Feast of Saint Jude the Apostle

Today we celebrate the feast of saint Jude

Saint Jude was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is generally identified with Thaddeus, and is also variously called Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus , Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude, brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, another disciple and later the betrayer of Jesus.

The Armenian Apostolic Church honours Thaddeus along with Saint Bartholomew as its patron saints. In the Roman Catholic Church he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.

Saint Jude's attribute is a club. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. Occasionally he is represented holding an axe or halberd, as he was brought to death by one of these weapons. In some instances he may be shown with a scroll or a book (the Epistle of Jude) or holding a carpenter's rule

Jude is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, another disciple and later the betrayer of Jesus. Both "Jude" and "Judas" are translations of the name Ιούδας in the Greek original New Testament, which in turn is a Greek variant of Judah, a name which was common among Jews at the time.

"Jude of James" is only mentioned twice in the New Testament: in the lists of apostles in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13.

The name by which Luke calls the Apostle, "Jude of James" is ambiguous as to the relationship of Jude to this James. Though such a construction commonly denotes a relationship of father and son, it has been traditionally interpreted as "Jude, brother of James" (See King James Version), though Protestants (for instance, the New International Version translation) usually identify him as "Jude son of James".

The Gospel of John also once mentions a disciple called "Judas not Iscariot" (John 14:22). This is generally accepted to be the same person as the apostle Jude,[1] though some scholars see the identification as uncertain.[2]

In some Latin manuscripts of Matthew 10:3, he is called Judas the Zealot.

In the comparable apostle-lists of Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, Jude is omitted, but there is a Thaddeus (or in some manuscripts of Matthew 10:3, "Lebbaeus who was surnamed Thaddaeus") listed in his place. This has led many Christians since early times to harmonize the lists by positing a "Jude Thaddeus", known by either name.

Many modern Biblical scholars reject this theory, holding that Jude and Thaddeus did not represent the same person.[3] Scholars have proposed alternate theories to explain the discrepancy: an unrecorded replacement of one for the other during the ministry of Jesus to apostacy or death;[3] the possibility that "twelve" was a symbolic number and an estimation;[4] or simply that the names were not recorded perfectly by the early church.[5]

However many conservative Christian writers argue that, because the name "Judas" was so tarnished by Judas Iscariot, it was natural for Mark and Matthew to refer to him by his alternate name.[6].

Thaddeus the apostle is generally seen as a different person from Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the Seventy Disciples.


Opinion is divided on whether Jude the apostle is the same as Jude, brother of Jesus, who is mentioned in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55-57, and is the traditional author of the Epistle of Jude.[7]

Generally Catholics believe the two Judes are the same person,[8] while Protestants do not.[9]

Identifying the apostle Jude with the writer of the epistle is problematic, not least because in verse 17 there is a reference to "the apostles" implying the writer does not include himself.

Tradition holds that Saint Jude preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya. He is also said to have visited Beirut and Edessa, though the emissary of latter mission is also identified as Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the Seventy. Jude is reported as suffering martyrdom together with Simon the Zealot in Persia. The 14th century writer Nicephorus Callistus makes Jude the bridegroom at the wedding at Cana.

The legend reports that St. Jude was born into a Jewish family in Paneas, a town in Galilee later rebuilt by the Romans and renamed Caesarea Philippi. In all probability he spoke both Greek and Aramaic, like almost all of his contemporaries in that area, and was a farmer by trade. According to the legend, St. Jude was a son of Clopas and his wife Mary, a cousin of the Virgin Mary. Tradition has it that Jude's father, Clopas, was murdered because of his forthright and outspoken devotion to the risen Christ. After Mary's death, miracles were attributed to her intercession.

Though Saint Gregory the Illuminator is credited as the "Apostle to the Armenians", when he baptised King Tiridates III of Armenia in 301, converting the Armenians, the Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are traditionally believed to have been the first to bring Christianity to Armenia, and are therefore venerated as the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Linked to this tradition is the Thaddeus Monastery.

Symbol of his martyrdomAccording to the Armenian tradition, Saint Jude suffered martyrdom about AD 65 in Beirut, Lebanon together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected. Their acts and martyrdom were recorded in an Acts of Simon and Jude that was among the collection of passions and legends traditionally associated with the legendary Abdias, bishop of Babylon, and said to have been translated into Latin by his disciple Tropaeus Africanus, according to the Golden Legend account of the saints.[10][11] Saints Simon and Jude are venerated together in the Roman Catholic Church on October 28.

Sometime after his death, Saint Jude's body was brought from Beirut, Lebanon to Rome and placed in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica which is visited by many devotees. According to popular tradition, the remains of St. Jude were preserved in an Armenian monastery on an island in the northern part of Issyk-Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan at least until mid-15th century. Later legend either denounce remains as being preserved there or moved to yet more desolate stronghold in the Pamir mountains. Recent discovery of the ruins of what could be that monastery may put an end to the dispute.[citation needed]

St Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand or close to his chest, betokening the legend of the Image of Edessa, recorded in apocryphal correspondence between Jesus and Abgarus which is reproduced in Eusebius' History Ecclesiastica, I, xiii. According to it, King Abgar of Edessa (a city located in what is now southeast Turkey) sent a letter to Jesus to cure him of an illness that afflicts him, and sent the envoy Hannan, the keeper of the archives, offering his own home city to Jesus as a safe dwelling place. The envoy painted a likeness of Jesus with choice paints, or impressed with Abgar's great faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to Hannan to take to Abgar with his answer. Upon seeing Jesus' image, the king placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses. After Christ had ascended to heaven, St. Jude was sent to King Abgar by the Apostle St. Thomas. The king was cured and astonished. He converted to Christianity along with most of the people under his rule. Additionally, St. Jude is often depicted with a flame above his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles.

St Jude Thaddeus is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them. Therefore, he is the patron saint of desperate cases. (The epithet is also commonly rendered as "patron saint of lost causes".) However, there is another reckoning to this epithet. Many Christians have unfortunately reckoned him as Judas Iscariot and thus avoided veneration. Therefore he was also called the "Forgotten Saint". Because veneration was avoided, only people in the most desperate circumstances would call upon him.

The Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) began working in present day Armenia soon after their founding in 1216. There was a substantial devotion to St. Jude in this area at that time, by both Roman and Orthodox Catholics. This lasted until persecution drove Christians from the area in the 1700s. Devotion to Saint Jude began again in earnest in the 1800s, starting in Italy and Spain, spreading to South America, and finally to the U.S. (starting in the area around Chicago) owing to the influence of the Claretians and the Dominicans in the 1920s. Novena prayers to St. Jude helped people, especially newly arrived immigrants from Europe, deal with the pressures caused by the Great Depression, World War II, and the changing workplace and family life.

Saint Jude is the patron saint of the Chicago Police Department and of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (a popular football (soccer) team in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). His other patronages include desperate situations and hospitals. One of his namesakes is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, which has helped many children with terminal illnesses and their families since its founding in 1962. His feast day is October 28 (Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church) and June 19 (Eastern Orthodox Church). A common Roman Catholic prayer is:

“ Most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered thy beloved Master into the hands of His enemies hath caused thee to be forgotten by many, but the Church honors and invokes thee universally as the patron of hopeless cases, of things despaired of. Pray for me, who am so miserable. Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly -- (Mention your request) and that I may praise God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity. I promise, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, and I will never cease to honor thee as my special and powerful patron, and to do all in my power to encourage devotion to thee. Amen. ”

An alternative prayer is :

“ Saint Jude, Hope of the Hopeless, Pray for me ”

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Saint Teresa of Jesus / Of Avila

Today is the feast of Saint Teresa of Jesus or Teresa of Avila. As there are quite a few Saints with the name Teresa it can be confusing. She is pictured wearing a Doctor's hat with a dove and holding a quill.

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada was born in 1515 in Gotarrendura, Spain. Her paternal grandfather, Juan de Toledo, was a Jewish convert to Christianity and was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition for allegedly returning to the Jewish faith. Her father, Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda, bought a knighthood and successfully assimilated into Christian society. Teresa's mother, Beatriz, was especially keen to raise her daughter as a pious Christian. Teresa was fascinated by accounts of the lives of the saints, and ran away from home at age seven with her brother Rodrigo to find martyrdom among the Moors. Her uncle spoiled their plan as he was returning to the city and spotted the two outside the city walls.

When she was young her father had her sent away to Convent of the Incarnation of the Carmelites outside Avila.[4] In the cloister, she suffered greatly from illness. Early in her sickness, she experienced periods of religious ecstasy through the use of the devotional book "Abecedario espiritual," commonly known as the "third" or the "spiritual alphabet" (published in six parts from 1537-1554). This work, following the example of similar writings of medieval mystics, consisted of directions for examinations of conscience and for spiritual self-concentration and inner contemplation (known in mystical nomenclature as oratio recollectionis or oratio mentalis). She also employed other mystical ascetic works such as the Tractatus de oratione et meditatione of Saint Peter of Alcantara, and perhaps many of those upon which Saint Ignatius of Loyola based his Spiritual Exercises and perhaps even the Spiritual Exercises itself.


Ecstasy of St Teresa in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, by Italian baroque artist Gianlorenzo BerniniShe claimed that during her illness she rose from the lowest stage, "recollection", to the "devotions of peace" or even to the "devotions of union", which was one of perfect ecstasy. During this final stage, she said she frequently experienced a rich "blessing of tears." As the Catholic distinction between mortal and venial sin became clear upon her, she says she came to understand the awful terror of sin and the inherent nature of original sin. She also became conscious of her own natural impotence in confronting sin, and the necessity of absolute subjection to God.

Teresa is also known as "Mother Teresa"

Around 1556, various friends suggested that her newfound knowledge was diabolical, not divine. She began to inflict various tortures and mortification of the flesh upon herself. But her confessor, Francis Borgia, reassured her of the divine inspiration of her thoughts. On St. Peter's Day in 1559, Teresa became firmly convinced that Jesus Christ was present to her in bodily form, though invisible. These visions of Jesus Christ lasted almost uninterrupted for more than two years. In another vision, a Seraph drove the fiery point of a golden lance repeatedly through her heart, causing an ineffable spiritual-bodily pain. The memory of this episode served as an inspiration throughout the rest of her life, and which motivated her life-long imitation of the life and suffering of Jesus, epitomized in the motto usually associated with her: "Lord, either let me suffer or let me die." This last vision was the inspiration for one of Bernini's most famous works, the Ecstasy of St Theresa at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.


The incentive to give outward practical expression to her inward motive was inspired in Teresa by Peter of Alcantara. Incidentally, he became acquainted with her as Founder early in 1560, and became her spiritual guide and counselor. She now resolved to found a reformed Carmelite convent, correcting the laxity which she had found in the Cloister of the Incarnation and others. Guimara de Ulloa, a woman of wealth and a friend, supplied the funds.

The absolute poverty of the new monastery, established in 1562 and named St. Joseph's, at first excited a scandal among the citizens and authorities of Ávila, and the little house with its chapel was in peril of suppression; but powerful patrons, including the bishop himself, as well as the impression of well-secured subsistence and prosperity, turned animosity into applause.

In March 1563, when Teresa moved to the new cloister, she received the papal sanction to her prime principle of absolute poverty and renunciation of property, which she proceeded to formulate into a "Constitution". Her plan was the revival of the earlier, stricter rules, supplemented by new regulations such as the three disciplines of ceremonial flagellation prescribed for the divine service every week, and the discalceation of the nun. For the first five years, Teresa remained in pious seclusion, engaged in writing.


Church window at the Convent of St Teresa.In 1567, she received a patent from the Carmelite general, Rubeo de Ravenna, to establish new houses of her order, and in this effort and later visitations she made long journeys through nearly all the provinces of Spain. Of these she gives a description in her "Libro de las Fundaciones." Between the years 1567 and 1571, reform convents were established at Medina del Campo, Malagon, Valladolid, Toledo, Pastrana, Salamanca, and Alba de Tormes.

As part of her original patent, St Teresa was given permission to set up two houses for men who wished to adopt the reforms; to this end she convinced John of the Cross and Anthony of Jesus to help with this. They founded the first convent of Discalced Carmelite Brethren in November 1568 at Duruello. Another friend, Geronimo Grecian, Carmelite visitator of the older observance of Andalusia and apostolic commissioner, and later provincial of the Teresian reforms, gave her powerful support in founding convents at Segovia (1571), Vegas de Segura (1574), Seville (1575), and Caravaca de la Cruz (Murcia, 1576), while the deeply mystical John, by his power as teacher and preacher, promoted the inner life of the movement.

In 1576 a series of persecutions began on the part of the older observant Carmelite order against Teresa, her friends, and her reforms. Pursuant to a body of resolutions adopted at the general chapter at Piacenza, the "definitors" of the order forbade all further founding of convents. The general condemned her to voluntary retirement to one of her institutions. She obeyed and chose St. Joseph's at Toledo. Her friends and subordinates were subjected to greater trials.

Finally, after several years her pleadings by letter with King Philip II of Spain secured relief. As a result, in 1579, the processes before the Inquisition against her, Grecián, and others were dropped, and the extension of the reform was at least negatively permuted. A brief of Pope Gregory XIII allowed a special provincial for the younger branch of the discalceate nuns, and a royal rescript created a protective board of four assessors for the reform.

During the last three years of her life, Teresa founded convents at Villanueva de la Jara in northern Andalusia (1580), Palencia (1580), Soria (1581), Burgos, and at Granada (1582). In all seventeen convents, all but one founded by her, and as many men's cloisters were due to her reform activity of twenty years.

Her final illness overtook her on one of her journeys from Burgos to Alba de Tormes. She died in 1582, just as Catholic nations were making the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar which required the removal of 10 days from the calendar. (In 1582 October 5-14 did not exist.) She died either before midnight of October 4 or early on the morning of October 15, which is celebrated as her feast day.

Forty years after her death, she was canonized, and her church reveres her as the "seraphic virgin." The Cortes exalted her to patroness of Spain in 1617, and the University of Salamanca previously conferred the title Doctor ecclesiae with a diploma. The title is Latin for Doctor of the Church, but is distinct from the honor of Doctor of the Church conferred posthumously by the Holy See, which she received in 1970, the first woman to be awarded it. The mysticism in her works exerted a formative influence upon many theologians of the following centuries, such as Francis of Sales, Fénelon, and the Port-Royalists.


"It is love alone that gives worth to all things." - St. Theresa of Avila The kernel of Teresa's mystical thought throughout all her writings is the ascent of the soul in four stages ("The Autobiography," Chs. 10-22):

The first, or "heart's devotion," is that of devout contemplation or concentration, the withdrawal of the soul from without and specially the devout observance of the passion of Christ and penitence.

The second is the "devotion of peace," in which at least the human will is lost in that of God by virtue of a charismatic, supernatural state given of God, while the other faculties, such as memory, reason, and imagination, are not yet secure from worldly distraction. While a partial distraction is due to outer performances such as repetition of prayers and writing down spiritual things, yet the prevailing state is one of quietude.

The "devotion of union" is not only a supernatural but an essentially ecstatic state. Here there is also an absorption of the reason in God, and only the memory and imagination are left to ramble. This state is characterized by a blissful peace, a sweet slumber of at least the higher soul faculties, a conscious rapture in the love of God.

The fourth is the "devotion of ecstasy or rapture," a passive state, in which the consciousness of being in the body disappears (2 Corinthians 12:2-3). Sense activity ceases; memory and imagination are also absorbed in God or intoxicated. Body and spirit are in the throes of a sweet, happy pain, alternating between a fearful fiery glow, a complete impotence and unconsciousness, and a spell of strangulation, intermitted sometimes by such an ecstatic flight that the body is literally lifted into space. This after half an hour is followed by a reactionary relaxation of a few hours in a swoon-like weakness, attended by a negation of all the faculties in the union with God. From this the subject awakens in tears; it is the climax of mystical experience, productive of the trance. (Indeed, St. Theresa herself was said to have been observed levitating during Mass on more than one occasion.)

Teresa is one of the foremost writers on mental prayer. Her definition was used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Mental prayer [oración mental] is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us."

Teresa's writings, produced for didactic purposes, stand among the most remarkable in the mystical literature of the Roman Catholic Church:

The "Autobiography," written before 1567, under the direction of her confessor, Fr Pedro Ibáñez;[5]
" El Camino de Perfección," written also before 1567, at the direction of her confessor;[6]
"El Castillo Interior," written in 1577;[7]
"Relaciones," an extension of the autobiography giving her inner and outer experiences in epistolary form.
Two smaller works are the "Conceptos del Amor" ("Concepts of Love") and "Exclamaciones." In addition, there are the "Las Cartas" (Saragossa, 1671), or her correspondence, of which there are 342 extant letters and 87 fragments of others. St Teresa's prose is marked by an unaffected grace, an ornate neatness, and charming power of expression, together placing her in the front rank of Spanish prose writers; and her rare poems ("Todas las poesías," Munster, 1854) are distinguished for tenderness of feeling and rhythm of thought

Feast Day of Saint Peter Claver

We celebrate the feast day.

Saint Peter Claver (June 26, 1580–September 8, 1654) (Spanish: San Pedro Claver Corberó) was a Jesuit who, due to his remarkable life and work, became the patron Saint of slaves, of Colombia and of Africa

The Spanish settlers in the Americas had a perceived need for laborers both to cultivate the lands which they had conquered and to work the gold mines. European diseases decimated the indigenous peoples, and the Spanish replaced them as a default labour force with slaves brought from Africa. The coasts of Guinea, the Congo, and Angola became a market for slave-dealers. Due to its position on the Caribbean Sea, Cartagena became a chief slave-mart of the New World. A thousand slaves landed there each month. The great demand for slaves in the Americas meant that the trade was extremely profitable for merchants, even though as many as one-third of slaves died on the voyage in the 17th century.

As new slaves arrived, Claver ran out to meet them, carrying food and clothes to the living and removing the bodies of those who had died. He cared for the weakest first and took the sick to a nearby hospital he had built. Using natives as interpreters, he then began sharing the Gospel with all who would hear. Having won their good will, he instructed and baptized them into the Faith. Claver dedicated his life to the service of these people, humbly caring for the lepers and those suffering from smallpox, cleaning their sores and consoling them when others were disgusted by their diseases. He and the slaves he ministered to would prepare great banquets to celebrate holy days, inviting and ministering to the lepers, slaves, and beggers.

The apostle was accused of indiscreet zeal, and of having profaned the Sacraments by giving them to "creatures" deemed to scarcely possess a soul, even though Pope Paul III had proclaimed in his encyclical Sublimis Deus that non-European peoples had souls and were eligible to receive the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Indeed, many found the sense of dignity Claver gave the slaves a dangerous thing. Despite the contempt for him among the merchant and landed classes, his efforts—which he continued until his death in 1654—were supported by the Jesuit community. His work and writings, along with those of others such as the Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas, while broadly rejected in his time, laid the foundation for the eventual rejection of the institution of slavery by the Catholic Church and the European powers by the early 19th century.

He became the prophet and miracle worker of Cartagena, and many were convinced that often God would not have spared the city save for him. During his life he is said to have baptized and instructed in the Faith more than 300,000 of the Africans brought to the Americas. He was beatified July 16, 1850, by Pope Pius IX, and canonized January 15, 1888, by Pope Leo XIII. His feast is celebrated on September 9, which marks the day after his death on September 8 (the same day as the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary). On July 7, 1896, he was proclaimed the special patron of all the Catholic missions among the negroes, "negroes" being an acceptable term in 1896. Alphonsus Rodriguez was canonized on the same day as Peter Claver.

Feast of Transfiguration

Today is the Feast of the Lord's Transfiguration. This episode was recorded in all four Gospels. Today is also the aniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

Saint Anthony of Padua

The Glorious Virgin did not have a stain in her birth because she was santified in her mother's womb and safeguarded there by angels."
- St Anthony Quote
Saint Anthony wrote this 600 years before the Dogma of Immaculate Conception

Today is the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua.

He’s the one typically portrayed holding the child Jesus—or a lily—or a book—or all three—in his arms. And, of course, he is the patron of lost items (among other things). Who of us hasn’t invoked his name when looking for a misplaced set of car keys or a badly needed job?

Legends about Anthony abound. But let’s turn to the known facts about him.
Anthony was born in 1195 (13 years after St. Francis) in Lisbon (now Portugal, then a part of Spain), and given the name of Fernando at Baptism. His parents, Martin and Mary Bulhom, apparently belonged to one of the prominent families of the city.
At the age of 15 he entered the religious order of St. Augustine. Monastery life was hardly peaceful for young Fernando, nor conducive to prayer and study, as his old friends came to visit frequently and engaged in vehement political discussions.
After two years he was sent to Coimbra. There he began nine years of intense study, learning the Augustinian theology that he would later combine with the Franciscan vision. Fernando was probably ordained a priest during this time.

The life of the young priest took a crucial turn when the bodies of the first five Franciscan martyrs were returned from Morocco. They had preached in the mosque in Seville, almost being martyred at the outset, but the sultan allowed them to pass on to Morocco, where, after continuing to preach Christ despite repeated warnings, they were tortured and beheaded. Now, in the presence of the queen and a huge crowd, their remains were carried in solemn procession to Fernando’s monastery.

He was overjoyed and inspired to a momentous decision. He went to the little friary in Coimbra and said, “Brother, I would gladly put on the habit of your Order if you would promise to send me as soon as possible to the land of the Saracens, that I may gain the crown of the holy martyrs.” After some challenges from the prior of the Augustinians, he was allowed to leave that priory and receive the Franciscan habit, taking the name Anthony.

True to their promise, the Franciscans allowed Anthony to go to Morocco, to be a witness for Christ, and a martyr as well. But, as often happens, the gift he wanted to give was not the gift that was to be asked of him. He became seriously ill, and after several months realized he had to go home.

He never arrived. His ship ran into storms and high winds and was blown east across the Mediterranean. Months later he arrived on the east coast of Sicily. The friars at nearby Messina, though they didn't know him, welcomed him and began nursing him back to health. Still ailing, he wanted to attend the great Pentecost Chapter of Mats (so called because the 3,000 friars could not be housed and slept on mats). Francis was there, also sick. History does not reveal any meeting between Francis and Anthony.

Since the young man was from “out of town,” he received no assignment at the meeting, so he asked to go with a provincial superior from northern Italy. “Instruct me in the Franciscan life,” he asked, not mentioning his prior theological training. Now, like Francis, he had his first choice—a life of seclusion and contemplation in a hermitage near Montepaolo.

Perhaps we would never have heard of Anthony if he hadn’t gone to an ordination of Dominicans and Franciscans in 1222. As they gathered for a meal afterward, the provincial suggested that one of the friars give a short sermon. Quite typically, everybody ducked. So Anthony was asked to give “just something simple,” since he presumably had no education.

Anthony too demurred, but finally began to speak in a simple, artless way. The fire within him became evident. His knowledge was unmistakable, but his holiness was what really impressed everyone there.

Now he was exposed. His quiet life of prayer and penance at the hermitage was exchanged for that of a public preacher. Francis heard of Anthony’s previously hidden gifts, and Anthony was assigned to preach in northern Italy.
The problem with many preachers in Anthony’s day was that their life-style contrasted sharply with that of the poor people to whom they preached. In our experience, it could be compared to an evangelist arriving in a slum driving a Mercedes, delivering a homily from his car and speeding off to a vacation resort.
Anthony saw that words were obviously not enough. He had to show gospel poverty. People wanted more than self-disciplined, even penitent priests. They wanted genuineness of gospel living. And in Anthony they found it. They were moved by who he was, more than what he said.
Despite his efforts, not everyone listened. Legend has it that one day, faced with deaf ears, Anthony went to the river and preached to the fishes. That, reads the traditional tale, got everyone’s attention.

Anthony traveled tirelessly in both northern Italy and southern France—perhaps 400 trips—choosing to enter the cities where the heretics were strongest. Yet the sermons he has left behind rarely show him taking direct issue with the heretics. As the historian Clasen interprets it, Anthony preferred to present the grandeur of Christianity in positive ways. It was no good to prove people wrong: Anthony wanted to win them to the right, the healthiness of real sorrow and conversion, the wonder of reconciliation with a loving Father.

Anthony’s superior, St. Francis, was cautious about education such as his protégé possessed. He had seen too many theologians taking pride in their sophisticated knowledge. Still, if the friars had to hit the roads and preach to all sorts of people, they needed a firm grounding in Scripture and theology. So, when he heard the glowing report of Anthony’s debut at the ordinations, Francis wrote in 1224, “;It pleases me that you should teach the friars sacred theology, provided that in such studies they do not destroy the spirit of holy prayer and devotedness, as contained in the Rule.”

Anthony first taught in a friary in Bologna, which became a famous school. The theology book of the time was the Bible. In one extant sermon by the saint, there are at least 183 passages from Scripture. While none of his theological conferences and discussions were written down, we do have two volumes of his sermons: Sunday Sermons and Feastday Sermons. His method included much of allegory and symbolical explanation of Scripture.

Anthony continued to preach as he taught the friars and assumed more responsibility within the Order. In 1226 he was appointed provincial superior of northern Italy, but still found time for contemplative prayer in a small hermitage. Around Easter in 1228 (he was only 33 years old), while in Rome, he met Pope Gregory IX, who had been a faithful friend and adviser of St. Francis. Naturally, the famous preacher was invited to speak. He did it humbly, as always. The response was so great that people later said that it seemed the miracle of Pentecost was repeated.

Padua, Italy is a short distance west of Venice. At the time of Anthony, it was one of the most important cities in the country, with an important university for the study of civil and canon law. Sometimes Anthony left Padua for greater solitude. He went to a place loved by Francis—LaVerna, where Francis received the wounds of Jesus. He also found a grotto near the friary where he could pray in solitude.
In poor health, and still provincial superior of northern Italy, he went to the General Chapter in Rome and asked to be relieved of his duties. But he was later recalled as part of a special commission to discuss certain matters of the Franciscan Rule with the pope.

Back in Padua, he preached his last and most famous Lenten sermons. The crowds were so great—sometimes 30,000—that the churches could not hold them, so he went into the piazzas or the open fields. People waited all night to hear him. He needed a bodyguard to protect him from the people armed with scissors who wanted to snip off a piece of his habit as a relic. After his morning Mass and sermon, he would hear confessions. This sometimes lasted all day—as did his fasting.

The great energy he had expended during the Lent of 1231 left him exhausted. He went to a little town near Padua, but seeing death coming close, he wanted to return to the city that he loved. The journey in a wagon weakened him so much, however, that he had to stop at Arcella. He had to bless Padua from a distance, as Francis had blessed Assisi.

At Arcella, he received the last sacraments, sang and prayed with the friars there. When one of them asked Anthony what he was staring at so intently, he answered, “I see my Lord!” He died in peace a short time after that. He was only 36 and had been a Franciscan but 10 years.

The following year, his friend, Pope Gregory IX, moved by the many miracles that occurred at Anthony’s tomb, declared him a saint.

Anthony was a simple and humble friar who preached the Good News lovingly and with fearless courage. The youth whom his fellow friars thought was uneducated became one of the great preachers and theologians of his day. He was a man of great penance and apostolic zeal. But he was primarily a saint of the people. (Adapted from St. Anthony: Doctor of the Church by Sophronius Clasen, O.F.M.)
Franciscan Father Leonard Foley (1913-1994) is the author of Saint of the Day, many other books, and articles for Catholic Update, Youth Update and St. Anthony Messenger. An expanded version of the above appears in Saint Anthony of Padua: The Story of His Life and Popular Devotions, published by St. Anthony Messenger Press.
“The faithful dweller of the hermitage was sent out into the world and his lips, closed for so long, were opened to proclaim the glory of God.”
—The Assidua on St. Anthony

www.divinemercy.org

Pope John Paul II, both in his teaching and personal life, strove to live and teach the message of Divine Mercy. As the great Mercy Pope, he wrote an encyclical on Divine Mercy:

"The Message of Divine Mercy has always been near and dear to me… which I took with me to the See of Peter and which it in a sense forms the image of this Pontificate."

In his writings and homilies, he has described Divine Mercy as the answer to the world’s problems and the message of the third millennium. He beatified and canonized Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska, the nun associated with the message, and he did it in Rome and not in Poland to underscore that Divine Mercy is for the whole world.

Establishing Divine Mercy Sunday for the Entire Church
When Pope John Paul canonized Sr. Faustina (making her St. Faustina), he also, on the same day, surprised the entire world by establishing Divine Mercy Sunday (the feast day associated with the message) as a feast day for the entire Church. The feast day falls on the Second Sunday of the Easter season. On that day, Pope John Paul II declared, "This is the happiest day of my life."

Entrusting the World to Divine Mercy
In 2002, the Pope entrusted the whole world to Divine Mercy when he consecrated the International Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, a suburb of Krakow in Poland. This is where St. Faustina’s mortal remains are entombed. The saint lived in a convent nearby. The Pope himself remembers as a young man working in the Solvay Quarry, just a few meters from the present-day Shrine. He also says that he had been thinking about Sr. Faustina for a long time when he wrote his encyclical on Divine Mercy. Further, the Holy Father has frequently quoted from the Diary of St. Faustina and has prayed The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy at the saint’s tomb.

Beyond the Life of John Paul II
Given all these connections to Divine Mercy and St. Faustina, is it any wonder that Pope John Paul II died on the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday (the evening before the feast day), which fell that year on April 3. It is also no surprise that the Great Mercy Pope left us a message for Divine Mercy Sunday, which was read on the feast day by a Vatican official to the faithful in St. Peter’s after a Mass that had been celebrated for the repose of the soul of the Pope.

Repeatedly Pope John Paul II has written and spoken about the need for us to turn to the mercy of God as the answer to the specific problems of our times. He has placed a strong and significant focus on the Divine Mercy message and devotion throughout his pontificate that will carry the Church long after his death.

www.divinemercy.org

canonize on 30 apr 2000

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
Graces and Miracles Received
Miracles attributed to the intercession of Sr. Maria Faustina lead to her canonization on April 30, 2000. Today, people from around the world rely on St. Faustina to interceed on their behalf to Our Lord.

Miracle received by Maureen Digan
Innerly she heard Sister Faustina say: "If you ask for my help, I will give it to you."
Before the age of 15, Maureen Digan enjoyed a normal healthy life. Then she was struck down with a very serious, slowly progressive but terminal disease called lymphedima. This is a disease that does not respond to medication and does not go into remission. Within the next ten years Maureen had fifty operations and had lengthy confinements in the hospital of up to a year at a time.

Friends and relations suggested she should pray and put her trust in God. But Maureen could not understand why God had allowed her to get this disease in the first place, and had lost her faith completely. Eventually her deteriorating condition would require the amputation of one leg.

One evening while Maureen was in the hospital her husband Bob watched a film on Divine Mercy and there he became convinced of the healing powers of intercession by Sr. Faustina. Bob persuaded Maureen and the doctors that she should go to the tomb of Sr. Faustina in Poland. Together with her husband, son, and Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC (a priest of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception), they traveled to St. Faustina's tomb at the Shrine of The Divine Mercy outside Krakow, Poland. They arrived in Poland on March 23, 1981 and Maureen went to confession for the first time since she was a young girl.

At the tomb Maureen remembers saying "Okay, Faustina I came a long way, now do something." Innerly she heard Sr. Faustina say: "If you ask for my help, I will give it to you." Suddenly she thought she was losing her mind. All the pain seemed to drain out of her body and her swollen leg, which was due to be amputated shortly, went back to its normal size. When she returned to the USA she was examined by five independent doctors who came to the conclusion that she was completely healed. They had no medical explanation for the sudden healing of this incurable disease.

The accumulated evidence of this miracle was examined in consultation by five doctors appointed by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Having passed this test it was examined by a team of theologians, and finally by a team of cardinals and bishops. The cure was accepted by all as a miracle caused by Sr. Faustina's intercession to the Divine Mercy. Sr. Faustina was beatified on April 18, 1993.

Miracle received by Fr. Ron Pytel
"I know in my heart that Faustina put in a word with Jesus, and His Heart touched mine. It's as simple as that."
On Oct. 5, 1995, the Feast Day of St. Faustina (who was then a blessed), Fr. Ron Pytel and some friends gathered for prayer at Holy Rosary Church, which is also the Baltimore archdiocesan Shrine of The Divine Mercy. After a time of prayer for the healing of his heart through Sr. Faustina's intercession, Fr. Ron venerated a relic of St. Faustina and collapsed. He felt paralyzed, but was completely at peace. A subsequent visit to his cardiologist showed that his heart had been healed.

Although he was healed through St. Faustina's intercession, Fr. Ron is quick to point out that Jesus healed him. "I know in my heart that Faustina put in a word with Jesus, and His Heart touched mine. It's as simple as that," he explained.

After almost three years of examining Fr. Ron and his medical records, doctors and theologians from the Congregation for the Cause of Saints concluded an exhaustive investigation of the healing. And on Dec. 20, 1999, Pope John Paul II ordered publication of the fact of the healing as a miracle through Sr. Faustina's intercession, leading to her canonization on Mercy Sunday, April 30, in St. Peter's Square.

Grace of Healing received by Ugo Festa
"Entrust yourself to Him and pray to my Sr. Faustina to intercede."
Ugo Festa was born in Vicenza, Italy, in 1951. He was struck down at an early age with multiple sclerosis. Gradually his health deteriorated. This led to many other problems in his young life. By the age of 39 he was suffering from muscular dystrophy and epilepsy. Early in 1990 his spine was becoming distorted and he was having seizures daily. He had been continually attending doctors since he first contracted the disease, but they could not do nothing for him. He decided there was nothing left to try but prayer.

On April 28, 1990, Ugo went with a pilgrimage to Rome. In his unfortunate situation he was introduced to Mother Teresa who was in Rome at the time with a group whom he also became acquainted with. Ugo was invited along with this group to a retreat at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Trent, but he refused. On leaving, one of the group, a nun, gave him five copies of the Divine Mercy Image and a Divine Mercy medal.

The following day, April 29, 1990, Ugo wore the medal and carried in his arms the images to be blessed by the Holy Father. At the bottom of the steps to St. Peter's the Holy Father passed by. Ugo asked him to bless his Divine Mercy images. After blessing the images the Pope asked him how he was. Ugo told him he felt very despondent and was at a crisis in his life. The Holy Father said, "How could you have a crisis with Jesus the Divine Mercy in your arms? Entrust yourself to Him and pray to my Sr. Faustina to intercede."

With this advice Ugo changed his mind and decided that he would go to the Divine Mercy shrine in Trent. At the side altar in the Villa O'Santissima Villazzano, Trent, there is a Shrine to the Divine Mercy with a life size icon of the Divine Image. On the fourth day of praying in front of this icon Ugo suddenly noticed the arms of the image stretched out to him and a tremendous warmth flowed through his body.

He found himself standing on his feet with his arms outstretched to the Lord and he heard himself loudly praising Jesus the Divine Mercy. He saw Jesus coming down to him, His white garment blowing as if in a breeze. He thought: 'My God, this is the Man from Galilee coming towards me.' He heard Jesus say in a clear voice, "Rise up and walk." Ugo began to walk. All his ailments were at that instant cured and he was more physically perfect than he had ever been in his life.

On August 19, 1990, Ugo returned to the Vatican and during a Papal Audience at Paul VI Hall, was taken to meet John Paul II. He told him about the great grace he had received and thanked him for the words of inspiration which led him to Trent, and resulted in this great miracle on that day.

Today Ugo Festa devotes his life to Jesus, voluntarily working in a hospital and spreading the Message of Divine Mercy throughout Italy.

Divine Mercy Part 102

See, I have left my heavenly throne to become united with you. What you see is just a tiny part and already your soul swoons with love. How amazed will your heart be when you see me in all my glory.

But I want to tell you that eternal life must begin already here on earth through Holy Communion. Each Holy Communion makes you more capable of communing with God throughout eternity.

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Divine Mercy Part 101

Today the Lord came to me and said,

My daughter, help me to save souls. You will go to a dying sinner, and you will continue to recite the chaplet, and in this way you will obtain for him trust in my mercy, for he is already in despair.

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Divine Mercy Part 100

When a great storm was approaching, I began to say the chaplet. Suddenly I heard the voice of an angel:

I cannot approach in this storm, because the light which comes from her mouth drives back both me and the storm."

Such was the angel's complaint to God. I then recognize how much havoc he was to have made through this storm; but I also recognized that this prayer was pleasing to God, and this chaplet was most powerful.

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Divine Mercy Part 99

How very much I desire the salvation of souls! My dearest secetary, write that I want to pour out my divine life into human souls and sanctify them. If only they were willing to accept my grace. The greatest sinners would achieve great sanctity, if only they would trust in my mercy. The very inner depths of my being are filled to overflowing with mercy, and it is being poured out upon all I have created. My delight is to act in a human soul and to fill it with my mercy and to justify it. My kingdom on earth is my life in the human soul. Write, my secretary, that I myself am the spiritual guide of souls- and I guide them indirectly through the priest, and lead each one to sanctity by a road known to me alone.

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Divine Mercy Part 98

My daughter, know that my heart is mercy itself. From this sea of mercy, graces flow out upon the whole world. No soul that has approached me has ever gone away unconsoled. All misery gets buried in the depths of my mercy, and every saving and sanctifying grace flows from this fountain. My daughter, I desire that your heart be an abiding place of my mercy. I desire that this mercy flow out upon the whole world through your heart. Let no one who approachs you go away without that trust in my mercy which i so ardently dsire for souls.

Pray as much as you can for the dying. By your entreaties, obtain for them trust in my mercy, because they have most need of trust, and have it the least. Be assured that the grace of eternal salvation for certain souls in their final moment depend on your prayer. You know the whole abyss of my mercy, so draw upon it for yourself and especially for poor sinners. Sooner would heaven and earth turn into nothingness than would my mercy not embrace a trusting soul.

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Divine Mercy Part 97

My daughter, I want to instruct you on how to rescue souls through scarifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through all his teachings and sermons alone. I want to see you as a sacrifice of living love, which only then carries weight before me. You must be annihilated, destroyed, living as if you were dead in the most secret depths of your being. You must be destroyed in that secret depth where the human eye has never penetrated; then will I find you a pleasing sacrifice, a holocaust full of sweetness and fragrance. And great will be your power for whomever you intercede. Outwardly, your sacrifice must look like this:silent, hidden, permeated with love, imbued with prayer. I demand, my daughter, that your sacrifice be pure and full of humility, that I may find pleasure in it. I will not spare my grace, that you may be able to fulfill what I demand of you.

I will now instruct you on what your hlocaust shall consist of, in everyday life, so as to preserve you from illusions. You shall accept all sufferings with love. Do not be afflicted if you heart often experiences repugnance and dislike for sacrifice. All its power rests in the will, and so these contrary feelings, far from lowering the value of the sacrifice in my eyes, will enhance it. Know that your body and soul will often be in the midst of fire. Although you will not feel my presence on some occassions, I will always be with you. Do not fear; my grace wll be with you...

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Divine Mecy Part 96

Write, my daughter that I am mercy itself for the contrite soul. A soul's greatest wretchedness does not enkindle me with wrath; but rather, my heart is moved towards it with great mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 94

As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words:

I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to my will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for my final coming.

Page 612

Note:
It has been thought that the spark mentioned here is the Polish Pope John Paul II.
Who was responsible for establishing the Feast of Divine Mercy in the Catholic calender

Divine Mercy Part 93

Today I was awakened by a great storm. The wind was raging and it was raining in torrents, thunderbolts striking again and again. I began to pray that the storm would do no harm, when i heard the words:

Say the chaplet I have taught you, and the storm will cease.

I began immediately to say the chaplet and hadn't even finished it when the storm suddenly ceased, and I heard the words:

Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with my will.

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Divine Mercy Part 92

Write: I am thrice Holy, and I detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to my generosity toward it. My mercy embraces and justifies it. With my mercy, I pursue sinners along their paths, and my heart rejoices when they return to me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed my heart and rejoice at their return.

Tell sinners that no one shall escape my hand; if they run away from My Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart...when will it beat for me? Write, that I am speaking to them through their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms, through the voices of the church. And if they bring all My Graces to naught, I began to be angry with them, leaving them alone and gicing them what they want.

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Divine Mercy Part 91

My daughter, just as you prepare in my presence, so also you make your confession before me. The person of the priest is , for me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to me, and I will fill it with my light.

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Divine Mercy Part 90

If you did not tie my hands, I would send down many punishments upon the earth. My daughter, your look disarms my anger. Although your lips are silent, you call out to me so mightily that all heaven is moved. I cannot escape from your requests, because you pursue me, not from afar but within your own heart.

Page 609

Whe the soul of a certain young lady came to me one night, she made me aware of her presence, and made known to me that she needed my prayer.I prayed for a while, but her spirit did not leave me. Then I thought to myself," If you are a good spirit, leave me in peace, and the indulgences I will gain tomorrow will be for you."
At that moment. the spirrit left my room, and I recognized that she was in purgatory.

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Divine Mercy Part 89

There are souls with whom I can do nothing. They are souls that are continuously observing others, but know nothing of what is going on within their own selves. They talk about others continually, even during times of grand silence, which is reserved for speaking only with me. Poor souls, they do not hear my words; their interior remains empty. They do not look for me within their own hearts, but in idle talk, where I am never to be found. They sense their emptiness, but they do not recognize their own guilt, while souls in whom i reign completely are a constant source of remorse to them. Instead of correcting themselves, their hearts swell with envy, and if they do not come to their senses, they plunge in even deeper. A heart, which thus far is envious, now begins to be filled with hate. And they are already at the edge of the precipice. They are jealous of my gifts in other souls, but they themselves are unable and unwilling to accept them.

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Divine Mercy Part 88

When I was left alone with the Blessed Virgin, she instructed me concerning the interior life. She said,

The soul's true greatness is in loving God and in humbling oneself in his presence, completely forgetting oneself and believing oneself to be nothing; because the Lord is great, but he is well pleased only with the humble; he always opposes the proud.

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Divine Mercy Part 87

Towards the end of the Way of the Cross which I was making, the Lord Jesus began to complain about the souls of religious and priests, about the lack of love in chosen souls.

I will allow convents and churches to be destroyed.

I answered, "Jesus, but there are so many souls praising you in convents." The Lord answered,

That praise wounds my heart, because love has been banished from convents. Souls without love and without devotion, souls full of egoism and self love, souls full of pride and arrogance, souls full of deceit and hypocrisy, lukewarm souls who have just enough warmth to keep them alive:My heart cannot bear this. All the graces that I pour upon them flow off them as off the face of a rock. I cannot stand them, because they are neither good or bad. I called convents into being to sanctify the world through them. It is from them that a powerful flame of love and sacrifice should burst forth.And if they do not repent and become enkindled by their first love, I will deliver them over to the fate of this world...

How can they sit on the promised throne of judgement to judge the world, when their guilt is greater than the guilt of the world? There is neither penance nor atonement. O heart specially chosen by me, were you chosen for this, to give me more pain? The great sins of the world are superficial wounds on my heart, but the sins of a chosen soul pierce my heart through and through...

Do not cry. There are still a great number of souls who love me very much, but my heart desires to be loved by all and, because my love is great, that is why I warn and chastise them.

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Divine Mercy Part 86

My daughter, faithfully live up to the words which I speak to you. Do not value any external thing too highly, even if it were to seem very precious to you. Let go of yourself, and abide with me continually. Entrust everything to me and do nothing on your own, an you will always have great freedom of spirit. No circumstance or events will ever be able to upset you. Set little store on what people say.Let everyone judge you as they like. Do not make excuses for yourself; it will do you no harm. Give away everything at the first sign of a demand, even if they were the most necessary things. Do not ask for anything without consulting me. Allow them to take away even what is due to you- respect, your good name- let your spirit rise above all that. And so, set free from everything, rest close to my heart, not allowing your peace to be disturbed by anything. My pupil, consider the words which I have spoken to you.

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Divine Mercy Part 85

Listen, my daughter, although all the works that come into being by my will are exposed to great sufferings, consider whether any of them has been subjected to greater difficulties than that work which is directly mine- the work of Redemption. You should not worry too much about adversities. The world is not as powerful as it seems to be; its strength is strictly limited. Know, my daughter, that if your soul is filled with the fire of my pure love, then all difficulties dissipate like fog before the sun's rays and dare not touch the soul. All adversaries are afraid to start a quarrel with such a soul, because they sense that it is stronger than the whole world...

Page 581

My daughter, write that involuntary offenses of souls do not hinder my love for them or prevent me from uniting myself with them. But voluntary offenses , even the smallest, obstruct my graces, and I cannot lavish my gifts on such souls.

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Divine Mercy Part 84

My daughter, be at peace; do as I tell you. Your thoughts are united to my thoughts, so write whatever comes to your mind. You are the secretary of my mercy. I have chosen you for that office in this life and the next life. That is how I want it to be in spite all the opposition they give you. Know that my choice will not change.


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Divine Mercy part 83

Daughter, when you go to confession, to this foundation of my mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from my heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in my mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of my grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. if their trust is great, there is no limit to my generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud ramain always in poverty and misery, because my grace turns away from them to humble souls.

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Divine Mercy Part 82

Chosen souls are, in my hand, lights which I cast into the darkness of the world and which I illumine it. As stars illumine the night, so chosen souls illumine the earth. And the more perfect a soul is, the stronger and more far reaching is the light shed by it. It can be hidden and unknown, even to those closest to it, and yet its holiness is reflected in souls even to the most distant extremities of the world.

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Divine Mercy Part 81

In the old convenent I sent prophets wieding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with my mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful heart. I use punishment when they themselves force me to do so; my hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 80

Tell souls not to place within their own hearts obstacles to my mercy, which so greatly wants to act within them. My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors to it. Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of my mercy. Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of my mercy.

Let souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore my mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from my mercy. I desire that these souls distinguish themselves by boundless trust in my mercy.I myself will attend to the sanctification of such souls. I will provide them with everything they will need to attain sanctity. The graces of my mercy are drawn by means of ones vessel only, and that is- trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to me, because I pour out all the treasures of my graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is my desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts.

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Divine Mercy Part 79

I remind you, my daughter, that as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in my mercy, adoring and glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment mercy was opened waide for every soul. In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world- mercy triumphed over justice.

My daughter, try your best to make the Stations of The Cross in this hour, provided that your dutied permit it; and if you are not able to make the Stations of the Cross, then at least step into the chapel for a moment and adore, in the Blessed Sacrament, my heart, which is full of mercy; and should you be unable to step into the chapel, immerse yourself in prayer there where you happen to be, if only for a brief instant. I claim veneration for my mercy from every creature, but above all from you, since it is you that I have given the most profound understanding of this mystery.

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Divine Mercy Part 78

When I entered the chapel for a moment, the Lord said to me,

My daughter help me to save a certain dying sinner. Say the chaplet that I have taught you for him.

When I began to say the chaplet, I saw the man dying in the midst of terrible torment and struggle. His Guardian Angel was defending him, but he was, as it were powerless against the enormity of the soul'sisery. A multitude of devils was waiting for the soul. But while I was saying the chaplet, I saw Jesus just as he is depicted in in the image. The rays which issued from from Jesus's heart enveloped the sick man, and the powers of darkness fled in panic. The sic kman peacefully breathed his last. When I came to myself, I understood how important the chaplet was for the dying. It appeases the anger of God.

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Divine Mercy Part 77

3 Febuary 1938. Today after Holy Communion, Jesus again gave me a few directives:

First, do not fight against a temptation by yourself, but disclose it to the confessor at once, and then the temptation will lose all its force. Second, during these ordeals do not lose your peace; live in my presence; ask My Mother and the Saints for help. Third, have the certitude that I am looking at you and supporting you. Fourth, do not fear either struggles of the soul or any temptations, because I am supporting you; if only you are willing to fight, know that the victory is always on your side. Fifth, know that by fighting bravely you give me great glory and amass merits for yourself. Temptation gives you a chance to show me your fidelity.

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Divine Mercy Part 76

28 January 1938. Today the Lord said to me:

My daughter, write down these words: All those souls who will glorify my mercy and spread its worship, encouraging others to trust in my mercy, will not experience terror at the hour of death. My mercy will shield them in that final battle...

My daughter, encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given to you. It pleases me to grant everything they ask of me by saying this chaplet. When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one.

Write this for the benefit of distressed souls: when a soul sees and realizes the gravity of its sins, when the whole abyss of their misery into which it immersed itself is displayed before its eyes, let it not despair, but with a trust let it throw itself into the arms of my mercy, as a child into the arms of its beloved mother. These souls have a right of priority to my compassionate heart, they have first access to my mercy. Tell them that no soul that has called upon my mercy has been dissapointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust in me.

Write that when they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my Father and the dying person, not as a judge but as the merciful saviour.

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Divine Mercy Part 75

I saw the great anger of God hanging heavy over Poland. And now I see that if God were to visit our country with the greatest chastisement, that would still be great mercy because, for such grave transgressions, he could punish us with eternal annihilation. I was paralyzed with fear when the lord lifted the veil a little for me. Now I see clearly that chosen souls keep the world in existence to fulfill the measure [of justice].

Page 546

In return for my blessings, I get ingratitude. In return for my love, I get forgetfulness and indifference. My heart cannot bear this.

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Divine Mercy Part 74

My daughter , do not tire of proclaiming my mercy. In this way you will refresh this heart of mine, which burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell my priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about my unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in my heart. To priests who proclaim and extol my mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those whom they will speak.

Page 543

I have opened my heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust. Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in my mercy will be filled with my divine peace at the hour of death.

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Divine Mercy Part 73

My daughter, tell souls that I am giving them my mercy as a defense. I myself am fighting for them and am bearing the just anger of my Father.

Page 542


Satan gained nothing by tempting you, because you did not enter into conversation with him. Continue to act in this way. You gave me great glory today by fighting so faithfully. Let it be confirmed and engraved on your heart that I am always with you, even if you don't feel my presence at the time of battle.

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Divine Mercy Part 72

My beloved child, delight of my heart, your words are dearer and more pleasing to me than the angelic chorus. All the treasures of my heart are open to you. Take from this heart all that you need for yourself and for the whole world. For the sake of your love, I withhold the just chastisements, which mankind has deserved. A single act of pure love pleases me more than a thousand imperfect prayers. One of your sighs of love atones for many offenses with which the godless overwhelm me. The smallest act of virtue has unlimitedvalue in my eyes because of your great love for me. In a soul that lives on my love alone , I reign as in heaven. I watch over it day and night. In it I find my happiness; my ear is attentive to each request of its heart; often i anticipate its requests. O child, especially beloved by me, apple of my eye, rest a moment near my heart and taste of the love in which you will delight for all eternity.

But child, you are not yet in your homeland; so go, fortified by my grace, and fight for my kingdom in human souls; fight as a king's child would; and remember that the days of your exile will pass quickly, and with them the possibility of earning merit for heaven. I expect from you, my child, a great number of souls who will glorify my mercy for all eternity. My child, that you may answer my call worthily, receive me daily in holy Communion. It will give you strength...

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Divine Mercy Part 71

My child, know that the greatest obstacles to holiness are discouragement and an exaggerated anxiety. These will deprive you of the ability to practice virtue. All temptations united together ought not to disturb your interior peace, even not momentarily. Sensitiveness and discouragement are the fruits of self love. Have confidence, my child. Do not lose heart in coming for pardon, for I am always ready to forgive you. As often as you beg for it, you glorify my mercy.

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It is because you are not of this world that the world hates you. First it persecuted me. Persecution is a sign that you are following in my footsteps faithfully.

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Divine Mercy Part 70

My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth; for you I allowed myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come, then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart. Your misery has dissapeared in the depths of my mercy. Do not argue with me about your wretchedness. You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of my grace.

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Divine Mercy Part 69

Chosen souls who do not have my spirit, who live according to the letter and have placed the letter above my spirit, above the spirit of love.

I have founded my whole law on love, and yet I do not see love, even in religious orders. This is why sadness fills my heart.

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Divine Mercy Part 68

Oh, how painful it is to me that souls so seldom unite themselves to me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward me. I love them tenderly and sincerely, and they distrust me. I want to lavish my graces on them, and they do not want to accept them. They treat me as a dead object, whereas my heart is full of love and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of my pain, imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her children. While those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No one is in a position to console her. This is but a feeble feeble image and likeness of my love.

Write, speak of my mercy . Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [the sacrament of reconciliation].There the greatest miracles take place [and] are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet of my representative and to reveal to him one's misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God's mercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late.

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Divine Mercy Part 67

The loss of each soul plunges me into mortal sadness. You always console me when you pray for sinners. The prayer most pleasing to me is prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know, my daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered.

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Divine Mercy Part 66

Oh, if sinners knew my mercy, they would not perish in such great numbers. Tell sinful souls not to be afraid to approach me; speak to them of my great mercy.

page 497

I desire to unite myself with human souls; my great delight is to unite myself with souls. Know, my daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, my hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to me; they leave me to myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize Love! they treat me as a dead object.

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Divine Mercy Part 65

As I was meditating on the sin of the Angels and their immediate punishment, I asked Jesus why the Angels had been punished as soon as they had sinned.I heard a voice:

Because of their profound knowledge of God. No person on earth, even though a great saint, has such knowledge of God as an Angel has.

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At three o'çlock, implore my mercy, especially for sinners; and if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in my passion, particularly in my abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into my mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of me in virtue of my passion.

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Divine Mercy Part 64

Daughter, I need sacrifice lovingly accomplished, because that alone has meaning for me. Enormous indeed are the debts of the world which are due to me; pure souls can pay them by their sacrifice, exercising mercy in spirit.

I know my daughter, that you understand it and that you do everything within your power. But write this for the many souls who are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions or storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul. If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain my mercy on the day of judgement. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they wouls not be judged, for they would forestall my judgement with their mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 63

Jesus came to the main entrance today, under the guise of a poor young man. this young man, emaciated, barefoot and bareheaded, and with his clothes in tatters, was frozen because the day was cold and rainy. He asked for something hot to eat. So I went to the kitchen, but found nothing there for the poor. But after searching around for some time, I succeeded in finding some soup, which I reheated and into which I crumbled some bread, and I gave it to the poor young man, who ate it. As I was taking the bowl from him, he gave me to know that he was the Lord of heaven and earth. When I saw him as he was, he vanished from my sight. When I went back in and reflected on what had happened at the gate, I heard these words in my soul:

My daughter, the blessings of the poor who bless me as they leave this gate have reached my ears. And your compassion, within the bounds of obedience, has pleased me, and this is why I came down from My throne- to taste the fruits of your mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 62

19 September 1937. today, the lord told me:

My daughter, write that it pains me very much when religious souls receive the Sacrament of Love merely out of habit, as if they did not distinguish this food. I find neither faith nor love in their hearts. I go to such souls with great reluctance. It would be better if they did not receive me.


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My secretary, write that I am more generous toward sinners than toward the just. It was for their sake that I came down from heaven; it was for their sake that my Blood was spilled. Let them not fear to approach me; they are most in need of my mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 61

When the same poor people come to the gate a second time, I treat them with greater gentleness, and I do not let them see that I know they have been here before;[I do this] in order not to embarrass them. And then they speak to me freely about their troubles and needs.

Although Sister N. tells me that is not the way to deal with beggars, and slams the door in their faces, when she is not there, i treat them as my master would. Sometimes more is given when giving nothing, than when giving much in a rude manner.

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Divine Mercy Part 60

My daughter, do you think you have written enough about my mercy? What you have written is but a drop compared to the ocean. I am love and mercy itself. There is no misery that could be a match for my mercy, neither will misery exhaust it, because as it is being granted- it increases. The soul that trusts in my mercy is most fortunate, because I myself take care of it.

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Divine Mercy Part 59

On 15 August 1937 Saint Faustina saw the Virgin Mary again.

Everyone who perseveres zealously till death in my congregation will be spared the fire of purgatory, and I desire that each one distinguish herself by the following virtues: humility and meekness; chastity and love of God and neighbour; compassion and mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 58

Ninth Day
Today bring to me souls who have become lukewarm, and immmerse them in the abyss of my mercy. These souls wound my heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out:"Father,take this cup away from me, if it be your will." For them, the last hope of salvation is to flee to my mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 57

Eighth Day
Today bring to me the souls who are in the prison of Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of my mercy. Let the torrents of my blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by me. They are making retribution to my justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of my church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to my justice.

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Divine Mercy Part 56

Seventh Day
Today bring to me the souls who especially venerate and glorify my mercy, and immerse them in my mercy. These souls sorrowed most over my passion and entered most deeply into my spirit. they are living images of my compassionate heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each of them at the hour of death.

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Divine Mercy Part 55

Sixth Day
Today bring to me the meek and the humble souls and the souls of little children, and immerse them in my mercy. these souls most closely resemble my heart. They strengthened me during my bitter agony. I saw them as earthly angels, who would keep vigil at my altars. I pour out upon them the whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is able to receive my grace. I favour humble souls with my confidence.

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Divine Mercy Part 54

Fifth Day
Today bring to me the souls of heretics and schismatics, and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy. During my bitter passion they tore at my body and heart; that is my church. As they return to unity with the church my wounds heal, and in this way they alleviate my passion

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Divine Mercy Part 53

Fourth Day
Today bring to me the pagans and those who do not yet know me. I was thinking also of them during my bitter passion, and their future zeal comforted my heart. Immerse them in the ocean of my mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 52

Third Day
Today bring to me all devout and faithful souls, and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy. These souls brought me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were that drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness.

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Divine Mercy Part 51

Second Day
Today bring to me souls of priests and religious, and immerse them in my unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave me the strength to endure my bitter passion. Through them, as through channels, my mercy flows out upon mankind.

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Divine Mercy Part 50

First day
Today, bring to me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy. In this way you will console me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges me.

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Divine Mercy Part 49

I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the fount of my mercy, that they may draw therefrom strength and refreshment and whatever graces they need in the hardships of life and, especially, at the hour of death.
On each day you will bring to my heart a different gruop of souls, and you will immerse them in this ocean of my mercy, and I will bring all these souls into the house of my Father. You will do this in this life and in the next. I will deny nothing to any soul whom you will bring to the fount of my mercy. On each day you will beg my Father, on the strenght of my bitter passion, for graces for these souls.

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Divine Mercy Part 48

From all my wounds, like from streams, mercy flows for souls, but the wound in my heart is the fountain of unfathomable mercy. From this fountain spring all graces for souls. The flames of compassion burn me. I desire greatly to pour them out upon souls. Speak to the whole world about my mercy.

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My daughter, know without doubt, and once and for all, that only mortal sin drives me out of a soul, and nothing else.

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Divine Mercy Part 47

When I once asked the Lord Jesus how he could tolerate so many sins and crimes and not punish them, the lord answered me,

I have eternity for punishing[these], and so I am prolonging the time of my mercy for the sake of [sinners]. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of my visitation. My daughter, secretary of my mercy, your duty is not only to write about and proclaim my mercy, but also to beg for this grace for them, so that they too may glorify my mercy.

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Every soul, and especially the soul of every religious, should reflect my mercy. My heart overflows with compassion and mercy for all. The heart of my beloved must resemble mine; from her heart must spring the fountain of my mercy for souls; otherwise I will not acknowledge her as mine.

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Divine Mercy Part 46

[Let]the greatest sinners place their trust in my mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of my mercy. My daughter, write about my mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to my mercy delight me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to my compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in my unfathomable and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just judge, I first open wide the door of my mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of my mercy must pass through the door of my justice...

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Divine Mercy Part 45

Apostle of my mercy, proclaim to hte whole world my unfathomable mercy. Do not be discouraged by the difficulties you encounter in proclaiming my mercy. These difficulties that affect you so painfully are needed for your sanctification and as evidence that this work is mine. My daughter, be diligent in writing down every sentence I tell you concerning my mercy be cause this is meant for a great number of souls who will profit from it.

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Divine Mercy part 44

My beloved daughter, write down this words, that today my heart has rested in this convent. Tell the world about my mercy and my love.

The flames of mercy are burning me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh, what pain they cause me when they do not want to accept them!

My daughter, do whatever is within your power ro spread devotion to my mercy. I will make up for what you lack. Tell aching mankind to snuggle close to my merciful heart, and I will fill it with peace.

Tell, my daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls.

Souls, who spread the honour of my mercy I shield through their entire lives as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a judge for them but the Merciful Saviour.At the last hour, a soul has nothing to defend itself except my mercy. Happy is the soul thatcduring its lifetime immersed itself in the foundation of Mercy, because justice will have no hold on it.

Write this: Everything that exists is enclosed in the bowels of my mercy, more deeply than an infant in its mother's womb. How painfully distrust of my goodness wounds me! Sins of distrust wound me most painfully.

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Divine Mercy Part 43

I desire trust from my creatures. Encourage souls to place great trust in my fathomless mercy. Let the weak, sinful soul have no fear to approach me, for even if it had more sins than there are grains of sand in the world, all would be drowned in the unmeasurable depths of my mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 42

The doctor did not allow me to go to the chapel to attend the Passion Service, although I had a great desire for it; however, I prayed in my own room. Suddenly i heard the bell in the next room, and i went in and rendered a service to a seriously sick person. When I returned to my room, I suddenly saw the lord Jesus, who said,

My daughter, you gave me greater pleasure by rendering me that service than if you had prayed for a long time.

I answered , "But it was not to you, Jesus, but to that patient that I rendered this service," and the Lord answered me,

Yes, my daughter, but whatever you do for your neighbour, you do for me.

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Divine Mercy Part 41

Today, I received some oranges. When the sister had left, I thought to myself, "Should I eat the oranges instead of doing penance and mortifying myself during Holy Lent?" After all, I am feeling a little better." Then, i heard a voice in my soul:

My daughter, you please me more by eating the oranges out of obedience and love of me than by fasting and mortifying yourself of your own will. A soul that loves me very much must, ought to live by my will. I know your heart, and I know that it will not be satisfied by anything but my love alone.

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Divine Mercy Part 40

I want to give myself to souls and to fill them with my love, but a few there are who want to accept all the graces my love has intended for them. My grace is not lost; if the soul for whom it was intended does not accept it, another soul takes it.

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Divine Mercy Part 39

1 March 1937. the Lord gave me to know how displeased he is with a talkative soul.

I find no rest in such a soul. The constant din tires me, and in the midst of it the soul cannot discern my voice

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These words are for you. Do all you possibly can for this work of my mercy. I desire that my mercy be worshipped, and I am giving mankind the last hope of salvation; that is, recourse to my mercy. My heart rejoices in this feast.

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Divine Mercy Part 38

Souls perish in spite of my bitter passion. I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is the Feast of Mercy.If they do not adore my mercy, they will perish for all eternity. Secretary of my mercy, write, tell souls about this great mercy of mine, because the awful day, the day of my justice, is near.

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You will receive a greater reward for your obedience and subjection to your confessor than you will for the practices which you will be carrying out. Know this, my daughter, and act accordingly: anything, no matter how small it be, that has the seal of obedience to my representative is pleasing to me and great in my eyes.

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Divine Mercy Part 37

Oh, what great graces I will grant to souls who say this chaplet; the very depths of my tender mercy are stirred for the sake of those who say the chaplet. Write down this words, my daughter. Speak to the world about my mercy; let all mankind recognize my unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of my mercy; let them profit from the blood and water which gushed forth for them.

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Divine Mercy Part 36

December 16[1936].I have offered this day for Russia. I have offered all my sufferings and prayers for that poor country. After Holy Communion, Jesus said to me,

I cannot suffer that country any longer. Do not tie my hands, my daughter.

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Divine Mercy Part 35

The souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by my mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death.

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At the hour of their death, I defend as my own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person, the indulgnece is the same. when this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God's anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul, and the very depths of my tender mercy are moved for the sake of the sorrowful passion of my son.

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Divine Mercy Part 34

My daughter, if I demand through you that people revere my mercy, you should be the first to distinguish yourself by this confidence in my mercy. I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbours always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbour:the first-by deed, the second-by word, the third -by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverance to my mercy. Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy, and I demand the worship of my mercy through the solemn celebration of the Feast and through the veneration of the image which is painted. By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of my mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works.

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Divine Mercy Part 33

There are few souls who contemplate my passion with true feeling; I give great graces to souls who meditate devoutly on my passion.

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Divine Mercy Part 32

The graces I grant you are not for you alone, but for a great number of other souls as well... And your heart is my constant dwelling place, despite the misery that you are. I unite myself with you, take away your misery and give you my mercy. I perform works of mercy in every soul. The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to my mercy. my mercy is confirmed in every work of my hands. He who trusts in my mercy will not perish, for all his affairs are mine, and his enemies wll be shattered at the base of my footstool.

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Divine Mercy Part 31

My daughter, tell the whole world about my inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of my tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of my mercy. the soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grce flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, b it of man or angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of my most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to me will contemplate my love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from my very depths of tenderness. it is my desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the fount of My Mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 30

Say unceasingly the chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy. I desire that the whole world knows my infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in my mercy.

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Divine Mercy Part 29

Saint Faustina mentions this encounter with the Virgin Mary on 25 March 1936.

Then I saw the Mother of god, who said to me, oh, how pleasing to God is the soulthat follows faithfully the inspirations of his grace! I gave the Saviour to the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about his great mercy and prepare the world for the second coming of him who will come, not as a merciful saviour, but as a just judge. Oh, how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still time for [granting] mercy. If you keep silent now, you will be answering for a great number of souls on that terrible day. Fear nothing. Be faithful to the end. I sympathize with you.

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Divine Mercy Part 28

When you reflect upon what I tell you in the depths of your heart, you profit more than if you had read many books. oh, if souls would only want to listen to my voice when I am speaking in the depths of their hearts, they would reach the peak of holiness in a short time.

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Divine Mercy Part 27

I am more deeply wounded by the small imperfections of chosen souls than by the sins of those living in the world. These little imperfections are not all. I will reveal to you a secret og My Hrat: what I suffer from chosen souls. Ingratitude in return for so many graces is My Heart's constant food, on the part of [such] a chosen soul. their love is lukewarm, and My Heart cannot bear it; these souls force me to reject them. Others distrust my goodness and have no desire to experience such that sweet in their own hearts, but go in search of me, off in the distance, and do not find Me. This distrust of My Goodness hurts me very much. If my death has not convinced you of My love, what will? Often a soul wounds Me mortally, and then no one can comfort Me. They use My graces to offend me.There are souls who despise My graces as well as all the proofs of My love. They do not wish to hear my call, but proceed into the abyss of hell.The loss of these souls plunges me into deadly sorrow. God though I am, I cannot help such a soul because it scorns me; having a free will, it can spurn me or love me. You , who are the dispenser of my mercy, tell all the world about my goodness, and thus you will comfort my heart.

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Divine Mercy Part 26

Write what I say to you. my delight is to be united with you. With great desire, I wait and long for the time when I shall take up my residence sacramentally in your convent. My spirit will rest in that convent and I will bless this neighbourhood in a special way. Out of love for you all, i will avert any punishments which are rightly metred out by my Father's justice. My daughter, I have inclined my heart to your requests.Your assignment and duty here on earth is to beg for mercy for the whole world. No soul will be justified until it turns with confidence to my mercy, and this is why the first Sunday after Easter is to be the Feast of Mercy. On that day, priests are to tell everyone about my great and unfathomable mercy. Tell the confessor that the Image is to be on view in the church and not within the enclosure in the convent. By means of this image I shall be granting many graces to souls; so let every soul have access to it.

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Divine Mercy Part 25

During the night, a soul I had already seen before visited me. However it did not ask for prayer, but reproached me saying that I used to be very haughty and vain..."and now you are interceding for others while you yourself still have certain vices." I answered that I indeed had been vain and haughty, but that I had confessed this before an had done penance for my stupidity, and that I trusted in the goodness of my God, and that if I still fell occasionally, this was indeliberate and never premeditated, even in the smallest things. Still the soul continued to reproach me, saying,"Why are you unwilling to recognize my greatness?" Why do you alone not glorify me for the great deeds as all others do?" Then i saw that it was Satan under the assumed appearance of this soul and I said,"Glory is due to God alone;begone Satan!" And in an instant this soul fell into an abyss, horrible beyond all description. And I said to the wretched soul that I would tell the whole Church about this.

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Divine Mercy Part 24

This episode happened at the cemetary of the Congregation of our Lady of Mercy in Cracow.Saint Faustina was in Cracow for an eight days retreat. All the sisters who die in Cracow are buried there.Saint Faustina was buried there too until her exhumation on 25 november 1966.

In the evening I was walking in the garden saying my rosary and came to the cemetary, I opened the gate a little and began to pray for a while, and I asked them interiorly,"You are very happy are you not?" Then I heard the words,"We are happy in the measure that we have fulfilled god's will"- and then silence as before...





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Divine Mercy Part 23

This prayer will serve to appease my wrath. You will recite it for nine days, on the beads of the rosary, in the following manner: First of all, you will say one our Father and Hail Mary and the I Believe In God. Then on the OUR FATHER beads you will say the following words: "Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world." On the HAIL MARY beads you will say the following words:"For the sake of his sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world." In conclusion , three times you will recite these words:"Holy God, Holy mighty One,Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

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