Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

Reflection 100: The Desire for Good God smiles upon us and lavishes rewards upon us for the love we offer to Him and to others. Our works of love, when inspired by His grace, are transformed into treasures in Heaven. But that’s not all that is transformed into treasures. Even our desire to do good and to serve God is transformed. God sees all things, even our smallest sincere desires, and transfor...

Reflection 99: The Scourge of Sin Why was it that Jesus suffered as He did? Why did He receive such a severe scourging? Why was His death so painful? Because sin has consequences and is the source of great pain. But Jesus’ voluntary and sinless embrace of suffering transformed human suffering so that it now has the power to purge us and free us from sin and all attachment to sin (See Diary #445)....

Reflection 98: Being an Instrument When God calls us to fulfill some mission, who is at work? God or us? The truth is that we are both at work, God is the source and we are the instrument. We make a freewill effort, but it is God who shines through. Just as a window can act as a source of light in the house, it is not the window that shines, it is the Sun. Similarly, we must surrender ourselves to...

Reflection 97: The “Excuse” of Our Weakness If you were asked to build a rocket ship from scratch, you may object stating that you are not competent in this area and, therefore, cannot do what you are being asked to do. We often have the same response to God regarding His Will. We can easily feel as though we are being asked too much by our Lord, but this is foolish thinking since our Lord would n...

Reflection 96: The Great Plan God Has For You We can all, at times, have dreams of grandeur. What if I were rich and famous? What if I had great power in this world? What if I were the Pope or the President? But what we can be certain of is that God does have great things in mind for us. He calls us to a greatness we could never imagine. One problem that often arises is that, when we begin to sens...

Reflection 95: Trusting in the Mercy of God If you dropped an object into the middle of the vast ocean you would know, with deep certainty, that this object would get wet. The immensity of the ocean would consume it. So it is with the Mercy of God. It is immense and infinite. Therefore, if you trust in His Mercy, you can have a deep certainty that you will obtain it (See Diary #420). Do you trust...

Reflection 94: Facing the Evil One If you wish to avoid the fierce hatred of the evil one, then refrain from striving for holiness. Satan will still hate you, but he will not hate you as much as the saint. But, of course, this is foolishness! Why would anyone avoid holiness so as to avoid the hatred of the evil one? It is true that the closer we come to God, the more the evil one will seek to dest...

Reflection 93: The Meeting of Love and Sin Where do love and sin meet? They meet in the persecution, ridicule and malice inflicted upon our Lord. He was the Incarnation of perfect love. The Mercy in His Heart was infinite. His care and concern for all people was beyond imagination. And yet the soldiers mocked Him, laughed at Him and tortured Him for entertainment and fun. He, in turn, loved them w...

Reflection 92: Creativity in Prayer Often times, our days are filled with activity. Families are often occupied with one event or another. Chores and work can pile up and we may find, at the end of the day, that we have had little time to pray to God in solitude. But solitude and prayer can happen at times throughout our busy day. Though it’s important to look for moments when we can be alone with...

Reflection 91: Prayer for Another Opens the Door Only God knows what another truly needs. We cannot read another’s soul unless this special grace were given to us by God. But each of us is called to pray fervently for others. At times, if we are open, God will place on our hearts the need to pray fervently for another. If we feel called to enter into special prayers for another, we may also be sur...

Reflection 90: Unity With All We are made for unity with one another. When there is a lack of unity, the effects are felt in families, communities and among nations. What is it that unites us more than anything? First and foremost, we are united with other souls through our Baptism (See Diary #391). Think about the most basic fact that you share an unbreakable bond with each and every person who i...

Reflection 89: The Power of a Generous Love There are so many souls who are in need of our prayers and are in need of the Mercy of God. These are those souls who are stuck firm in their sin. We may pray for them but it seems to have little effect. What more can we do? Sometimes, the greatest intercession we can make is a heart filled with the most generous love. We must strive diligently to have t...

Reflection 88: Interior Suffering Transformed Many people carry very heavy burdens within their souls. On the surface, they may radiate with joy and peace. But within their souls, they may also have great pain. These two experiences of our interior and exterior are not in contradiction when we follow Christ. Often times Jesus allows us to feel a certain interior suffering while, at the same time,...

Reflection 87: The Will of God in All Things Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do the Will of God always? If you could simply make the choice to perfectly say “Yes” to God in all things and in every situation? The truth is that you can. The only thing hindering you from this absolute choice is your own stubborn will (See Diary #374). It’s hard to admit that we are stubborn and full of self-will. It...

Reflection 86: Melting the Hardest of Hearts Imagine a large block of ice. Now imagine that there is a precious coin in the middle of that block. In order to obtain that coin, the block must melt away. So it can be with our hearts. Some hearts have become so hardened over time that there seems little chance of melting them away so as to bring forth the true value and dignity of that person. But Je...

Reflection 85: Interior Mortification One of the greatest gifts we can give to our Divine Lord is our willfulness. We often want what we want, when we want it. Our will can become stubborn and obstinate and this can easily dominate our whole being. As a result of this sinful tendency toward willfulness, one thing that delights our Lord greatly, and produces an abundance of grace in our lives, is a...

Reflection 84: The Blessed Host It is impossible for us to love and adore Christ deeply enough as He is present in the Most Holy Eucharist. When we are before Him, present in the Most Holy Eucharist, we should see the Almighty God present in veiled form. He is: Mercy, Eternal Life, The Eternal God, The Savior of Sinners, The Living Water, The Fire of Pure Love, The Medicine for All Our Ills, All S...

Reflection 83: Pray Always Praying “always” may seem like an impossible task. Is it really possible to do so? Does God even expect this of us? It most certainly is and He most certainly does. No, we will not be called to spend all day, every day, at church in prayer. Not even those called to the cloistered monastic life do as such. But praying always is a must. It simply means that we have develop...

Reflection 82: Attachments There are many things in life we can become attached to. Sometimes we can even become attached to things that are good. Most often, what we become attached to is our own stubborn will. We want what we want when we want it. One key to authentic holiness is to strive to be detached from everything but God and His holy Will. This requires much “letting go” in our lives and...

Reflection 81: Power and Mercy Imagine a dictator of a country who has absolute power and is also a very angry, malicious and vengeful man. This is not someone you would want to upset. Now imagine the opposite. Imagine one who has absolute power and is also blessed with a heart of pure Mercy. This is our God. And in addition to our God having these qualities, He passes them on to His Mother. She i...

Reflection 80: At the Hour of Our Death If you have prayed the “Hail Mary” prayer, then you have prayed for your last hour in this world: “Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.” Death is frightening to many people, and the hour of our death is not usually something we want to think about. But the “hour of our death” is a moment we should all look forward to with the utmost joy and anticipa...

Reflection 79: Our Blessed Mother of Sorrows Mother Mary endured so much in life. She endured suspicion and ridicule at the miraculous conception of her Savior. She watched with a perfect motherly love as her Divine Son was rejected and misunderstood. And she stood by Him in His agony and death. And through it all, her motherly love was perfect and powerful. She stands by us, also, in all that we...

Reflection 78: Desire for Happiness The most basic desire we have is for happiness. Everything we do, in some way, is done so as to help us achieve this goal. Even sin is committed with an erroneous sense that it will lead us to happiness. But there is one source of human fulfillment and one source of authentic happiness. That one source is God. Seek our Divine Lord as the fulfillment of every hum...

Reflection 77: The Lord Knows All Things It is most certain that our Divine Lord knows all things. He is aware of every thought we have and every need we carry far more than we will ever realize. At times, as we come to realize His perfect knowledge, we may expect Him to answer all our needs even if we do not acknowledge them. But our Lord often wants us to ask. He sees great value in us discernin...

Reflection 76: Unjust Accusations Perhaps everyone has experienced an unjust accusation by another. It may be because another is honestly mistaken about the facts or about our motivation for what we do. Or, it may be more malicious and cruel. Being falsely accused can be quite painful and will most likely tempt us to react in anger and defensiveness. But what is the proper response to such nonsens...