Divine Mercy Sunday

*picture from http://thedivinemercy.org/mercysunday/christswords.php

Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. This special feast hasn't always been around. In fact, it's very new. Pope John Paul II announced at Saint Faustina's canonization on April 30, 2000, that the Feast of Mercy would be celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter.

Jesus appeared to Saint Faustina and told her many amazing things about His mercy and His love. If you want to read them all, you can read her Diary - Divine Mercy in My Soul. It's only more than seven hundred pages. Seven hundred pages seems a bit insane, but once you get started reading it, you won't be able to put it down! Her words will blow you away and deepen your faith and love for Christ. I can assuredly promise you this because I've read about half of it and that's the way it affected a sinner like me! I also believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I know He can work through the written Word of Christ. Your life will be changed. Get the book.

Here are some quotes from her diary. The following words were said by Jesus Christ Himself to Saint Faustina. The words in italics were written by Saint Faustina.

• My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and 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 approach 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 all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins 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 forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. 

• 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!

• Tell 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. 

•  Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. 

• If souls would put themselves completely in my care, I myself would undertake the task of sanctifying them, and I would lavish even greater graces on them. There are souls who thwart My efforts, but I have not given up on them; as often as they turn to Me, I hurry to their aid, sheilding them with My mercy, and I give them the first place in My compassionate Heart.

• I remind you, My daughter, that as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour (in the afternoon), immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners.

• My daughter try your best to make the Stations of the Cross in this hour, provided that your duties permit it; and if you are not able to make the Stations of the Cross, then at least step into the chapel for a moment and adore in the Most Blessed Sacrament My Heart, which is full of mercy.

•  My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things.

• Now you shall consider My love in the Blessed Sacrament. Here, I am entirely yours, soul, body and divinity, as your Bridegroom. You know what love demands: one thing only, reciprocity.

• Amid the greatest torments, I fix the gaze of my soul upon Jesus Crucified; I do not expect help from people, but place my trust in God. In His unfathomable mercy lies all my hope.

• And I understood that the greatest attribute of God 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. 

• Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions.

• In whatever state a soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which is striving after this purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might rise again. There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer.

For more information, visit www.thedivinemercy.org. To learn how to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, go to www.divinemercychaplet.org.

Have a blessed Divine Mercy Sunday! 

*picture from http://reclaimingourchildren.typepad.com/lumina_a_ray_of_light_aft/2011/10/feast-day-st-faustina.html