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Tender Mercies, from Beginning to End [Divine Mercy]
CatholicExchange.com ^ | April 18, 2009 | Doreen Truesdell

Posted on 04/18/2009 8:43:44 PM PDT by Salvation

Tender Mercies, from Beginning to End

April 18th, 2009 by Doreen Truesdell

If you’re comfortable thinking that devotion to Divine Mercy is simply another pious exercise, think again.

Divine Mercy, a belief and understanding of God’s enormous love and compassion for His creatures, is the summary of our entire history with God. It is the ongoing story of God’s pursuance of mankind; of our imperfect relationship with Him; of His unending overtures to reach our hearts and minds; of His dying and rising in order to restore us to life in Him.

Our story — the story of the human race — begins, ends, and finds its purpose through God’s Divine Mercy. It is the thread that holds us in existence, and gives our existence meaning.

The late Pope John Paul II, who formally established Divine Mercy Sunday and who canonized Maria Faustina Kowalska, the obscure Polish nun who brought Christ’s message of mercy to the world, called Divine Mercy our “personal encounter with the merciful Savior Himself.”

If you want to know the heart of the Blessed Trinity, contemplate Divine Mercy. It is the reason for God’s persistence in calling us to Him, the reason He sent His Son to redeem us, and the reason for Christ’s willing incarceration in the tabernacles of the world.

Divine Mercy has roots that run deep into the ancient relationship between God and man, back to the moment when God first called humans into being. Our very creation, in the image of God, is caused by His merciful love. Even in the wake of Adam and Eve’s sin, and their loss of Paradise and the friendship of God, His great mercy is apparent. He promises a Savior to re-establish our relationship and to conquer the result of our sin, death.

Evidence of God’s steadfast love, known to the Hebrews as “hesed,” continues throughout the Old Testament, as God consistently tempers His justice with compassion. Cain, after killing his brother, wears the mark of God on his forehead as a warning to others who would do him violence. Noah and his family are rescued from the floodwaters; Jonah is forgiven and set on the right path. Even Sodom and Gomorrah may be spared, despite deeply heinous crimes, if enough righteous men can be found. (Alas, they are not). The first of the commandments, given to the Hebrews through Moses, promises God’s steadfast love to thousands of generations who faithfully keep His covenant.

The Israelites were the first to recognize and begin to understand Divine Mercy. Through the revelation of God, they learned that His compassionate love, “rachamim,” always tempers His judgment. The Psalms further extol God’s mercy as ruling His justice, and teach us that Divine Mercy is given without merit on our part. The Psalms also urge us to place all our trust and hope in God’s unfailing mercy, no matter what our offenses have been. God’s mercy is unchangeable, inexhaustible, and unfathomable.

The prophets tell us of the breadth of Divine Mercy, that it encompasses not just the Jewish people but all people. We learn that God’s mercy “softens” His righteous justice, and that His justice itself an act of mercy because it turns our hearts back to Him. His justice serves His mercy.

Isaiah promises that God’s mercy will crescendo in the coming of the long-awaited Savior, and His message will be for all people. It is also revealed that the Messiah, the Suffering Servant, will endure unspeakable agonies, torture and death in the name of Divine Mercy.

With the birth of Christ, God’s incomprehensible Divine Mercy takes a human shape. The Blessed Mother’s Fiat, “…He has mercy on those who fear Him…for He has remembered His promise of mercy…” is a response to the fulfillment of Divine Mercy in the coming of Her Infant Son. Mercy is now tangible, and in His earthly life the Master teaches us how to receive and respond to this great gift.

Throughout the beauty of the Gospels, Jesus instructs that Divine Mercy is the foundation of our relationship with God and the reason for our prayers, which without His mercy would be useless. It is revealed to us that Jesus IS mercy, the mercy which will make possible our salvation. The blood and water, which flow from the side of Jesus when He is pierced on the cross, baptizes the Church He has founded with righteousness and eternal life. With the death and resurrection of Christ, the zenith of Divine Mercy is realized.

Christ’s message of Divine Mercy, given to us through the writings of St. Faustina, makes it clear that every soul, no matter its state, will receive oceans of grace and mercy if we will turn to Him for forgiveness of our sins. The smallest act of heartfelt repentance on our part releases a flood of life-giving mercy that washes us clean and allows us to share in His kingdom.

Further, our renewed relationship with God necessitates that we practice mercy towards one another. Like all of God’s gifts, our gratitude and love moves us to action. Christ calls us to be examples of His Divine Mercy among our families, friends and communities. Practice of the works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal, is the goal and fruit of this devotion. We obey the Gospel command, “Be merciful even as your Father is merciful.”

There’s a saying that often shows up plastered to car bumpers: “If you want peace, work for justice.” But the truth is that justice can only exist where mercy is practiced. Only through Divine Mercy can we find the path to both peace and justice in our human experience. It is mercy that would have allowed Teri Shiavo to live. Mercy would enfold every unborn baby with love and put an end to the horror of abortion. Mercy would inspire and motivate us to provide truly charitable social programs, not government-run bureaucracies. Mercy would enable us to love our enemies as Christ did. Mercy would restore our Catholic identity and allow Christ to work through us in order to restore mankind to his Father.

 

Doreen M. Truesdell, a former newspaper journalist, is a freelance writer and editor. She and her husband, Stephen, live in upstate New York with their four children, aged 6 to 14. Copyright © 2009



TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholiclist
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For the sake of His sorrowful passion,

Have mercy on us and on the whole world.

1 posted on 04/18/2009 8:43:44 PM PDT by Salvation
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To: All

Tender Mercies, from Beginning to End [Divine Mercy]
‘I Am Love and Mercy Itself’ (Divine Mercy Is More Than One Day)
Divine Mercy Diary Exerpts - Online
Divine Mercy for our Times
SOLEMN MASS AND CELEBRATION OF DIVINE MERCY - LIVE (2 1/2 hrs.)

The Mystery of Divine Mercy
Reflection: Divine Mercy Sunday
Tender Mercies: The Story of St. Faustina Kowalska and Divine Mercy Sunday
Divine Mercy: Yours for the Asking

A World Ablaze With Divine Mercy (Devotions Abound, Thanks Largely To the Laity)
Pope Benedict On Divine Mercy
Chaplet of Divine Mercy
Divine Mercy Sunday - message from Saint Faustina Kowalska and link to JPII
Feast of The Divine Mercy - April 23, 2006 - EWTN Program Listing

Apostles of Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy Devotion and Novena
THE DIVINE MERCY NOVENA BEGINS ON GOOD FRIDAY.
Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for Pro-Life Causes
Divine Mercy Sunday: A Call for Confidence

Divine Mercy Novena Begins on Good Friday
The Message of Divine Mercy
Chaplet of Divine Mercy
Divine Mercy
(Divine) Mercy Blossoms in Asia: American leaders are amazed by growth of Divine Mercy in Far East

2 posted on 04/18/2009 8:45:49 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: All

**Christ’s message of Divine Mercy, given to us through the writings of St. Faustina, makes it clear that every soul, no matter its state, will receive oceans of grace and mercy if we will turn to Him for forgiveness of our sins.**


3 posted on 04/18/2009 8:46:52 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation; All

God has already had mercy upon the whole world in the embodiment of Jesus.

While the Bible does tell us that God’s mercy is new every morning (I believe that’s in the Old Testament) .. because of Jesus we have a new Covenant based on better promises .. the PROMISE OF FAITH in what Jesus accomplished - the paralyzing of the devil - and the restoration of our relationship with God - for those who call upon the name of Jesus.

We no longer have to beg God to have mercy upon us .. he’s already provided it .. if we only have enough faith to believe it.


4 posted on 04/18/2009 8:52:59 PM PDT by CyberAnt (Michael Yon: "The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq.")
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To: Salvation

I understand that the original painting shows Christ’s right hand at a position below his shoulder.


5 posted on 04/18/2009 8:56:12 PM PDT by 353FMG
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To: Salvation

Great post at a great time.


6 posted on 04/18/2009 8:56:34 PM PDT by HelloooClareece ("We make war that we may live in peace". Aristotle)
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To: CyberAnt

**We no longer have to beg God to have mercy upon us **

When did we ever have to ‘beg’ God’s mercy?

You mean you have never sinned, and have never asked forgivenenss? Even to ask a family member to forgive you?

Then you have begged for God to have mercy upon you.


7 posted on 04/18/2009 8:58:41 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: 353FMG

What you see here is a modern verison.


8 posted on 04/18/2009 9:02:40 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: 353FMG
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Restored" Vilnius

The Original Vilnius Image has been restored.

 

9 posted on 04/18/2009 9:11:55 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: CyberAnt
To Love is to Say “I’m Sorry”

To Love is to Say “I’m Sorry”

April 18th, 2009 by Fr. Paul Grankauskas

The tag line for the 1970s film Love Story reads, “Being in love means never having to say you are sorry.” With all due respect, whoever wrote that was obviously never in love a day in his life.

No matter how dear our loved ones are, no matter how much we may love someone, there are times when we have to say “I’m sorry.” Love moves us to say those words when we know we have sinned against someone — be it God or neighbor — in word or action. Love moves us to acknowledge that our actions, our sins, affect our relationship with those around us: God, our neighbor, the Church. Love is the very thing that moves us to say we are sorry and seek to heal the wounds caused by our sins.

Love moved Peter to weep bitterly the night he denied even knowing Jesus. This was not just some guilty feeling to be glossed over. This was true sorrow for having denied the Master who loved him, and the recognition of his own weakness. After the resurrection, love moves Our Lord to offer Peter a chance for reconciliation. Peter seems to jump at the chance. Three times he will express his love for Jesus, once for each denial.

What does this have to do with this week’s Gospel?

Plenty.

Our Lord’s first words to the Apostles upon His appearance in the Upper Room are not words of condemnation. He does not call them worthless louts for running off on Him. He does not take back the gift of the priesthood conferred upon them on the night of the Last Supper. Rather, His first words are, “Peace be with you.” These are the words the frightened, troubled Apostles needed to hear.

Then comes a great commission: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The Divine Son came into the world to establish His kingdom on earth. The work of building up that kingdom — of building up the Church — would continue with the Apostles.

He commissions them to be ministers of reconciliation: “Whose sins you forgive will be forgiven, and whose sins you retain will be retained.” Jesus Christ, whose very heart is the fount of grace and mercy, commissions the Apostles to be the ministers of those very same gifts. Who better to carry out that task than those who understood the need for mercy? One can easily imagine Peter and Thomas being patient and understanding with the faults of others because they were fully aware of their own weakness and moments of doubt. One can also imagine them being firm in correcting sinners, knowing as they did the glory and power of God revealed in Christ.

This Sunday is a fitting day to celebrate this precious gift of reconciliation, the sacrament of mercy. The second Sunday of Easter was designated by Pope John Paul II as Divine Mercy Sunday. The Holy Father had a special devotion to St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun whose diary spoke of Our Lord’s desire to have a special feast established on this day celebrating and exalting God’s powerful mercy.

Our Lord said to St. Faustina: “I desire that this 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 souls that will go to confession and holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sin and punishment.”

Jesus also told St. Faustina: “When you approach the confessional, know that I myself am waiting there for you. I am hidden only be the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. 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.”

Such is the depth of love Christ has for each of us. Nothing stands in the way of our knowing and receiving that gift except the sins of pride, which prevents us from saying things like “I’m sorry” and “I forgive you,” and despair, which keeps us from thinking we deserve such a gift. What God is willing to give, we should not be so ready to shun or ignore. We may weep bitterly for our sins as Peter did, but we must never forget that God is ready to show us His mercy. He is ready to say, “I forgive you. “ First, we need to say we’re sorry.

 
Fr. Paul Grankauskas is parochial vicar at St. Mary of Sorrows Parish in Fairfax, Virginia.

(This article courtesy of the
Arlington Catholic Herald.)

10 posted on 04/18/2009 9:30:19 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation

Wow! I can’t believe you have so completey misinterpreted what I said.


11 posted on 04/18/2009 11:50:12 PM PDT by CyberAnt (Michael Yon: "The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq.")
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To: CyberAnt

So are you saying that you have never asked forgiveness of God?

The thing that Catholics have is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are forgiven by God when we confess our sins. God then forgets them and they will not be brought up again — unlelss we do it to ourselves and do not trust in the Lord’s forgiveness.

BTW, it is not the priest that forgives the sins in the prayer of absolution — it IS God!


12 posted on 04/19/2009 8:10:14 AM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: CyberAnt
 
enter the Table of Contents of the Catechism of the Catholic Church here
1449 The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and the resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.


13 posted on 04/19/2009 8:11:10 AM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: 353FMG

Sorry those pictures aren’t all showing up. Here are the links that will put them on your page for a short while so you can view them.

http://our.homewithgod.com/divinemercy/images/threeclock.jpg

http://our.homewithgod.com/divinemercy/images/Apparition1.jpg

http://our.homewithgod.com/divinemercy/images/faustina_jesus_03.jpg


14 posted on 04/19/2009 8:13:57 AM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation; All

I must speak a different language because when I read God’s word, I read it as PAST-TENSE - not as a pleading to God.

God has already done everything for us - in the person of Jesus Christ - whom God sent as the sacrifice for our sins. Jesus passed the test and our sins have already been forgiven .. all we have to do to appropriate that eternal forgiveness is to ask Jesus into our heart and accept Jesus as the Son of God and our redeemer.

It’s a done deal.

Of course, I’m speaking as a person who accepted Jesus over 20 years ago - and I still serve Him today.

To continually ask God to forgive our earthly sins (which Jesus died to wipe away - is like telling God that Jesus’ sacrifice was not enough. That’s pretty rude.

And .. do me a favor - stop trying to feed me your Catholic doctrine - I’m not a Catholic and I have no intention of ever being one. I’m a Christian (a follower of Christ) FIRST - and a part of a congregation second. The denomination where I attend church is irrelevant.


15 posted on 04/19/2009 2:23:23 PM PDT by CyberAnt (Michael Yon: "The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq.")
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To: CyberAnt

What time is it in God’s Kingdom?


16 posted on 04/19/2009 3:11:47 PM PDT by OpusatFR (Those embryos are little humans in progress. Using them for profit is slavery.)
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To: OpusatFR; CyberAnt

Excellent question.

Gos is, has been, and always will be.

All tenses! LOl!


17 posted on 04/19/2009 4:31:12 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: CyberAnt
God has already done everything for us - in the person of Jesus Christ - whom God sent as the sacrifice for our sins.

Go forth and Sin Boldly!

18 posted on 04/19/2009 4:50:40 PM PDT by Petronski (For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden. -- Cdl. Stafford)
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To: All
Vultus Christi

Divine Mercy

| Divina Misericordia.jpg

Soul in need of mercy,
whoever and wherever you may be,
know that all the riches of the Divine Mercy
are, for you, contained and offered
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Go before the tabernacle,
or seek out the monstrance displaying the Body of Christ,
--a feast for your eyes--
and there adore the mystery of the Divine Mercy.

Open yourself wide,
become all capacity,
so as to receive within yourself
the mighty torrent of Mercy destined for you and, through you,
for those whose sorrows and weaknesses
you have chosen or have been given to bear.

Adore the Blood and Water that, even now,
gush from the Sacred Side
with a freshness and a purity that never grows old.
Adore the Gift of the Holy Spirit
and desire to receive Him anew today
as the Soul of your soul,
that is, the very Life of your life.

The Fountainhead of Divine Mercy
is hidden in the Sacrament of the Altar.
"He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry;
when He hears it, He will answer you.
And though the Lord give you the bread of affliction,
yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more,
but your eyes shall see your Teacher." (Isaiah 30:19-20)

Close to the Eucharistic Fountainhead,
you will find Mary, the Mater Misericordiae.
She never tires of communicating to souls
the abundance of Divine Mercy.
So close is she to the Source,
that it is as if she and the Source were one:
all that flows out of the Source passes through her,
and it is within her power to direct the flow of Divine Mercy
toward whomsoever she pleases.
Her Son so trusts her maternal Heart
that He has has entrusted all to her,
allowing her freely to dispense His Mercy to souls.

Soul devoted to the Divine Mercy,
adore Him Who is present as Mercy
in the Sacrament of the Altar.
Divine Mercy enters the world through the Most Holy Sacrament,
for therein in is the Heart of Jesus, the wellspring of His Mercy,
and His pierced Side, the mouth of Divine Mercy,
the opening out of which Divine Mercy enters the universe
and streams into souls
to purify, sanctify, and glorify them.

Soul surfeited with miseries,
if you would experience the Divine Mercy,
draw near to the Eucharistic Presence of the Pierced One;
remain in the light of His Eucharistic Face;
hold yourself still and full of expectation before His Open Side.
There, you will never be disappointed in your hope.
For with Him is Mercy and copious redemption,
and He will forgive you all your sins.
Every tabernacle that shelters His adorable Body and Blood
makes available to you, and to all,
the Fountainhead of the inexhaustible Mercy of God.


19 posted on 04/19/2009 5:09:40 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation

Oops.
God is, has been, and always will be.


20 posted on 04/19/2009 5:10:23 PM PDT by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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