Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

Reflection 118: An Obstinate Heart One of the primary ways we stop the Mercy of God from entering into our lives is through obstinacy .  Specifically, when we obstinately hold onto our own opinion, as a result of our pride, and therefore fail to be open to the truth, we shut the door to grace.  This is a particularly dangerous sin because obstinacy, by its very definition, implies there is an unwi...

Reflection 117: The Enclosure of Your Heart Some religious sisters and monks live a cloistered life within the confines of an enclosure.  No one may enter that enclosure without good reason, unless they are a member of that community of faith. Others may enter only with the permission of the superior.  It may be that a sister is gravely ill and in need of the Sacrament of Anointing, or it may be t...

Reflection 116: God’s Dependence Upon Us God is wholly independent in that He perfectly sustains Himself.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit form a perfect unity through which they are interconnected and interdependent.  And this interdependence is all They need.  However, the Trinity freely chose to become dependent upon each one of us in a unique way.  By choosing to enter into our lives, uniting...

Reflection 115: The Will of God Will Keep You Safe The Will of God is much more than a future plan God has laid out for you.  It’s more than His hopes and dreams for you.  His Will is your path to holiness and it is a source of the greatest consolation and joy.  His Will is both active and passive (permissive).  It’s active in that He has definite plans for you and calls you to discern those plans...

Reflection 114: Detachment From the World The “world” is referred to in Scripture many times, especially by Jesus Himself.  He said that the world will hate you and will not understand you.  The world will, in fact, persecute you.  This could become the cause of fear and distress for some.  It causes these effects within us when we are overly concerned about looking good in the eyes of the world a...

Reflection 113: An Offering to the Everlasting Father The greatest prayer we can make is the “prayer of offering.”  A prayer of offering is a sacrifice offered to the Father in union with the One Sacrificial Offering of Christ on the Cross.  We do not offer ourselves, by ourselves.  We offer ourselves in union with Christ Jesus.  Specifically, we must offer our prayers, fasting, mortification and...

Reflection 112: Love of God Increases Our Desire for God When you love God and rejoice in that love, your desire for God will increase.  The more you know Him, the more you will want to know Him, and the more you want to know Him, the more you will know Him.  Similarly, the more you love Him, the more you will want to love Him, and the more you want to love Him, the more you will love Him.  Finall...

Reflection 111: The Lies of the Evil One The devil will tempt us in many ways.  One common way the devil likes to attack us is to remind us of our sins, including those we have confessed.  He loves to try to convince us that we are on the wrong path, that we are not pleasing to God, that we are liars and sinners.  And while it’s true that we are sinners, the evil one always fails to see our sin th...

Reflection 110: The Rays of Mercy The Mercy of the Heart of Jesus shines forth with great radiance.  This was the image of Divine Mercy seen by Saint Faustina.  The open Heart of our Lord burst forth with an outpouring of light and grace on the world.  Jesus wants to continue to shine forth on the world, and He wants to rest in your heart so that He may shine on others through you (See Diary #514)...

Reflection 109: The Arms of God When a child is frightened or gets hurt, the natural place of comfort is the arms of a parent.  This is the first thing a crying child looks for.  So it must be with us.  The arms of our Father in Heaven, and Jesus our Savior, are what we must run to in our need.  We should not hesitate to turn to God in all things, especially when tempted to despair, or when we rec...

Reflection 108: The Voice of the Church God has spoken to the saints in numerous ways including through many interior graces and inspirations.  But even the greatest mystic, living on the heights of holiness, must ultimately submit to the Voice of God spoken through His Church.  The Church, especially in the person of our Holy Father, is the clearest channel of the Voice of God in our world.  Thro...

Reflection 107: Revealing Your Soul in Confession God sends to us His representatives in the person of His priests.  Though priests are not perfect, they are God’s representatives nonetheless.  This is especially true in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  It’s essential that we approach that Sacrament with confidence and honesty.  We must allow the confessor to see the sin in our souls so that he c...

Reflection 106: Sleeping in Christ Each night, as you go to sleep, you are invited to sleep in the grace and Mercy of our Lord.  You are invited to rest in His arms so as to be rejuvenated and refreshed.  Sleep is an image of prayer and, in fact, can become a form of prayer.  To rest is to rest in God.  Every beat of your heart must become a prayer to God and every beat of His Heart must become th...

Reflection 105: The Effects of God’s Indwelling What would you experience if God were to fully dwell in the depths of your soul?  Peace, joy and amazement!  And from these gifts, and from the indwelling of the Trinity, you would have courage in the face of hardship, strength to cast out fear and an impenetrable defense against the evil one, against his lies and his snares.  You will not be free fr...

Reflection 104: The Chaplet of Mercy Prayer is essential to our Christian walk.  When you pray, it is good to speak from the heart, pouring out your soul to God.  But prayer must also follow your faith and all you know of God.  It must reflect your true knowledge of God and call upon His Mercy.  The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is one such prayer that perfectly reflects your faith in the Mercy of God. ...

Reflection 103: Knowledge of God is Beyond Words Communion with the Trinity must be the central purpose of our lives.  And though we may converse and speak words to Them, the deepest form of communication is beyond words.  It’s a union, a giving of ourselves and a basking in Their Mercy.  Knowing and conversing with the Trinity must take place in the depths of our souls through a language that is...

Reflection 102: God Uses the Weak If you were God, and you had some glorious task you wanted accomplished, who would you choose?  Someone with manifest gifts?  Or someone who is weak, humble and appears to have very few natural gifts?  Surprisingly, God most often chooses the weak for the greatest tasks.  This is one way through which He is able to manifest His almighty power (See Diary #464). Ref...

Reflection 101: God Speaking Through Others Very often, God wants to speak to You a particular message that you need to hear.  It may happen that, as you listen to a homily, read a book, hear something on the radio or talk with a friend, something particular will jump out at you that does not seem to affect others.  Pay attention to this inspiration, it is a gift to you of God’s Mercy and a revela...

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 tran...

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 #44...

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 ourselv...

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...

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 t...

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 tr...

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...