The Divine Mercy promise for the Sunday following Easter (Low Sunday) given by Our Lord Jesus Christ to Saint Faustina:
Our Lord Jesus said, "The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet...Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy."
How could anyone be indifferent to so generous a Saviour?- Saint Faustina, Diary, 699.
"Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you." Matthew 11:28
The following is taken from the book, "The Way of Divine Love" these words of Our Lord to Sr. Josefa Menendez make clear how much He loves us and wants to forgive our sins if we will only let Him:
After the betrayal in the Garden of Olives, Judas wandered away, a fugitive, a prey to the reproaches of his conscience which taxed him with the most execrable of sacrileges. And when he heard that I was condemned to death, he gave himself up to despair and hanged himself.
Who can measure the deep and intense grief of My Heart when I saw this soul so long taught by love... the recipient of My doctrine, one who had so often heard from My lips words of forgiveness for the most heinous crimes, finally throw himself into hell fire?
Ah! Judas, why not throw yourself at My feet that I may forgive you too? If you are afraid to come near Me because of the raging mob that surrounds Me, at least look at Me... My eyes will meet yours, for even now they are lovingly intent upon you.
O all you who are steeped in sin, and who for a time more or less long have lived as wanderers and fugitives because of your crimes... if the offenses of which you have been guilty have hardened and blinded your hearts... if to grant satisfaction to one or other of your passions you have sunk into evil ways... Ah! When the motives or accomplices of your sin have forsaken you, and you realize the state of your soul, O then, do not yield to despair! For as long as a breath of life remains a man may have recourse to mercy and ask for pardon.
If you are still young, if already the scandals of your life have lowered you in the eyes of the world, do not be afraid... Even if there is reason to treat you as a criminal, to insult and cast you off... your God has no wish to see you fall into the flames of hell... On the contrary He ardently desires you to come to Him so that He may forgive you. If you dare not speak to Him, at least look at Him and let the sighs of your heart reach Him, and at once you will find His kind and fatherly hand stretched out to lead you to the springs of pardon and life.
Should it happen that you have spent the greater part of your life in impiety and indifference, and that the sudden approach of the hour of death fills you with blinding despair... Ah! Do not let yourself be deceived, for there is still time for pardon. If only one second of life remains to you, in that one second you can buy back eternal life!
If your whole life has been spent in ignorance and error... if you have been a cause of great evil to other men, to society at large, or to religion, and if through some set of circumstances you have come to realize that you have been deceived... do not allow yourself to be crushed by the weight of your sins and of the evil of which you have been the instrument; but with a soul penetrated with deep contrition throw yourself into an abyss of confidence, and hasten to Him who awaits your return only to pardon you.
The case is the same for a soul that has been faithful to the observance of My law from childhood, but who has gradually cooled off into the tepid and unspiritual ways of an easy life. She has so to say forgotten her soul and its higher aspirations. God was asking of her greater efforts, but blinded by habitual failings, she has fallen into tepidity worse than actual sin, for her deaf and drowsy conscience neither feels remorse nor hears the voice of God.
Then, perhaps, that soul awakens with a shock of realization: life appears to have been a failure, empty and useless for her salvation... She has lost innumerable graces, and the evil one, loath to lose her, makes the most of her distress, plunges her into discouragement, sadness and dejection... and finally casts her into fear and despair.
O soul whom I love, pay no heed to this ruthless enemy... but as soon as possible have recourse to Me, and filled with deepest contrition implore My mercy and have no fear. I will forgive you. Take up again your life of fervor, and you will have back your lost merits, and My grace will never fail you.
Finally, shall I speak to My chosen souls? Supposing that one has spent long years in the constant practice of the Rule and of her religious duties... a soul that I have favored with My grace and instructed by My counsels... a soul long faithful to My voice and to the inspirations of grace... and now this soul has cooled in her fervor on account of some petty passion... occasions of faults not avoided... some yielding to the claims of nature and a general relaxation of effort... and in consequence has fallen to a lower level... to a commonplace kind of life... then lastly, to give it its true name, tepidity. If, for one cause or another, you awake from this torpid state, the devil will instantly attack you in every way, jealous of a soul he hopes to claim. He will try to persuade you that it is too late, and that any effort is useless, he will accentuate your repugnance to make an avowal of your state of soul... he will, so to speak, throttle you to prevent you from seeking and accepting the light... he will do his best to stifle trust and confidence in your soul.
But listen rather to My voice, and let Me tell you how to act: As soon as your soul is touched by grace, and before the struggle has even begun, hasten to My Heart; beg of Me to let a drop of My Blood fall on your soul... Ah! Hasten to My Heart... and be without fear for the past; all has been swallowed up in the abyss of My mercy, and My love is preparing new graces for you. The memory of your lapses will be an incentive to humility and a source of merit, and you cannot give Me a greater proof of affection than to count on My full pardon and to believe that your sins will never be as great as My mercy, which is infinite.
Remain hidden, Josefa, in the abyss of My love, praying that souls may be filled with the same sentiments."
The young Spanish sister to whom these revelations were made died in the early 20th Century after a short religious life of great suffering and great fidelity. ...this book is something more than an account of extraordinary graces granted to a humble soul; it is the Message which Our Lord Himself desired to be made known to the world. It is His own words. "Tell them... My Heart is not only an abyss of Love; it is also an abyss of Mercy." On November 13th, shortly before her death, Our Blessed Lord said to Sister Josefa: "My words will be light and life for an incalculable number of souls, and I will grant them special graces of conversion and illumination." (from the back cover)
Prayer not only obtains God's grace for ourselves but for others as well. Another quote from the same book ("The Way of Divine Love") expounds on this below:
Josefa writes, "How is it that when prayer is made for a soul month after month there seems to be no result? ... How is it that He who so longs for the conversion of sinners, leaves their hearts untouched, so that many prayers and sacrifices are lost? ... and I spoke to Him of three sinners and especially of two, for whom we have been praying so long!"
"When a soul prays for a sinner with an intense desire for his conversion," Our Lord answered graciously, "his prayer generally obtains the sinner's conversion, though sometimes only at the last moment, and the offense given to My Heart is repaired. But in any case, prayer is never lost, for on the one hand, it consoles Me for the pain sin has occasioned, and on the other, its efficacy and power are applied, if not to that sinner, then to others better disposed to profit by it."
- taken from the book, "The Way of Divine Love"
The following are more words spoken by Jesus to Sr. Josefa Menendez:
"Now, I want something more, for if I long for love in response to My own, this is not the only return I desire from souls: I want them all to have confidence in My mercy, to expect all from My clemency, and never to doubt My readiness to forgive. I am God, but a God of love! I am a Father, but a Father full of compassion and never harsh. My Heart is infinitely holy but also infinitely wise, and knowing human frailty and infirmity, stoops to poor sinners with infinite mercy. I love those who after a first fall come to Me for pardon . . . I love them still more when they beg pardon for their second sin, and should this happen again, I do not say a million times but a million million times, I still love them and pardon them, and I will wash in My Blood their last as fully as their first sin. Never shall I weary of repentant sinners, nor cease from hoping for their return, and the greater their distress, the greater My welcome. Does not a father love a sick child with special affection? Are not his care and solicitude greater? So is the tenderness and compassion of My Heart more abundant for sinners than for the just. This is what I wish all to know. I will teach sinners that the mercy of My Heart is inexhaustible.
Let the callous and indifferent know that My Heart is a fire which will enkindle them, because I love them. To devout and saintly souls I will be "The Way," that making great strides in perfection, they may safely reach the harbor of eternal beatitude. Lastly, of consecrated souls, priests and religious, My elect and chosen ones, I ask, once more, all their love and that they should not doubt Mine, but above all that they should trust Me and never doubt My mercy. It is so easy to trust completely in My Heart." (June 11, 1923).
Also spoken by Our Lord to Sr. Josefa: "As soon as a soul throws itself at My feet and implores My forgiveness, Josefa, I forget all her sins."
To Saint Faustina Jesus said, "My dear daughter, speak to the whole world about my unfathomable Mercy. ... Before coming as a Just Judge, I first come as the King of Mercy."
Also spoken by Jesus to St. Faustina:
"Human misery is not an obstacle to My mercy. My daughter, write that the greater the misery of a soul, the greater its right to My mercy: urge all souls to trust in the unfathomable abyss of My mercy, because I want to save them all."
"Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in You." I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish."
St. Francis de Sales writes, "Many people are tormented at death with the remembrance of their sins, and seeing that they have done no penance, are tempted to despair." He tells us that there is a perfect remedy - Namely, "to accept death and unite your death with that of Jesus Christ. And I do not at all doubt that he who is grieved for having offended God and accepts death willingly in satisfaction for his sins will immediately obtain pardon."
St. Alphonsus Liguori likewise notes, "To accept death in order that the will of God may be fulfilled, merits for us a reward similar to that of the martyrs, because they accepted death to please God. He who dies in union with the will of God makes a holy death; and the more closely he is united to it, the more holy death he dies. The Venerable Blosius declares that an act of perfect conformity to the will of God at the hour of death not only delivers us from Hell but also from Purgatory."
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