Saturday, April 14, 2012

Devotion for today: aspects of Divine Mercy


Aspect One: God is merciful to sinners.

 Scripture for reflection: Matthew 7:7
 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

St. Faustina says: All grace flows from mercy … even if a person’s sins were as dark as night, God’s mercy is stronger than our misery. One thing alone is necessary: that the sinner set ajar the door of his heart, be it ever so little, to let in a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest (Diary, 1507)

Christ says: Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy…. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask (Diary, 1146).
 
Aspect Two: The Divine Mercy message is a forwarning of Christ’s second coming on earth.

Scripture for reflection: Mark 13:9
“But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.”

Christ tells St. Faustina: Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice … You will prepare the world for My final coming (Diary 848 and 429). 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 (Diary 83)

Aspect Three: Mercy given to us is to be shared.

Scripture for reflection: Matthew 25:31-46
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Christ tells St. Faustina: I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for me (Diary 742).

Aspect Four: Divine Mercy is a message for our time.

Robert Stackpole, STD, tells us in his book Divine Mercy: a Guide from Genesis to Benedict XVI, Marian Press, 2010: Why did Pope John Paul II so strongly recommend that we pay heed to The Divine Mercy message and devotion – even to the Image and the Chaplet – given to the world through St. Faustina? … he saw them as prophetic revelations. In other words, he saw them as revelations given to us by God to proclaim the heart of the Gospel – the Gospel of the merciful love of God, shining through the Death and Resurrection of His son – in a way…to meet the needs of our era....  On April 10, 1994, on…Mercy Sunday, Pope John Paul II stated in his Regina Caeli address:” Who can say he is free from sin and does not need God’s mercy? As people of this restless time of ours, wavering between the emptiness of self-exaltation and the humiliation of despair, we have a greater need than ever for a regenerating experience of mercy.”

Day Nine of the Divine Mercy Novena:
"Today bring to Me the Souls who have become Lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."

Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen (say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy).










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