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Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy: 365 Days with Saint Faustina. Reflections and prayers inspired by the Diary of Divine Mercy. The Diary of Saint Faustina is a spiritual treasure given to the Church by Jesus Himself through the humble instrumentality of a cloistered nun. It consists of Saint Faustina’s six handwritten notebooks revealing her faith and her daily encounters with our Lord. These short reflections were written to help you discover the spiritual wisdom revealed by Saint Faustina ...
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If you are given the glorious gift of a deep faith, many will see this and rejoice in it. But it may be the occasion for some to have jealousy. This is a sad and painful experience. Know that the jealousy of another is not caused by you or by your faith, it is caused by their sin. Therefore, if you experience the jealousy or ridicule of another ste…
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“Ignominy” could mean public shame, disgrace, humiliation and embarrassment. But it takes on special meaning when applied to Jesus. The “cloak of ignominy” refers to the public humiliation that Jesus endured as a result of His Cross. He was condemned as a sinner and liar. He was charged with deceiving the people and attempting to undermine the civi…
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What is it that is most dear to the heart of our Blessed Mother? If she were to appear to you and offer you her greatest desire for you, what would it be? Perhaps there would be some specific need that she has been made aware of by God for your life, but in addition to this she would most certainly call you to the virtues of humility, purity and lo…
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The evil one hates you with a profound hate. And the closer you draw to God, fulfilling His Divine Will, the more he will seek to attack you. Do not fear the bark of this little dog. One of the most common ways the evil one attempts to deceive you is by presenting himself as an angel of light. He does this by using his natural angelic powers of inf…
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One common temptation that many face is that of living either in the past or in the future, and failing to live in the present moment. You live in the past when you remain controlled by past events, sins, hurts, etc. The past must be healed and your sins of the past must be forgiven. Once that is done, you must let go of the past and not allow it t…
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The message of God’s Mercy is so simple that we can easily miss it, even after reflecting upon the many pages of this book or upon the Diary of Saint Faustina. The simple truth that the message of God’s Mercy must convey is that we should have no fear, whatsoever, of admitting our sins and trusting in God’s perfect forgiveness. Fear easily paralyze…
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This heading may not seem immediately attractive to you. Who would want to endure these things? But we ought to remember that Jesus endured them all to the greatest degree. Was Jesus happy? Was His soul at peace? Most certainly. This reveals to us that these crosses in life cannot ultimately do us harm if we are immersed in the presence of God. Rem…
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At times, when we love God with a profound love, we may find that we have strong impulsions to do great things for God. And yet, despite our desire and firm resolve, it can seem as if God is not permitting our work to move forward. This may be because the Lord is not ready to act. Though it’s good to have a strong desire to do great things for God,…
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Do you ignore God? It’s far too easy to do and, therefore, all too common. Very often, God is ignored after receiving Holy Communion. Many people get in the habit of coming forward to receive Him and do so with many distractions and little attention to the sacredness of this encounter. Do not allow yourself to fall into this habit. Receiving our Lo…
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You must seek to hear God speak to you through an inner conviction within your soul. At times you may sense that God’s Voice is loud and clear, and at other times it may seem faint and confusing. There are many things that can compete with the Voice of God but if you are open, you will come to know His Voice with familiarity. This is important for …
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Saint Faustina was asked to have an image of Jesus painted with rays of Mercy flowing from His Heart. She did so and Jesus affirmed to her that many souls would be drawn to Him through this image. It’s interesting to think about the importance that Jesus and Saint Faustina gave to this image. Indeed it speaks volumes regarding the Mercy flowing rad…
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Tension is often a part of life. Some deal with much tension, frustration and even extreme anger in their daily lives. At first, the anger of another can set you on guard and tempt you to fear. This is a normal reaction. The anger of another can also push you to react and to fight back with anger, spite and bitterness of your own. You may get defen…
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Does God get angry with you when you do not accomplish a certain task for His glory? It depends. He may issue forth His holy wrath if the failure is on account of your sin. This wrath is an act of His Mercy calling you to repentance. But at other times your work and service of God may be hindered by things beyond your control. The Lord knows this a…
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At first thought, “humdrum” and “glory” may not appear to go together unless they were used in contrast. But these two words are married together in the Mind of God. They are “married” in the sense that we are able to glorify God and obtain holiness through our day-to-day humdrum duties. Though this may not be immediately apparent, understanding th…
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It is a common practice for those who are married to renew their vows from time to time, especially on significant anniversaries. The renewal of vows and promises also takes place by priests and religious. This practice is a good and holy one in that we must constantly renew our total dedication to God in our vocation. But the renewal of vows and p…
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The pinnacle of our relationship with God includes being stripped of every other earthly tie so that nothing holds us back from running toward God with great passion and purpose. We must be freed of every attachment in this life so that our one attachment is God and His holy Will. This does not mean we ought to neglect our love for others. This is …
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No one can see your heart except you and God. God is aware of every detail of your interior life to a perfect degree; you see the details of your interior life to an imperfect degree. Nonetheless, it is important to become increasingly aware of the reality of your inner life. See your soul as a hidden and secret world in which the Mercy of God resi…
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One very common tendency and temptation most people struggle with is to become fixated upon sufferings, humiliations and the false opinions of others. When we experience one or more of these burdens, we can be tempted to make them the central focus of our life. For example, if you are unjustly humiliated and others have an erroneous opinion of you,…
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Are you willing to accept the Will of God in your life? If so, you must be open to all the details. God’s Will is not some grandiose generalization. Choosing His Will is not simply a matter of saying that you choose to follow Him with broad strokes. Rather, choosing His Will is saying “Yes” over and over to every little prompting and every inspirat…
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If you could pick two things to gaze at, what would they be? Ideally, the two greatest things to gaze at are the Mercy of God and your own misery. Most likely, it immediately makes sense that the Mercy of God would be one of the most important things to gaze at, but the wisdom of gazing at your own misery may not be immediately apparent. What we ne…
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Perhaps thinking about your death is frightening. It may not be something that you actually consider very often. But it is a grace to be able to look at one’s death directly and with full confidence. And this is only possible to do with full confidence if your life is in order and given completely to God. If you can honestly look into your soul and…
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It is proper to speak of both the Justice of God as well as His Mercy. They are not opposed to each other. His Justice will be dealt to those who refuse to repent just as it was dealt to the angels who refused to serve God. But, for now, is it more proper to say that God is Merciful. In fact, the evil one would love for us to become consumed with t…
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Do you want to be a saint? Hopefully the answer is “Yes.” But what about this question: Do you think you can become a saint? This may be more difficult to answer. It’s easy to dream of sanctity and to desire it, but when faced with the task of achieving it, discouragement can easily set in. Discouragement comes when you see the high call of holines…
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God created us with passions. These can be either great blessings in our Christian walk or they can become great snares. It all depends on what controls each passion. Passions of anger, for example, can either be used for good or ill. When anger takes over and the source of this anger is a wound or lack of mercy toward another, then we become bound…
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Have you ever made a retreat? Some are privileged to take time away from the busyness of life so as to spend an extended time listening to our Lord and being in His merciful presence. Others find it hard to find even a day to enter such a retreat. Regardless of whether you have or have not had this opportunity, know that you need time alone with Je…
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Imagine being a small child on a small boat in the middle of the sea. A storm sets in and you cannot see land in any direction. You are tossed and turned in the waves as they cover the bow with each crash and you wonder how you will survive. Now imagine that your dad is also on the boat with you. He tells you to sit and hold on and that all will be…
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We cannot escape the Hand of God. He is the one who sustains the Universe and keeps all things in being. Without His constant care we would cease to exist. But we remain under His providential Hand in one of two ways. Either we are guided by the “rule of love” or by the “rule of justice.” The rule of justice is God’s way of guiding our lives when w…
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Imagine if Jesus came to you in poverty, hunger and cold and He asked you to care for Him. This experience might startle you and cause you to question if this person really was Jesus. But it is Jesus. Jesus comes to us every day in the person who is in need. It may be that we encounter someone who is homeless, hungry and in need of clothing. If thi…
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Do you want to do amazing things in this world? Do you sometimes have grandiose ideas and dreams? Sometimes we have more secular dreams of wealth and fame, and sometimes we may have dreams of doing extraordinary things for God and for the Church. But these do not have to be dreams because each and every one of us is called to extraordinary things. …
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What is it that makes someone beautiful? More than anything else it is the virtue of humility. Humility is exceptionally attractive. Though some may not be that impressed with the humble soul at first, over time, humility will draw even the most arrogant and self-centered person to itself. It’s hard to ignore the deep attractiveness of a humble sou…
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Where is God? It’s easy to think of God being in Heaven or some far off place, looking down upon us and guiding all of creation in accord with His holy Will. This is true, but it’s not the full picture. God is perfectly “transcendent” in that He is way beyond us and beyond the created world. But He is also perfectly “immanent” in that He lives with…
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When you seek to serve our Lord with your whole heart, you may find that He speaks to you about His daily Will. It may not be completely clear, but you may have a sense that He wants this or that from you. God does not typically present you with the entire plan He has for your life all at once. Rather, He offers bits and pieces as needed. Believing…
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Saint Mother Teresa is often quoted as saying that God asks us to be faithful, not successful. In other words, we are called to offer our best to the Lord, striving to be faithful to His holy Will, and then leave the rest to Him. At times it may appear that our “best” does not produce the desired good fruit that we desire. Perhaps an attempt you ma…
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This may seem like an unusual title. How can sin be a “blessing?” True, strictly speaking sin is an offense against God and has the effect of separating us from God. Thus, sin is not a blessing in the strict sense. But God is All-Powerful and can use everything for His glory, even our sin. Sin could be spoken of as a blessing only in the sense that…
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Our calling in life can be described as a call to divinization. What does this mean? It means that God came to Earth and took on our human nature so as to draw us into His very life. We are, in a sense, called to become God. This idea of “divinization” was common among the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, Clement of…
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What should our response be to God? Oftentimes we become self-consumed in our relationship with God. We focus in on our troubles and needs. These must be given over to God and let go of. When we do this we will discover that we begin to see the glory and goodness of God at work in our lives and we will begin to be filled with the utmost gratitude t…
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Some people are deeply troubled in life and cannot seem to sort out their difficulties. They are “needy” in the sense that they are constantly seeking something to offer them consolation. They may believe that riches or other forms of earthly consolations are what they want but what they do not realize is that the Lord is the answer to all their ne…
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The Lord desires to come to you and make His dwelling within your heart. But when He comes to you, what does He find? What is the condition of your heart? Some hearts are like a fragrant rose garden. There is light, beauty, magnificence and radiance. It’s a place of peaceful repose and a place made holy by the presence of our Lord. Other hearts are…
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When you pray, how do you go to our Lord? It’s certainly good to offer Him your entire day in loving devotion and to speak to Him throughout the day as to your closest friend. But there are other times when our prayer must be intense and should be expressed with intensity. One way to do this is to literally fall down prostrate before our Lord. In t…
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Only after someone has suffered greatly do they begin to understand the good fruits that can come forth from such suffering. In and of itself, suffering is the result of our fallen human condition. But because Jesus entered our human condition, embracing all suffering and redeeming it, suffering now has great power when freely embraced by us and un…
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Imagine if you found a source of unlimited natural resources by creating a machine that transforms only a small amount of oxygen into an unlimited amount of energy. All you had to do is turn on the machine you created and the energy is generated endlessly. That would be quite an invention. But something like this does exist on a spiritual level. Th…
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If someone in your family were seriously ill, or in prison, or in some form of grave need, would that be a burden to you or a blessing? Think about it. Do those with special needs make your life more difficult? If this question were answered on a purely practical level the answer may be, “Yes.” But if it is answered on a more spiritual level, the a…
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What do you do after receiving Holy Communion? Do you go back to your pew in a distracted way, with your mind wandering, paying attention to others around you, and failing to encounter our Lord on an authentic spiritual level? Or do you allow that moment to be a moment of true prayer and communion with God? If the truth is the former, just be hones…
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It’s important to know that Jesus has every right to bring forth His justice here and now. He has every right to be severe with us on account of our sins and to bring eternal judgment upon us. This truth is often forgotten on account of His Mercy. But we should never forget this fact. It’s important to remember this because unless we understand the…
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If you labor, day and night, spreading the works of God, this is good. Good fruit will come from your commitment to serve the Will of God and to spread His Divine Mercy. But we should also realize that God is able to use us to spread His Mercy until the end of the world. How? Only God knows. But He does desire to use you for this purpose. Some, lik…
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How would you treat someone you love? Typically, with family or very close friends we desire that which is best for them and that which makes them happy. God desires the same for each one of us, but we may be surprised at what God sees as the source of our happiness and what He deems to be best for us. Furthermore, though God’s love is perfect for …
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It’s been said that “beauty” is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, some say that the definition of beauty depends upon the subjective preference of one person or another. Though there may be some truth to this on a more superficial level, on a deeper level true beauty comes from God and is objective in every way. It’s not dependent upon ou…
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How do you overcome your sins? Every sin is different and requires specific prayer and sacrifice so as to detach from them. Three common sins are: those of the flesh, those of anger and those of pride. Each one of these sins can be overcome but may require special attention. If you struggle with sins of the flesh, try to fast. Give up that which is…
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Which do you prefer for your life? Daily sensory experiences of sweetness or bitterness? In other words, do you desire to take delight in the many aspects of your daily life or do you desire that the daily duty you fulfill leaves you with a certain bitterness within your senses? For most people the answer is simple. “Sweetness” is much better. But …
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Every great saint exemplifies some aspect of the goodness of God. Some live lives of exceptional detachment from worldly riches, some serve the poor with unwavering commitment, some live lives of deep prayer, some have mystical revelations, some write volumes of books revealing the depths of faith, but all are called to bring forth the Mercy of God…
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