Focus – Divine Mercy – Prophecy for Our Times

Focus – October 2, 2014 – Divine Mercy – Prophecy for Our Times

What is our hope for today? Jesus has come to earth, died, and been resurrected, and heaven awaits for His faithful followers. But, we still have to live on earth until we die, we sill have to see all of the pain, suffering, and godlessness of this world. How do we get through these earthly challenges? Are our time really that different from Amos?

In Amos' times they were hoping for the messiah.  God's promise of a messiah has been fulfilled, we have been saved. Now what? 

We read this week, "on that day, I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen...behold, the days are coming, says The Lord when the plowsman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of the grapes, who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it"

In my mind, Divine Mercy is our BIG prophesy. I imagine our time today, is similar to when Amos began prophesying about Jesus' first coming. When Amos began preaching, times were tough, things didn't look like they were getting any better, but then Jesus came and forever changed the world. Now, for us things look rough, it is hard to imagine things changing, but Divine Mercy is here, and more of it is to come, and I personally can't wait to see how the flooding will change the world.

Divine mercy in its simplest form is best portrayed by the image that Jesus gave Saint Faustina to disseminate throughout the world. It is a an image of Jesus standing with rays of blood and water flowing out of His sacred heart, essentially flooding the world with His endless mercy. St. Faustina received and recorded all of her divine messages about divine mercy in her Diary. Simply speaking, divine mercy, is the outpouring or flooding of the earth with God's graces. His mercy.

The key to His divine mercy, is that we must be "open" to receiving it. Our Heavenly Father, Jesus, and Mary are all ready to bestow it all onto the world, but are we ready?

How can we get ready?

• Loving our God with our whole heart, our entire minds, and our full bodies.
• Loving our neighbors, having care and concern for all, the rich, the poor, the hungry, the indulgent, the homeless, the prideful, and on and on. Loving everyone! 
• Participating regularly in the Sacraments of the Church - participating in reconciliation and the Eucharist as often as possible.
• Taking "time" to be Holy.
• Going on retreats
• Deeping our understanding of the our Catholic faith
• Sharing our graces and gifts with others - evangelizing about our faith
• Finally, praying for Divine Mercy - three options in my mind
• Full chaplet - takes less than 10 minutes - very special graces for saying it during the 3 o'clock hour 
• When you don't have enough time say "the Jesus prayer" - I'm not sure if that is its official name, but that is how I refer to it.  Is it simply "Jesus, have mercy on me"
•  Then, if you don't have the energy or strength to do the Jesus prayer, just simply say "Jesus" - he'll know just what you mean