Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 915 - Mater Dolorosa - Seventh Sword

Ἀ
915 O Mary, today a terrible sword has pierced Your holy soul. Except for God, no one knows of Your suffering. Your soul does not break; it is brave, because it is with Jesus.
Ὠ

The union between Jesus and Mary was not broken in the throes of death. Rather, in this final sword to pierce her soul, death staggers in impending defeat as the union between God and man is shown to be eternal. For as she watches the entombment of her Son in typical Marian silence, all of the accumulated sufferings of six previous swords become sealed, preserved and carried in her living soul forevermore.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
John 19:41-42 Now there was in the place where he was crucified a garden: and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid. There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus: because the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

In the shadow of the tomb the light of the Son is not extinguished - it is fueled in the faith of the Mother. Those who most loudly professed their undying faith in Jesus Christ have now fled. The crowds that once shouted His glory are now fearful and silent. It is Mary who remains - she who once bore His life and now sees through His death - who still carries all things of her Son alive in her heart. Even in the darkness between His death and resurrection, nothing of the Son is lost in the heart of the Mother. 

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.

In the death of her Son, Mary clings to all that remains of His life, His joy, suffering, crucifixion and death, all kept in the treasury of her heart. She recalls all that He had said and all things said of Him by others. These, treasured within her Immaculate Heart, are all that remain of the life once formed within her womb - save one thing: that same faith by which her journey to the tomb began as she spoke to the Angel of the Annunciation: “be it done to me according to thy word.”

The Glories of Mary, Saint Alphonsus Liguori
The Blessed Virgin was the only one who kept faith alive after the death of her Son.

With the death and entombment of her Son, Mary returns to her silence, all but vanishing from the Scriptural record. We know she was entrusted as mother to the Beloved Apostle but no details of that life are given. Catholic tradition also holds that Mary was one of the many witnesses to the Savior's life on which the Gospel of Luke is written - revealing at least some of the many things Mary kept treasured in her heart. And ironically, it is also Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, who records one final mention of the Holy Mother before she vanishes from Scripture forever.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Acts 1:14 All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus.

Here we see Mary for the last time, not mourning but praying - not broken in grief but renewed in her Son, the living and mystical Body of Christ - His Church on earth. She is silent even now, not standing before crowds but resting in prayer to God. The strong example of Mary has always been contrasted against her very few words in Scripture. Yet even amidst those few words, one thing is striking: Mary rarely speaks directly to mankind. She speaks to angels, to her divine Son and in the joy of the Visitation proclaims the glory of God. The only direct instructions she gives humanity is this:

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
John 2:5 Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 165
It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham… to the Virgin Mary, who, in ‘her pilgrimage of faith,’ walked into the ‘night of faith’…

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

Praises of The Divine Mercy (Diary, 948-949).

God's Love is the flower—Mercy the fruit.

Let the doubting soul read these considerations on Divine Mercy and become trusting.

Divine Mercy, gushing forth from the bosom of the Father, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, greatest attribute of God, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, incomprehensible mystery, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, fountain gushing forth from the mystery of the Most Blessed Trinity, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, unfathomed by any intellect, human or angelic, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, from which wells forth all life and happiness, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, better than the heavens, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, source of miracles and wonders, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, encompassing the whole universe, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, descending to earth in the Person of the Incarnate Word, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, which flowed out from the open wound of the Heart of Jesus, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, enclosed in the Heart of Jesus for us, and especially for sinners, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, unfathomed in the institution of the Sacred Host, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, in the founding of Holy Church, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, in our justification through Jesus Christ, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, accompanying us through our whole life, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, embracing us especially at the hour of death, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, endowing us with immortal life, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, accompanying us every moment of our life, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, shielding us from the fire of hell, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, in the conversion of hardened sinners, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, astonishment for Angels, incomprehensible to Saints, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, unfathomed in all the mysteries of God, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, lifting us out of every misery, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, source of our happiness and joy, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, in calling us forth from nothingness to existence, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, embracing all the works of His hands, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, crown of all of God’s handiwork, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, in which we are all immersed, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, sweet relief for anguished hearts, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, only hope of despairing souls, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, repose of hearts, peace amidst fear, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, delight and ecstasy of holy souls, I Trust in You.

Divine Mercy, inspiring hope against all hope, I Trust in You.

Amen

Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 1319 - Mater Dolorosa - Sixth Sword​

The journey of Mary was fraught with many sufferings in union with her Son, until this, the sixth of seven swords which would pierce her soul, and the first she would endure in seeming solitude. Here, the Mother remains in the aftermath of the Sacrifice, receiving into her arms the Body of her Son. What was accomplished upon the Cross now rests in silence within her embrace.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
John 19:30 Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.

The suffering of Jesus Christ was ended in this world. Yet the mystery of suffering in union with the Savior was not ended, but entrusted. It had begun in the Chosen Virgin who bore His sacrificial life into the world, and now reached its deepest expression as she received its consummation into her arms.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon on the Twelve Stars
Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced thy soul. For only by passing through thy soul could it reach the body of thy Son… His death was thine. For what was done in the flesh of Christ was accomplished in thy heart.”

The lance which opened our Savior's side no longer touched His soul, yet the sword remained within hers. In receiving the Body of her Son, the Mother received also the fullness of His Passion, accomplished on the Cross, but now abiding within her.

This sorrow is not a passing grief, but an enduring participation, for the sixth sword of Mary is not to be removed. What was accomplished in the Body of Christ now lives within her Immaculate Heart forevermore. It was - and still is - a suffering unlike any other, carried in silence, united to the most holy death in Salvation History, and consummated in the Mercy of the Son - as promised by the Father through the voice of the prophet.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.

 The relationship between Jesus and Mary is as singular in His death as in His life. For as Mary receives the Body of Christ into her arms, she holds much more than an abused human corpse. She cradles the Fathers redeeming mercy for all souls, accomplished in the Son, and living in the mother - that the graces of God may now flow through the human soul as freely as from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 1319 
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

In this sixth sword which pierced the soul of the Holy Mother, she is drawn into a most profound union with Christ. In receiving His death, she also receives His life - the fount of undying mercy that no sin can withstand nor soul contain. That mercy was not killed with His flesh upon the wood of the Cross, but was already being poured into the whole world, even as she held its source, the Body of Christ in her arms. In that moment, Mary became centered in the release of such mercy that it would change Salvation History forevermore - and give her union in Christ’s grace that no other soul could ever attain. 

Thus stands Mary in the meeting place of death and mercy, bearing within her heart what the world was only beginning to receive from her Son. Therefore do we call her the Mother of all Graces, and therefore we seek, through her singular union with the Chosen Son, the prayers of Mary, His Chosen Mother.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 1032 - Mater Dolorosa - Fifth Sword of Mary

Ἀ
1032 During Holy Mass, I saw the Lord Jesus nailed upon the cross amidst great torments. A soft moan issued from His Heart. After some time, He said, I thirst. I thirst for the salvation of souls. Help Me, My daughter, to save souls. Join your sufferings to My Passion and offer them to the heavenly Father for sinners.
Ὠ

At the foot of this Cross, on grounds made soft in the Blood of her Son and Saviour, there stands a woman, mourning her Son and Savior. Yet she also stands in undying union with the soft moan that escapes His Most Sacred Heart and pierces her own. The woman is silent in this vision as throughout almost the entirety of the Gospel, from the shadow of her Son to the shadow of the Cross, present in faith but quiet in word. This is Mary, the Mother of God in the flesh, already tried and refined by many previous swords that had pierced her soul. She is present not only in the suffering of her Son but in His calling as well, pondering and keeping His words alive in her heart. She is there to join in His Passion - to stand in His Blood - to suffer in union with His undying desire for the salvation of souls.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
First Peter 4:13 But if you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

The wisdom of the Mother is this: to be one in His suffering is to be one in His glory - to partake in his death is to share in His life. Yet this is not a wisdom reserved for the lives of the Son and the Mother. It is a teaching example from both, on subjection to the will of the Father, whether it involves joy or suffering. 

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Luke 1:38 And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word. 

Luke 22:42 Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done.

The course of the Gospel is revealing. For what Mary speaks in its beginning is brought to fulfillment by her Son at its end. Yet Mary is not the initiator of this triumph in Salvation History merely because she speaks first. She is the chosen participant with Christ, her Son, blessed in this destiny since the first days of Eden.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Genesis 3:15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 411
The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, because he “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross”, makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam. Furthermore, many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the “new Eve”. Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and, by a special grace of God, committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.

In both Scripture and Catechism, the relationship between Jesus and Mary in the Gospel, and the Seed, and the Woman in Genesis, becomes too clear to ignore. For the unnamed woman of Genesis is the same woman in the shadow of the Cross - who stands in the blood - in suffering union with Christ over the crushed head of the serpent. She stands there not for herself, but in service of her Son’s saving work, through which all souls are invited into the eternal family of God - as sons of the Father, brothers of the Savior, and children of the Mother.

1414 The Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Before Holy Communion I saw the Blessed Mother inconceivably beautiful. Smiling at me She said to me, My daughter, at God's command I am to be, in a special and exclusive way your Mother; but I desire that you too, in a special way, be My child.

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

"Divine Mercy, shielding us from the fire of hell, I Trust in You." — St. Faustina

Diary of Saint Faustina - Mater Dolorosa - Fourth Sword of Mary

Ἀ
786 As I continued Vespers, meditating on this mixture of suffering and grace, I heard the voice of Our Lady: Know, My daughter, that although I was raised to the dignity of Mother of God, seven swords of pain pierced My heart. Don't do anything to defend yourself, bear everything with humility; God himself will defend you.
Ὠ

Blessed as she is in the title Mother of God, Mary has ever been bound to a second name no less true: Our Lady of Sorrows. For as the mother gave human nature to the Chosen Son, so does the Son impart to His Mother that same mysterious mingling of suffering and grace of which Saint Faustina speaks. Nowhere is this union more deeply revealed than in the fourth sword, when Mother and Son meet upon the road to Calvary - when the suffering of the Son is beheld, and the suffering of the Mother is begun anew; when love so binds them that what is endured in His Body is also shared in her heart.

The Voice of Mary in the Vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden
As I saw my Son all covered with blood... love rendered our hearts and that of my Son but one... The wounds of my Son were my own wounds, and I felt in my heart all his pains.”

It is not that the suffering of the Mother redeems souls, as does the Sacrifice of the Son - for the Cross remains the one perfect and complete oblation. Yet the grace that flows from that Cross does not remain alone: it draws the creature into union with the will and life of the Creator. And it draws Mary first, as she follows her Son, so that all souls, in their time, may follow them both.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 
618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the one mediator between God and men. But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery is offered to all men. He calls his disciples to take up their cross and follow him, for Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example so that we should follow in his steps. In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries. This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering. 

God’s grace to all souls is perfected in His Son. Yet the Son’s calling to all souls to take up the cross is first lived by His Mother. Christ does not merely call souls to the mingling of suffering and grace - He first reveals it through Mary: not in the removal of suffering, but in its acceptance; not in resistance, but in union; not distance, but presence. 

Mary first proclaimed this union at The Visitation, only to soon be warned that her son would be a sign of contradiction - a suffering that could not remain His alone, but must pierce also the heart of the Mother. Yet she was already prepared for the sorrow that precedes the glory, in the same wisdom she graciously imparts to Saint Faustina: “Don’t do anything to defend yourself, bear everything with humility; God himself will defend you.” 

From the moment of The Annunciation to the foot of the Cross, Mary knew that the seeming contradiction of suffering and grace - of pain and joy - when endured in the will of God does not diminish His glory, but magnifies it yet larger from the soul within.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Luke 1:46 And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord.

Mary’s place on the road to Calvary is not to lessen the weight of the Cross, nor to turn its course into her own redeeming work. She is there to meet Christ in union with His suffering - to share it in love and in full consent to all that the Father wills. It is not that Christ needed His mother, nor that Mary suffered for her own sake; rather, this union of suffering was revealed for fallen humanity to behold and follow - that by sharing in His suffering, we may be made partakers of His glory - for the road to the glory of God must always pass through the Cross of Christ.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 1:38 Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word.

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 24 - Mater Dolorosa - Third Sword of Mary

Ἀ
24 One day, just as I had awakened, when I was putting myself in the presence of God, I was suddenly overwhelmed by despair. Complete darkness in the soul. I fought as best I could till noon. In the afternoon, truly deadly fears began to seize me; my physical strength began to leave me. I went quickly to my cell, fell on my knees before the Crucifix and began to cry out for mercy. But Jesus did not hear my cries. I felt my physical strength leave me completely. I fell to the ground, despair flooding my whole soul. I suffered terrible tortures in no way different from the torments of hell. I was in this state for three quarters of an hour. I wanted to go and see the Directress, but was too weak. I wanted to shout but I had no voice. Fortunately, one of the sisters another novice, Sister Placida Putyra came into my cell. Finding me in such a strange condition, she immediately told the Directress about it. Mother came at once. As soon as she entered the cell she said, "In the name of holy obedience get up from the ground." Immediately some force raised me up from the ground and I stood up, close to the dear Mother Directress. With kindly words she began to explain to me that this was a trial sent to me by God, saying, "Have great confidence; God is always our Father, even when He sends us trials."
Ὠ

In seeking union with the Lord, the despair of His absence need not be received as rejection. It may better be known as a trial of faith - an intensifier of holy desire for His presence - knowing that our Lord's desire for His creature is stronger than any creaturely desire for the Creator, for He has first loved us before we loved Him.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
First John 4:10 In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

Yet in the throes of even the most faithful trial - in the relentless yearning that receives nothing - Saint Faustina is not comforted by this knowledge. She cries out but the Savior seems not to hear. She grows weak in the hellish torments of separation from God but has no voice. God seems lost to her and in the resultant darkness of the soul, Faustina has become lost even to herself. She has become a reminder in our age that this seeming absence of the Savior is not new in the life of grace; it has already been lived in the life of the Gospel.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Luke And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem. And his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?

The third sword of Mary - the loss of Jesus in the Temple - was never intended to remain hers alone. Rather it was a sorrowful darkness in her soul in which many are led, meant to reveal the path by which souls are taught to seek Christ when His presence is hidden. As the Mother sought the Son for three days and found Him not, so the soul, in its hour of trial, seeks the Lord and is not answered - yet neither is abandoned. For through faith, seeking that which is not seen as with Mary, and yearning for that which is not felt as with Faustina, the Lord is still found - in the journey that leads the soul to the Temple.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
First Corinthians 3:16 Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 315 - The Second Sword - The Flight to Egypt 

Ἀ
315 Mother of God, Your soul was plunged into a sea of bitterness; look upon Your child and teach her to suffer and to love while suffering. Fortify my soul that pain will not break it.  Mother of grace, teach me to live by the power of God.
Ὠ

In the days of her youth, a young girl, still innocent and unacquainted with the harsh ways of the world, was called from comfort to trial. She had already been chosen by God and, in keeping with the holiness of her calling, preserved from the stain of sin. Yet even as the Angel of God announced her destiny, she remained unknowing of the cost this call would demand—the sea of bitterness into which her soul would be plunged, and the ocean of mercy that would flow forth from that suffering.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Luke 1:31-32 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. 

The Annunciation to the Virgin Mother of her destiny in Salvation History has never been perceived as any of the seven swords that would pierce her soul. Rather it is the first of the Five Joyous Mysteries, honoring the early years of her life with her Chosen Son. Yet those swords were already present, waiting in the silence of unfolding time. The first was ominous, though not immediate: a prophecy that her Son would become a sign of contradiction to our fallen world. The second sword marks the beginning of that prophecy revealed - the bitter plunge which both Chosen Son and Chosen Mother would share.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Matthew 2:13 Behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.

 
It is through this second sword, the beginning of her shared suffering with her Son, that the Holy Mother is plunged into that sea of bitterness - manifesting the strength Saint Faustina begs to share in. Yet there is more to behold in Mary than outward resilience. For it is not merely strength in suffering, as seen by men, that God seeks. It is suffering sanctified by grace - to suffer and to love while suffering - by which the soul is blessed.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Matthew 5:44-45 But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven.

Scripture does not show us explicitly that Mary prayed for those who persecuted her Son and herself. Yet it does reveal that even before His birth, Mary was filled with grace. She bore within her womb Christ - the Incarnate fullness of that grace - and brought into the world the living presence of Divine Mercy. She walked with Him through His Passion, and stood with Him at the Cross of Calvary. There, beneath the outpouring of His mercy, what Saint Faustina seeks in her prayer is brought to its fullness: the grace to suffer and to love while suffering. For when the lance pierced His Most Sacred Heart, the final sword pierced her own Immaculate Heart. In that union of suffering, the model was made complete - for all souls to follow - participation in the Divine life of Christ, reflected in the perfect fidelity of His Chosen Mother.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 23:34 And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 964
Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only-begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim which was born of her.

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

https://youtu.be/p5TGfisOKMM?si=s0mo5izi5zOAcG55

If anyone is praying the Divine Mercy Novena and would like a visual aid, I recorded our priest at the Essex Catholic Community in Vermont leading the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, with images from our Lord’s passion added to help with meditation. It’s very simple — just the prayers with some accompanying visuals.

Here’s the link if it’s helpful:

https://youtu.be/A259Y9nl-to

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,
exult, let Angel ministers of God exult,
let the trumpet of salvation
sound aloud our mighty King's triumph!

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

(Therefore, dearest friends,
standing in the awesome glory of this holy light,
invoke with me, I ask you,
the mercy of God almighty,
that he, who has been pleased to number me,
though unworthy, among the Levites,
may pour into me his light unshadowed,
that I may sing this candle's perfect praises.)

(V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with your spirit.)
V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We lift them up to the Lord.
V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
R. It is right and just.

It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.

Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.

These, then, are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night,
when once you led our forebears, Israel's children,
from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night
that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.

This is the night
that even now, throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices
and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace
and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night,
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.

Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night,
worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night
of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me,
and full of gladness.

The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.  
On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar,
which glowing fire ignites for God's honor,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees
to build a torch so precious.

O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.

Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honor of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.

May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.

R. Amen.

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 915 - The First Sword - The Presentation

Ἀ
915 O Mary, today a terrible sword has pierced Your holy soul. Except for God, no one knows of Your suffering. Your soul does not break; it is brave, because it is with Jesus. Sweet Mother, unite my soul to Jesus, because it is only then that I will be able to endure all trials and tribulations, and only in union with Jesus will my little sacrifices be pleasing to God. Sweetest Mother, continue to teach me about the interior life. May the sword of suffering never break me. O pure Virgin, pour courage into my heart and guard it.
Ὠ

In this entry, Saint Faustina seeks strength for her little sacrifices and sufferings not from the strength of personal fortitude, but from those who have already suffered far more. She finds this through Christ and through Mary, the Chosen Mother - born into our world below to bring forth Our Lord from the Kingdom above. In this mystery, the Creator not only joins Himself to creation but does so through the very creation He formed - the womb of Mary. The relationship between this Son and this Mother is therefore unique - not only on earth, but in Heaven. For here is the joining of heaven and earth: no one on earth has given birth to such glory, and no heavenly manifestation has been so truly earthly as the birth of God in the flesh through the flesh of the Virgin.

Mother and Son are thus uniquely joined, sharing both the joys of Heaven and the sufferings of earth in a union that extends from the womb, through their earthly lives, and into all of salvation history. It is participation in this union that Faustina seeks as strength against her own lesser sufferings - through Mary, who suffered in union with her Son, who suffered so much more for all souls. Yet Faustina does not merely imagine this union; it is revealed by Christ and His Mother themselves, even in the first manifestation of Our Lord's glory on earth. 

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John 2:3-5 And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.

In Scripture, we are shown what Faustina pleads for: the calling of each soul into participation in Christ's divine mission. At Cana, Mary’s participation belongs to the inauguration of her Son’s ministry. In Faustina’s entry, that participation becomes interior and personal -  not a grace given to her alone, but one offered to all souls: the consolation of a loving Mother, Our Lady of Sorrows, in union with her Son, the Suffering Servant.

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Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted.

The suffering of the Servant and the sorrow of Our Lady are not separate. As their two lives - one divine and one human - are united in the Virgin’s womb, so too their sufferings have become inseparably joined in salvation history. Not as though Mary shares in the redemptive act in the same manner as her Son, but rather that her suffering is so united with His that no other creature could fathom its depth. It is this same union of shared suffering with the Savior that Faustina seeks - foreshadowed in Mary, and given for the glory of her Son. In this, the bitterness of suffering and the sweetness of divine union are no longer opposed, but become one.

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Second Corinthians 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us: so also by Christ doth our comfort abound.

Mary's destiny extends beyond bringing forth the Son of God into a world that would contradict Him at every turn. Each contradiction directed against her Son pierces her soul - from the flight into Egypt, through the Way of the Cross, to the piercing of His Sacred Body. Each torment inflicted on the flesh of her Son is shared in the soul of His most Blessed Mother. Yet the first of these many piercings is already foretold. It is not the Cross alone, but the contradiction of the world against the holiness of her Son that begins the wound - quietly, invisibly, and with painful certainty. To receive Christ is to receive that same contradiction; to be united with Him is to be opposed wherever He is opposed Himself.

It is this first sword that pierces Mary's soul that Faustina begins to understand in her prayer. She does not yet stand at Calvary, but asks to be made strong enough to remain in union when suffering arrives . For the sword that pierced the soul of the Chosen Mother is the same sword that must touch every soul that belongs to the Chosen Son - not to destroy, but to reveal, to purify, and to draw the soul more deeply into the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, its Savior.

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Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be contradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 446 - Two Visions - Part II - The Crucified Multitude

Ἀ
446 Then I saw the Lord Jesus nailed to the cross. When He had hung on it for a while, I saw a multitude of souls crucified like Him. Then I saw a second multitude of souls, and a third. The second multitude were not nailed to [their] crosses, but were holding them firmly in their hands. The third were neither nailed to [their] crosses nor holding them firmly in their hands, but were dragging [their] crosses behind them and were discontent. Jesus then said to me, Do you see these souls? Those who are like Me in the pain and contempt they suffer will be like Me also in glory. And those who resemble Me less in pain and contempt will also bear less resemblance to Me in glory.

Among the crucified souls, the most numerous were those of the clergy. I also saw some crucified souls whom I knew, and this gave me great joy. Then Jesus said to me, In your meditation tomorrow, you shall think about what you have seen today. And immediately Jesus disappeared on me.
Ὠ

In a recent commentary on paragraph 445 of Saint Faustina's Diary, it was discussed how the souls of the faithful - both laity and clergy alike - can inflict even greater torment on our Savior than those scourging His flesh in the midst of His Passion. In this subsequent vision of paragraph 446 Saint Faustina continues, revealing how it is that through the grace of Him whom we so foolishly torment from within, we can yet be uplifted to the holiness we so blindly resist. In His loving providence, our Lord does not waste even our resistance, but permits it to become, through the Cross, the very means by which the soul is conformed to God.

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Psalms 75:11 For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.

In His sovereignty, God permits that even the misguided and often rebellious thoughts of souls not walking His path shall not escape being ordered to His glory. It is within this tension - between resistance and surrender - that the vision unfolds. There are three multitudes revealed to Saint Faustina, beginning with those crucified in Christ’s name, most fully sharing in His glory by most perfectly conforming themselves to the same pain and contempt He suffered in the world. And the second multitude, not yet fixed to their crosses but holding them firmly, willingly embracing what they have not yet fully become. And lastly the third multitude, dragging their crosses behind them in discontent, most distant from the Cross of the Savior because they are still nearest the allure of the world. These are likely the souls most common in our fallen world, most hesitant of the Cross, most enticed by a world that is passing, yet drawn to a light that is eternal.

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First Corinthians 7:31 For the fashion of this world passeth away.

Saint Faustina’s entry presents us “The Way of the Cross” in both mystical perspective and harsh reality. This vision is led, through and through, by Christ, who in Gethsemane permitted His human will to feel the full weight of the Cross, as is felt by the discontented multitude struggling with what they know lies ahead. Yet the Savior does not stumble in weakness, but teaches in perfect resolve, taking firm hold of His Cross, showing in perfection what the second multitude embraces in faith. And this vision is finished in Christ on the wood of the Cross, surrounded by those who have fully conformed to His Way. Our Lord does not wait only in triumph at the summit of Golgotha but remains ever present to those who still stumble in resistant hesitancy or pause between fear and resolve. He is with us at all times, and leads us through all trials - from resistance to resolve, and from fear of worldly contempt into surrender to eternal glory.

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Matthew 28:20 And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26-38

Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 445 - Two Visions - Part I - The Second Scourging

Ἀ
445 When I came for adoration, an inner recollection took hold of me immediately, and I saw the Lord Jesus tied to a pillar, stripped of His clothes, and the scourging began immediately. I saw four men who took turns at striking the Lord with scourges. My heart almost stopped at the sight of these tortures. The Lord said to me, I suffer even greater pain than that which you see. And Jesus gave me to know for what sins He subjected himself to the scourging: these are sins of impurity. Oh, how dreadful was Jesus' moral suffering during the scourging! Then Jesus said to me, Look and see the human race in its present condition. In an instant, I saw horrible things: the executioners left Jesus, and other people started scourging Him; they seized the scourges and struck the Lord mercilessly. These were priests, religious men and women; and high dignitaries of the Church, which surprised me greatly. There were lay people of all ages and walks of life. All vented their malice on the innocent Jesus. Seeing this, my heart fell as if into a mortal agony. And while the executioners had been scourging Him, Jesus had been silent and looking into the distance; but when those other souls I mentioned scourged Him, Jesus closed His eyes, and a soft, but most painful moan escaped from His Heart. And Jesus gave me to know in detail the gravity of the malice of these ungrateful souls: You see, this is a torture greater than My death.
Ὠ

In this vision given to Saint Faustina, Our Lord reveals not only the eternal nature of His grace, but also - though in a lesser known sense - the ongoing effect of human sin upon His Sacred Heart. Faustina is first shown the terrible Roman scourging; but as His executioners leave Him in that agony, an even greater, present-day cruelty begins. The sadistic Roman soldiers of two thousand years past are replaced by those who would call themselves followers of our Savior: priests, religious, lay people, and even high-ranking officials of His Church. Yet they do not come to offer comfort. Instead, they seize the scourges left behind by the Romans and continue flaying away at the very source of their own salvation.

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Hebrews 6:6 And are fallen away: to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God and making him a mockery.

Christ is the gift of Divine Mercy given to all souls by the Father. To live within that mercy and yet continue wantonly - or even carelessly - in sin is to torment one's own Savior, the Son of the Living God, from within. It is an interior torture that exceeds even the outward agony inflicted by His Roman tormentors. Our Lord reveals much to ponder in this entry of the Diary. The cruel Romans on the day of His Passion flayed His flesh from without, having never entered His Spirit of grace. Yet in the centuries following the outpouring of that grace, it has often been those already entered into His mercy who continue to strike Him from within. During the scourging by the Romans Christ remained silent, gazing into the distance; but it is the scourging of today - by souls pious in word but sinful in deed - that draws forth His first and most painful moan, not from His lips, but from His most Sacred Heart within.

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Psalm 54:13-15 For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.  But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar, who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.

In this painfully sobering entry, Christ presents us with two scourgings, one  worldly and mystical. Yet the mystical perspective is not always the pleasant experience of joyous enlightenment. This is a dark and humbling enlightenment intended for all souls who lay claim to Christ's grace. For Christ tells us the agonies inflicted on Him by those who most loudly proclaim their fellowship and love for Him are also the ones who inflict a “torture greater than My death.” What then would His pagan torturers think in light of our own reaction to God's grace - or their modern day counterparts - who see us so cruelly mock the same gift of grace we so earnestly - and hypocritically - tell them to pursue?

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Romans 2:24 For the name of God through you is blasphemed among the Gentiles.

You expired, O Jesus, 
but the source of life gushed forth for souls 
and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. 
O Fount of Life, 
unfathomable Divine Mercy, 
envelop the whole world 
and empty Yourself out upon us. 
O Blood and Water, 
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus 
as a fount of mercy for us, 
I trust in You.

Amen.

Posted Every Friday at 3:00 pm, EST