So What's the Big Deal About the Feast of Divine Mercy?

So, what's the big deal about Divine Mercy Sunday?  Well, for me personally it's a big deal because the message of Divine Mercy and praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy has had a major role in my spiritual life and in my marriage (but that's a long story that I'll save for another day perhaps).  And on a larger scale, this Feast Day and its message must have been a BIG deal to Jesus in order for him to appear numerous times to a humble nun from Poland and ask her repeatedly to share His words with the world.  Jesus explains to St. Faustina in great detail the date it is to be celebrated, the meaning of this feast day, and the comforting promises He attached to it.  Here are just some of the words Jesus Himself gave to Faustina when he appeared to her not too long ago (in the 1930s):

Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them ... the Feast of My mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity. Secretary of My mercy, write, tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice is near.  (Diary of St. Faustina #965)

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 grace 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. (Diary #699)

And did you know that you can get a plenary indulgence on Divine Mercy Sunday?

“An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1471)

Several years ago, Pope John Paul II instituted a plenary indulgence for Divine Mercy Sunday. It’s important to note that the plenary indulgence is not the same thing as the special graces promised by God to Saint Faustina. But it is just another opportunity to detach ourselves from this world and to unite us ever closer to Him.

To receive the special graces promised to us by God on Mercy Sunday, you must receive Holy Communion on that day while in the state of grace (detached from sin) and with the trust in His Divine Mercy.

Plenary Indulgence On Divine Mercy Sunday

To receive the plenary indulgence, you must fulfill a number of conditions:

• Sacramental confession Within abut 20 days before or after
• Receive the Eucharist
• A prayer for the intentions of the Pope
• In any church or chapel take part in the prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy or in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament pray the Our Father and the Creed, adding a prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!”)

You must be in the state of grace, at least at the time the indulgenced work is completed. This means that you must not have committed a mortal sin without going to confession. For a plenary Indulgence, it is further required that all attachment to sin — including venial sin — be absent.

Indulgences can be applied either to yourself or to the souls of the deceased.  

And did you know that Jesus promised very special graces to those who even look upon the image of His Divine Mercy with devotion!?  Here are some of those promises straight from Our Savior's mouth that he spoke to St. Faustina:

Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus I trust in You.  I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. The two rays denote Blood and Water.  The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. (Diary of St. Faustina #47 and #299)

I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory. (Diary of St. Faustina #48)

I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature:  “Jesus, I trust in You." (Diary of St. Faustina #327)

By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls…(Diary of St. Faustina #742)

There are 2 main artists who painted the image:

 this one (above) was done by Hyla and is the more recent painting, 

and Eugene Kazimirowski did the original image (below). 

This painting is the "Original" painting done by the artist Eugene Kazimirowski in 1934.

It is said that when Faustina first saw the painting, she cried because it did not look nearly as beautiful as her beloved Savior looked when He appeared to her.

But who could ever capture the glory of God on canvas?

Aren't those promises AWESOME!?  ...Spared from hell, protected from God's just wrath, extra graces...  Guys and gals, it just doesn't get any better than that!  :)  

So, I hope you'll take Jesus at His word and take full advantage of the graces He is offering you this Sunday on the Feast of Divine Mercy, and also any day of the year by praying the Chaplet, looking upon the image of His Divine Mercy, thanking Jesus for His merciful love, and also sharing His message of mercy with others!

For more info:
http://www.thedivinemercy.org/
http://www.praymorenovenas.com/blog/divine-mercy-indulgence

Whirlwind Recap

Spring is always such a busy but beautiful time of the year around here.  I took tons of photos, but didn't have time to ever post them.  So, here is a whirlwind recap of the menagerie of memories we made this Spring...

Seeing the first bulbs silently burst out of the ground in the Spring made my heart burst for joy 

(and run for my camera) :)

Each new leaf budding from branches that appeared dead days before 

was like a declaration of hope and survival.

These raspberry leaves prove that darkness and ice cannot prevent the promise of new life.

I planted tulips last Fall to remind me of my holy Grandma from Holland :)

I was so happy when they actually came up after a long, cold winter.

Tulips can't help but make me happy.

I think I need to plant more of them :)

Spring also brought trips to the carousel for rides and ice cream for our Spring birthday boy.

Oh how happy my boys were to finally play at parks again!

Our silly monkey hanging from monkey bars :)

Got chicks?

We do.  16 to be exact.

We kept them indoors for a couple of weeks, 

which was fun to hear the "peeps" throughout the day... 

But soon they were moved outside,

growing faster than our grass.

It was fun to watch their new feathers and true colors emerge.

We bought all Americanas which lay the pretty blue-green eggs,

so we were surprised to see so many different color variations of their feathers.

Chicks are just fun.  Period.

Other big Spring news:  Nathanael learned how to ride a bike!

Boy he is cute on a bike.

Boy was he proud of himself,

and we were so proud of him too!

Spring also brought turkeys back into our yard.

This male turkey was sure trying to impress this hen 

(or protect her from the crazy camera lady).

He puffed up extra big, hoping she wouldn't notice his missing tail feather.

(how embarrassing) :)

The variety of colors is sure impressive.

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin proposed that the wild turkey be our national bird instead of the bald eagle?  Now that I can see them up close, I understand why.

Michael graduated into high school this Spring and even had to give a speech.

He did awesome, and we are so proud of him.

Memorial Day is always bittersweet for our family.

We remember our 3 sweet babies in heaven,

as well as Paul's dad and other family members who have gone before us.

The boys picked wildflowers to honor their siblings in heaven.

We are grateful for our 3 baby intercessors who are praying for our family,

and someday it will be such a joy to see their faces and hold them in our arms.

Divine Mercy Sunday happens every Spring.

One of my favorite feast days for a variety of reasons.

A reminder that no sin is greater than God's mercy.

Our first fishing trip once the weather got nice.

Michael caught a nice arctic greyling.

Our second fishing trip of the Spring,

Michael caught a bunch of brook trout.

This boy was born to fish.

We catch these at a stream near our house.  So much fun, not so much meat.

Good thing I'm a catch and release gal anyway :)

A sweet moment of Daddy bonding with his little boy in the sun.

Oh how I love those precious little fingers!

These are the memories that Spring is made of.

Now, on to Summer memories!!!

May Musings

I like the month of May.  It contains Mother's Day, my birthday (today!), my anniversary, and is dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God.  This year, being in a new home, I feel especially blessed.  It's hard to explain, but being in a new home has felt like starting a whole new chapter in the book of my life.  A good chapter that makes me not want to put the book down, but rather, makes me want to keep on reading to see what wonderful thing might happen next.  Those who know me well, know that there have been some ugly chapters in my biography, chapters I would like to re-write or even rip out and burn in the fireplace...  But, I think if I would re-read them now, I might understand how they were a necessary part of the story, and they made the blessings to follow all the more beautiful.  As an English-major and a lover of the written-word, I like being in charge of penning my own script, but God has been gently showing me that my story would be much better written (perhaps even a best-seller) if I just relinquish the pen to Him.  A bishop once said of St. Therese, that:

"her life was like a blank sheet of paper, at the bottom of which she affixed her signature and then placed it in the hands of God, to let Him write thereon all that might please Him, accepting in advance--with joy--whatever He would write, not knowing what it might be and no matter the suffering involved, but convinced that it would be only for His glory and her own spiritual good."  

I am humbled and astonished by St. Therese's child-like trust.  I'm so controlling that the thought of letting God write my story is very frightening to me (after all, what if He writes a Shakespeare tragedy!?).  But as I reflect upon all that has happened in the past 37 years of my life, I see over and over again that God always provides, He always works things out for my good.  Yes, sometimes He writes some suffering into the plot-line, but somehow He even turns that into something good!  I need to focus on the Truth that God is always good to help me worry less and trust more.  Yesterday, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Saturday morning Mass, followed by the sacrament of Confession with a Spirit-filled priest.  He spoke exactly what my soul was thirsting for and reminded me to be more like St. Therese.  He reminded me to trust in God's goodness and mercy and to not be afraid of anything--my sins, future suffering, disappointing those I love, not being the saint I want to be--but rather to simply believe in God's goodness.  He left me with this short verse to meditate on as my penance:

"Do not be afraid, only believe."  ~Mark 5:36

I hope I can embrace that as my motto for the 37th year of my life.  Like St. Therese, I will trust and believe that God has more wonderful adventures to write in the story of my life and that no matter what else happens, it will end "happily ever after."  So here I go, on my birthday...I sign my name to the last page and hand the pen over to Him.


Here are some photos of the fun and beautiful hike we took on Mother's Day:

Just for fun, I thought I'd throw in this photo of me when I was 2!

I can't believe I'll be the big 40 in just a few years!

Maria and the Dark Side of the Force...

So, after watching the new Star Wars VII at the theater, our family decided that we should watch the whole series in order.  A generous friend of mine lent us all of them and my family has been having so much fun watching them over the past few weeks.

The other night, however, as we were watching another Star Wars episode, I was watching with a heavy heart, a fearful heart, you might even say a "dark" heart.  The previous day was a tough one for me.  It would be complicated to explain it all, but it was one of those days when little failures added up, and old insecurities reared their ugly heads, and I listened to Satan's lies and slowly felt choked with defeat by the end of the day.  So as I sat watching Star Wars the next night and  heard wise old Yoda say the famous words, "Fear is the path to the dark side of the force," I pondered how the downward spiral of the previous day truly had started with fear...  Fear of not being liked by others, fear of failing at being the wife/mother/friend/Christian that I want to be, fear of disappointing God, fear of being hurt again by those I love most.   I saw how those seeds of fear sprouted other negative thoughts and feelings---such as shame...  I was ashamed of myself for not handling the events of the day better, ashamed of being so weak, ashamed of being so emotional, ashamed of blaming my husband for not loving me the way I selfishly want to be loved.

How interesting it was to look back on the events of that day and see how such small disappointments led me on a downward spiral of fear, which led to shame, which landed me with a thud of despair at the bottom of the spiral staircase in my heart.  That night I wept a lot and slept a very little, and I woke up the next morning with puffy eyes and a heavy soul.  Thankfully, I knew of a good cure for both:  make-up and Confession :)     So I left my husband with the kids and ran to the arms of Mercy.  The faucet of tears opened up again in the confessional, but I felt the graces soaking into my soul soon afterwards.  My gratitude for Jesus' indulgent mercy has simply overwhelmed my heart in the past year.  I am so embarrassed how I took His mercy for granted all these years...perhaps because I didn't realize how desperately I needed it until recently...  But now I'm just in awe of how much He loves us, and how His death on the cross redeems every single sin (big or little) for every single one of us if we believe it.  Oh boy I believe it now more than I ever did--even more than when I was "on-fire" for the Lord back in high school, and how I wish I could share this new-found beauty of His mercy with every soul in the world!  But there I go, digressing from my story... :)

It seems clear to me now that the events of that day of darkness in my soul was Spiritual Warfare--or, in Star Wars lingo, "the dark side of the force vs. the light."  Please bear with me as I take that fictional analogy a little bit further.  I know that Star Wars is not a complete metaphor for true Catholic teaching on spiritual warfare, but it does show on the surface level the battle between good and evil, and how the dark side (Satan, the father of lies) is always trying to pull us away from the light side (Christ, the Prince of Peace) through fear and confusion.  Another great Yoda-ism that seems true in Catholic spirituality is that "the dark side clouds everything" (but only if we let it).  If we are gullible enough to listen to Satan's crafty lies, he confuses us, he clouds our souls of the Truth, and that's when the fear creeps in.  Fear steals our peace, and Satan knows just the right buttons to push to tempt us to walk down that path of fear.  For me, it is a fear of failing, a fear of feeling unloved, a fear of displeasing God.  And Satan pushed those buttons and won quite a few battles in my soul that day, which led me on a path toward the dark side for a brief (but scary) period of time.

But thankfully, Christ--"my only hope" (another Star Wars pun)--came through with His bright light of Mercy once I confessed my fears and failures.  And He gently reminded me to "be not afraid" of my failures.  He knows I am weak; He loves me just the way I am; He delights in forgiving me; and "His strength is made perfect in my weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).  He also reminded me of another very important Truth that I am just beginning to grasp even after all these years of being a Christian:  That once I confess my sins, I do not need to beat myself up about them anymore because, guess what?---THEY'RE GONE!   I have this unhealthy habit of condemning myself for days for my failures, for losing so many spiritual battles, for letting Jesus down (again)... rather than simply rejoicing in the fact that Jesus' mercy washed all those sins away!  He is not disappointed in me if I lose a few battles here and there---because, if I ask Him to, His grace will win the war!  Scripture says, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ" (Romans 8:1), so I need to stop condemning myself, let go of my shame, and confidently trust in Christ's merciful love!  If I continue to feel ashamed, then it is as if I am telling Christ that I don't believe that He fully forgave me, that His grace is not quite enough to cleanse me, that His death on the cross was not sufficient to save me.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  So, instead, I need to TRUST that when I confess my sins, they are gone, and allow the shame to be replaced with THANKSGIVING and PRAISE!  Nothing pleases Jesus' more than when we trust Him to rescue us from the dark side each time we stray onto its path.  And nothing pleases me more than to accept this undeserved and unfathomable gift of mercy and strive to share it with others!  It's a win-win for both of us :)  God is so good!

And just in case you don't believe me about how much Jesus loves to rescue us from the dark side with His mercy, here are a few quotes directly from His mouth to St. Faustina:

• "My compassionate and loving Heart is inflamed with an intense longing for the salvation of souls.  When they turn to Me, I can hardly restrain My joy, and I rush forth to meet them."

• "My heart finds joy in forgiveness.  I have no greater desire nor happiness than to be able to forgive."

• "Tell the world about My Mercy and My Love.  I am consumed with a desire to pour out My Mercy on human souls.  O, how they hurt Me when they refuse My Mercy."