Becoming Merciful

Jesus, I trust in You!

PRAISED BE Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday during the Year of the Poor, it would truly be beneficial for us to see the devotion to the Divine Mercy and its relationship with the poor. Many of us associate the devotion to the veneration of the now famous painting of the Divine Mercy. We should include in this devotion the sacrament of Confession and also of the Eucharist. And of course, the devotion would not be complete without the 3:00 prayer and the chaplet of the Divine Mercy. However, there is one aspect of the devotion that we usually neglect, and that is the performance of the works of mercy.

The Acts of the Apostles portrayed for us a picture of the infant Church wherein those who followed the Lord Jesus put their resources together: “The community of believers was of one heart and one mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.” Thus, “there was no needy person among them.” Their relationship with the Lord transformed them to the point that they placed even their financial resources at the service of each other. The mercy which they experienced from the Lord made the disciples themselves bearers of Divine Mercy. The works of mercy became a lifestyle: “In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this: that we keep his commandments.”  The Lord Jesus himself admonished us to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked and shelter the stranger, to visit the sick and the imprisoned for “whatever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me.” We must imitate the Father who is holy and merciful: “Be merciful for the Father is merciful.”

We glorify God’s mercy by being merciful ourselves. In her diary, St. Faustina wrote this prayer: “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, O 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 neighbor’s soul and come to their rescue. Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbor’s 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 for 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 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 sufferings in silence. May your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.

“You yourself command me to exercise the 3 degrees of mercy. The 1^st: the act of mercy, of whatever kind. The 2^nd: the word of mercy – if I cannot carry out a work of mercy, I will assist by my words. The 3^rd: 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. O my Jesus, transform me into yourself, for you can do all things.” (Diary, 163.)

Jesus. I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Christ the King and the Works of Mercy

St. Faustina recorded this incident in her diary: “Jesus came to the main entrance today, under the guise of a poor young man. This young man, emaciated, barefoot, and bareheaded, and with his clothes in tatters, was frozen because the day was cold and rainy. He asked for something hot to eat. So I went to the kitchen but found nothing there for the poor. But, after searching around for some time, I succeeded in finding some soup, which I reheated and into which I crumbled some bread, and I gave it to the poor young man, who ate it. As I was taking the bowl from him, he gave me to know that He was the Lord of heaven and earth. When I saw Him as He was, He vanished from my sight. When I went back in, and reflected on what happened at the gate, I heard these words in my soul: My daughter, the blessing of the poor who bless me as they leave this gate have reached my ears. And your compassion, within the bounds of obedience, has pleased Me, and this is why I came down from My throne – to taste the fruits of your mercy.” (Diary, 1312)

St. Faustina responded to that voice: “O my Jesus, now everything is clear to me, and I understand all that has just happened. I somehow felt and asked myself what sort of a poor man is this that radiates such modesty. From that moment on, there was stirred up in my heart an even purer love toward the poor and the needy. Oh, how happy I am that the superiors have given me such a task! I understand that mercy is manifold: one can do good always and everywhere and at all times. An ardent love of God sees all around itself constant opportunities to share itself through deeds, word and prayer. Now I understand the words which You spoke to me, O Lord, some time ago”. (Diary 1313)

The Lord Jesus answered St. Faustina: “I know, My daughter, that you understand it and that you do everything in your power. But write this for the many souls who are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet, spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of each soul. If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of ju dgement. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasures for themselves, they would not be judged for they would forestall My judgement with their mercy.” (Diary, 1317)

The Son of Man will come seated on His throne and escorted with His angels. He will come to judge all the nations who will be assembled before Him. And He will judge each of us according to our works of mercy. There will be no exemption because “one can do good always and everywhere and at all times.” If we cannot afford to do temporal works of mercy, there are always the spiritual works of mercy that are within the reach of every soul. The temporal works of mercy are: To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To harbour the harbourless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead. The spiritual works of mercy are: To instruct the ignorant; To counsel the doubtful; To admonish sinners; To bear wrongs patiently; To forgive offences willingly; To comfort the afflicted; To pray for the living and the dead.

Knowing that our time is running out and that we are really approaching the day of judgement, let us waste no time. Let us take hold of every opportunity to gather eternal treasure for ourselves. Remember: If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy.

On Confession

Jesus said to St. Fautina: "Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls."

Diary, 1602.

St. Faustina, Doctor of the Church?

One of the graces I have received in my pastorate of the Divine Mercy Parish is the opportunity to read the Diary of St. Faustina: Divine Mercy in my Soul. I am really convinced that one day, she will be declared Doctor of the Church on account of this diary.

"In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy." (Diary, 1588.)

ZENIT - St. Faustina, Doctor of the Church?

On Interior Silence

"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 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. Once 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 which 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 have been in heaven, but they might even have become saints! O Jesus, have mercy!"

St. Faustina, Diary, 118.

Self-denial according to St. Faustina

The Lord's way is one of self-denial. What does self-denial mean? I was browsing over the pages of St. Faustina's diary and I found something worth our consideration:

1. The denial of my reason. Subjecting it to the reason of those who represent God to me on earth.

2. The denial of my will. Doing the will of God, which is revealed in the will of those who represent God to me and which is contained in the rule of our order.

3. The denial of my judgment. Accepting immediately and without reflection, analysis or reasoning all orders given by those who represent God to me.

4. The denial of my tongue. I will not give it the least bit of freedom; but in one case only I will give it complete freedom; that is, in proclaiming the glory of God. Whenever I receive Holy Communion, I will ask Jesus to fortify and cleanse my tongue that I may not injure my neighbor with it. That is why I have the greatest respect for the rule which speaks about silence.

(St. Faustina, Diary, 375)

Missionary Zeal

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.

St. Faustina, Diary, 302.

How we wish that such ardent missionary desire would still be present in Catholic souls! If only we would have that desire to make the Merciful Jesus known to many souls drowned in despair! Here is the solution to the problem of suicide the world over: Make the Divine Mercy known and loved to all the world!

Mercy for both sinners and saints

We might immediately judge the parable today as a lesson in bad gardening. After all, we were always taught that pulling out weeds is a good gardening habit. Weed, so we were told, compete with the good plants for the nutrients of the soil. And so weeding them out would eliminate competition and would maximize the use of the soil.

Perhaps that was in the mind of the slaves who suggested to the Master: “Do you want us to go and pull them out?” It must have surprised them that the Master decided to keep both the wheat and the weeds till harvest time when the segregation will take place: “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Let us remember that the parable is not a lesson on gardening. Rather it is the Lord’s explanation on the co-existence of good and evil people: “He who sows good seeds is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, the enemy who sows them is the devil.” When confronted by the reality of evil people who make the lives of the just miserable, we always ask: “Why does the Lord allow them to thrive? Why does he not simply eradicate them from the face of the earth?” The answer is given by the Book of Wisdom: “There is no god besides you who have the care of all…though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with lenience you govern us…And you taught your people by these deeds, that those who are just might be kind, and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.”

Why does God allow evil men to thrive? It is because he is merciful. He does not want the sinner to die but rather to repent and live! In fact, the Lord does not only patiently wait for the evil man’s conversion. He does not simply wait and ask: “Kailan kaya mauuntog sa katotohanan ang taong ito?” No, the Lord aggressively acts. He produces opportunities for conversion. And he makes repentance accessible. To St. Faustina, the Lord Jesus said: “Write, speak of my mercy. Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is in the Tribunal of Mercy (confession). There the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony. It suffices to come with faith to the feet of my representative and to reveal to him one’s misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no hope of restoration and everything would be lost, it is not so for God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores the soul in full. How miserable are those who do not take advantage of this miracle of God’s mercy! They will call out in vain but it will be too late.” (Diary 1448)

But you may protest that God’s mercy spoils the evil men. What about the just? Should he not take care first of those who strive to be faithful to him? To St. Faustina, the Lord said: “Both the sinner and the righteous have need of my mercy. Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of my mercy.” (Diary 1577) “Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore my mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant to them flows from my mercy. I desire that those souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in my mercy. I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of my mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to me, because I pour all the treasures of my graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is my desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little when they narrow their hearts.” (Diary 1578.) as St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.”

When the Master chose to let the wheat and the weeds grow together, his choice was on account of his mercy. On account of his mercy, he prolongs his patience towards evil men in the hope that his grace will bring them to repentance and to salvation. On account of his mercy, he fortifies the just with his graces so that they may be sanctifies and by their perseverance they may win their lives.

A Beautiful Prayer to the Blessed Sacrament

"O living Host, O hidden Jesus, You see the conditions of my soul. Of myself, I am unable to utter Your Holy Name. I cannot bring forth from my heart the fire of love but, kneeling at your feet, I cast upon the Tabernacle the gaze of my soul, a gaze of faithfulness. As for You, You are ever the same, while within my soul a change takes place. I trust that the time will come when You will unveil Your countenance, and Your child will again see Your sweet face. I am astonished, Jesus, that You can hide Yourself from me for so long and that You can restrain the enormous love You have for me. In the dwelling of my heart, I am listening and waiting for Your coming, O only Treasure of my heart.

St. Faustina, Diary, 1239