”Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured. (Matthew 9:22)
What does the vision of Pope Leo XIII from 1884 and the proclamation of the first Sunday after Easter as the divine mercy Sunday from 2000 have to do with each other? To understand the connection between them we must go back farther than the 19th century, back to Adam, Eve, and the tempting snake. Throughout the history of humankind we witness the struggle between good and evil, the war for our souls. From the book of Job and visions of Pope Leo XIII we learn that the devil, an originator of every bad happening in the world is limited in his powers; on some images of St. Michael the Archangel we see chains holding the devil like a dog on a leash.
God, our loving and caring Father does not leave us alone in this battle, he gave each of us a guardian angel, prophets, the 10 commandments and, according to the bible, He cleaned society from the bad elements through natural disasters (flooding in the story of Noah, fire in Sodom and Gomorrah, volcano in Pompeii) and wars. Then 2000 years ago he sent and sacrificed his son our Lord Jesus Christ to give us a fresh start within the Catholic Church.
Individually each of us encounters the influences and attacks of the devil. On a global scale heresies, schisms, and loss of faith ending in Paganism strike the Catholic Church. In every crisis and challenge we receive help from heaven through chosen souls, revelations, and miracles.
At the end of the 18th century Christianity was under attack again, in 1789 the French revolution started. For 10 years under the banner of freedom and justice evil forces were trying to drag as many souls as they could to hell by imposing secularism on France, the daughter of the Catholic Church, by decapitating any opposition on the guillotine. This war spread to Europe under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte finally ended in April 1814. Coincidentally in the year of 1772 another Catholic Country, Poland, was attacked by a coalition of Russian, German, and Austrian troops. In 1795 they successfully removed Poland from the maps of Europe. Again our Heavenly Father didn’t leave his children alone. Our Lady, Mother of God, Virgin Mary was gathering her children back into the Catholic Church. In the year 1830 she appeared in a vision to Saint Catherine Labouré, in 1846 she revealed herself in La Salette, in 1958 the town of Lourdes, in 1871 at Pontmain. Help came through the Vatican, Pope Pius the 9th in the year 1854 declared a dogma of the Immaculate Conception, 10 years later the Syllabus of Errors was issued, and amongst 80 errors are listed socialism and communism. At the same time our God gave the struggling church a number of saints, among them was the pastor of pastors St. Jean Marie-Vianney about whom the devil said through a possessed women, “If there were three like you on earth, my kingdom would be destroyed.” The city of God was winning and Satan had lost another war. In denial of the supremacy of heaven, he asked our Lord to give him more time and power. This conversation was revealed to Pope Leo XIII on October 13th in 1884 and in reaction to this vision he composed the prayer to St. Michael and later issued instructions that it be said after all Low Masses everywhere in the world. In May of 1891 as a response to changes in industrializing society he publicized Encyclical Rerum Novarum. As an effect of granting the wish of Satan new offenses against the Church appeared. These new offenses we know as the Progressive era which officially started in 1890. Fruits of this movement are the Russian communist revolution in 1917, the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in Germany, Mussolini in Italy and the Spanish revolution of 1936. Once again Heaven came with help. In 1916 our Lady revealed herself to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in Fatima. In 1920 answering prayers of citizens of the newly reborn Poland she appeared on the battlefield of Warsaw and, according to Russian prisoners, took an active role in crushing the much stronger, better equipped and better trained soviet army resulting in Russians losing the war and halting the spread of communism for over 20 years.
In the year of 1905 Helena Kowalska was born in the village of Glogoviec. On August 1, 1925, after receiving a reminder from our Lord “How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting Me off?” (Diary, 9), Helen crossed the threshold of the cloister in the convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and became Maria Faustina Kowalska, now known as Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska “Apostle of Divine Mercy.” At this moment our Lord revealed his plan for her to become advocate of his mercy and guided her in this task until her death. He asked her to “Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.” (301)
Sixty two years after her death, the mission was revitalized by Pope John Paul II when, on April 30, 2000, he made the surprise announcement in his homily at the canonization of St. Faustina. There, he declared: “It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church, will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.”
One more jewel was added to the treasury of the Catholic Church, one more weapon to fight Satan from the vision of Pope Leo XIII.
Satan as a spiritual creature does not eat or drink, he doesn’t sleep either. Full of hate, he is constantly working against God’s plan. Everybody is called to heaven but he fights to minimize the number of those that will be admitted. He is creating divisions, under his influence so many (happy campers) are promising heaven for themselves and others regardless of their actions, thereby creating a false sense of security. On the other side there are those who in reaction to the first group they are willing to reject Gods message and his mercy. For all of us there are a few quotes from the diary of St. Faustina to meditate on:
“I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like (…). I noticed that in hell there are most souls that did not believe it exists. I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there!” (741)
And words of our Lord:
“Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy.” (1588)
“My daughter, if I demand through you that people revere My mercy, you should be the first to distinguish yourself by this confidence in My mercy. I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it. I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first by deed, the second – by word, the third – by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy. Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be and I demand the worship of My mercy through the solemn celebration of the Feast and through the veneration of the image which is painted. By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminded of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest (163) faith is of no avail without works.” (742)
“I desire that the Feast of Mercy (139) be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My Mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. 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. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. (139) It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.” (699)
And at the end lets meditate a bit more on another quote combined with the prayer of St. Ambrose:
“I went before the Blessed Sacrament and, like the greatest and most miserable of wretches, I begged for His mercy that He might heal and purify my poor soul. Then I heard these words, ‘My daughter, all your miseries have been consumed in the flame of My love, like a little twig thrown into a roaring fire. By humbling yourself in this way, you draw upon yourself and upon other souls an entire sea of My mercy.’ I answered, ‘Jesus, mold my poor heart according to Your divine delight.’” (178)
Prayer of St. Ambrose to be recited prior to Mass:
O loving Lord Jesus Christ, I, a sinner, not presuming on my own merits, but trusting in Your mercy and goodness, with fear and awe approach the table of Your most sacred banquet. For I have stained both my heart and body with many sins, and have not kept a strict guard over my mind and tongue. Wherefore, O gracious God, O awful majesty, I, a wretched creature, entangled in difficulties, have recourse to You, the fount of mercy; to You I fly for healing and take refuge under Your protection, and I ardently desire to have Him as my Savior whom I am unable to face as my Judge. To You, Lord, I show my wounds, to You I lay bare my shame. I know that my sins are many and great and on their account I am filled with fear. But I trust in Your mercy, which is endless. Look down on me, therefore, with the eyes of mercy, Lord Jesus Christ, eternal King, God and Man, crucified for men. Hear me, for my hope is in You; have mercy on me, for I am full of sin and wretchedness, You who never cease to let flow the fountain of mercy. Hail Victim of Salvation, offered for me and for all mankind on the tree of the cross. Hail, noble and precious Blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, Your creature, whom You have redeemed with Your Blood. I am grieved because I have sinned. I desire to make amends for what I have done. Take away from me, therefore, O most merciful Father, all my iniquities and my sins, that, being purified both in soul and body, I may worthily partake of the Holy of Holies; and grant that this holy oblation of Your Body and Blood, of which though unworthy I purpose to partake, may be to me the remission of my sins, the perfect cleansing of all my offenses, the means of driving away all evil thoughts and of renewing all holy desires, the accomplishment of works pleasing to You, as well as the strongest defense for soul and body against the snares of my enemies. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters let us reach to the treasure of the Catholic Church, and grab as much as we can for the salvation of our souls.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.