Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

Reflection 75: Encountering Christ in Others The Blessed Sacrament is truly sacred. It is revered and treated with the greatest respect. We would never throw our Lord away or discard Him on the floor or in some irreverent place. And yet we often fail to treat others with the same respect we show Jesus present in the Sacred Host (See Diary #285). Do you realize that each person is a tabernacle? Eac...

Reflection 74: A Compassionate Heart Is there a difference between “sympathy” and “compassion?” If so, what is the difference? And which is more desirable? Sympathy simply means that we feel bad for another. It means, in a sense, that we pity them. But compassion goes much further. It means that we enter into their sufferings and carry their burden with them. It means we suffer with them just as o...

Reflection 73: Growing in Our Desire for Jesus The more we come to know Jesus, the more we desire Him. And the more we desire Him, the more we come to know Him. This is a beautiful cyclical experience of knowing and desiring, desiring and knowing (See Diary #273). Do you desire to know your precious Lord? Do you long for Him in a burning way? Reflect upon this desire in your soul and if it is lack...

Reflection 72: An Incomprehensible Mystery When God enters your soul, He acts in such a way that you will never fully comprehend His workings. His grace and Mercy are such that they remain a mystery deeper than the oceans and more vast than the upper limits of the Universe. Understanding the incomprehensible nature of God’s grace is, in fact, the first step to wisdom. It’s the first step to realiz...

Reflection 71: Our Littleness and Nothingness It is a grace from God to see ourselves as we are. And what will we see if we see ourselves this way? We will see our misery and nothingness. At first, this may not be all that desirable. It may even seem contrary to the dignity we have in Christ. But that’s the key. Our dignity is “in Christ.” Without Him, we are nothing. We are misery and nothingness...

Reflection 70: Identifying with the Suffering Christ Which image of Christ are you more comfortable with? Which image do you more easily identify with? The image of Christ glorified as King of all? Or the image of the beaten and suffering Christ? In the end, we will fix our eyes on the Lord in glory and majesty and this will be our delight for eternity. However, while we are pilgrims in this earth...

Reflection 69: Struggles Tempt Us to Doubt We all encounter struggles in life. The question is: “What do you do with them?” Too often, when struggles come our way we are tempted to doubt the presence of God and to doubt His merciful help. In fact, the opposite is true. God is the answer to every struggle. He alone is the source of all we need in life. He is the One who can bring peace and serenity...

Reflection 68: Rejoicing in the Goodness of Others When others do well, how do you react? Most likely when a child does well it brings delight to your soul. But what about others? A sure sign of a merciful heart is the ability to sincerely find joy in the good that others do. Too often jealousy and envy get in the way of this form of Mercy. But when we delight in the goodness of another and rejoic...

Reflection 67: Hidden Roses of Love Some acts of love are meant to be shared only between lovers. Acts of the utmost intimacy and self-giving are precious gifts of love shared in the secrecy of a relationship of love. This is also the case with our love of God. We should regularly look for ways to express our most profound love of God in ways that are known only to Him. In return, God will lavish...

Reflection 66: Justice Through Mercy Some people, day in and day out, experience the harshness and cruelty of another. This is quite painful. As a result, there can be a strong desire for justice so that the person causing pain be held accountable. But the real question is this: What is the Lord calling me to do? How shall I react? Shall I be an instrument of God’s wrath and justice? Or shall I be...

Reflection 65: Jesus My Master Are you comfortable calling Jesus your Master? Some may prefer to call Him “friend” or “shepherd.” And these titles are true. But what about Master? Ideally, we will all come to give ourselves to our Lord as the Master of our lives. We must not only become servants, we must become slaves. Slaves of Christ. If that doesn’t sit well then ponder simply what sort of Mast...

Reflection 64: Hearing the Voice of God When you are at church, do you listen? Specifically, do you listen to the voice of God? Often times we sit and listen to the homily and our mind wanders and we miss all or most of what was said. Where does your mind wander? The truth is that sometimes a wandering mind is from the Lord. Sometimes there may be one thing said at Mass that our Lord then places o...

Reflection 63: How do You Speak to Others? When speaking to others, the love and Mercy of God must flow from our lips. But how? What should our speech look like? One way to examine our speech to others is to look at it in the light of how we should speak to God. When speaking to God we should speak with honesty, simplicity, humility and confidence. Think of a sincere child praying to God. This pur...

Reflection 62: The Small Sacrifices of Life Do small sacrifices matter? Sometimes we can think that we should try to do great things. Some may have ideas of grandeur and dream of accomplishing some great feats. But what about the small, monotonous, daily sacrifices we make? Sacrifices such as cleaning, working, helping another, forgiving, etc.? Do the small things matter? Most certainly. They are...

Reflection 61: Where Happiness Comes From Could you be happy if you were in prison? Or what if you were called at a young age to enter a cloistered monastery and live in seclusion throughout your life? Could you find happiness if you were living in the utmost poverty having barely enough to feed your family each and every day? The answer is “Yes.” You most certainly can find happiness within any s...

Reflection 60: Dealing With a Spiritual Drought Does your soul feel like it is in a spiritual drought at times? Do you wish you could have greater spiritual consolation in your daily life? This is a common struggle and one that we should not worry about. The primary goal of our spiritual life is to do the Will of God. Often times, a certain spiritual dryness actually helps us live the Will of God...

Reflection 59: “Oh, Blood and Water…” After Jesus’ death, one of the soldiers came to Him and was ordered to make certain He was dead. So that soldier pierced His precious body with a lance and immediately blood and water gushed forth from His wounded Heart. This has been prayerfully reflected upon throughout the ages and has been seen as a sign of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and...

Reflection 58: Purification of Sin Sin is a topic that many avoid. We don’t like to think about our sins. We don’t like to admit to them, and we often rationalize them as if we do not have any. We can easily come up with excuses for this “sin” or that. But here is another perspective on sin. We should see our sin, no matter how grave or how small, as a little twig. And then we should see a huge an...

Reflection 57: A Fire Within Your Soul Is it possible to know that someone has a deep interior life of prayer? Even though this is “interior” and is a spiritual reality, is it possible to sense this externally? Most certainly it is. In fact, the deeper one’s life of prayer the more that this interior life will shine forth for others to see (See Diary #172). How about you? What does your soul radia...

Reflection 56: The Good News of the Day The secular world is filled with bad news. The newspapers, talk shows, and other forms of media thrive on sensational and exaggerated tragic events to keep our attention. And we, for our part, are often eager to share the latest gossip or criticism. But what about the good news? What about the news of God’s abundant Mercy? How often are you fascinated by thi...

Reflection 55: Creation Reflects the Mercy of God Think of the most beautiful sunset possible, gleaming over the wide ocean in the evening with the sky radiant in color. Or think of the majestic mountain peaks piercing through a bright blue sky, or a mighty waterfall, pouring forth from the heights. All of these gifts of creation are glorious, beautiful and breath-taking. But none of them compares...

Reflection 54: Praying for Others It’s easy to presume that everyone we know will go to Heaven. This, of course, should be our hope. But if one is to attain Heaven, there must be a true interior conversion. Each person who enters Heaven is there because of a personal decision to give one’s life to Christ and to turn from sin. How do we assist those around us on this journey? The most important thi...

Reflection 53: Difficulties in Prayer There are both interior and exterior difficulties we encounter as we attempt to form a daily habit of prayer. Interior difficulties: discouragement, dryness, heaviness of spirit and temptations. These difficulties are overcome through patience and perseverance. Exterior difficulties: fear of what others may think or say, and setting time aside. These difficult...

Reflection 52: Daily Prayer What is it that makes your soul beautiful? Prayer. What is it that keeps you from sin? Prayer. What is it that fills you with hope? Prayer. What is it that leads you on the road to holiness? Prayer. Prayer is the key to all things. Without prayer, each and every day, you are directionless in life and are left to your own wisdom and ability, which is a frightening state...

Reflection 51: Pure Love Do you love with a pure love? What does this form of love look like? Pure love is one that flows directly from the Heart of Christ to and through your life. This holy love has beautiful characteristics. First, it is plentiful. When we love with the Heart of Christ we love in abundance. There is no limit to how much love we can share. It’s like the brightness of the sun at...