Divine Mercy Six
one
After the Resurrection Peter and John did not quite know what to do with themselves so they went back to fishing, and after all long night, they had caught nothing. Suddenly Jesus appears on the shore and then He directs them to a miraculous catch.
Maybe the words of the Lord at the Last Supper came flooding back into their minds, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
The most important truth of Christianity is that Jesus wants to come and live in us and through us. Yet we just keep trying to live by our intelligence and effort alone.
Well, Peter and John finally learned and worked miracles, literally. In the Acts of the Apostles Peter and John heal a crippled man which immediately results in their arrest and trial at which they testified that they were not capable of doing this by their own power, but that Jesus had been the one who cured him, through them.
Jesus said, “He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.”
Jesus wants to increase His presence and His power in us precisely through the Eucharist – and St Faustyna knew clearly the difference between living from Jesus on from her own limited power. She writes:
I find myself so weak that were it not for Holy Communion I would fall continually. One thing alone sustains me, and that is Holy Communion. From it I draw my strength; in it is all my comfort. I fear life on days when I do not receive Holy Communion. I fear my own self. Jesus concealed in the Host is everything to me. From the tabernacle I draw strength, power, courage and light. Here, I seek consolation in time of anguish. I would not know how to give glory to God if I did not have the Eucharist in my heart. Diary 1037
two
Jesus desires to pour out an ocean of Mercy into our soul by means of the Eucharist. In the Diary Jesus said to Faustyna:
My great delight is to unite Myself with souls. Know, 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. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize love! They treat Me as a dead object. 1385
His hands are full of all kinds of graces – well what kind of graces? – the main grace is Jesus coming to live in us and live through us – that is what He is offering to us – to live through us – do we want this? Do we want Jesus to live through us?
three
One of the most important ways to make room for Jesus to become active in our lives is through Confession which Jesus called the “Tribunal of Mercy.”
Write, speak of My mercy. Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [the sacrament of Reconciliation]. 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 already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s mercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late. 1448
four
Even though Faustyna was a great saint, she struggled with telling her sins to a man in confession.
Diary 1602 - Today, the Lord said to me,
Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flow 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 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.
five
The 9th Day of the Novena to Divine Mercy
Today bring to Me 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 flee 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.
Fire and ice cannot be joined; Either the fire dies, or the ice melts. But by Your mercy, O God, You can make up for all that is lacking.
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…..