Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

What is it that makes someone beautiful? More than anything else it is the virtue of humility. Humility is exceptionally attractive. Though some may not be that impressed with the humble soul at first, over time, humility will draw even the most arrogant and self-centered person to itself. It’s hard to ignore the deep attractiveness of a humble soul because God is intimately present in that person...

Where is God? It’s easy to think of God being in Heaven or some far off place, looking down upon us and guiding all of creation in accord with His holy Will. This is true, but it’s not the full picture. God is perfectly “transcendent” in that He is way beyond us and beyond the created world. But He is also perfectly “immanent” in that He lives within us. When you pray, seek Him especially within y...

When you seek to serve our Lord with your whole heart, you may find that He speaks to you about His daily Will. It may not be completely clear, but you may have a sense that He wants this or that from you. God does not typically present you with the entire plan He has for your life all at once. Rather, He offers bits and pieces as needed. Believing what He calls you to do each day requires faith a...

Saint Mother Teresa is often quoted as saying that God asks us to be faithful, not successful. In other words, we are called to offer our best to the Lord, striving to be faithful to His holy Will, and then leave the rest to Him. At times it may appear that our “best” does not produce the desired good fruit that we desire. Perhaps an attempt you make at reconciling with another failed. Or perhaps...

Our calling in life can be described as a call to divinization. What does this mean? It means that God came to Earth and took on our human nature so as to draw us into His very life. We are, in a sense, called to become God. This idea of “divinization” was common among the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, Clement of Alexandria and St. Augustine. It’s not that we ar...

This may seem like an unusual title. How can sin be a “blessing?” True, strictly speaking sin is an offense against God and has the effect of separating us from God. Thus, sin is not a blessing in the strict sense. But God is All-Powerful and can use everything for His glory, even our sin. Sin could be spoken of as a blessing only in the sense that when we see our sins, acknowledge them, humble ou...

What should our response be to God? Oftentimes we become self-consumed in our relationship with God. We focus in on our troubles and needs. These must be given over to God and let go of. When we do this we will discover that we begin to see the glory and goodness of God at work in our lives and we will begin to be filled with the utmost gratitude toward God. Gratitude must consume us and fill our...

Some people are deeply troubled in life and cannot seem to sort out their difficulties. They are “needy” in the sense that they are constantly seeking something to offer them consolation. They may believe that riches or other forms of earthly consolations are what they want but what they do not realize is that the Lord is the answer to all their needs. These wandering souls must become the focus o...

The Lord desires to come to you and make His dwelling within your heart. But when He comes to you, what does He find? What is the condition of your heart? Some hearts are like a fragrant rose garden. There is light, beauty, magnificence and radiance. It’s a place of peaceful repose and a place made holy by the presence of our Lord. Other hearts are like a dark prison cell, cold, isolated and drear...

When you pray, how do you go to our Lord? It’s certainly good to offer Him your entire day in loving devotion and to speak to Him throughout the day as to your closest friend. But there are other times when our prayer must be intense and should be expressed with intensity. One way to do this is to literally fall down prostrate before our Lord. In the silence of your room or in an empty church, loo...

Only after someone has suffered greatly do they begin to understand the good fruits that can come forth from such suffering. In and of itself, suffering is the result of our fallen human condition. But because Jesus entered our human condition, embracing all suffering and redeeming it, suffering now has great power when freely embraced by us and united to the sufferings of Christ. One good fruit t...

Imagine if you found a source of unlimited natural resources by creating a machine that transforms only a small amount of oxygen into an unlimited amount of energy. All you had to do is turn on the machine you created and the energy is generated endlessly. That would be quite an invention. But something like this does exist on a spiritual level. The “oxygen” it runs on is our misery and sin. And t...

If someone in your family were seriously ill, or in prison, or in some form of grave need, would that be a burden to you or a blessing? Think about it. Do those with special needs make your life more difficult? If this question were answered on a purely practical level the answer may be, “Yes.” But if it is answered on a more spiritual level, the answer is that those who “burden” us with their par...

What do you do after receiving Holy Communion? Do you go back to your pew in a distracted way, with your mind wandering, paying attention to others around you, and failing to encounter our Lord on an authentic spiritual level? Or do you allow that moment to be a moment of true prayer and communion with God? If the truth is the former, just be honest with yourself and with God and use this realizat...

It’s important to know that Jesus has every right to bring forth His justice here and now. He has every right to be severe with us on account of our sins and to bring eternal judgment upon us. This truth is often forgotten on account of His Mercy. But we should never forget this fact. It’s important to remember this because unless we understand the absolute right that God has to execute swift and...

If you labor, day and night, spreading the works of God, this is good. Good fruit will come from your commitment to serve the Will of God and to spread His Divine Mercy. But we should also realize that God is able to use us to spread His Mercy until the end of the world. How? Only God knows. But He does desire to use you for this purpose. Some, like Saint Faustina, were used to set in motion devot...

How would you treat someone you love? Typically, with family or very close friends we desire that which is best for them and that which makes them happy. God desires the same for each one of us, but we may be surprised at what God sees as the source of our happiness and what He deems to be best for us. Furthermore, though God’s love is perfect for every soul, it’s also accurate to say that God’s l...

It’s been said that “beauty” is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, some say that the definition of beauty depends upon the subjective preference of one person or another. Though there may be some truth to this on a more superficial level, on a deeper level true beauty comes from God and is objective in every way. It’s not dependent upon our personal preference; rather, it depends upon God...

How do you overcome your sins? Every sin is different and requires specific prayer and sacrifice so as to detach from them. Three common sins are: those of the flesh, those of anger and those of pride. Each one of these sins can be overcome but may require special attention. If you struggle with sins of the flesh, try to fast. Give up that which is delightful to you on a physical level by fasting...

Which do you prefer for your life? Daily sensory experiences of sweetness or bitterness? In other words, do you desire to take delight in the many aspects of your daily life or do you desire that the daily duty you fulfill leaves you with a certain bitterness within your senses? For most people the answer is simple. “Sweetness” is much better. But is it? Interestingly, the experience of sweetness...

Every great saint exemplifies some aspect of the goodness of God. Some live lives of exceptional detachment from worldly riches, some serve the poor with unwavering commitment, some live lives of deep prayer, some have mystical revelations, some write volumes of books revealing the depths of faith, but all are called to bring forth the Mercy of God in one way or another. The Mercy of God must be l...

Though Saint Faustina and many other great saints entered into a unique spiritual darkness, defined by St. John of the Cross as the “Dark Night of the Soul” and the “Dark Night of the Spirit,” we all will experience a certain “darkness” of one form or another in our walk of faith. Our darkness may not be the result of the extraordinary purification of the soul that takes place on the journey towar...

Many of the great saints, including Saint Faustina, experienced an interior darkness in their relationship with God. This is quite a mysterious experience. As a soul grows intimately close to God there are numerous consolations and feelings of love along the way. However, there comes a point on the spiritual journey when God hides Himself. This is not on account of any sin on the part of the perso...

Every person is unique and God wishes to lavish His Mercy upon each and every one of us according to our particular needs. When we pray for people, it’s good to offer them individually as well as by groupings. Here are some groupings of people we ought to pray for: all sinners, priests, religious, the faithful, pagans, atheists, heretics, schismatics, children, those devoted to Mercy, those in Pur...

As we grow deeper in our faith, it’s easy to presume that life will become more complex. For example, when one begins to study mathematics, each course that is taken builds upon the previous, and the lessons become more challenging and difficult as time goes on. But in a certain sense the opposite is true with our life of faith. The deeper we plunge into the Ocean of Mercy, the more we realize the...