Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Wednesday's Mercy Minutes...
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Tuesday's Mercy Minutes...
Divine Mercy Daily
Reflections from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
Tuesday, October 6
Union of Love
By Your Will, Lord
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 bit 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 (Diary, 1023).
My Prayer Response:
Lord Jesus, help me to love You even more and live by Your will. Teach me to unite even my smallest deeds with You and so please our heavenly Father.
OCTOBER 6, 2020
— St. Bonaventure
Monday, October 5, 2020
Monday's Mercy Minutes...
Divine Mercy Daily
Reflections from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
Monday, October 5
Union of Love
Fill Me, Lord
Then I heard the following words spoken thus: I want you to be My spouse. Fear pierced my soul, but I calmly continued to reflect on what sort of an espousal this could be. However, each time fear would invade my soul, a power from on high would give it peace (Diary, 912).
The Lord said to me, I want to give Myself to souls and to fill them with My love, but 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 (Diary, 1017).
My Prayer Response:
Lord Jesus, You want to give Yourself to souls and fill them with Your love and mercy. But so many souls refuse Your love. Change my heart, Lord, to desire You alone. And fill me with Your love and mercy.
OCTOBER 5, 2020 |
"Be one of the small number who find the way to life, and enter by the narrow gate into Heaven. Take care not to follow the majority and the common herd, so many of whom are lost. Do not be deceived; there are only two roads: one that leads to life and is narrow; the other that leads to death and is wide. There is no middle way." — St. Louis de Montfort |
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Sunday's Mercy Minutes...
Divine Mercy Daily
Reflections from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
Sunday, October 4
Union of Love
Gratitude for God's Mercy
In the evening, a great longing took possession of my soul. I took the pamphlet with the Image of the Merciful Jesus on it and pressed it to my heart, and the following words burst forth from my soul: "Jesus, Eternal Love, I live for You, I die for You, and I want to become united with You." Suddenly, I saw the Lord in His inexpressible beauty. He looked at me graciously and said, My daughter, I too came down from heaven out of love for you; I lived for you, I died for you, and I created the heavens for you. And Jesus pressed me to His Heart and said to me, Very soon now; be at peace, My daughter. When I was alone, my soul was set afire with the desire to suffer until the moment when the Lord would say, "Enough" (Diary, 853).
My Prayer Response:
Lord Jesus, thank You for what You have done for me and for the whole world. I thank You for the love You have for me. I also thank You for the love and mercy You want to pour out on all mankind. I thank You even for those who have not thanked You. Give them grateful hearts, O Lord.
OCTOBER 4, 2020 |
"You change your life by changing your heart." — St. Benedict of Nursia |
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Saturday's Mercy Minutes...
Divine Mercy Daily
Reflections from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
Saturday, October 3
Union of Love
A Pure Victim of Love
October 2, 1936. The First Friday of the month. After Holy Communion, I suddenly saw the Lord Jesus, who spoke these words to me: Now I know that it is not for the graces or gifts that you love Me, but because My will is dearer to you than life. That is why I am uniting Myself with you so intimately as with no other creature (Diary, 707).
When I entered the chapel for a five-minute adoration, I asked the Lord Jesus how I should conduct myself during this retreat. Then I heard this voice in my soul: I desire that you be entirely transformed into love and that you burn ardently as a pure victim of love ... (Diary, 726).
My Prayer Response:
Lord Jesus, You know my miseries and weaknesses better than I do, but Your infinite mercy can set my heart on fire for You alone. Make me burn ardently as a pure victim of love. Have mercy on me, a sinner, and on the whole world!
OCTOBER 3, 2020 |
"There is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside." — St. Basil the Great |
Friday, October 2, 2020
Friday's Mercy Minutes..,.
Divine Mercy Daily
Reflections from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
Friday, October 2
Union of Love
You Alone, Lord
Once, I suddenly saw Jesus in great majesty, and He spoke these words to me: My daughter, if you wish, I will this instant create a new world, more beautiful than this one, and you will live there for the rest of your life. I answered, "I don't want any worlds. I want You, Jesus. I want to love You, with the same love that You have for me. I beg You for only one thing: to make my heart capable of loving You. I am very much surprised at Your offer, my Jesus; what are those worlds to me? Even if You gave me a thousand of them, what are they to me? You know very well, Jesus, that my heart is dying of longing for You. Everything that is not You is nothing to me." ... Then I heard these words: With no other soul do I unite Myself as closely and in such a way as I do with you, and this because of the deep humility and ardent love which you have for Me (Diary, 587).
My Prayer Response:
Dearest Jesus, like St. Faustina, I want to desire only You. I want to live now and in eternity with humble obedience to Your will — out of a love that is on fire for You alone.
OCTOBER 2, 2020 |
"There is nothing the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder, as prayer." — St. Philip Neri |
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Thursday's Mercy Minutes...
Divine Mercy Daily
Reflections from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
Thursday, October 1
Union of Love
The Call to Intimacy
I heard these words in my soul: You are My spouse forever; your chastity should be greater than that of the angels, for I call no angel to such intimacy as I do you. The smallest act of My spouse is of infinite value. A pure soul has inconceivable power before God (Diary, 534).
My Prayer Response:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the call to intimacy with You in a chaste union of love. Purify my heart, O Lord! May I make use of Your merciful love for me to intercede for the salvation of souls.
OCTOBER 1, 2020 |
"[Jesus'] body was for Him not a limitation, but an instrument, so that He was both in it and in all things, and outside all things, resting in the Father above. At one and the same time—this is the wonder—as man He was a human life, and as Word He was sustaining the life of the universe, and as Son He was in constant union with the Father." —St. Athanasius of Alexandria |