Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy

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 r...

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 lav...

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 shal...

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...

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 pla...

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.  Th...

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, cooking, helping another, forgiving, etc.?  Do the small things matter?  Most certainly.  Th...

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 a...

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 G...

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 an...

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 h...

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 r...

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...

Reflection 50: Hearing the Voice of God It’s true that, throughout your day, God is speaking to you.  He is constantly communicating His truth and His direction for your life, and He is constantly bestowing His Mercy.  The problem is that His voice is ever so gentle and silent.  Why?  Because He wants all of your attention.  He will not attempt to compete with the many distractions of your day.  H...

Reflection 49: Being Misunderstood We are called to be saints.  And if we walk down that road, we will be called to live heroic virtue.  Heroic virtue will not always be understood by others.  In fact, in the opinion of worldly wisdom, heroic and holy virtue is foolishness.  But we must not allow the opinions of worldly “wisdom” to confuse us, tempt us or distract us from the road of true virtue (...

Reflection 48: Silence Our tongue can build others up, or cut them down.  Our tongue also has a direct effect upon our own soul.  When the tongue speaks words inspired by God, we grow in holiness.  When the tongue speaks words not from God, we do great damage to our souls and others.  The goal is not so much exterior silence; rather, it’s interior silence.  Interior silence means that we think and...

Reflection 47: Recognizing the Needs of Others Often times we can be so preoccupied with ourselves and our own problems that we fail to see the struggles and needs of those around us, especially those of our own family.  At times, because we are so self-consumed, we run the risk of adding unnecessary burdens to those we are called to love and care for.  We need to foster within our hearts true Chr...

Reflection 46: Daily Duties are the Path to Heaven It is true that our goal must be Heaven. We must constantly keep our eyes on this eternal reality. Why? Because in comparison to this passing world, Heaven is all that ultimately matters. So how do we keep our focus on Heaven without becoming complacent with our daily duties? Would it be proper to neglect our daily duties and responsibilities so a...

Reflection 45: Holy Communion Sometimes we do not feel like going to Mass or may be deeply distracted as we approach the Blessed Sacrament. Perhaps one of the best things to do in this case is to live in holy obedience. Jesus wants you to receive Holy Communion every Sunday and every holy day because He knows you need it. He knows that this Food from Heaven is necessary for you to obtain happiness...

Reflection 44: The Lord’s Gaze Casts Out Fear Do you know that our Lord gazes upon you, night and day, with perfect love and affection.  Do you know that He knows every detail of your life and walks with you through everything?  This may be hard to believe because we cannot hear Him audibly, see Him with our eyes, or touch Him with our hands.  But His intimacy is much deeper than the physical worl...