Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

Are love and suffering opposed?  In other words, if you feel much suffering can you also have great love?  One question to consider is this: What is the source of your suffering?  Is it your sin?  Is it compassion for another?  Is it a physical or psychological wound?  The truth is that every suffering is able to be united with love in your heart.  This is true even of the suffering you endure as...

The Church is glorious for many reasons.  One glorious aspect of the Church is the unity found within it.  It’s true that there is, at times, much internal disunity, hurt and disorder of every kind.  But these are not qualities of the Church.  These are the effects of the sins of Her members.  The Church Herself is the Spotless Bride of Christ.  And the more we enter into union with Christ Jesus,...

The lack of true heartfelt empathy is a clear sign of a certain psychological, emotional and even spiritual disorder.  This is mentioned because the opposite is true also.  The presence of true heartfelt empathy is a sign that one is psychologically, emotionally and spiritually healthy.  Empathy means that you are aware of the other.  You sense when someone is hurting or when they are joyful.  Fur...

“I thirst.”  These two simple words have so much meaning.  They were spoken by our Lord from the Cross.  A soldier tried to offer some comfort by offering Him a sponge soaked in wine-vinegar to satiate Him.  The wine turned to vinegar is a symbol of the soul turned sour from sin.  After taking this sour wine Jesus cried, “It is finished!”  And then He died.  What does Jesus thirst for?  He thirsts...

We are quite familiar with the Gospel passage, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me” (Matthew 25:40). But do you believe this? If you do, then you will discover that loving Jesus is easy and that you have an opportunity to do so all day long, every time you encounter another. It may be through a kind smile or word. It may be through an act of generosity, forgiveness or serv...

If you were an expert in the area of wine tasting, and you had a choice between an excellent bottle of wine and a cheap one, obviously you would choose the excellent one.  You would know the difference and you would not find much delight in the cheap wine knowing that the good wine was available.  So it is with our souls.  When we’ve tasted of the Mercy of God, and taken a sweet delight in His pre...

What is it that satisfies you in life?  The answers to this question could be quite varied from person to person.  One may find satisfaction in work, another in family activities, another in community service, another in wealth and worldly rewards.  There are many and varied responses people will give.  But the answer shouldn’t be varied.  There should be one answer for us all.  And that answer is...

If you won a million dollars you probably wouldn’t say, “No, just give me $100, that’s all I want.”  And yet that is what we often do with the Mercy of God.  God offers an abundance of wealth and we choose to take only a small portion.  Why is that?  His Mercy is limitless.  It is infinite.  If we understood all that God wants to do in our souls, and then cooperated with Him and allowed Him to do...

It’s easy to “love” God when all is well.  But when all is well, our love is not tested.  The testing that comes from human suffering clarifies our love of God.  This can be very fruitful for our spiritual lives.  It’s easy to believe that difficulties in life are nothing other than sad and unfortunate burdens and should be avoided at all costs.  Though we would be foolish to create difficulties i...

A true danger to the interior life of communion with God is an excessive need to talk.  No, talking is not a sin and many times is an act of Mercy toward another.  But there are times when being too talkative is a hindrance to the Mercy of God.  Talking, in and of itself, is neither good nor evil.  The goal is to form our words in accord with the Mind and Will of God.  That’s it.  We must see the...

All things are made for one ultimate purpose: to give praise and glory to the Most Holy Trinity.  We are made for nothing more, nothing less and nothing other than this purpose.  As people, we are called to give the unique praise and glory of our adoration to God through lives fully committed and surrendered to Him.  This surrender and total submission of our mind and will to Him offers God the pr...

Fear results from various causes.  The perception of some immediate threat causes sudden fear as a sort of defense mechanism.  In fact, this could save your life if, for example, the immediate threat is a car swerving into your lane.  Sudden fear compels you to take action and avoid a collision.  However, fear can also result from other more remote factors that we experience as threats to our well...

If the Lord asks you to do something, do you have an option?  You do insofar as you can say “No.”  And this is a sin.  But if you have chosen to follow Christ and your goal is Heaven, then it’s proper to say that we are obliged to do whatever the Lord asks of us.  His requests are certain and immovable commands of Love.  He will not budge.  He will not change.  This is only hard to accept if we ar...

It’s fascinating how Creation itself proclaims the glory of God and teaches us about matters of faith.  Take a rainbow.  It is bright and beautiful, colorful and awe-inspiring.  Everyone rejoices on seeing a rainbow.  But there would be no such thing as a rainbow without rain, or storms.  Such is life.  We will have good days followed by bad and bad days followed by good.  We should not be surpris...

Has your soul been “transpierced” by God?  Does He “pervade” you?  Do you allow yourself to “dissolve” into His divinity and become “enveloped” by His Mercy?  There are so many words we can use to describe our relationship with God.  Though they all add to an articulation of who God is and what sort of relationship we should have with Him, none of them will ever fully be able to present the myster...

If you were aware of great famine in a far away land, and were also blessed with unlimited resources to address that famine, why would you withhold this gift from those in need?  Hopefully you wouldn’t.  Hopefully you would see your responsibility and do what was necessary to satiate the thirst and satisfy the hunger of those in dire need.  But there is a great famine, and you are blessed with an...

No, priests are not perfect.  They sin day in and day out.  They are in constant need of repentance and conversion in their daily lives just like all the rest of humanity.  But they are priests.  And because of their sacred ordination, the Lord speaks through them in a clear yet mysterious way.  Some speak with the authority of Christ only when speaking the words of Consecration at Mass or the wor...

When we suffer, we look for a way out.  We seek relief.  But from Heaven, we will be able to look back and see the immense power of freely chosen and embraced suffering.  It’s not that suffering is good in and of itself; rather, it’s that suffering has been redeemed and endowed with a spiritual power by God as a result of the sufferings of Christ.  Therefore, if you trust in the Lord, let Him reve...

Pride can consume us.  When it does, all we think about is ourselves and our own pain.  Perhaps you can relate to this.  Maybe you’ve encountered a wound and you sit and sulk over that wound.  It creates bitterness in your heart and you seek to heal that wound.  But when this happens, it is often our pride that leads us to remedy hurt through a form of revenge, anger or self-pity.  We can even foo...

Does it matter what the Will of God is for you?  That may sound like a strange question at first.  But think about it.  Does it matter what God wills of you?  What if He were to call you to constant work?  Or what if He were to call you to a restful repose?  Or what if He were to fill you with delight?  Or remove all delight from your soul?  Or call you to be extolled and honored in the sight of m...

We who are familiar with the Gospels may suffer, at times, from a certain indifference to the sufferings of Christ.  We hear the story read each year, have seen many images of the Passion, and as a result of this familiarity, we can fail to allow it to have the proper effect on our lives.  But the Passion is real, it happened, and we should give it our full attention.  Though it may not be pleasan...

“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away…” (Job 1:21).  How true this is.  There are times in life when we experience the abundant consolation of God.  It may be at moments of great family joy, or when we experience the unconditional love of another.  At times we sense the powerful presence of God in our life of prayer and are filled with joy.  But there are many other moments in life when God se...

Do you aspire to holiness of life?  If so, you cannot do this on your own.  You need the help of another, and even many others.  The Lord has given us numerous ways to be directed by the loving hand of others.  Some are blessed to have a spiritual director of many years who directs them in accord with the Mind and Heart of Christ.  But most are called to rely upon the general direction offered by...

One of the greatest safeguards against doing our own will rather than God’s is holy obedience.  Those in religious life are blessed to live this in a literal and external way, allowing the external practice to be interiorized so as to become certain that they are living the Will of God.  But obedience must be lived in every life, not only religious.  Obedience is achieved in many ways.  It’s achie...

When God looks at the world, what does He see?  Most certainly He sees the beauty of His creation, the perfect order of His design and the presence of His sons and daughters.  But He also sees the horror of the multitude of sins.  Even the slightest sin or imperfection cannot escape His sight.  Imagine trying to take in the sins of the world with one glance.  But in His perfect Mercy He allows Him...