Introduction. The Resurrected Jesus appeared to the Apostles in the Upper Room and bestowed upon them the power to forgive sins, which was the forerunner to Divine Mercy. Jesus appeared to a Polish nun, Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska [who is now St. Faustina Kowalska], beginning in 1931,and asked her to teach the world about His Divine Mercy. Specifically, He wanted her to remind sinners, and that’s all of us, that He died on the Cross to forgive all mankind’s sins if they would keep His Commandments, and He would never give upon them.
In John 10:16, Jesus tells us that He wants His Divine Mercy to include every individual on earth, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” You see that Jesus, in His divine nature as the second person of the Blessed Trinity, created all humanity, and wants all of us to be in the Kingdom with Him, which is why He desires to shepherd ALL people so that one day they can share His joy.
Divine Mercy is an entire way of life based upon love, mercy and forgiveness. God loves us – all of humanity, His creation. And He wants us to know that His mercy is greater than any sin we have ever committed or ever will. He wants us to completely trust Him, ask for and receive His mercy, and be an instrument to share His mercy and the message of Divine Mercy with others. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost because He lovingly and wonderfully created each of us, and He wants all to share His Kingdom.
The Diary. Almost 10 years after Sr. Faustina had entered a religious order, she began writing the diary that Jesus commanded her to write about His Divine Mercy. It is titled, “Divine Mercy In My Soul – The Diary of Sister M. Faustina Kowalska.” The contents of the Diary highlight praying for His mercy for ourselves and others, and repenting of our sins. Also, He wants us to extend His love and forgiveness for us to others. Lastly, He wants us to know that the more we trust Him, the more graces of mercy we will receive.
Words of Jesus to St. Faustina on mercy are listed with their corresponding Diary numbers:
· From all My wounds, like from streams, mercy flows for souls, but the wound in My Heart is the fountain of unfathomable mercy. From this fountain spring all graces for souls. The flames of compassion burn Me. I desire greatly to pour them out upon souls. Speak to the whole world about My mercy. [1190]
· Encourage souls to place great trust in My fathomless mercy. Let the weak, sinful soul have no fear to approach Me, for even if it had more sins than there are grains of sand in the world, all will be drowned in the unmeasurable depths of My mercy. [1059]
· If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy. [1317]
· 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! [1074]
· … My Heart is mercy itself. From this sea of mercy, graces flow out upon the whole world. No soul that has approached Me has ever gone away unconsoled. All misery gets buried in the depths of My mercy, and every saving and sanctifying grace flows from this fountain. [1777] · I unite Myself with you, take away your misery and give you My mercy. I perform works of mercy in every soul. The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy. My mercy is confirmed in every work of My hands. He who trusts in My mercy will not perish, for all his affairs are Mine, and his enemies will be shattered at the base of My footstool. [723]
The Diary tells us to pray The Chaplet of Divine Mercy for the dying, which is so powerful because Jesus said that He would stand between the wrath of His Father and the person dying to save their soul. A Dominican priest once told me that since God is timeless, He knew that we would pray this Chaplet for a family member or friend at some point in our life, long after they died; he said that we can go back generations to save souls. So we should all start praying the Chaplet for family and friends who are dying or have died. It takes less than ten minutes. How to pray the Chaplet is shown in the Prayers Section on this website.
Encouraging words from Jesus for people to pray the Chaplet:
· Oh, what great graces I will grant to souls who say this chaplet; the very depths of My tender mercy are stirred for the sake of those who say the chaplet. [848]
· Say unceasingly the chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it 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. I desire that the whole world know My infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy. [687]
What is the lesson for us to learn here? Jesus’ incredible promise of His graces and mercy, if we pursue them, would trigger a strong desire in each of us to run after Him yelling “Yes, yes Lord, I want what You are offering, and I promise to share it with everyone I meet. Help me begin any changes You desire for me today!
Sin separates us from God; it breaks the love bond of grace between us. But there is hope. Jesus said in Mark 2:17, “I did not come [into the world] to call the righteous but sinners.” So, out of love for us and desiring our salvation, Jesus died on the Cross for ALL the sins of mankind through every generation. Thus, we are in debt to Him for taking on our sins so that we could enter Heaven and share in His glory. He did His part, by paying the price for our salvation, and now we have to do our part.
He instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation (aka Confession) to forgive our sins and restore grace to our life. As often as we sin, we have to repent and ask His forgiveness. Know that when a priest absolves us, it is Jesus speaking through him to forgive us.
He begs us to run to Him whenever we sin because He doesn’t want any of His children to lose eternal life by dying in the state of sin. He waits for us to come to Him so that He can wash away our sins, not with water, but with His Blood.
Be assured that our repentance gives Him glory, and the greater the sin the greater the glory. With Jesus, there is absolutely NO sin that His mercy will not forgive, and every forgiven sin is FORGOTTEN!
“Amen, I say to you, all sins and blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”[Mark 3:28-29]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church [1864] explains it this way: “There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.
”So what the Church is saying is that this attitude of blasphemy against God has nurtured itself over time. These people knowingly reject everything that the Holy Spirit stands for: mercy, forgiveness and salvation.
The Holy Spirit gives us promptings during our life to turn to God. But we have been given free will by God to make that decision. For so many of us, we turn away from His promptings whenever He knocks at our door. Why? Because the world, the flesh and the Devil have gotten a firm grip on our soul, and they refuse to let go. It’s a comfortable lifestyle that becomes habitually right for us, so we totally reject the promptings.
Hell contains the people who had bondage to sin, refused to love God, and didn’t want a relationship with Him. It has been revealed to some Saint that nobody goes to Hell without knowing. They get their wish.
Annette, a young German woman in 1937 ended up in Hell. Here’s her story:
Her family attended church twice a year, and didn’t teach her to pray as a child. She did receive the Sacraments of Confession and Communion early in her life, but they didn’t mean much to her. She briefly worked with Claire, a devout Catholic, who constantly encouraged her to go to Mass, Confession, and receive Communion, with limited success. Soon she left the company, but Claire continued to pray for her.
A short time later her mother informed her that Annette had died in a car accident. The next morning Claire attended Mass, offered it for her friend and prayed fervently for her soul. That night a vision of Annette came to her, who said, “don’t pray for me, I am damned,” and related this story to Annette.
She lived a life in the world, and turned her back on God. The Holy Spirit prompted her from time to time to go to Mass, but she refused. On the Sunday that she was to die in the car accident, the Holy Spirit’s voice kept saying, “You could go to Mass once more.” But she stifled the notion with a decisive “No.” She said to herself, “You have got to have done with that nonsense once and for all.” Now she is suffering the consequences of her resolution. The invisible judge pronounced to her, “Depart from Me!!!”.
I pray that whoever opens this book will be deeply touched by the Holy Spirit in the most profound way and that their life will be changed according to His will.