Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining me today as we enter into this Divine Mercy Chaplet in the next hour.
I’d like to spend some time just talking about Divine Mercy because Jesus asked Sister Faustina to ask the priests to preach about Divine Mercy Sunday on Divine Mercy Sunday. He promised that through our lips and through our words that Jesus would reach and touch the soul of even the most hardened sinner that there is. I just do this with confidence that God wants me to do this, and we work through this.
In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit Amen. Heavenly Father, we come before you on this Divine Mercy Sunday and I ask that you heal and soften our hearts, and we come to you bringing ourselves and our sins, be they scarlet as red, trusting that you want to pour your Mercy on us. We pray also for those who may be away from the church who have hardened their hearts to you. We pray that through our intercession you may also open the floodgates of Mercy upon them. Bless our time that we may come to know you, to love you, and to serve you. In the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Jesus revealed to Sister Faustina that the grace of my Mercy is drawn by the means of one vessel only and that is trust. The more a soul trusts me the more it will receive. If you haven’t read the diary, the diary is about this thick and it’s a difficult read but it’s a very beautiful read and by the end of it, if nothing else you become convinced that the only thing that we can do is trust. That is why we repeat over and over, Jesus I trust in you.
I thank you for allowing me to speak and for having some trust and I also trust that the Lord will speak through me teaching every one of you. What brings us here today happened back in the 1930s, when the Lord called for this special Feast Day called Divine Mercy Sunday, and it was to be celebrated the first Sunday after Easter. So, the 1930s is when the Lord called for it. When do you think it happened? It was the year 2000, when Saint John Paul II proclaimed that this would be the Year of Mercy. It was the Year of Mercy that year but also Divine Mercy Sunday would be established as being the first Sunday after Easter. He did that when he canonized Sister Faustina, when she became Saint Faustine on April 30th of 2020.
The Lord expressed His will with regard to this Feast Day and the first revelation that he gave to Sr. Faustina, and the most comprehensive account of this revelation, comes in one paragraph of her diary that I’d like to start with today. You’ve heard it before; this is the one I say over and over again.
My daughter, tell the whole world about my inconceivable Mercy. I desire that the feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of my tender Mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approached the fount of my Mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which my graces flow. Let no soul fear to draw near to me. Even though its sin be as scarlet. My Mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come from the very depths of my most tender Mercy. Every soul in its relation to me will contemplate my love and my Mercy throughout all eternity and the feast of Mercy emerged from the depths of my tenderness. It is my desire that it be solemnly celebrated the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the fount of my Mercy.
Well, we know that mankind does not have peace yet right? So that’s what we do today, we turn to His fount of Mercy. Hopefully every year as we celebrate this Divine Mercy Sunday, we will draw more and more people to the wonderful graces that God wants to open for us today.
A couple things that I want to just expound on this paragraph: That even though its sins be as scarlet. What I’d like to say about Confession is there is no unforgivable sin. There is no sin that we ever could have committed or ever will commit that is beyond God’s ability to pardon, to forgive, to heal and (even to redeem) to make good come out of it. Whatever sin we may be struggling with right now in our lives, He wants to give us His Mercy today.
The thing is He gives us these two promises: complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. Normally when the church grants an indulgence for sins these are the two things that are given within indulgence; however, for a plenary indulgence, complete forgiveness of sin and due punishment requires a complete conversion of heart. Jesus is going above and beyond that right now; He’s saying even if you’re not there yet, if you just come, the only two conditions you need today: are receive Communion and go to Confession and we can receive that complete forgiveness for our sins and any temporal punishment.
The great thing about that is that temporal punishment of sin is a brokenness that comes from it. If it’s a repeated sin in our lives even though we’re forgiven, we still have that weakness that wants to go back to that sin and that even that temporal punishment right now will be removed.
Then sometimes when we’re converting from a sin in our lives or leaving something behind, that sin in some ways met a need for us even though it’s been illegitimated or wrong. Normally when you give up something like that you experience poverty or a twisted way you missed that because it gave you some kind of rush or some kind of high. So, what Jesus is saying, even that he’s going to heal us from. Normally you have to go through some withdrawal from whatever that sin was. This withdrawal will even be removed today. Don’t be afraid no matter what our sin is that He is promising us wonderful graces today.
Here are five promises He wants for priests to say:
First, Tell my priest, Do you know how I came to know about Divine Mercy? How I came to know about Divine Mercy was from a laywoman. This laywoman told me over and over again that I needed to learn about Divine Mercy. I was in the Seminary; she gave me Sister Faustina’s Diary. Do you know what I did with that diary? I put it on my bookshelf and somebody else later on gave me the same diary and I put it my bookshelf. By the time I was ordained I probably had four or five Diaries, all on my bookshelf, and I never took the hint that I should probably read this. It wasn’t until the Year of Mercy in 2000, that I finally read her diary completely. After I read it, I thought why did I wait for now to finally read this? It’s just so beautiful and so tender and so amazing.
The first thing is He says, first of five, my daughter speak to priests about this inconceivable Mercy of mine. So, Sister Faustina was tasked with that, to speak to the priests and let them know about Mercy. Maybe you’re here from another parish. If you’re here from my parish, I’m covered you don’t have to convince me anymore. I’m convinced but, there might be some other priests that need convincing and just as much as a lay person did that for me, you could do that for another priest. You could speak to them about God’s Mercy. Give them a copy of the diary, give them five copies of the diary, whatever it’ll take for them to read it.
He says, the flames of Mercy are burning in me clamoring to be spent and I want to keep pouring them out upon souls. Souls just don’t believe in my goodness. Isn’t that unbelievable? I think a lot of times even though people say that they believe God is love and even though people say I don’t need to go to Mass, or need to go to church because I talk to God directly, what Jesus is revealing to us is that there’s something in them that really doesn’t believe deep down in His love and Mercy that we come to receive in the Eucharist. It’s our job to continue to speak about that and to evangelize.
The second thing is about this Sunday after Easter, He says, out of love for you all I will avert any punishments which are rightly meted out by my Father’s justice. my daughter, I have inclined my ear to your request. Your assignment and your duty here on Earth is to beg for Mercy for the whole world. That was her assignment, but we can share in that assignment by begging for Mercy for the whole world. No soul will be justified until it turns with confidence to My Mercy, and this is why the first Sunday after Easter is to be the Feast of Mercy. On that day priests are to tell everyone about my great and unfathomable Mercy. This is me saying it, Jesus has great and unfathomable Mercy, and this is what we are experiencing today. I am making you, He says, an administrator of my Mercy. He said that to Sister Faustina and I think what an amazing privilege and honor it is for me to be a priest because I am an administrator of God’s Mercy. Especially in the confessional, I just pour out his Mercy upon anyone that comes to Confession. He says, tell the confessor that the image is to be on view in the church and not with enclosed area of the convent. I meant to bring that image up front. He says, by means of this image I shall be granting many graces to souls. So let every soul have access to it.
Now, you will have access to the image. I think you could bring it up right in front of the altar, and if it’s right in the middle, you should still be able to see the Monstrance around it. Jesus wants us to gaze at the image of Divine Mercy.
Number three is that He desires that priests proclaim this great Mercy of mine towards the souls of sinners. Let no sinner be afraid to approach Me. The flames of My Mercy are burning and clamoring to dispense, and I want to pour out My mercy upon these souls. Jesus complained to me in these words, distrust on the part of souls is tearing at my insides. So, again this reality of trust. Jesus wants us to trust Him, and when we don’t trust Him and His Mercy, that’s going to be the victory. It tears at His side. The distrust of His chosen soul causes me even greater pain despite my inexhaustible love for them, for they do not trust me.
The fourth is the Lord said to me, my daughter do not tire of proclaiming my Mercy. In this way you’ll refresh this heart of mine which burns for all sinners. Tell my priest that hardened sinners will repent upon hearing these words when they speak about my unfathomable Mercy. I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they speak. For any of you who are here or watching online, Jesus will touch your hearts and bring some softening of that.
Then, finally, the fifth thing that she asked the priests is to say unceasingly the Chaplet that I have taught you. I love this whoever will receive great Mercy at the hour of death, priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite the Chaplet only once he would receive grace from My infinite Mercy. So just once in our lifetime, if we could get someone to pray the Chaplet with us, that person will receive Mercy. I desire that the whole world knows of my Mercy, and I desire to grant unimaginable grace to those souls who are trusted by Mercy.
One of the things that we have the power as priests is during last rites and we go to the bedside of those that are dying, we release that soul from any sin and any temporal punishment due to sin and open the gates of paradise to that sinner.
It is so important to you as well to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with somebody as they are dying. Even if a priest can’t be there, the promise that Jesus is giving here is that when you pray with that person who is dying, they will experience God’s Mercy, complete abandonment to Him, and that He will receive them immediately into heaven without any punishment and that will be their last hope of salvation.
Every year I’d like to focus a little bit on the diary, on whatever may be going on in this year and since it’s the Year of Eucharistic Revival, I wanted to focus on the Eucharist and Faustina’s experience and encounter that she had with Jesus in the Eucharist, and they are abundant.
What’s interesting is all of the revelations that she received when Jesus appeared to her were either preparing for Mass, were at the Consecration, were right as she received Communion or were in silent recollection after receiving Communion. All of the revelations of Jesus came to here during those times.
I say that because I think that’s important for us to realize for ourselves too. How important it is for us to prepare for that and I’m going to give you some examples of what she did when she prepared but she spent time going to Mass prepared with a particular intention. She was asking Jesus for something every time that she went to Mass. After she would receive Communion, she would spend time in silent recollection and just allow God to do whatever he wanted to her soul.
At the end of her diary, there’s a whole compilation of her preparations for Holy Communion and what she did to prepare for the Eucharist. I thought it would be neat for us to reflect on that so that we can use that as a model for how we might approach and prepare to receive Communion.
She began this in 1938, and she said, the most solemn moment of my life is at the moment when I receive Holy Communion. So, the most solemn moment of her life is in receiving Holy Communion. She said, I long for each Communion and for every Holy Communion I give thanks to the most Holy Trinity.
She says this, if the angels were capable of envy, they would envy humans for two things: 1) Receiving the Holy Communion. That we can actually receive Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity Jesus into us and 2) is suffering. That the angels would envy our ability to be able to suffer out of love for God.
Usually, we don’t like suffering right; we rather give that away let the angels take it actually. But the grace that we have the ability to enter into Jesus’s passion is the ability to end deeply into its love as well.
On another day she said, today I’m preparing myself for your coming as a bride does for the coming of her bridegroom. He is a great Lord this bridegroom of mine, the heavens cannot contain Him. The seraphim who stand closest to Him cover their faces and repeat unceasingly Holy, Holy, Holy.
I want you to think of, if you’re married, your wedding day and if you’re not like myself think of somebody that you know that was married and when the bride is in the back of the church and the doors are open and everybody gets up and stands and looks at this beautiful bride that’s coming down the aisle. Then the groom takes a step in usually to see her and to receive her from her from her parents. That’s what we’re experiencing what when we process up to the altar of God. That we are coming forward in order for God to enter into this marital love with us. That He wants to take us to Himself and love us through good times and in bad, sickness and in health, all the days of our life. He wants to be married to us.
She says, this great Lord is my bridegroom. It is to Him that the choir sing. It is before Him that the Thrones bow down. I thought this was neat, by His splendor the sun is eclipsed. Tomorrow’s eclipse, by His splendor the sun is eclipsed. We can’t look at the sun because it’s so bright right, we have to wear those glasses and the moon will eclipse the sun. Jesus’s splendor is even more bright than the sun and yet we’re able to look upon Him right here at the Eucharist.
She says, when I go out to meet Him, I invite Him into the dwelling place of my heart humbling myself profoundly before His Majesty. But the Lord lifts me up from the dust and invites me, His bride, to sit next to Him and to tell Him everything that is on my heart. I want you to imagine that too as you prepare for Mass. That you sit next to God, and He just wants you to tell Him everything that’s on your heart.
She says, in the first place I tell them things that I would tell no other creature and then I speak about the needs of the church, about the poor souls and about how much need they have of Mercy and the time passes quickly. Jesus I must go carry out my duties awaiting me. I love this because Jesus tells her that there is still a moment in which to say farewell. Don’t rush off just yet. Let us say farewell and this is how He says farewell to her. It is a deep mutual gaze, and we see seemingly separate for a while but in reality, we never do, our hearts are constantly united.
I think about that after mass as well. Before we leave just to give Christ a simple gaze and know that as we walk out of here may seem like we’re separated but we are never separated He is always with us.
Another day she says, my preparation today for the coming of Jesus is brief but imprinted deeply with vehement love. The presence of God penetrates me and sets aflame my love for Him. There are no words, I drown completely in God through love. The Lord approaches the dwelling of my heart and then after receiving Communion I have just enough presence of mind to return to my kneeler and at the same time my soul is completely lost in God, and I no longer know what is going on about me. God gives me the interior knowledge of His Divine Being. These moments are short but penetrating.
I think that it is important that we realize that too about Eucharist when we come to celebrate Mass. A lot happens during the Mass. There are a lot of God’s words being poured out but there are moments of silence too as well. Even though those moments are short, those moments can penetrate us deeply into the heart. So, we have to be aware of these moments that God wants to come deeply into us.
Another day before she was preparing before Mass she said, today I invite Jesus to my heart as love. You are love itself and all heaven catches flame from you and is filled with love.
Our Mass intention or preparation for Mass could be something as simple as that. Just stop before we come to Mass and say, “Jesus, as I prepare for the Eucharist, I invite you to come into my heart.” We make that intention to let Him in.
She says, but I want to tell you that eternal life must begin already here on earth through Holy Communion. Jesus says each Holy Communion makes you more and more capable of communing with God through all eternity.
Every time we come, and we receive Holy Communion, we are becoming more capable of communing with God. I know that each and every one of us desires that to have this continued presence with God, that we can be present to Him all the time as He is to us. What He is revealing here is that it happens little by little in each and every Holy Communion that we receive, we come closer to that heaven on Earth where we commune with Him.
One day she says, today I’m not forcing myself to make any special preparation. It’s one of those days where she realizes that every day, I try to come up with something, today I’m not going to force myself. I can’t think of anything though I may feel many things. She just says, I long for the time when God will come into my heart. She doesn’t have any intention at this one. She says, I’m just going to go and throw myself in His arms and tell Him about my inability and my misery. I pour out all the pain of my heart. Then she says again, the presence of God penetrates my heart as a ray of sun penetrates a crystal. At that moment when I received God all my being is steeped in Him.
It’s important to see that a couple things happen in this moment. One is that she feels an inability to express or even to ask God for anything but, the second is that she does express the pain that is in her heart. Chances are we all have some kind of pain that is in our heart and if we can share that pain with Jesus, if we can express that pain when we come to him for Mass, He will enter into us and enter into that pain in a very profound way.
Another day she said, today I feel an abyss of misery in my soul. This is a saint right now saying, today I feel an abyss of misery within my soul. I want to approach Holy Communion as the Fount of Mercy and drown myself completely in the ocean of His love.
Sometimes we can feel like that right? An abyss of Mercy and abyss of misery in our souls where we just feel miserable and maybe don’t even want to for some reason come into God’s presence. She says, the more I felt this misery the stronger grew my trust in Him. Usually when we feel misery, we start to distrust God because our feeling of closeness isn’t there and she has the exact opposite experience. When she begins to feel misery, she grows in trust for God and that can happen for each and every one of us the, times that we grow in miseries.
I’ve spoken before on desolation. When we are in desolation that can really be a time just to throw ourselves upon God and the trust, to trust in the Mercy of Jesus. That even though I’m going through desolation, even though my soul may be in misery, I trust in You.
Sometimes she would, after Communion, feel her own heartbeat and when she would feel her heartbeat, she would also feel the heart of Jesus beaming in her own heart. We often do the heart checks after Mass and in order for that to happen a couple things need to be. A quieter environment but also, we have to allow our bodies to rest and to become still. It’s important for us in our spiritual life as well to realize that we are embodied spirits. That for us to feel that intimate close heartbeat of Jesus, we do have to become still, we do have to start sometime in silence, we do have to rest even if you can try to just rest to feel your own heartbeat and after receiving communion if you did that if you felt your heart beating you would feel His being with you.
When I had received Jesus in Holy Communion my heart cried out with all its might, Jesus, transform me into another host. I want to be a living host for you, you are a great and all-powerful Lord grant me this favor. And the Lord answered me, You are a living host. You are pleasing to the Heavenly Father. When you receive Holy Communion and you walk out of this church and you go out into the world, you are a living host. You carry the Body of Christ in you throughout the world. Just as this Monstrance is exposed on the altar when you go forth into the world, you become a Monstrance carrying the Body of Christ within you. This Host, that is shown throughout the entire world, will bring Mercy to even those sinners who are most hardened. So, we become living Monstrances.
She also talks about the necessity of the Eucharist for her. She says that when my strength begins to fail, it’s Holy Communion that sustains me and gives me strength. Has anybody else’s strength ever begun to fail? It’s the Eucharist that gives us strength. She says this so much she said, I fear the day in which I would not receive Holy Communion. My soul draws astonishing strength from Holy Communion. Those are some of the preparations that she made and some of the fruits of her preparing to receive the Eucharist. The interesting thing is, I always tell people the importance of journaling, I want to come up with the journal for this year of the Eucharistic Revival that we have a mass intention that we have some preparation that we go to Mass every Sunday or day we go up daily. With this preparation, with this desire, with this petition, what do we desire to ask Jesus for as we come forward to receive Him?
Sister Faustina struggled sometimes with scrupulosity, and I wanted to read you this paragraph so that I can comment on this for everybody. She says once I desired very much to receive Holy Communion, but I had a certain doubt, and I did not go. I suffer greatly because of this. It seemed to me that my heart would burst from the pain. When they set about my work, my heart was full of bitterness, and Jesus suddenly stood by me and said, My daughter, do not omit Holy Communion unless you know well that your fall was serious. Apart from this no doubt must stop you from uniting yourself with Me and the mystery of My love.
It is important for us to know that, and I want to repeat that for everybody. Do not omit Holy Communion unless you know well that your fall was serious. Unless you know that it was a very serious fall that you had, do not for any reason omit Holy Communion. Then He says, your minor faults will disappear in me and my love will pierce you like straw thrown into a great furnace. Know that you grieve me much when you fail to receive Me in Holy Communion.
He’s also revealing to us what we hear in the Catechism when we come to the Eucharist, we are forgiven from all of our venial sins. So, every time we receive the Eucharist it’s like that straw is being thrown into the fire. Our sins are being thrown into the fire and we receive complete forgiveness of all of our sin every time we receive the Eucharist.
Towards the end of her life, she was growing very weak as she was dying, and she said, after she received Communion one time, she saw the Lord Jesus just as she had seen Him before in Adoration. The Lord’s gaze pierced her soul through and through that not even the least speck of dust escaped His notice and I said to Jesus, she said, Jesus, I thought you were going to take me? Jesus answered, My will has not yet been fully accomplished in you. You will still remain on earth but not for long.
Have you ever been with an elderly person who says, “I don’t know why the Lord’s not taking me? Why hasn’t He taken me yet? I don’t know why I’m still here?”
Well, He actually tells Faustina this he says, I am well pleased with your trust, but your love should be more ardent. Pure love gives the soul strength at the very moment of dying. This is very powerful He says, when I was dying on the cross, I was not thinking about myself but about poor sinners and I prayed for them to My Father. I want your last moments to be completely similar to mine on the cross. There is but one price at which souls are brought and that is suffering united to my suffering on the cross.
This was very powerful for me because I think at the moment of my death, I’ll probably be thinking, “Am I right with you, Jesus. Do I have everything right? Am I prepared to see you face to face?” What He’s saying is we should not be thinking about ourselves at the moment of death, we should be thinking about poor souls, and we should be offering every last moment of suffering that we have in union with Him for the salvation of poor souls.
As you begin to ponder more and more about your death, just remember that. The last moments of our lives should be focused on the salvation of poor souls.
She would also have mystical experiences where she would see Jesus during moments at the altar especially during Consecration. One day during mass her Confessor was saying Mass and she saw as usual the child Jesus on the altar. She would see the infant child on the altar, and she said from the time of the Offertory until she received Communion, she would see that. She said; however, this moment was different. At the moment of the Elevation the priest of vanished from her sight and Jesus alone remained. When the moment of Elevation approached Jesus took the Host and the Chalice in His little hands and raised them together looking up to heaven and at a moment later, she again saw her Confessor. So, she was seeing the reality of what happens at that moment of Mass. That moment of Mass, the priest disappears, and we speak the words and the acts in Persona Christi, in the person of Christ. So, just like the Eucharist, we experience Him in the Eucharist we also experience Him in the priest at that moment of the words of Consecration and she was able to penetrate and to see into the mystery of that reality.
In the evening one-time during Benediction she said, my soul was for some time in Communion with God the Father. I felt I was in his hand like a little child, and I heard these words in my soul, do not fear anything my daughter all the adversaries will be shattered at my feet. All these words are deep peace and great interior calm entered my soul.
Jesus is repeatedly saying to us over and over and over again do not fear anything. If we operate out of fear, we’re not operating out of faith and this call, this invitation that Jesus is giving to us is to say always, Jesus I trust in You. The more that we grow scared, the more that we fear, if we would simply say those words and mean them, Jesus I trust in You, we will do the exact opposite being afraid. We will trust in Him.
There were some days that she received Holy Communion as an act of reparation and she would say, Jesus I offer everything today for sinners let the blows of your justice fall on me and the sea of Your Mercy engulf the poor sinners.
Those of us that believe in His Divine Mercy and those of us that receive the Eucharist and those of us that know of his real body and blood, we can also do this. We can ask to take on some of the suffering of poor souls. We can ask that He lavish them with the grace that He’s lavishing upon us.
So right now, as we are before Him in Adoration, I invite you to think of anybody that is away from the Church or away from the faith and right now in this moment just ask Him to lavish His Mercy and His grace upon them.
Then I want to end with this message that He has: Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to My merciful heart. Isn’t that a beautiful image just to snuggle close to His merciful heart? And I will fill it with peace. Tell all people, my daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When the soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them with within itself but radiates them to other souls.
When a soul approaches Me with trust. Do we really trust Him? Can we really trust Him?
Souls who spread the honor of My Mercy I shield through their entire lives as a tender mother of her infant. At the hour of death, I will not be a judge for them but a Merciful Savior. He’s saying if you go out and you become His missionary of Mercy and you spread the message of Divine Mercy He will not be a judge but you’re Merciful Savior at the hour of death at that last hour.
Happy is the soul that, during his lifetime, immersed itself in the Fountain of Mercy because justice will have no hold on it. He said finally, Everything that exists is enclosed in the bowels of My Mercy more deeply than an infant in its mother’s womb. How painfully distressed of my goodness wounds Me. Sins of distrust wound Me so painfully. I want to grant a complete pardon to souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on this Feast of Mercy.
My dear brothers and sisters, He’s making it very clear that when we do not trust Him, especially His Mercy. When we do not trust His Mercy, it pains Him very much. But if we do trust in His Mercy, He will grant us everything not only now but at the moment of our death and eternal life to come. Not only for ourselves but also for those whom we commend to His Mercy.
