The waters are beginning to rise
I am currently reading the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. It is the fascinating and intensely holy journey of the Polish nun whom Christ commissioned with the task of spreading devotion to His Divine Mercy.
She records the words spoken to her by Jesus, in which He reveals an unfathomable love for mankind.
Jesus’ Frustration
He also tells her of how deeply saddened He is when we don’t come to Him with pure, childlike trust.
“This distrust of My goodness hurts me very much. If My death has not convinced you of My love, what will?....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… I cannot help such a soul because it scorns Me; having a free will, it can spurn Me or love Me.” (580) (My italics)
Last Friday we commemorated the death of Christ, following the horrible scourging with lead-tipped whips and being forced to carry the heavy wooden cross before having His hands and feet nailed to it.
He did all that to prove how much He loves each one of us – regardless of our past.
In doing so He conquered death and Satan, and urgently wants us to ask for His mercy and forgiveness, so that we can be with Him in Heaven when our life here on earth is over.
It doesn't take a genius to understand Christ’s frustration when we still refuse to believe in Him, despite everything He’s done for us!
She records the words spoken to her by Jesus, in which He reveals an unfathomable love for mankind.
Jesus’ Frustration
He also tells her of how deeply saddened He is when we don’t come to Him with pure, childlike trust.
“This distrust of My goodness hurts me very much. If My death has not convinced you of My love, what will?....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… I cannot help such a soul because it scorns Me; having a free will, it can spurn Me or love Me.” (580) (My italics)
Last Friday we commemorated the death of Christ, following the horrible scourging with lead-tipped whips and being forced to carry the heavy wooden cross before having His hands and feet nailed to it.
He did all that to prove how much He loves each one of us – regardless of our past.
In doing so He conquered death and Satan, and urgently wants us to ask for His mercy and forgiveness, so that we can be with Him in Heaven when our life here on earth is over.
It doesn't take a genius to understand Christ’s frustration when we still refuse to believe in Him, despite everything He’s done for us!
Mercy isn't just reserved for Catholics!
Our Free Choice to Descend Into Hell
Modern man has decided that he’s too smart for God and is happier without Him.
All around us is clear evidence that this is not so. Yet we’re such ‘a stiff-necked people’ that we persist in our self-delusion. Do we really prefer our culture of death, the direct result of scorning God’s Ten Commandments? Do we really believe that we live in a better world now? Do you believe that?
As has already been noted, God is such a gentleman that when we say we don’t want Him, He leaves. And then we complain about the state of the world and wonder ‘how God can let it happen.’
Don’t we understand that we let it happen? We’re only getting what we asked for! And so we ‘do not wish to hear (His) call, but proceed into the abyss of hell.’
It’s our choice and an exercise of our free will. (Which, by the way, we wouldn’t have if God hadn’t given it to us….)
Modern man has decided that he’s too smart for God and is happier without Him.
All around us is clear evidence that this is not so. Yet we’re such ‘a stiff-necked people’ that we persist in our self-delusion. Do we really prefer our culture of death, the direct result of scorning God’s Ten Commandments? Do we really believe that we live in a better world now? Do you believe that?
As has already been noted, God is such a gentleman that when we say we don’t want Him, He leaves. And then we complain about the state of the world and wonder ‘how God can let it happen.’
Don’t we understand that we let it happen? We’re only getting what we asked for! And so we ‘do not wish to hear (His) call, but proceed into the abyss of hell.’
It’s our choice and an exercise of our free will. (Which, by the way, we wouldn’t have if God hadn’t given it to us….)
Simple forgiveness is all Jesus asks us to request from Him
Sin & Satan: Myth or Reality?
We have to turn our backs on the secular culture that tells us there is no such thing as sin. The world and its very real prince, Satan, is having a wonderful time right now.
Satan knows that if we acknowledge sin, we’ll stop wasting our money on frivolous things and give more to the poor and needy. We'll spend less time watching television and more on praying and going to church. We’ll then be in real danger of getting out of his grasp and go to Heaven.
He hates us, and wants us to forget about God and sin.
Deep down we know that sin is real, even though we try to ignore it. Everyone one of us understands that murder is a sin, lying is a sin, theft, envy, etc.
All the things the Ten Commandments tell us not to do we are innately aware are wrong. God put that moral code into our hearts. But we don’t want to do the right thing because it ‘impinges on our freedom.’
As I mentioned earlier, where has that version of ‘freedom’ got us?
Those who have been through wars remind us that freedom doesn’t come for free. How much truer that is with God! We have to battle to keep our freedom.
We have to turn our backs on the secular culture that tells us there is no such thing as sin. The world and its very real prince, Satan, is having a wonderful time right now.
Satan knows that if we acknowledge sin, we’ll stop wasting our money on frivolous things and give more to the poor and needy. We'll spend less time watching television and more on praying and going to church. We’ll then be in real danger of getting out of his grasp and go to Heaven.
He hates us, and wants us to forget about God and sin.
Deep down we know that sin is real, even though we try to ignore it. Everyone one of us understands that murder is a sin, lying is a sin, theft, envy, etc.
All the things the Ten Commandments tell us not to do we are innately aware are wrong. God put that moral code into our hearts. But we don’t want to do the right thing because it ‘impinges on our freedom.’
As I mentioned earlier, where has that version of ‘freedom’ got us?
Those who have been through wars remind us that freedom doesn’t come for free. How much truer that is with God! We have to battle to keep our freedom.
The light is always on for us
Complete Forgiveness
Divine Mercy Sunday is this weekend.
‘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.’ (570)
Jesus is hurt that we don't understand how true freedom is a release from our sins. He reassures us that absolutely no one has reason to shrink from going to Confession. ‘Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.’ (699)
Christ rejoices when those who have been away from the Sacraments come back to the Church. His parable of the Prodigal Son wasn’t simply a moving story: He told it so that we could understand God's joy when one of His lost sheep comes back to the fold.
For non-Catholics, it is also a call to ask for forgiveness as well as an opportunity to see the many ways the Catholic Church can help its members draw closer to God and to Heaven.
‘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… Mankind will not have peace until it returns to the fount of My mercy.’ (699)
Jesus' call for our repentance is just as valid today as it was when Noah was told to build the Ark, when Jonah was sent to save Nineveh, when John the Baptist preached in the desert or Peter converted over 3,000 people at Pentecost.
This Sunday,let’s take advantage of God’s fathomless ability to forgive.
Divine Mercy Sunday is this weekend.
‘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.’ (570)
Jesus is hurt that we don't understand how true freedom is a release from our sins. He reassures us that absolutely no one has reason to shrink from going to Confession. ‘Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.’ (699)
Christ rejoices when those who have been away from the Sacraments come back to the Church. His parable of the Prodigal Son wasn’t simply a moving story: He told it so that we could understand God's joy when one of His lost sheep comes back to the fold.
For non-Catholics, it is also a call to ask for forgiveness as well as an opportunity to see the many ways the Catholic Church can help its members draw closer to God and to Heaven.
‘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… Mankind will not have peace until it returns to the fount of My mercy.’ (699)
Jesus' call for our repentance is just as valid today as it was when Noah was told to build the Ark, when Jonah was sent to save Nineveh, when John the Baptist preached in the desert or Peter converted over 3,000 people at Pentecost.
This Sunday,let’s take advantage of God’s fathomless ability to forgive.
It is never too late to return to God and His Commandments while we are in this life.
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