Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

Reflection 295: The Embrace of the Infant Jesus It is most appropriate to prayerfully reflect upon being held in the holy arms of our God.  Understanding the Merciful love of the Father in Heaven through the holy embrace of love reveals to us His fatherly care.  Running to the arms of Jesus opens our hearts to His merciful love.  But one image that will also be helpful and holy to reflect upon is...

Reflection 294: Never Tire of Contemplating the Trinity Do you understand what you will be doing for all eternity?  Heaven, if we are blessed to obtain it, will be an existence of eternal contemplation of the Most Holy Trinity.  Though there is no time in Heaven, imagine if there were.  And then imagine contemplating the Trinity for a million years in a row.  Would you eventually become tired of t...

Reflection 293: Reduced to Nothingness Do you see value in being reduced to nothingness in your own eyes?  Perhaps not.  The reason this language is difficult to accept is that humility is only fully understood by a special gift of God’s grace.  Some ancient philosophers even hold up pride as a great virtue, discounting humility as weakness.  Sadly, there are few souls that obtain the actual virtu...

Reflection 292: The Value of Special Vocations Some people are called to a unique life of prayer and solitude within the context of religious life.  In particular, there are those called to the eremitical life or the cloister.  These holy souls are separated from the world and spend their days in quiet prayer and work.  But what value does this life have to the world?  This is an important questio...

Reflection 291: The Value of Silent and Hidden Suffering When something burdens us we often seek consolation from others regarding our suffering by speaking about them openly.  Though it may be beneficial to share our burdens with another to an extent, there is also great value in embracing them silently in a hidden way.  It may always be wise to share your burdens with a certain person such as a...

Reflection 290: Bodily Sufferings Redeemed Many people enjoy excellent health while others do not.  Some experience great physical discomfort in life due to infirmity or old age.  Though many look for ways to alleviate this physical discomfort, it must be said that these pains offer an opportunity for grace.  First, much grace is won in the life of the person suffering when that suffering is freel...

Reflection 289: The Desire for Souls When you look at the desire in your heart, what stands out the most?  Certainly there are many things that draw you.  Many worldly rewards and pleasures can easily occupy your longings.  A desire for physical pleasure, money and worldly success are among the strongest desires for many.  The single desire you should have is a desire to Love God.  From that desir...

Reflection 288: Silence in the Face of Ridicule If you are given the glorious gift of a deep faith, many will see this and rejoice in it.  But it may be the occasion for some to have jealousy.  This is a sad and painful experience.  Know that the jealousy of another is not caused by you or by your faith, it is caused by their sin.  Therefore, if you experience the jealousy or ridicule of another s...

Reflection 287: The Cloak of Ignominy “Ignominy” could mean public shame, disgrace, humiliation and embarrassment.  But it takes on special meaning when applied to Jesus.  The “cloak of ignominy” refers to the public humiliation that Jesus endured as a result of His Cross.  He was condemned as a sinner and liar.  He was charged with deceiving the people and attempting to undermine the civil author...

Reflection 286: Humility, Purity & the Love of God What is it that is most dear to the heart of our Blessed Mother?  If she were to appear to you and offer you her greatest desire for you, what would it be?  Perhaps there would be some specific need that she has been made aware of by God for your life, but in addition to this she would most certainly call you to the virtues of humility, purity...

Reflection 285: Deception as an “Angel of Light” The evil one hates you with a profound hate.  And the closer you draw to God, fulfilling His Divine Will, the more he will seek to attack you.  Do not fear the bark of this little dog.  One of the most common ways the evil one attempts to deceive you is by presenting himself as an angel of light.  He does this by using his natural angelic powers of...

Reflection 284: Living in the Moment One common temptation that many face is that of living either in the past or in the future, and failing to live in the present moment.  You live in the past when you remain controlled by past events, sins, hurts, etc.  The past must be healed and your sins of the past must be forgiven.  Once that is done, you must let go of the past and not allow it to affect y...

Reflection 283: Overcoming Sin The message of God’s Mercy is so simple that we can easily miss it, even after reflecting upon the many pages of this book or upon the Diary of Saint Faustina.  The simple truth that the message of God’s Mercy must convey is that we should have no fear, whatsoever, of admitting our sins and trusting in God’s perfect forgiveness.  Fear easily paralyzes us and keeps us...

Reflection 282: Suffering, Persecution, Abuse and Disgrace This heading may not seem immediately attractive to you.  Who would want to endure these things?  But we ought to remember that Jesus endured them all to the greatest degree.  Was Jesus happy?  Was His soul at peace?  Most certainly.  This reveals to us that these crosses in life cannot ultimately do us harm if we are immersed in the prese...

Reflection 281: The Immovable Will of God At times, when we love God with a profound love, we may find that we have strong impulsions to do great things for God.  And yet, despite our desire and firm resolve, it can seem as if God is not permitting our work to move forward.  This may be because the Lord is not ready to act.  Though it’s good to have a strong desire to do great things for God, we m...

Reflection 280: Ignoring God Do you ignore God?  It’s far too easy to do and, therefore, all too common.  Very often, God is ignored after receiving Holy Communion.  Many people get in the habit of coming forward to receive Him and do so with many distractions and little attention to the sacredness of this encounter.  Do not allow yourself to fall into this habit.  Receiving our Lord in Holy Commu...

Reflection 279: Your Inner Conviction You must seek to hear God speak to you through an inner conviction within your soul.  At times you may sense that God’s Voice is loud and clear, and at other times it may seem faint and confusing.  There are many things that can compete with the Voice of God but if you are open, you will come to know His Voice with familiarity.  This is important for your spir...

Reflection 278: Windows to the Mysteries of God’s Mercy Saint Faustina was asked to have an image of Jesus painted with rays of Mercy flowing from His Heart.  She did so and Jesus affirmed to her that many souls would be drawn to Him through this image.  It’s interesting to think about the importance that Jesus and Saint Faustina gave to this image.  Indeed it speaks volumes regarding the Mercy fl...

Reflection 277: Mercy to Dispel Tension Tension is often a part of life.  Some deal with much tension, frustration and even extreme anger in their daily lives.  At first, the anger of another can set you on guard and tempt you to fear.  This is a normal reaction.  The anger of another can also push you to react and to fight back with anger, spite and bitterness of your own.  You may get defensive...

Reflection 276: Seeing Without Accomplishing Does God get angry with you when you do not accomplish a certain task for His glory?  It depends.  He may issue forth His holy wrath if the failure is on account of your sin.  This wrath is an act of His Mercy calling you to repentance.  But at other times your work and service of God may be hindered by things beyond your control.  The Lord knows this a...

Reflection 275: The Glory of Humdrum Days At first thought, “humdrum” and “glory” may not appear to go together unless they were used in contrast.  But these two words are married together in the Mind of God.  They are “married” in the sense that we are able to glorify God and obtain holiness through our day-to-day humdrum duties.  Though this may not be immediately apparent, understanding this un...

Reflection 274: Renewing Your Vows It is a common practice for those who are married to renew their vows from time to time, especially on significant anniversaries.  The renewal of vows and promises also takes place by priests and religious.  This practice is a good and holy one in that we must constantly renew our total dedication to God in our vocation.  But the renewal of vows and promises to G...

Reflection 273: No Earthly Ties, Only Love of God The pinnacle of our relationship with God includes being stripped of every other earthly tie so that nothing holds us back from running toward God with great passion and purpose.  We must be freed of every attachment in this life so that our one attachment is God and His holy Will.  This does not mean we ought to neglect our love for others.  This...

Reflection 272: The External Manifestation of the Heart No one can see your heart except you and God.  God is aware of every detail of your interior life to a perfect degree; you see the details of your interior life to an imperfect degree.  Nonetheless, it is important to become increasingly aware of the reality of your inner life.  See your soul as a hidden and secret world in which the Mercy of...

Reflection 271: Looking Past the Obstacles in Life One very common tendency and temptation most people struggle with is to become fixated upon sufferings, humiliations and the false opinions of others.  When we experience one or more of these burdens, we can be tempted to make them the central focus of our life.  For example, if you are unjustly humiliated and others have an erroneous opinion of y...