Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

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 unlocks a door to the treasures of Heaven in...

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 God should go beyond our particular...

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 is especially true with family love.  Love for tho...

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 God resides.  Allow the inner chambers of your heart to...

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 you, it can be exceptionally hard to keep this from...

Are you willing to accept the Will of God in your life?  If so, you must be open to all the details.  God’s Will is not some grandiose generalization.  Choosing His Will is not simply a matter of saying that you choose to follow Him with broad strokes.  Rather, choosing His Will is saying “Yes” over and over to every little prompting and every inspiration that the Lord gives.  It’s about building...

If you could pick two things to gaze at, what would they be?  Ideally, the two greatest things to gaze at are the Mercy of God and your own misery.  Most likely, it immediately makes sense that the Mercy of God would be one of the most important things to gaze at, but the wisdom of gazing at your own misery may not be immediately apparent.  What we need to understand is that there is danger in see...

Perhaps thinking about your death is frightening.  It may not be something that you actually consider very often.  But it is a grace to be able to look at one’s death directly and with full confidence.  And this is only possible to do with full confidence if your life is in order and given completely to God.  If you can honestly look into your soul and see that you have made holiness your ultimate...

It is proper to speak of both the Justice of God as well as His Mercy.  They are not opposed to each other.  His Justice will be dealt to those who refuse to repent just as it was dealt to the angels who refused to serve God.  But, for now, is it more proper to say that God is Merciful.  In fact, the evil one would love for us to become consumed with the idea that God is only Just and that He impo...

Do you want to be a saint? Hopefully the answer is “Yes.”  But what about this question: Do you think you can become a saint?  This may be more difficult to answer.  It’s easy to dream of sanctity and to desire it, but when faced with the task of achieving it, discouragement can easily set in.  Discouragement comes when you see the high call of holiness and conclude that you will never be able to...

God created us with passions.  These can be either great blessings in our Christian walk or they can become great snares.  It all depends on what controls each passion.  Passions of anger, for example, can either be used for good or ill.  When anger takes over and the source of this anger is a wound or lack of mercy toward another, then we become bound by this sin.  But holy anger is a gift from G...

Have you ever made a retreat?  Some are privileged to take time away from the busyness of life so as to spend an extended time listening to our Lord and being in His merciful presence.  Others find it hard to find even a day to enter such a retreat.  Regardless of whether you have or have not had this opportunity, know that you need time alone with Jesus.  It is not possible to speak to Him only d...

Imagine being a small child on a small boat in the middle of the sea.  A storm sets in and you cannot see land in any direction.  You are tossed and turned in the waves as they cover the bow with each crash and you wonder how you will survive.  Now imagine that your dad is also on the boat with you.  He tells you to sit and hold on and that all will be well.  He is confident and in charge and show...

We cannot escape the Hand of God.  He is the one who sustains the Universe and keeps all things in being.  Without His constant care we would cease to exist.  But we remain under His providential Hand in one of two ways.  Either we are guided by the “rule of love” or by the “rule of justice.”  The rule of justice is God’s way of guiding our lives when we turn away from Him.  We cannot escape His j...

Imagine if Jesus came to you in poverty, hunger and cold and He asked you to care for Him.  This experience might startle you and cause you to question if this person really was Jesus.  But it is Jesus.  Jesus comes to us every day in the person who is in need.  It may be that we encounter someone who is homeless, hungry and in need of clothing.  If this is the case then this is Jesus.  But there...

Do you want to do amazing things in this world?  Do you sometimes have grandiose ideas and dreams?  Sometimes we have more secular dreams of wealth and fame, and sometimes we may have dreams of doing extraordinary things for God and for the Church.  But these do not have to be dreams because each and every one of us is called to extraordinary things.  The problem is that we often misunderstand wha...

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 pe...

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 wit...

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 fai...

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 perh...

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, humb...

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...

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...

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 focu...

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...