I think you are onto it IJOP. My interpretation is that we know only the "Just" can enter heaven. There is no sin there at all. The Lord's passion and death unlocked the door so to speak. The door is open, because by his death he removed original sin and also have us recourse to His mercy forever. So the door is open. But due to our human nature we sin and in a sense lock ourselves out. But we still have the "key" that Jesus Hinself gave us. And this key is his mercy. So yes, Heaven demands justice. But none of us is truly completely just and therefore to enter the door we also need the door of mercy. I'm no theologian, but it's the best I can come up with. I'm just very grateful for this year of mercy.
Mother Angelica once said on a show talking about Peters question to Jesus, Matthew 18:22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Seven times a day a Saint sins (venial) how much more we little ones? Im glad for the year of Mercy myself. To we can only gain one Plenanry Indulgence each day, we can gain untold Partial Indulgences each day so I plan on walking thru the Holy Doors a few times this coming Sunday.....they may kick me out
Everything of God, is Mercy! The air we breath. The food we eat. The Smile from a child. The family we have around us. Our shelters/homes. And even the things that are not pleasant! All things are of Gods Mercy. Let us praise Him for His unfathomable Mercy!! Lord Jesus I love you. Thank you Jesus for your great Mercy on me and on the whole world. Eternal Father In whom Mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion is inexhausible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, so that in difficult moments we may not despair nor become despondant but with great confidence submit ourselves to, Your Holy Will which is Love and Mercy itself.
Even when you can not pray. Trust. He'll bring you back to prayer. Do not fret. Just trust. This is for someone here on the MoG forum and possibly for all of us and I definately know it is for myself as well. It may seem like all is washing away, like salt disolving in water but God is in control and you must trust, He is in control! for you have given all to Him!! Rejoice in His Mercy!!
Yes, fretting is an insult to the Lord, and trust is the key to His heart. I've thought a lot about Daniel O'Conner's last post, and how this is the time to trust. When we get to the other side of the veil, we'll have certainty. These last few days St. Faustina's prayer, "Jesus, I trust in you," is my constant prayer, in the Divine Will, on behalf of all those walking the earth who are lost, and are in danger of being so eternally.
Thought you may like to see what the New Zealand Bishops had to say on the Holy Year. Today in my Church on Gaudete Sunday we blessed the new Crucifix that is attached on the external wall directly opposite the crucified Christ above the tabernacle on the internal wall. We were told it lights up at night and is a beautiful sign for passing cars. In day light it looks like a simple cross of wood.
Interesting Kathy, my thoughts have also been on Divine Mercy these past few days. I've been drawn to Jesus' words as reported by St. Faustina- "I thirst for souls". In yesterday's morning prayers, on the Feast of Our Lady, we read the words my soul thirsts for The Lord. Isn't this exactly as it's supposed to be. Jesus thirsts for us and Mary gives us the example of her immaculate and perfect soul thirsty for Jesus. I've thought of what makes us thirst these past few days. Isn't it sometimes running in all directions with no purposes or being in a desert (whatever that might be for each of us). But mostly, I think of thirst when you have tremendous fear. Have you ever been completely frightened by something- you get dry mouth- you are parched. I think in this world of chaos and darkness, we may have fear. To be honest, I profess to be Christian and to be Christian it means I need to move ever forward to The Cross, but yet I fear it. If I'm honest, I don't always want it and I fear it and then I thirst, but I may look to quench that thirst in the world and not as Mary pointed us to - in Her Son. And this Son, amazingly thirsts for me. I hope and pray in this great year of Mercy and on this Guadete Sunday this joy, this Good News sustains me. Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
Very powerful Joe We are not here to give answers but let us all look to the example the Holy Father, Pope Francis, is giving us. The personal motto he had as Archbishop of Buenos Aires he has retained as Pope. It reads miserando atque eligendo, and comes from a homily of Saint Bede the Venerable (Homily 21) in which he is commenting on the extraordinary choice of Jesus to include Matthew - the unpopular and probably corrupt tax collector - among his Apostles. Why would Jesus choose Matthew? How could Jesus choose him? The answer lies in the heart of Jesus: filled with mercy, Jesus is able to see Matthew in a new light; filled with mercy our Lord comprehends the tax collector Matthew in a new way; filled with mercy Jesus recognizes within Matthew an already existing goodness to which others had been blind. God Bless NZ!
Today is the feast of St John of the Cross. "Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love." I just looked him up. I had know idea what he went through, imprisoned, tortured and publicly flogged by church members (fellow Carmelites)each week til he escaped on August 15. Our Lady to the rescue once again and pointing to the mercy of Christ and the Cross.
St. John of the Cross is the bomb! I LOVE him; his writing is amazing (and one day I'll understand it all!). I've been thinking all day of this little snippet of a poem attributed to him: If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, "I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close." This is taking over my Advent meditations, coupled with this quote from Luisa Piccarreta's Book of Heaven posted by Lynnfiat on the Divine Will thread: “My daughter, for one who does my Will it is always Christmas. As the soul enters my Will, I am conceived in her act; as she goes on performing her act, I carry out my Life; as she completes it, I rise again, and the soul remains conceived in Me, carries out her life in Mine, and rises again in my own acts. See, then, how Christmas holidays are for those who prepare themselves and place themselves in my grace once a year, and so they feel something new about my birth within themselves. Bur for one who does my Will it is always Christmas - I am born again in each one of her acts. So, would you want Me to be born in you once a year? No, no, for one who does my Will, my birth, my Life, my death and my resurrection must be a continuous act, never interrupted…” Dec. 26, 1923, Vol. 16
One thing I have started for the Year of Mercy is. Reading just one hour from the 24 Hours of the Passion of Our Lord with a view to completing on New Years Eve. One hour a day is more than enough to take in. Praise God and bless His Holy Name. Thank You Jesus and I bless You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all You have done, are doing and will do for us Your poor servants. Thank you Blessed Mother for your fiat. You are our sure hope of finding salvation. I believe we can gain one of those special Indulgences per day. So am planning to work my way through as many family members as possible one at a time this year. We can gain the pardon on behalf of the living as well as the dead this year. So us believers can work in the service of Heavenly Father in rescuing souls. Souls who would never think of making the Divine Mercy Sunday indulgence. Thank You Merciful Jesus for this great gift, You want to give through us Divine Mercy Apostles. Amen.
Who will be His hands and feet? I love this.... http://www.markmallett.com/blog/he-wants-to-touch-us/#more-21949
I believe there are a few fellow New Yorkers here and wanted to share the link below that announces the Holy Doors in the Archdiocese were opened yesterday and where they are located. Cannot wait to get to one of these! http://www.nyfaithformation.org/documents/2015/12/Archdiocesan-Holy-Doors.pdf
I know I've seen it but cannot locate- what are the conditions for gaining the plenary indulgences associated with visiting and passing through the Holy Door. I'm particularly blessed that one of the Church's designated in NY is a mere few mikes away. I'm planning on being there a lot this year !
To gain the Indulgence. Go to Confession, go to Holy Mass and receive Holy Eucharist and say a prayer for the Holy Father. Walk through the Holy Doorway, with the intention of gaining the Indulgence. And you have gained the Indulgence.
My wife and I are so pleased that after nearly 20 years, the image of the Divine Mercy that my wife won at a Divine Mercy Congress will finally be installed at our parish! It's a bit of an interesting story...we went to Congress as we had only recently been introduced to Divine Mercy and wanted to learn more. This was well before St. John Paul canonized St. Faustina and before he officially declared the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. There were several thousand attendees and as we walked into main auditorium where a beautiful altar and the image were, my wife staggered and almost fell backwards. I asked her if she was ok and as tears streamed down her face, she said she felt the most powerful presence of peace and love overwhelm her. She knew The Holy Spirit was present. The Congress was great and it was all leading up to the Holy Mass. As the day went on, my wife kept buying all sorts of relics and sacramentals. I remember getting frustrated because we really couldn't afford it but she insisted that we needed to share all of it with friends and family. She wanted to enter a raffle to win a beautiful painting of the image (attached) and I was an idiot - saying we had no more money and where would we put something so big in our house? So she took her last dollar and bought one ticket. Now my wife does not have a head for numbers but when she got the ticket which had like 7-8 digits she said she knew the number and it was the winning one. I said she was nuts ( now you all know why I need prayers ). So after Mass, they call out the winning raffle number. My wife doesn't even take number out if her bag but proceeds to go forward to claim the painting. I'm sitting there mortified. And then I witness it- she pulls ticket out and yes it's the one. I'm dumbfounded. I asked her how did she know and she said it was just "imprinted" in her mind- she visualized the number. She then said the painting was not ours but was for our parish. Unfortunately, our pastir at the time declined it. So my wife said it would go on our living room wall for "safe keeping" until it goes to the parish Church. So now fast forward all these years later and it's going to it's intended home on Saturday. I think about these years it has hung in our home and the reactions of people to see it in our living room. Some thought we were religious nuts; others found comfort and some even said they could not step in the room as it might cause a lightening strike . But I guess the most poignant reaction was my 14 year old son who fights us about praying and going to Church. He told us he doesn't want it to go to the Church. He wants it to stay in his home because when he looks at it even when he knows he is (his words) being a jerk, it makes him calm. I was touched it meant so much to him and really to all of us. I told him just as it helped him, just think now as more people look at it in the Church, it will be even more helpful. So, in this year of Mercy, I'm happy that our painting finally finds it's meant to be home. I do pray that not just the image, but the promises of Jesus in the Divine Mercy help many, many souls in this year of mercy! View attachment 3889
Another great reflection and practical advise for the Year of Mercy http://catholicexchange.com/year-of-mercy-time-to-heal-wounds-8-ways
