The Divine Mercy Novena and The Spark that Would Come from Poland!

 

Novena to Divine Mercy

"On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... You will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls." 

Click on each day for links to prayers:

DAY 1 (Good Fri.)       All mankind,and poor sinners.

DAY  2 (Holy Sat.)       Priests and religious souls

DAY 3 (Easter Sun.)    Devout and faithful souls

DAY 4 (Easter Mon.)   Souls with no faith

DAY  5 (Easter Tues.)  Separated brethren

DAY  6 (Easter Wed)   Meek, humble and Children

DAY  7 (Easter Thurs) Souls who venerate my mercy

DAY  8 (Easter Fri.)     Souls who are in purgatory

DAY  9 (Easter Sat.)     Lukewarm Souls 

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy  The Chaplet can be said at any time, but the Lord specifically asked that it be prayed as a novena, especially on the nine days before the Feast of the Divine Mercy starting on Good Friday. And He promised: “By this Novena of Chaplets I will grant every possible grace to souls” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska 796).

Remember to pray the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) from Easter Sunday until noon on the Saturday before Pentecost  Instead of praying the Angelus during the Easter Season --See end of post for prayer and Gregorian Chant    

The Spark from Poland that will

Prepare World for My Final Coming 

We are all worried about our country and concerns for its economy and for the erosion of our  religious freedoms. St. Faustina  also worried and prayed for Poland: "Jesus, I beg You for my homeland; protect it against the assaults of its enemies" (Diary of St. Faustina, 119).  

Jesus responded to  St. Faustina as she prayed:
"I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming" (Diary, 1732).   

At the time it seemed as though this prayer of hers had failed.  Poland was conquered, fractured by the Nazi regime and later she was swallowed up by Communism.  It seemed her prayer to Our Lord was not answered.  However, the beginning of  the answer to her prayer and Poland’s  deliverance from Communism began on October 16, 1978. Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, Archbishop of Kraków was elected Pope, taking the name John Paul II.  

This event had an electrifying  unifying effect  for Poland.  Even under Communist rule, Poland  was one of the most devoutly Catholic nations in Europe. The election of a Polish pope the spark from Poland (Diary, 1732). was  the beginning of her political  freedom. God has honored Poland by lighting on her soil “the spark" giving us Bl. John Paul II  who  traversed the entire globe building up the kingdom of God so that it was preached in every land and nation!

Divine Mercy and the End Time

The exact timing is the Lord's But of that day and hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone  Mat. 24:36   It seems that we have reached a certain critical phase of the end times that  had its beginnings with the Church.

Pope John Paul II alluded at the consecration of the Shrine of Merciful Love in 1981  making note of  the "special task" assigned to him by God" in the present situation of man, the Church and the world."  He urged us "to implore God's mercy for humanity in this hour of history ... to beg for it at this difficult, critical phase of the history of the Church and of the world as we approach the end of the second millennium." (Rich in Mercy 15)

 

It's  ironic that many of the most religious people of Christ's time  who were actively practicing their religion and  even though they awaited the promised Messiah  they were not able to recognize Him when He came. They even condemned him to death on the cross.  The Pharisees, devoted to their rules, and rituals that over the years, had become so important that their real meaning had been lost. They talked a lot of about God, but none of it had touched their hearts.  They were not living the way He wanted them to live.  “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Is 29:13).  

 

Mary Mother of Mercy 

Mary Mother of all graces and Mother of Divine Mercy, Defend us from our enemies and receive us at the hour of our death. O Mary Mother of Mercy, Implore for us the Mercy of your Son!

Our Lady also spoke to St. Faustina: “You have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy. (Diary635).

The Words of the Our Lady to St Faustina are similar to the Fatima Message. There is a sense urgency in them. Like the message of Fatima, it is the same urgency of the Gospel, "The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.”Mark1:15

"If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world."

Our Enemy is not Evil Around us,
Our Real Enemy is Sin Within us!

Are we not faced with a similar circumstances as we await the final coming of the Lord?  Paul writes in second Thessalonians: “The coming of the lawless one whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. In order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness" 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

                The Church's Final Trial                

 675 “Before  Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.”Read more: Catechism of the Catholic Church and the last days                                                                                                           

Unceasingly the Church Implores
 God's  Mercy for Everyone!

April 30, 2000 View of  St. Peter's Square Institution of Feast of  Divine Mercy

Speak to the world about My mercy ... It is a sign for the end times. After it will come the Day of Justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fountain of My mercy.(Diary 848)  Read more

Words of Blessed John Paul II: “At no time and in no historical period -- especially at a moment as critical as our own -- can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it. "The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word "mercy," moves away from God, and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy with loud cries!”  June 7, 1977  Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, Poland .(Dives in Misericordia, n. 15).

  The Regina Caeli

Remember to pray the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) from Easter Sunday until noon on the Saturday before Pentecost  Instead of praying the Angelus during the Easter Season     

                                   

 

  The Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven)

V/.  Queen of Heaven, rejoice.  Alleluia.  
R/.  For He whom you did merit to bear.  Alleluia.

V/.  Has risen as He said Alleluia 
 R/.  Pray for us to God.  Alleluia. 

V/.  Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary.  Alleluia 
R/.  For the Lord has truly risen.  Alleluia.

  
V.  LET US PRAY. 

R. O God, Who by the Resurrection of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, have been pleased to fill the world with joy, grant, we beseech You, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may receive the joys of eternal life, through the same Christ Our Lord.  Amen. 

Anniversary of the Death of Bl. John Paul II--His Life and Death was A Cry for the Mercy of God!

Bl. John Paul's Witness

A Cry for the Mercy of God!

Nine years ago, on April 2, 2005, soon to be Saint John Paul II passed away. Millions of people mourned his death the world over, as  the bells of St. Peter's Square somberly tolled continuously  to mourn his passing.  If one listened one could here the voice of the4 late pontiff over the tolling bells  with his admonition to all of us: Be not Afriad!

                            

 
BE NOT AFRAID to

Open Wide Your Hearts

To the Love and Light that is Christ!

Beatification  of Bl. John Paul II

 A Joyful Event for the Church 

and All Who Loved Him!

Bl.  John Paul II  the Fatima Pope was Beatified on May 1, 2011 which was also the first Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday.  Benedict XVI explained that the date was chosen for the beatification because it was on the eve of Mercy Sunday that his earthly life ended. "Those who knew him, those who esteemed and loved him, cannot but rejoice with the Church for this event."   

Pope Francis Announced Canonizations of 

Bls. John Paul II and John XXII

The Church eagerly awaited the canonization of Bl. John Paul II which  Pope Francis announced would also take place April 27 Divine Mercy Sunday, along with the canonization of Bl. John XXII.

Asked by reporters if retired Pope Benedict would participate in the canonization ceremony, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters it was possible, but given the retired pope's preference for staying out of the public eye, he could not say for sure. 

Pope Francis has emphasized God's mercy and readiness to forgive those who recognize their need for pardon Since the beginning of his pontificate. He told reporters on the flight from Brazil that Pope John Paul's promotion of Divine Mercy Sunday showed his intuition that a new "age of mercy" was needed in the church and the world.

Divine Mercy Sunday, a Feast Instituted Worldwide by Pope John Paul.

"Unceasingly the Church implores from God mercy for everyone. At no time and in no historical period -- especially at a moment as critical as our own -- can the Church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God amid the many forms of evil which weigh upon humanity and threaten it. "The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization, loses its sense of the very meaning of the word "mercy," moves away from God, and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy with loud cries!  Bl. John Paul II June 7, 1977  Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, Poland.(Dives in Misericordia, n. 15).

 

On the seventh anniversary of his death  a documentary from ROME REPORTS'  "John Paul The Great: A Pope Who Made History" 

Benedict XVI remembers  
World Youth Day & John Paul II

On April 2, 2012  the seventh anniversary of the death of Blessed John

World Youth Day Krakow July 2016

Paul II,  Benedict XVI paid homage to him at World Youth Day. While he Greeted an estimated 5,000 cheering young people from Spain on April 2, Pope Benedict said they were "the protagonists and principal recipients of this pastoral initiative promoted by my beloved predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, whose passage to heaven we remember today. "Each and every person has a vocation, a call from God that is the key to each person's holiness and happiness, as well as being a call to create a better world," the pope told the youth.  Read more.....

Bl. John Paul II We Love You!!
We Thank you for your life and Witness!
Read More

Bl. John Paul II 

Ora pro nobis! 

Pray for Us!

 Bl. John Paul II

You Live On, You Live On!

Pope Francis began his pontificate under the sign of St. Joseph, only those who serve with love are able to protect!

 

March 13, is the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis in 2013 and these last 365 days of his papacy have been characterized as a “time of mercy”, by the Pope himself. During these last twelve months the Pope who said he was called “from the ends of the earth”  asked us to pray for him.  He is called the “priest of the world”, by his secretary Msgr. Alfred Xuereb who said that the new pope “has not wasted a minute! He works tirelessly and, when he feels the need to take a moment's pause, he closes his eyes and does nothing: he simply sits and prays the Rosary”.  I want to pick out a few highlights that were important to me and indicated the path of Hope the Pope is leading us to travel down. 

I read some where that John Paul II gave us the New Catechism, Benedict XVI explained its meanings and reasons for our faith and Pope Francis is showing us how to live the faith! This is a time for actions not words!

The pontificate of Pope Francis began with his Inaugural Mass on March 19, 2013, under the sign of St. Joseph, father and protector of  the Holy Family and the Church. Also under the sign of St. Francis, whose name he choose, the protector of the earth, and all who are on the earth, the man of peace.


The essential message in the inaugural  homily given by Pope Francis to open his pontificate draws on the image of St. Joseph, spouse of Mary, head of the Holy Family. And that message is to "protect." This message is important at a time when the figure of the person who "protects," be he or she a father, a mother, a priest, a scholar, a leader, is under attack -- in a time when the "protection" is entrusted to others, or to none, when the "protectors" are anonymous, or hidden, or when they simply don't exist. To "protect" means to make sure what one protects is not harmed, not hurt. 

Only those like St Joseph,  

who serve with love are able to protect!

"He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked
Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!"

 
"How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God's presence and receptive to God's plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a "protector" because he is able to hear God's voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God's call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!"
"....Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herod's” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women."

This emphasis on "protecting" also seems to recall a passage in the Book of Revelation which focuses on "not hurting," that is, protecting.
In Chapter 7 of Revelation, an angel ascends from the east, bearing "the seal of the living God." The angel cried out in a "loud voice" to the other "angels," who had been "hurting" the earth. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Rev.7:3


"To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us!"--Pope Francis

St. Joseph Hoped against Hope!

"ITE AD JOSEPH!" -"GO TO JOSEPH!" -St.Theresa of Avilia

Did You know that St Joseph was also present at the last Apparition of Fatima on October 13, 1917? The children saw him Blessing the world with the Child Jesus in his arms as the crowds beheld the Miracle of the Sun.

Follow links:

St. Joseph's Humble Appearance at Fatima Announces A Crisis of Fatherhood in Society and the Church!
 
St Joseph Protector of Church- Vatican II-Conversion of Russia & Timeline Leading to end of Soviet Union!



The Pope asked Our Lady to help him during his pontificate and also for the prayers of all Christians
Looking back on this first year of Surprises, the Pope  has shown a great devotion to Mary, since the very first day of his pontificate. One of the first things he did in the inauguration of his papacy was to ask Our Lady to help him during his pontificate and for the prayers of all Christians.

 

 

"I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Sts. Peter & Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen"-Pope Francis Inaugural Mass See: A prayer for the Pope by Leo XIII



Divine providence choose the 13th of the month to elect him to the papacy. Perhaps it is an indication that his papacy was under the protection of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima. He requested that the Statue be brought  from Portugal to the Vatican, who  consecrated his papacy to her and also renewed the consecration of the the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 13th, 2013.

 
The Holy Father received the statue on the afternoon of Saturday, October 12th,  followed by a Marian talk. On Sunday, October 13th, the Pope offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the presence of the Fatima Statue. After the Mass the pope recited the following Consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary before the Angelus.   
See: Fatima Statue visits Rome

 

Consecration Prayer of Pope Francis

October 13, 2013

Fatima processional crown bullet from JPII in center

 Holy Mary Virgin of Fatima, with renewed gratitude for your maternal presence
we join our voice to that of all the generations who call you blessed. We celebrate in you the works of God,
who never tires of looking down with mercy upon humanity, afflicted with the wound of sin, to heal it and save it.
Accept with the benevolence of a Mother the act of consecration that we perform today with confidence, before this image of you that is so dear to us. We are certain that each of us is precious in your eyes and that nothing of all that lives in our hearts is unknown to you.
We let ourselves be touched by your most sweet regard and we welcome the consoling caress of your smile. Hold our life in your arms:  bless and strengthen every desire for good; revive and nourish faith; sustain and enlighten hope; awaken and animate charity; guide all of us along the path of holiness.  Teach us your own preferential love for the little and the poor, for the excluded and the suffering, for sinners and the downhearted: bring everyone under your protection and entrust everyone to your beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus. Amen. 
Zenet News  [Translation by Joseph Trabbic]

Pope Francis & Benedict XVI  

  Entrusted the Vatican City State 

to St. Michael the Archangel last July

This was a significant action taken by the Pope and may also signify that the pope is reinforcing the words of Venerable Paul VI.  The church is in the midst of the epic Battle of Revelation Chapter 12  with the forces of evil in the world. Evil "whose smoke has entered into the very confines  of the church. As  Pope Francis entrusted the Vatican City State to St Michael the Archangel he said :"Though the devil always tries to disfigure the face of the Archangel and that of humanity, God is stronger, it is His victory and His salvation that is offered to all men. We are not alone on the journey or in the trials of life, we are accompanied and supported by the Angels of God, who offer, so to speak, their wings to help us overcome so many dangers, in order to fly high compared to those realities that can weigh down our lives or drag us down. In consecrating Vatican City State to St. Michael the Archangel, I ask him to defend us from the evil one and banish him. "  Read more....

See The Epic Battle between St Michael and Lucifer is still being waged on earth



       

VIVA LA PAPA!

Remembering Last Days of Benedict XVI and the Sede Vacante

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“The Church is in the world but not of the world and it is a living body,” therefore it is not an institution designed and conceived according to pre-set plans, but is of God. -Benedict XVI speaking to the Cardinals for the last time as pope full text below

The process of transition to a new pope was lived through by all the members of the church and we have now passed one year with our new Pope Francis and a Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. I wish today to remember with gratitude our beloved Benedict XVI, now known as "pontiff emeritus,"  who after leaving the Vatican spent the next few weeks at the hilltop Castel Gandolfo until the new Pope had taken office and now resides in a former convent in the Vatican gardens, he said before he left office that he would live out his days "hidden from the world" in prayer and isolation. He has been photographed only a few times since then.

Indeed, he is far from the world but he is present in the Church. His mission now, as he once said, is to help the Church and his successor, Pope Francis, through prayer. This is his first and most important task.

Benedict XVI 

Last Words and Blessing 
 as Pope from Castel Gandolfo

"Thank you, thank you all! Dear friends I am happy to be with you...your friendship does me a lot of good....Thank you for your friendship and affection...I am not any longer the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church- until 8pm I am, but then, no longer. I am simply a pilgrim who is beginning his last stage of pilgrimage on this earth. I would still like to, with my heart, love, prayer, and reflection, with all my interior strength, work for the common good, for the good of the Church and of humanity, and I feel very sustained by your love. Let us go ahead together with the Lord for the good of the Church and of the world. Grazie! I extend to you now, with all my heart, my blessing....grazie! Good night! Thank you all!  

Click for Video of Pope Benedict XVI giving his last blessing as pope at Castel Gandolfo 

Fr. Federico Lombardi said that His symbolic Fisherman's Ring and papal seal will  likely be "destroyed" by means of making scratch marks so that they can no longer be used to seal documents. 

Benedict XVI First Pope to Tweet Ended Pontificate  With 3 Million Twitter Followers 

Benedict's final  Twitter tweet was sent at 11 a.m. ET from his @Pontifex account, and read: "Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives."

The nine @pontifex Twitter accounts reached over three million followers just before 8 pm on Thursday, when the accounts were officially made inactive as the Sede Vacante started. The account will remain dormant until the next pope decides whether he wants to use it, the Vatican said. 

 Benedict XVI Gives
Last Talk to the Cardinals
Who will elect the new pope

 
Dear beloved brothers,

I welcome you all with great joy and cordially greet each one of you. I thank Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who as always, has been able to convey the sentiments of the College, Cor ad cor loquitur. Thank you, Your Eminence from my heart.
 
And referring to the disciples of Emmaus, I would like to say to you all that it has also been a joy for me to walk with you over the years in light of the presence of the Risen Lord. As I said yesterday, in front of thousands of people who filled St. Peter's Square, your closeness, your advice, have been a great help to me in my ministry.

In these 8 years we have experienced in faith beautiful moments of radiant light in the Churches’ journey along with times when clouds have darkened the sky. We have tried to serve Christ and his Church with deep and total love which is the soul of our ministry.

We have gifted hope that comes from Christ alone, and which alone can illuminate our path. Together we can thank the Lord who has helped us grow in communion, to pray to together, to help you to continue to grow in this deep unity so that the College of Cardinals is like an orchestra, where diversity, an expression of the universal Church, always contributes to a superior harmony of concord. 

I would like to leave you with a simple thought that is close to my heart, a thought on the Church, Her mystery, which is for all of us, we can say, the reason and the passion of our lives. I am helped by an expression of Romano Guardini’s, written in the year in which the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council approved the Constitution Lumen Gentium, his last with a personal dedication to me, so the words of this book are particularly dear to me .

Guardini says: "The Church is not an institution devised and built at table, but a living reality. She lives along the course of time by transforming Herself, like any living being, yet Her nature remains the same. At Her heart is Christ."

This was our experience yesterday, I think, in the square. We could see that the Church is a living body, animated by the Holy Spirit, and truly lives by the power of God, She is in the world but not of the world. She is of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, as we saw yesterday.

This is why another eloquent expression of Guardini’s is also true: "The Church is awakening in souls." The Church lives, grows and awakens in those souls which like the Virgin Mary accept and conceive the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. They offer to God their flesh and in their own poverty and humility become capable of giving birth to Christ in the world today.

Cardinal Burke speaks with Benedict XVI  photo by @GuadalupeShrine

Through the Church the mystery of the Incarnation remains present forever. Christ continues to walk through all times in all places. Let us remain united, dear brothers, to this mystery, in prayer, especially in daily Eucharist, and thus serve the Church and all humanity. This is our joy that no one can take from us.

Prior to bidding farewell to each of you personally, I want to tell you that I will continue to be close to you in prayer, especially in the next few days, so that you may all be fully docile to the action of the Holy Spirit in election of the new Pope. May the Lord show you what is willed by Him. And among you, among the College of Cardinals, there is also the future Pope, to whom, here to today, I already promise my unconditional reverence and obedience. For all this, with affection and gratitude, I cordially impart upon you my Apostolic Blessing"  (From Vatican Radio)

Gatias, Grazie, Thank You, Benedict XVI
We pray for you and our new Pope Francis
Ora pro nobis, Pray for us!