Divine Mercy Overcomes Evil

By Chris Sparks

 

"[T]he limit imposed upon evil, of which man is both perpetrator and victim, is ultimately the Divine Mercy" - St. John Paul II, Memory and Identity

Happy Easter! During this week, we celebrate the octave of Easter, an eight-day celebration of the Lord's work of salvation and redemption of us all. As Pope Francis reminded us in his Regina Caeli address on April 6, the Liturgy treats the entire octave - eight days - of Easter as one day, to "help us enter into the mystery" of the feast. And Divine Mercy Sunday is the capstone of that "day" of Easter joy, of the Lord's love triumphing over sin, death, and hell.

As we celebrate this day of redemption, we ought to give thanks for what we've been given and ready ourselves to make use of the graces and gifts in the face of the present, growing darkness in the world. We have been given some incredibly potent weapons for spiritual warfare in the Divine Mercy message and devotion. We are promised:

In this hour [the three o'clock Hour of Great Mercy], I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 1320).

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 wide 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 (Diary, 1572).

Divine Mercy Sunday comes once a year; the Hour of Great Mercy comes once a day. As you see the ongoing tragedy of the daily news, make a list for yourself of the people, places, and institutions that need healing, conversion, or other forms of the Divine Mercy. Bring all the petitions to the Lord Jesus during the 3 o'clock hour of great mercy in virtue of His Passion, asking His will for them, placing them in the hands of the Blessed Mother to bring to her Son and plead His grace and mercy on them.

Now anyone can pray, and everyone is supposed to - needs to - pray. But God is more free to act with all His might in response to the prayer of someone who loves and obeys Him than someone who resists Him every step of the way. In order to best help your fellow Christians, your enemies, and the world, you need to first help yourself by taking advantage of the tremendous graces of Divine Mercy Sunday.

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. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy (Diary, 699).

I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy (Diary, 1109).

Whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (Diary, 300).

Divine Mercy Sunday is an annual opportunity to become the most potent prayer warrior, the most luminous Christian, the most potent salt of the earth you can possibly be. Washed clean through the graces of Divine Mercy Sunday, our prayer and our sufferings united to the Cross of Christ and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass become magnified, more powerful than ever. And the graces we can draw through the Divine Mercy Chaplet become greater than ever.

When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the Merciful Savior (Diary, 1541).

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 (Diary, 687).

I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy (Diary, 687).

Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will (Diary, 1731).

The chaplet, says Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, one of the greatest living authorities on Divine Mercy, is so very powerful because it is an exercise of the baptismal priesthood of the believer and the application of the graces available through the Mass. When prayed as a novena (nine days of prayer for a particular intention), the Lord told St. Faustina, "By this Novena, [of Chaplets] I will grant every possible grace to souls" (Diary, 796).

Our praying of the chaplet is more urgent than ever because the Body of Christ is under attack and bleeding from many wounds. As the Holy Father recently said:

[W]hat must continue on the part of all is the spiritual journey of prayer, intense prayer; the concrete participation and tangible help in the defense and protection of our brothers and sisters, who are persecuted, exiled, killed, beheaded, for the only reason of being a Christian ... They are our martyrs today and they are many; we are able to say that they are more numerous than in the first centuries - Pope Francis, Regina Caeli, April 6, 2015, Easter Monday.

How can we obtain a victory over the enemies of the Church? Through venerating the Divine Mercy Image:

I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory (Diary, 47, 48).

I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You (Diary, 327).

I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world (Diary, 47).

The enemy of my brother is my enemy. Therefore, all of us may pray for the triumph of God's grace over the malice and ignorance of the enemies of the Church, that they may be converted and restored to the divine life and love in the family of God for which they were intended. Where Divine Mercy triumphs, there will be forgiveness and peace, reconciliation and healing. All things shall be made new, all restored to communion, if we cooperate with God's grace and are faithful.

Let us pray for one another that we may be truly obedient to the law of God out of love for God and neighbor, as well as virtuous love of ourselves. Let us ask God's forgiveness for our sins, turn with trust to His mercy, and use the great graces He offers us through the Divine Mercy message and devotion to bring transformation of the present age from darkness to light, from apostasy to faith, from madness to mercy.

SGSBK

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