misery I fear
nothing, but hope to sing You a hymn of glory forever. Let no soul, even the
most miserable, fall prey to doubt; for, as long as one is alive, each one
can become a great saint, so great is the power of God's grace. It remains
only for us not to oppose God's action.
286
+Once, after an adoration for our country, a pain pierced my soul, and I
began to pray in this way: "Most merciful Jesus, I beseech You through
the intercession of Your Saints, and especially the intercession of Your
dearest Mother who nurtured You from childhood, bless my native land. I beg
You, Jesus, look not on our sins, but on the tears of little children, on the
hunger and cold they suffer. Jesus, for the sake of these innocent ones,
grant me the grace that I am asking of You for my country." At that
moment, I saw the Lord Jesus, His eyes filled with tears, and He said to me, You
see, My daughter, what great compassion I have for them. Know that it is they
who uphold the world.
294 +Once the Lord said to me, Act like a beggar who does not back
away when he gets more alms [than he asked for], but offers thanks the more
fervently. You too should not back away and say that you are not worthy of
receiving greater graces when I give them to you. I know you are unworthy,
but rejoice all the more and take as many treasures from My Heart as you can
carry, for then you will please Me more. And I will tell you one more thing:
Take these graces not only for yourself, but also for others; that is,
encourage the souls with whom you come in contact to trust in My infinite
mercy. Oh, how I love those souls who have complete confidence in Me. I will
do everything for them.
299 When, on one occasion, my confessor told
me to ask the Lord Jesus the meaning of the two rays in the image,[77]
I answered, "Very well, I will ask the Lord."
During prayer I heard these words within me: The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls... These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy.
300 +Ask of my faithful servant
[Father Sopocko] that, on this day, he tell the whole world of My great
mercy; that whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted
complete remission of sins and punishment.
+Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy. +Oh, how much I am hurt by a soul's distrust! Such a soul professes that I am Holy and Just, but does not believe that I am Mercy and does not trust in My Goodness. Even the devils glorify My Justice but do not believe in My Goodness. My Heart rejoices in this title of Mercy.
301 Proclaim that mercy is the
greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.
302 +O Eternal Love, I want all
the souls You have created to come to know You. I would like to be a priest,
for then I would speak without cease about Your mercy to sinful souls drowned
in despair. I would like to be a missionary and carry the light of faith to
savage nations in order to make You known to souls, and to be completely
consumed for them and to die a martyr's death, just as You died for them and
for me. O Jesus, I know only too well that I can be a priest, a missionary, a
preacher, and that I can die a martyr's death by completely emptying myself
and denying myself for love of You, O Jesus, and of immortal souls.
305 It is my greatest
desire that souls should recognize You as their eternal happiness, that they
should come to believe in Your goodness and glorify Your infinite mercy.
308 1934,
Holy Thursday. Jesus said to me, I desire that you make an offering of
yourself for sinners and especially far those souls who have lost hope in
God's mercy.
God and
Souls. An Act of Oblation.
309 Before heaven and earth, before all the choirs of Angels, before the Most Holy Virgin Mary, before all the Powers of heaven, I declare to the One Triune God that today, in union with Jesus Christ, Redeemer of souls, I make a voluntary offering of myself for the conversion of sinners, especially for those souls who have lost hope in God's mercy. This offering consists in my accepting, with total subjection to God's will, all the sufferings, fears and terrors with which sinners are filled. In return, I give them all the consolations which my soul receives from my communion with God. In a word, I offer everything for them: Holy Masses, Holy Communions, penances, mortifications, prayers. I do not fear the blows, blows of divine justice, because I am united with Jesus. O my God, in this way I want to make amends to You for the souls that do not trust in Your goodness. I hope against all hope in the ocean of Your mercy. My Lord and my God, my portion-my portion forever, I do not base this act of oblation on my own strength, but on the strength that flows from the merits of Jesus Christ. I will daily repeat this act of self-oblation by pronouncing the following prayer which You yourself have taught me, Jesus: "O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You!" S. M. Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament Holy Thursday, during Holy Mass, March 29, 1934.
319 August
9, 1934. Night adoration on Thursdays.[79]
I made my hour of adoration from eleven o'clock till midnight. I offered it
for the conversion of hardened sinners, especially for those who have lost
hope in God's mercy. I was reflecting on how much God had suffered and on how
great was the love He had shown for us, and on the fact that we still do not
believe that God loves us so much. O Jesus, who can understand this? What
suffering it is for our Savior! How can He convince us of His love if even
His death cannot convince us? I called upon the whole of heaven to join me in
making amends to the Lord for the ingratitude of certain souls.
320 Jesus
made known to me how very pleasing to Him were prayers of atonement. He said
to me, The prayer of a humble and loving soul disarms the anger of My
Father and draws down an ocean of blessings. After the adoration, half
way to my cell, I was surrounded by a , pack of huge black dogs who were
jumping and howling and trying to tear me to pieces. I realized that they
were not dogs, but demons. One of them spoke up in a rage, "Because you
have snatched so many souls away from us this night, we will tear you to
pieces." I answered, "If that is the will of the most merciful God,
tear me to pieces, for I have justly deserved it, because I am the most
miserable of all sinners, and God is ever holy, just, and infinitely
merciful." To these words all the demons answered as one, "Let us
flee, for she is not alone; the Almighty is with her!" And they vanished
like dust, like the noise of the road, while I continued on my way to my cell
undisturbed, finishing my Te Deum and pondering the infinite and unfathomable
mercy of God.
364
+Once I was asked to pray for a certain soul. I decided at once to make a
novena to the Merciful Lord to which I added a mortification; namely, that I
would wear chains [86]
on both legs throughout Holy Mass. I had been doing this already for three
days when I went to confession and told my spiritual director that I had
undertaken this mortification, presuming permission to do so. I had thought
he would not object, but I heard the contrary; that is, that I should do
nothing without permission. O my Jesus, so it was willfulness again! But my
falls do not discourage me; I know very well that 1 am misery [itself].
Because of the condition of my health I did not receive this permission, and
my spiritual director was surprised that I had been allowing myself greater
mortifications without his permission. I asked pardon for my
self-willfulness, or rather for having presumed permission, and I asked him
to change this mortification for another one.
376 My Jesus, I trust that Your grace will help me to
carry out these resolutions. Although the above points are contained in the
vow of obedience, I want to practice these things in a special way, because
this is the essence of the religious life. Merciful Jesus, I beg You
fervently to enlighten my mind so that I may come to know You better, You who
are the Infinite Being, and that I may get to know myself better, who am
nothingness itself.
378 Once as I was talking with my
spiritual director, I had an interior vision-quicker than lightning-of his
soul in great suffering, in such agony that God touches very few souls with
such fire. The suffering arises from this work. There will come a time when
this work, which God is demanding so very much, will be as though utterly
undone. And then God will act with great power, which will give evidence of
its authenticity. It will be a new splendor for the Church, although it has
been dormant in it from long ago. That God is infinitely merciful, no one can
deny. He desires everyone to know this before He comes again as Judge. He
wants souls to come to know Him first as King of Mercy. When this triumph
comes, we shall already have entered the new life in which there is no
suffering. But before this, your soul [of the spiritual director] will be
surfeited with bitterness at the sight of the destruction of your efforts.
However, this will only appear to be so, because what God has once decided
upon, He does not change. But although this destruction will be such only in
outward appearance, the suffering will be real. When will this happen? I do
not know. How long will it last? I do not know.[89]
But God has promised a great grace especially to you and to all those... who
will proclaim My great mercy. I shall protect them Myself at the hour of
death, as My own glory. And even if the sins of soul are as dark as night,
when the sinner turns to My mercy he gives Me the greatest praise and is the
glory of My Passion. When a soul praises My goodness, Satan trembles before
it and flees to the very bottom of hell.
383 At the beginning of the retreat, I saw,
on the ceiling of the chapel, Jesus nailed to the Cross. He was looking at
the sisters with great love, but not at all of them. There were three sisters
at whom Jesus looked severely, for what reasons I do not know. I only know
what a terrible thing it is to meet with such a look, which is the look of a
severe Judge. That look was not directed at me, and yet I was paralyzed with
terror. I still tremble as I write these words. I did not dare to say so much
as a single word to Jesus. My physical strength failed me, and I thought I
would not live to the end of the conference. The next day, I saw the same
thing again, just as I had seen it the first time, and this time I dared to
speak these words: "Jesus, how great is Your mercy!"
465 Jesus, my Life,
how well I feel that You are transforming me into Yourself, in the secrecy of
my soul where the senses can no longer perceive much. O my Savior, conceal me
completely in the depths of Your Heart and shield me with Your rays against
everything that is not You. I beg You, Jesus, let the two rays that have
issued from Your most merciful Heart continuously nourish my soul.
491 When I entered
the chapel, once again the majesty of God overwhelmed me. I felt that I was
immersed in God, totally immersed in Him and penetrated by Him, being aware
of how much the heavenly Father loves us. Oh, what great happiness fills my
heart from knowing God and the divine life! It is my desire to share this
happiness with all people. I cannot keep this happiness locked in my own
heart alone, for His flames burn me and cause my bosom and my entrails to
burst asunder. I desire to go throughout the whole world and speak to souls
about the great mercy of God. Priests, help me in this; use the strongest
words [at your disposal] to proclaim His mercy, for every word falls short of
how merciful He really is.
609 I said to Him, "I know
that You are my Lord and Creator even though You are so tiny." Jesus
stretched His little arms out to me and looked at me with a smile. My spirit
was filled with incomparable joy. Then suddenly Jesus disappeared, and it was
time for Holy Communion. I went with the other sisters to the Holy Table, my
soul deeply moved. After Holy Communion, I heard these words in my soul: I
am in your heart, I whom you had in your arms. I then pleaded with Jesus
for a certain soul [Father Sopocko], asking the Lord to grant him the grace
to fight, and to take this trial from him. As you ask, so shall it be, but
his merit will not be lessened. Joy reigned in my soul that God is so
good and merciful; God grants everything that we ask of Him with trust.
615 March 1, 1936. Today during Holy Mass I experienced a
strange force and urge to start realizing God's wishes. I had such a clear
understanding of the things the Lord was asking of me that truly if I were to
say that I do not understand what God is demanding from me, I would be lying,
because the Lord is making His will known to me so clearly and distinctly
that I do not have the least shadow of a doubt about them. I realized that it
would be the greatest ingratitude to delay any longer this undertaking which
the Lord wishes to bring to fulfillment for His glory and the benefit of a
great number of souls. And He is using me as a miserable tool through which
to realize His eternal plans of mercy. Truly, how ungrateful my soul would be
to resist God's will any longer. Nothing will stop me any longer, be it
persecution, sufferings, sneers, threats, entreaties, hunger, cold, flattery,
friendships, adversities, friends or enemies; be it things I am experiencing
now or things that will come in the future or even the hatred of hell-nothing
will deter me from doing the will of God.
I am not counting on my own strength, but on His omnipotence for, as he gave me the grace of knowing His holy will, He will also grant me the grace of fulfilling it. I cannot fail to mention how much my own lower nature resists this thing, manifesting its own desires, and there results within my soul a great struggle, like that of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. And so I too cry out to God, the Eternal Father, "If it is possible, take this cup from me, but, nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done, O Lord; may Your will be done." What I am about to go through is no secret to me, but with full knowledge I accept whatever You send me, O Lord. I trust in You, O merciful God, and I wish to be the first to manifest to You that confidence which You demand of souls. O Eternal Truth, help me and enlighten me along the roadways of life, and grant that Your will be accomplished in me. My God, I desire nothing but the fulfillment of Your will. It does not matter whether it will be easy or difficult. I feel an extraordinary force driving me to action. One thing alone holds me back, and that is holy obedience. O my Jesus, You urge me on the one hand and hold me back and restrain me on the other. In this, too, O my Jesus, may Your holy will be done. I continued in this state, without a break, for many days. My physical strength declined, and though I did not speak to anyone about it, nevertheless Mother Superior [Borgia] noticed my pain and remarked that I had changed in appearance and was very pale. She told me to go to bed earlier and to sleep longer, and she had a cup of hot milk brought to me in the evening. She had a motherly heart, full of care, and tried to help me. But in the case of spiritual sufferings, external things have no influence, and they do not bring much relief. It was from the confessional that I drew my strength and the consolation of knowing that it would not be long before I could begin to act.
635 March 25. In the morning, during meditation,
God's presence enveloped me in a special way, as I saw the immeasurable
greatness of God and, at the same time, His condescension to His creatures.
Then I saw the Mother of God, who said to me, Oh, how pleasing to God is
the soul that follows faithfully the inspirations of His grace! I gave the
Savior to the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about His
great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come,
not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh, how terrible is that day!
Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble
before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time
for [granting] mercy. If you keep silent now, you will be answering for a
great number of souls on that terrible day. Fear nothing. Be faithful to the
end. I sympathize with you.
650 O my Jesus, my Master and Director,
strengthen and enlighten me in these difficult moments of my life. I expect
no help from people; all my hope is in You. I feel alone in the face of Your
demands, O Lord. Despite the fears and qualms of my nature, I am fulfilling
Your holy will and desire to fulfill it as faithfully as possible throughout
my life and in my death. Jesus, with You I can do all things. Do with me as
You please; only give me Your merciful Heart and that is enough for me.
O Jesus my Lord, help me. Let what You have planned before all ages happen to me. I am ready at each beckoning of Your holy will. Enlighten my mind that I may know Your will. O God, You who pervade my soul, You know that I desire nothing but Your glory. O Divine Will, You are the delight of my heart, the food of my soul, the light of my intellect, the omnipotent strength of my will; for when I unite myself with Your will, O Lord, Your power works through me and takes the place of my feeble will. Each day, I seek to carry out God's wishes.
660 O my Jesus, on the day of the last judgment, You will
demand from me an account of this work of mercy. O just Judge, but my Spouse
as well, help me to do Your holy will. O mercy, O divine virtue!
O most merciful Heart of Jesus, my Betrothed, make my heart like unto Yours.
692 + O Jesus, I understand that Your mercy
is beyond all imagining, and therefore I ask You to make my heart so big that
there will be room in it for the needs of all the souls living on the face of
the earth. O Jesus, my love extends beyond the world, to the souls suffering
in purgatory, and I want to exercise mercy toward them by means of
indulgenced prayers. God's mercy is unfathomable and inexhaustible, just as
God himself is unfathomable. Even if I were to use the strongest words there
are to express this mercy of God, all this would be nothing in comparison
with what it is in reality. O Jesus, make my heart sensitive to all the
sufferings of my neighbor, whether of body or of soul. O my Jesus, I know
that You act toward us as we act toward our neighbor.
My Jesus, make my heart like unto Your
merciful Heart. Jesus, help me to go through life doing good to everyone.
703 At present, the topic of my
particular examen is my union with the Merciful Christ. This practice gives
me unusual strength; my heart is always united with the One it desires, and
its actions are regulated by mercy, which flows from love.
728
+ I have chosen Saint Claude de la Colombiere and Saint Gertrude as my patron
saints for this retreat, that they may intercede for me before the Mother of
God and the merciful Savior.
733
It sometimes happens, while I am listening to the meditation, that one word puts
me in very close union with the Lord, and I no longer know what Father [144]
is saying. I know that I am close to the most merciful Heart of Jesus; my
whole spirit is entirely plunged in Him, and in one moment I learn more than
during long hours of intellectual inquiry and meditation. These are sudden
lights which permit me to know things as God sees them, regarding matters of
both the interior and the exterior world.
813
+ O merciful Jesus, stretched on the cross, be mindful of the hour of our
death. O most merciful Heart of Jesus, opened with a lance, shelter me at the
last moment of my life. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart
of Jesus as a fount of unfathomable mercy for me at the hour of my death, O
dying Jesus, Hostage of mercy, avert the Divine wrath at the hour of my
death.
825 + O bright and
clear day on which all my dreams will be fulfilled; O day so eagerly desired,
the last day of my life! I look forward with joy to the last stroke the
Divine Artist will trace on my soul, which will give my soul a unique beauty
that will distinguish me from the beauty of other souls. O great day, on
which divine love will be confirmed in me. On that day, for the first time, I
shall sing before heaven and earth the song of the Lord's fathomless mercy.
This is my work and the mission which the Lord has destined for me from the
beginning of the world. That the song of my soul may be pleasing to the Holy
Trinity, do You, O Spirit of God, direct and form my soul yourself. I arm
myself with patience and await Your coming, O merciful God, and as to the
terrible pains and fear of death, at this moment more than at any other time,
I trust in the abyss of Your mercy and am reminding You, O merciful Jesus,
sweet Savior, of all the promises You have made to me.
832 O merciful Jesus,
how longingly You hurried to the Upper Room to consecrate the Host that I am
to receive in my life. Jesus, You desired to dwell in my heart. Your living
Blood unites with mine. Who can understand this close union? My heart
encloses within itself the Almighty, the Infinite One. 0 Jesus, continue to
grant me Your divine life. Let Your pure and noble Blood throb with all its
might in my heart. I give You my whole being. Transform me into Yourself and
make me capable of doing Your holy will in all things and of returning Your
love. O my sweet Spouse, You know that my heart knows no one but You. You
have opened up in my heart an insatiable depth of love for You. From the very
first moment it knew You, my heart has loved You and has lost itself in You
as its one and only object. May Your pure and omnipotent love be the driving
force of all my actions. Who will ever conceive and understand the depth of
mercy that has gushed forth from Your Heart?
836 O most sweet Jesus, who have deigned to
allow miserable me to gain a knowledge of Your unfathomable mercy; O most
sweet Jesus, who have graciously demanded that I tell the whole world of Your
incomprehensible mercy, this day I take into my hands the two rays that
spring from Your merciful Heart; that is, the Blood and the Water; and I
scatter them all over the globe so that each soul may receive Your mercy and,
having received it, may glorify it for endless ages. O most sweet Jesus who,
in Your incomprehensible kindness, have deigned to unite my wretched heart to
Your most merciful Heart, it is with Your own Heart that I glorify God, our
Father, as no soul has ever glorified Him before.
853 In the evening, a great longing took
possession of my soul. I took the pamphlet with the Image of the Merciful
Jesus on it and pressed it to my heart, and the following words burst forth
from my soul: "Jesus, Eternal Love, I live for You, I die for You, and I
want to become united with You." Suddenly I saw the Lord in His
inexpressible beauty. He looked at me graciously and said, My daughter, I too came down from
heaven out of love for you; I lived for you, I died for you, and I created
the heavens for you. And Jesus pressed me to His Heart and
said to me, Very soon
now; be at peace, My daughter.When I was alone, my soul was
set afire with the desire to suffer until the moment when the Lord would say,
"Enough." And even if I were to live for thousands of years, I see
in the light of God that that is but one moment. Souls ...[unfinished
thought].
854 December 29, [1936]. Today after Holy Communion, I
heard a voice in my soul: My daughter, stand ready, for I will come
unexpectedly. Jesus, You do not want to tell me the hour I am looking
forward to with such longing? My daughter, it is for your own good. You
will learn it, but not now; keep watch. O Jesus, do with me as You
please. I know You are the merciful Savior and You will not change towards me
at the hour of my death. If at this time you are showing me so much special
love, and are condescending to unite Yourself with me is such an intimate way
and with such great kindness, I expect even more at the hour of my death.
You, my Lord-God, cannot change. You are always the same. Heaven can change,
as well as everything that is created; but You, Lord, are ever the same and
will endure forever. So come as You like and when You like. Father of
infinite mercy, I, Your child, wait longingly for Your coming. O Jesus, You
said in the Holy Gospel, "Out of your mouth do I judge you." Well,
Jesus, I am always speaking of Your inconceivable mercy, so I trust that You
will judge me according to Your unfathomable mercy.
886 January 15, 1937.
Sorrow will not establish itself in a heart which loves the will of God. My
heart, longing for God, feels the whole misery of exile. I keep going forward
bravely-though my feet become wounded-to my homeland and, on the way, I
nourish myself on the will of God. It is my food. Help me, happy inhabitants
of the heavenly homeland, so that your sister may not falter on the way.
Although the desert is fearful, I walk with lifted head and eyes fixed on the
sun; that is to say, on the merciful Heart of Jesus.
893
January 22, [1937]. Today is Friday. My soul is in a sea of suffering.
Sinners have taken everything away from me. But that is all right; I have
given everything away for their sake that they might know that You are good
and infinitely merciful. I shall be faithful to You, come rain or shine.
906 + In difficult
moments, I will fix my gaze upon the silent Heart of Jesus, stretched upon
the Cross, and from the exploding flames of His merciful Heart, will flow
down upon me power and strength to keep fighting.
938 The soul should have prayed
ardently and at greater length for a director and should have asked the Lord
himself to choose a spiritual director for it. What begins in God will be
godly, and what begins in a purely human manner will remain human. God is so
merciful that, in order to help a soul He himself chooses the spiritual guide
and will enlighten the soul concerning the one before whom it should uncover
the most hidden depths of its soul just as it sees itself before the Lord
Jesus himself. And when the soul considers and recognizes that God has been
arranging all this, it should pray fervently for the confessor that he might
have the divine light to know it well. And let it not change such a director
except for a serious reason. Just as it had prayed fervently and at great
length in order to learn God's will before choosing a director, so too should
it pray fervently and at great length to discern whether it is truly God's
will that he leave this director and choose another. If God's will is not
absolutely clear, he should not make this change, for a person will not go
far by himself, and Satan wants just this: to have the person who is aspiring
for sanctity direct himself because then, without doubt, he will never attain
it.
1065 +
My Jesus, support me when difficult and stormy days come, days of testing,
days of ordeal, when suffering and fatigue begin to oppress my body and my
soul. Sustain me, Jesus, and give me strength to bear suffering. Set a guard
upon my lips that they may address no word of complaint to creatures. Your
most merciful Heart is all my hope. I have nothing for my defense but only
Your mercy; in it lies all my trust.
1074
When I went for adoration, I heard these words: My beloved daughter, write down these
words, that today My Heart has rested in this convent [the
Cracow house]. Tell the
world about My mercy and My love.
The flames of mercy are burning me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh, what pain they cause Me when they do not want to accept them! My daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My mercy. I will make up for what you lack. Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to My merciful Heart, and I will fill it -with peace. Tell [all people], My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls.
1075 Souls who spread the honor of My mercy
I shield through their entire lives as a tender mother her infant, and at the
hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior. At
that last hour, a soul has nothing with which to defend itself except My
mercy. Happy is the soul that during its lifetime immersed itself in the
Fountain of Mercy, because justice will have no hold on it.
1076 Write this: Everything that exists is
enclosed in the bowels of My mercy, more deeply than an infant in its
mother's womb. How painfully distrust of My goodness wounds Me! Sins of
distrust wound Me most painfully.
1122 God of great mercy, who
deigned to send us Your only begotten Son as the greatest proof of Your
fathomless love and mercy, You do not reject sinners; but in Your boundless
mercy You have opened for them also Your treasures, treasures from which they
can draw abundantly, not only justification, but also all the sanctity that a
soul can attain. Father of great mercy, I desire that all hearts turn with
confidence to Your infinite mercy. No one will be justified before You if he
is not accompanied by Your unfathomable mercy. When You reveal the mystery of
Your mercy to us, there will not be enough of eternity to properly thank You
for it.
1138 May 31. My
tormented soul finds aid nowhere but in You, O Living Host. I place all my
trust in Your merciful heart. I am waiting patiently for Your word, Lord.
1155 The Lord gave me
knowledge of His will under three aspects, so to speak, but it all comes down
to one. [198]
The first is that souls separated from the world will burn as an offering before God's throne and beg for mercy for the whole world... and by their entreaties they will obtain blessings for priests, and through their prayers prepare the world for the final coming of Jesus.
1156 The second is
prayer joined to the act of mercy. In particular, they will defend the souls
of children against the spirit of evil. Prayer and merciful deeds are all
that will be required of these souls, and even the poorest persons can be
admitted to their number. And in this egoistic world they will try to rouse
up love, the mercy of Jesus.
1157 The third is
prayer and deeds of mercy, without any obligation of taking vows. But by
doing this, these persons will have a share in all the merits and privileges
of the whole [congregation]. Everyone in the world can belong to this group.
1158 A member of this group ought to perform at least one
act of mercy a day; at least one, but there can be many more, for such deeds
can easily be carried out by anyone, even the very poorest. For there are
three ways of performing an act of mercy: the merciful word, by forgiving and
by comforting; secondly, if you can offer no word, then pray-that too is
mercy; and thirdly, deeds of mercy. And when the Last Day comes, we shall be
judged from this, and on this basis we shall receive the eternal verdict.
1159 God's floodgates have been opened for us. Let us want
to take advantage of them before the day of God's justice arrives. And that
will be a dreadful day!
1177
Particular examen.
Continuation of the same: to unite myself with the merciful Christ. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, I will entreat the heavenly Father for the whole world. A point of the rule: strict observance of silence. I must probe the depth of my being and thank God for everything, uniting myself with Jesus. With Him, in Him, and through Him, I give glory to God.
1178
O Lord, my Love, I thank You for this day on which You have allowed me to
draw a wealth of graces from the fountain of Your unfathomable mercy. O
Jesus, not only today, but at every moment, I draw from Your unfathomable
mercy everything that the soul and body could want.
1183 O Jesus, I want to live in the present
moment, to live as if this were the last day of my life. I want to use every
moment scrupulously for the greater glory of God, to use every circumstance for
the benefit of my soul. I want to look upon everything, from the point of
view that nothing happens without the will of God.
1184 On an earlier occasion.
In the evening, I saw the Lord Jesus upon the cross. From His hands, feet and side, the Most Sacred Blood was flowing. After some time, Jesus said to me, All this is for the salvation of souls. Consider well, My daughter, what you are doing for their salvation. I answered, "Jesus, when I look at Your suffering, I see that I am doing next to nothing for the salvation of souls." And the Lord said to me, Know, My daughter, that your silent day-to-day martyrdom in complete submission to My will ushers many souls into heaven. And when it seems to you that your suffering exceeds your strength, contemplate My wounds, and you will rise above human scorn and judgment. Meditation on My Passion will help you rise above all things. I understood many things I had been unable to comprehend before.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-6, 47-50, 53, 56, 66, 69, 72-73,
80-81)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-83-85, 95, 116, 118-119, 163-164, 167)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-177-178, 180, 186-187, 206, 218, 220)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-223-225, 228-229, 237, 244, 249, 264)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-272, 275, 280-283, 286, 294, 299-302)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-305, 308-309, 320, 364, 376, 383, 465)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-491)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-609, 615, 635, 650, 660, 692, 703,
728)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-733, 813, 825, 832, 836, 853-854,
886)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-II-893, 906, 938)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1065, 1074-1076, 1122, 1138, 1155)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-III-1156-1159, 1177-1178, 1183-1184)
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Marso 31, 2019
The Peak of Divine Mercy-Divine Mercy Miracles Meditations
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