Divine Mercy for Now

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

 

Opening Exhortation

Let the house of Israel say: His mercy endures for ever.
Let the house of Aaron say: His mercy endures for ever.
Let those who fear the Lord say: His mercy endures for ever.

We are going through very difficult times: our world, ourselves, and people we know are going through very difficult times in which we might not always sense the Lord’s mercy, or even His presence. Sometimes people wonder, “Where is God, and how could a good God let these things happen?” And yet, the good news that the Lord is focusing on us right now today is this news of His mercy.

We have just commemorated the terrible Passion of Our Lord Jesus. The Lord has said that the Church today, the faithful today, the people of God today, are living through the passion of the Church. And yet it is from His cross that mercy comes. That is why it is very significant that we have the relic of the True Cross there behind the altar, because the image of Divine Mercy shows the risen Lord, but it shows the risen Lord with His wounds, and especially the wound of His heart. Those graces of mercy are flowing from His sacrifice, from His passion.

So that is what the Church is living today—this terrible passion—but from this passion, God is preparing an overabundance of mercy that He wants to pour out.

Divine Mercy in Our Times

St. Faustina received many of her messages about a century ago, but they are especially for our times. It is not too long ago that the Feast of Divine Mercy was instituted for the Church as a sign that, in these terrible times that we are living, God has very extraordinary plans—designs of mercy.

I think this very Mission of Divine Mercy, this poor little Mission of Divine Mercy here, is one small part of the preparations for the great mercies that He wants to pour out on the world.

I was thinking of that this morning as we had that gentle rain coming down in our area that needs rain so badly. In the blessing of water, it says: God, who has made water an instrument of His mercy. And so even that rain, and we might get some more rain, is like a sign of His mercy—a little natural sign.

Last Year’s Message and Misunderstandings of Mercy

Last year, right about this time (it was April 10), the Lord gave Sister a special message about Divine Mercy. In that message, He clarified that some people have abused the sense of mercy as if it were a license to sin.

Unfortunately, under Francis there was much distortion and abuse of the true sense of mercy. Because of that, there has been misunderstanding on the part of some, and even resistance to this teaching about Divine Mercy. For some people, it seemed like it was a watering down of asceticism, or a misunderstanding or rejection of His justice.

In this message He is going to make some important points: that His mercy is not opposed to His justice, and that His mercy is not weakness. On the contrary, it is actually very demanding. But there are special graces for these times that we are living. These times have special challenges that no other generation had to face before, and especially the young people growing up today are facing challenges like never before.

How many of us have in our pockets a cell phone right now, including myself? There is a lot of good that can come from cell phones, but there are also a lot of difficulties and problems. No other generation has had to face that.

Because He knows the challenges that we are living, He gives special graces. He will talk about how we have our own human ideas of what God wants, but those are our ideas. He wants us to listen to what He is saying, and not let our ideas get in the way of what he is saying—His call to trust and abandonment to His mercy.

He will talk about St. Faustina and also St. Margaret Mary, who received, some centuries ago, the great revelations of the Sacred Heart that prepared the revelation of Divine Mercy. He will speak about the special graces that He announced to St. Faustina—extraordinary graces that are not said of any other day in the year about this day. He will speak about the image and the invocation on the image, that simple invocation: Jesus, I trust in You.

I want to read this message with you this year. It is a little bit long, but it is such a grace to be able to hear this message from God here in our little Mission of Divine Mercy on this day, the great feast of His Divine Mercy. The language in this—where we just had a reading from the Gospel of St. John—reminds me of St. John’s Gospel, because it is not complicated language, but it is very deep.

Sister’s Notes on the Message

Sister added a few notes to this message, and I will read two of them.

First, she says this message feels very dense, every sentence like a seed packed with future fruit, and thus needing to be reflected on in order to receive all that He is trying to communicate. The first time she read it, it seemed a little hard to grasp all that He is saying to us, but each time she re-read it, it seemed clearer.

Like Scripture, we benefit a lot by reading this multiple times and meditating on it. Sister often says that when she is receiving a message, she often gets a special light to understand all that is in the message, and she feels frustrated because the words themselves do not convey all that she sensed the Lord wanted to say. So it is not just the words, but our own openness to the Holy Spirit that helps us understand and receive these graces.

The other note she added was that, while dictating, she sensed Jesus was serious, treating us not as small children who can only be given milk and honey, but as adults, soldiers who need solid, nourishing food in order to fight and continue on His path—a food that needs to be chewed on.

Baby food does not need to be chewed on. A mother’s milk does not need to be chewed on. But this is not baby food. This needs chewing. The Fathers of the Church often said that “chewing” is like the cows that ruminate—that we need to chew on it, meditate on it.

Also, like one who is preparing another for battle and giving him the necessary tools and weapons: these are very serious times that we are living, and so the Lord cannot just give us baby food. He needs to give us solid food that prepares us for the battles and the challenges we are facing.

As the Lord has often said, we will not understand everything in this message, even if it is simple, because it is very deep. But He has said that the words can go beyond our minds and penetrate into our souls, into our hearts, if our souls and hearts are open. Even if our mind only understands something very limited, the graces can still flow more deeply into our soul and heart.

So I invite you, as I am reading this, to see if there is maybe one thing in particular that the Lord is calling your attention to—something that is especially for you.

The Message of Jesus on Divine Mercy

“My children, it is I, the mercy of the Father incarnate, your Jesus, who speaks to you.

The mercy of God is unfathomable. Do you understand what this means, my little ones—all that is encompassed in these brief words and what the response of your soul to them should be?

My mercy has no bounds. It stretches from eternity to eternity. It covers all that is created, reaching into the depths, soaring to the heights—light as a caress, powerful as a rushing stream, vast as the skies and the seas, fruitful and bountiful, bringing peace and healing, drawing you as a magnet to the heart of the Father.

My mercy is unfathomable. It cannot be comprehended, encompassed by your minds, my children. My mercy acts outside the bounds of time; it is ever present and ever active, tireless in bringing you hope and light and strength, to reconcile you with the Father, to approach His throne, His heart, to return to Him and to be able to say ‘Abba, Father’ once again.

My mercy is not weakness. Was it weakness, my children, to endure the stench of a world covered in sin, to endure the lies, betrayal, and hatred of those I came to save? Was it weakness to endure the traitor, to endure the lashes, the thorns, the nails and the spear? Was it weakness, my children, to endure the complete abandonment of the Father in my hour of pain? Was it weakness to have my heart pierced open, that all of my blood and water, to the very last drop, be shed for your sake?

Was it weakness, my beloved ones? No. To know me is to love me. To love me is to follow me. To follow me is to obey the Father. To obey the Father is the laying down of your whole being to his will.

This is not weakness, my children. I am your God who sees into the depths. I know you, each of you. I know your struggles, your pain, your sorrow, your efforts, your falls, your sins. I see it, and I see what the world has become, what my Church has become. I see, children. I know.

If I, who see and know all and know you, wish to grant unbounded mercy in these times, who are you to refuse it? If I, who know all things, have reserved these special graces and mercy for these times, is it not because I know you need them? My children, your God does nothing superfluously.

How many of you are unable to receive my mercy, my help, because you consider it weakness, a watering down of asceticism, a misunderstanding of my justice?

My beloved ones, my justice accompanies my mercy. They are united; they are one. They have the same origin: the heart of the Father, passing through my pierced heart, held by the Immaculate Heart of my mother. My justice and mercy come forth from the truth that I am.

Children, just as in the physical world every action, every movement has a reaction, so in the life of your souls every movement—every movement of your soul—has a consequence, good or bad, leading you to the light or to darkness, to union with me or separation from me, to holiness or to damnation.

This consequence, this reaction, is justice. My justice can act immediately or be delayed, but it always acts. My justice is the manifestation of truth. It brings to light the intentions of the heart.

My mercy is also the manifestation of my truth. It brings my light over the heart and over the situation, that the heart might recognize its state and not be afraid to seek my help. Mercy and justice—they are one, each an arm of my truth, of my light. They both embrace you.

These are times of mercy. I said to my daughter Faustina, my beloved daughter: yes, my children, it is yet the time of mercy. I, in my merciful justice, seeing the illness, the sorrow, the ignorance of so many of my children, and seeing the betrayal in my Church and the works of my enemy spread more and more, have deemed it necessary to give my children this special time of mercy.

My children, I repeat to you what I said before: it is mercy I desire, not sacrifices. My children, the sacrifice that is pleasing to the Father is to accept his will—to accept what he, in his love and wisdom, prepares for each of you.

The greatest asceticism, my children, is to lay your will, your thoughts and criteria, your desires, at the foot of the cross with me, and with me offer them to the Father. This is the most perfect self‑denial, the abandonment that I lived, the offering I made on the cross to obtain your salvation.

‘Jesus, I trust in You.’
‘Father, I accept. I accept your will for me. I accept the purification that I need in order to live in your light forever. I accept to receive all that your love sends me. I accept your justice. I accept your mercy.’

The Father knows what you need, when you need it, how you need it. And the Father, seeing the misery and sorrow of His children, seeing the growing infestation in His Church and how this would lessen and even render useless the many helps He established in His Church, and how this would leave His children weakened, burdened, confused, shrouded in ignorance—seeing all of this and how it would grow and spread and infect all aspects of their lives—in His infinite wisdom and compassion has sent you continuous helps, heavenly dew, to help console and strengthen you.

Have you not understood, my little ones? The Father is sending you, granting you, these remedies, that you might still receive His help and grace despite the infiltration in my Church that continually blocks my light and my truth.

The Father knows what you need. As His children must walk through the valley of tears, endure the terrible storm of the wrath and hatred of the enemy, endure the dreadful pain of waiting for my action—endure the dreadful pain of waiting for my action in the hour of justice—so He has established this time, the time that you are living now, as the time of mercy, the great Hour of Mercy.

Accept this gift, children. It is given because it is needed. You are blinded to your own state and to your own need.

My beloved ones, I see all your efforts to please me, all that you do, all that you pray, and all that you think is what I am asking of you. Do not let this desire to please me be distorted, my little ones. Place this desire in the fire of my love, in my mercy. Place it on the cross and offer it to the Father with me.

My children, in this hour what is needed is your faith, trust, and abandonment—letting me act in you, letting me purify you, letting me lead you in the prayer that attains all, letting me guide you, letting me arrange all things in your life according to the Father’s plan.

‘Jesus, I trust in You.’ Do you begin to see all that is encompassed by these simple words that have so easily been dismissed by many?

‘Jesus, I trust in You.’ My children, I do not ask for a little trust. I ask for all of it—that you trust me in all things, that you give me all this that is mine by rights. In these words is an act of acceptance of the Father’s will. You place your heart in mine that I might guide it and bring it back to the Father.

‘Jesus, I trust in You.’ I have given you these words. I have given you my image as a sign—as a sign that I am with you, as a reminder of what I have obtained for you, as a remedy to the hopelessness and despair the enemy wishes to enslave you in.

To my daughter Margaret Mary, I showed my heart—its sorrow, pain, and the fire of love that consumes it. To my daughter Faustina, I showed that which flows from my heart, which I obtained for you—both proceeding from my love for you, both gifts of the Father’s tenderness and ever‑present care, both signs, remedies, and efficacious helps for this hour.

My children, receive these gifts. Receive my mercy. Accept my justice.

My children, contemplate the love of the Father, who allowed my heart to be rent open by a lance in order for the salvific waters to pour forth and purify you. I placed myself entirely in the Father’s hands and His will—trust. I obeyed Him and accepted the mission He entrusted to me—abandonment. And in doing so, the waters of grace and mercy came forth to cleanse and purify His children, to rescue them, to restore them to Himself.

Do as I have done, my children. Believe in our mercy. Crucify your will. Let the Father act and work in you, that these waters that flow from my heart may enter and fill yours.

My children, in this terrible hour of darkness I ask that you accept my mercy. The promise I made to my daughter Faustina I renew to you once again. It is not an idle promise.

Repent of your sins, of your idolatries, of your lack of hope and trust, of your lack of faith, of your pride. Take up your cross, my little ones, and follow me. My path is arduous. My path is full of rocks and thorns. My path is often full of fog and human uncertainty. But it is the only path that leads to the Father’s heart, and you walk it with me.

The Father knows how difficult this path has become and how much your souls need light and hope, and thus He has granted you the grace of purification through the act of repentance and acceptance of His mercy, the surrendering of your whole being to His mercy.

Do not reject the mercy that, in justice, is being given to you, my children. Come to this mercy. It is your refuge for these times. Let my mercy bathe your soul. Let it reach every part of your being. Let it have dominion over you. In this mercy you will find strength to accept the Father’s will for you. In this mercy you will find light and hope, the assurance of my love, the assurance that you are mine.

In my mercy you will be purified. In my mercy you will be strengthened. In my mercy you will be protected. By mercy you will cease being slaves and begin being sons and daughters. By mercy you will recognize the Father’s works. By mercy you will be given all that you need. By mercy you will be united to me in my great offering.

I am the mercy of the Father. I am the justice of the Father.

Come to me. Do not be afraid. Look at me. Trust me. Abandon yourselves to me, and I will do the rest. Come to the waters of my mercy and drink. Quench your thirst. Come. I love you. Do not be afraid.

Your Jesus, the mercy of the Father made flesh for your sake.

Amen.”