January 10, 1917 – This morning my lovable Jesus told me: “My daughter, sanctity is formed of little things; so, one who despises the little things cannot be holy. It would be like someone who despises the little grains of wheat which, as many of them are united together, form the mass of the wheat; and by neglecting to unite them, he would cause the necessary and daily nourishment for the human life to be lacking. In the same way, one who neglected to unite many little acts together, would cause the nourishment of sanctity to be lacking; and just as one cannot live without food, in the same way, without the food of the little acts, the true shape of sanctity, and the mass sufficient to form sanctity, would be lacking.”

October 5
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska
(1905-1938)

St. Faustina’s name is forever linked to the annual feast of the Divine Mercy (celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter), the divine mercy chaplet and the divine mercy prayer recited each day at 3 p.m. by many people.

Born in what is now west-central Poland (part of Germany before World War I), Helena Kowalska was the third of 10 children. She worked as a housekeeper in three cities before joining the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925. She worked as a cook, gardener and porter in three of their houses.

In addition to carrying out her work faithfully, generously serving the needs of the sisters and the local people, she also had a deep interior life. This included receiving revelations from the Lord Jesus, messages that she recorded in her diary at the request of Christ and of her confessors.

At a time when some Catholics had an image of God as such a strict judge that they might be tempted to despair about the possibility of being forgiven, Jesus chose to emphasize his mercy and forgiveness for sins acknowledged and confessed. “I do not want to punish aching mankind,” he once told St. Faustina, “but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful heart” (Diary 1588). The two rays emanating from Christ’s heart, she said, represent the blood and water poured out after Jesus’ death (John 19:34)

Because Sister Maria Faustina knew that the revelations she had already received did not constitute holiness itself, she wrote in her diary: “Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God” (Diary 1107).

Sister Maria Faustina died of tuberculosis in Krakow, Poland, on October 5, 1938. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1993 and canonized her seven years later.

Comment:

Devotion to God’s Divine Mercy bears some resemblance to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In both cases, sinners are encouraged not to despair, not to doubt God’s willingness to forgive them if they repent. As Psalm 136 says in each of its 26 verses, “God’s love [mercy] endures forever.”

Quote:

Four years after Faustina’s beatification, John Paul II visited the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy at Lagiewniki (near Krakow) and addressed members of her congregation. He said: “The message of divine mercy has always been very close and precious to me. It is as though history has written it in the tragic experience of World War II. In those difficult years, this message was a particular support and an inexhaustible source of hope, not only for those living in Krakow, but for the entire nation. This was also my personal experience, which I carried with me to the See of Peter and which, in a certain sense, forms the image of this pontificate. I thank divine providence because I was able to contribute personally to carrying out Christ’s will, by instituting the feast of Divine Mercy. Here, close to the remains of Blessed Faustina, I thank God for the gift of her beatification. I pray unceasingly that God may have ‘mercy on us and on the whole world’ “(Quote from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy).

LUISA PICCARRETA AND DIVINE MERCY

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V9 – 9.11.10 – “My daughter, Luisa, Justice and MERCY are in a Continuous Fight, and the Victories of MERCY are More than those of Justice. Now, when a soul is Perfectly United With My Divine Will, she Takes Part in My Actions ad extra, and as she Satisfies with her Sufferings, MERCY Obtains Its Most Beautiful Victories over Justice. And since I Delight in Crowning All of My Attributes with MERCY, even Justice Itself, in Seeing Myself Being Importuned by the soul United with Me, in order to Content her, I Surrender to her, because she has Surrendered All of her things in My Divine Will. This is why I do not Come when I do not Want to Surrender – because I don’t Trust that I can Resist without Surrendering. So, what is your doubt?”

V12 – 12.6.19 – Now, I remember that one night I was doing the Adoration of my Crucified Jesus, telling Him: ‘My Love, in Your Will I Find All Generations; and in the name of the Whole human family, I Adore You, I Kiss You, I Repair You for All. I Give Your Wounds and Your Blood to All, so that All May Find their Salvation. And if the lost souls can no longer Benefit from Your Most Holy Blood, nor Love You, I Take It in their place, in order to do what they should have done. I do not Want Your Love to Remain defrauded in anything on the part of creatures. I Want to Compensate, Repair You, Love You for All, from the first to the last man…’

While I was saying this and other things, my Sweet Jesus Stretched His Arms around my neck, and Squeezing All of me, Told me: “My daughter, Luisa, Echo of My Life, while you were Praying, My MERCY was Softening, and My Justice was Losing Sharpness – and not only in the present time, but also in the future, because your Prayer will Remain in Act in My Divine Will. By Virtue of it, My Softened MERCY will Flow More Abundantly, and My Justice will be Less Rigorous. Not only this, but I will Feel the Note of the Love of the lost souls, and My Heart will Feel for you, Luisa, a Love of Special Tenderness, Finding in you the Love which these souls Owed Me; and I will Pour into you, Luisa, the Graces which I Had Prepared for them.”

• Paragraph 2635 – III. Prayer of Intercession
  2635 Since Abraham, intercession—asking on behalf of another—has
  been characteristic of a heart attuned to God’s mercy. …CCC
• Paragraph 2769 – III. The Prayer of the Church
  … When the Church prays the Lord’s Prayer, it is always the people made up
  of the “new-born” who pray and obtain mercy. 21 ( 1243 )…CCC

Psalms 32:18 – Behold the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him: and on them that hope in his mercy.

Jude 1:21 – Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto life everlasting.

Matthew 5:7 – Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

October 4th is the

FEAST DAY OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d’Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco (“the Frenchman”) by his father, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)^[1][3] was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares.^[1] Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.^[1]

Francis’ father was Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi.^[4] While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life.^[4] On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter’s Basilica.^[4] The experience moved him to live in poverty.^[4] Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a following. His Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed religious order for women, as well as the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order).

In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades.^[5] By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas manger scene.^[4] In 1224, he received the stigmata,^[4] making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ’s Passion.^[6] He died during the evening hours of October 3, 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 140.

On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint of animals, the environment, and is one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of October 4.^[7] He is also known for his love of the Eucharist,^[8] his sorrow during the Stations of the Cross, and for the creation of the Christmas creche or Nativity Scene.^[9]

For much more information on St. Francis of Assisi click here

BOOK OF HEAVEN

Excerpt from Volume 17 – April 15, 1925

Furthermore, of David it was said that he was an image of Me, so much so, that all of his psalms reveal my person; of Saint Francis of Assisi, that he was a faithful copy of Me.  It is said in the Holy Gospel:  ‘Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect’ – no less; it is also added that no one will enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he is not similar to the image of the Son of God; and many other things.  About all these, no one says that they have been exalted too much, and that these are things not conforming to truths spoken by my very mouth.  Only because to you I said that I wanted to compare you to the Virgin – to make you Her faithful copy, I have exalted you too much?  So, comparing those to Me was not exalting them, nor did anyone raise any doubt or difficulty; but then, comparing to the Virgin – that’s too much exaltation.  This means that they have not understood well the mission of the knowledge of my Will.  Indeed, I repeat to you that I not only place you near Her as Her little daughter, on Her maternal lap, that She may guide you, instruct you on how you must imitate Her, to become Her faithful copy by always doing the Divine Will; so that, from Her lap, you may pass onto the lap of the Divinity.  In fact, the mission of my Will is eternal, and it is precisely the mission of Our Celestial Father, who wants, commands, expects nothing else but that His Will be known and loved, that It be done on earth as It is in Heaven.  So you, making this eternal mission your own and imitating the Celestial Father, must want nothing else for yourself and for all but that my Will be known, loved and fulfilled.  And besides, when it is the creature who exalts herself, one should think about it; but when she remains at her place and I exalt her, all is permissible to Me – making one reach wherever I want, and the way I want.  Therefore, trust Me and do not be concerned.”

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Paragraph 772 – III. The Mystery of the Church

Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church “a great mystery.” Because
she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom, she becomes a …CCC

Paragraph 1612 – I. Marriage in God’s Plan
1612 The nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared
the way for the new and everlasting covenant in which the Son of God …CCC

 Matthew 22:9 – Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage.

Apocolypse (Revelation) – 19.7: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath prepared herself.

Apocolypse (Revelation) – 19.9: And he said to me: Write: Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith to me: These words of God are true.

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V30 – 6.17.32 – “Blessed daughter, My Acts and those of My Queen Mama, Our Love, Our Sanctity, are in Act of continuous waiting, to enclose your acts in-between Our Own, so as to give them the shape of Our Acts and place the Seal of Our Own upon your acts. In fact, you must know that the Acts of the Sovereign of Heaven are braided with My Acts, therefore they are inseparable, and one who Lives in Our Divine Volition comes to Operate in the middle of Our Braiding, and her acts remain enclosed in-between Our Acts, which keep them in custody as Triumph and Works of the Holy Fiat.

“Nothing enters into Our Acts if it is not a Birth from It. See, then, where the Sanctity of one who Lives in Our Will is formed—in the middle of Our Sanctity; she loves in the center of Our Love, and operates in the midst of Our Works. So, one who operates in Our Volition will feel, as though in her nature, the inseparability—she from Our Acts, and We form her own, just as the light is inseparable from the heat, and the heat from the light. And therefore they are Our continuous Triumph, Our Glory, Our Victory over the human will; they are Our Divine Properties, that We form in her, and she forms in Us. The human volition and the Divine Volition kiss each other continuously, they fuse together; and God carries out His Life in the creature, and she carries out her life in God.

“Furthermore, for the creature who Lives in My Will, there is nothing that belongs to My Fiat over which she does not acquire her Rights: Right over Our Divine Being, Right over her Celestial Mama, over the Angels, over the Saints; Right over the Heaven, over the sun, over the whole Creation. And God, the Virgin, and everyone, acquire the Right over her.

“It happens as when two young spouses unite themselves together with an indissoluble bond, such that, on both sides, they acquire the right over their very persons, and over everything that belongs to both—a right that no one can take away from them. The same for one who Lives in Our Volition: she forms the New, True, Real Marriage with the Supreme Being, and, with it, a nuptial is formed with everything that belongs to Him. O! how beautiful it is to see this creature espoused to all—the dear, the favorite, the beloved of all. And, with right, everyone wants her, they yearn to enjoy her and to keep her together with them; and she Loves all, gives to all the right over her, and gives herself to all—it is the New and Extensive Family of her Creator that she has acquired.

“O! if it could be seen from the earth, they would see that God carries her in His arms, the Sovereign Queen Nourishes her with the choice food of the Divine Volition, the Angels and Saints form the Cortege around her, the Heaven extends over her to cover her and protect her—and woe to those who touch her. The sun fixes on her with its light and kisses her with its heat, the wind caresses her; there is not one thing Created by Us which does not offer itself to perform its Office around her. My Will moves everything around her, so that everyone and everything may serve her and love her. Therefore, one who Lives in It gives everyone something to do, and all feel the Happiness of being able to extend their field of action inside and outside the fortunate creature. O! if all creatures would comprehend what it means to Live in My Divine Will—O! how all would aspire and compete, to make in It their Celestial Dwelling.”

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V20 – 10.22.26 – “My daughter, what do you think a greater miracle was when I came upon earth: My Word, the Gospel I announced, or the fact that I gave life to the dead, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, etc.? Ah! My daughter, My Word, My Gospel, was a greater miracle; more so, since the very miracles came out of My Word. The foundation, the substance of all miracles came out of My creative Word. The Sacraments, Creation itself, a permanent miracle, had life from My Word; and My very Church has My Word, My Gospel, as regime and foundation.

“So, My Word, My Gospel, was a miracle greater than the miracles themselves, that, if they had life, it was because of My miraculous Word. Therefore, be sure that the Word of your Jesus is the greatest miracle. My Word is like mighty wind that runs, pounds on the hearing, enters into the hearts, warms, purifies, illuminates, goes round and round from nation to nation; it covers the whole world, it wanders throughout all centuries. Who could ever give death and bury one Word of Mine? No one. And if sometimes it seems that My Word is silent and is as though hidden, it never loses its life. When least expected, it comes out and goes around everywhere. Centuries will pass in which everything—men and things—will be overwhelmed and disappear, but My Word will never pass away, because it contains life—the miraculous power of He who issued it.

“Therefore, I confirm that each word and manifestation I make to you about My Eternal Fiat is the greatest miracle, that will serve the Kingdom of My Will. And this is why I push you so much, and I care so much that not a Word of Mine be not manifested and written by you—because I see a miracle of Mine coming back to Me, that will bring so much good to the children of the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat.”

http://bookofheaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Traditional-Consecration-Prayer-to-St.-Michael-the-Archangel.pdf

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Paragraph 1804 – I. The Human Virtues 1804 Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfectionsof intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and … CCC

Paragraph 1834 – III. The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit
1834 The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will
that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in ..CCC

.Paragraph 1704 – ARTICLE 1 MAN: THE IMAGE OF GOD
1704 The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit. …
By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. … CCC

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V33 – 3.19.35 – “My blessed daughter, tell Me, what do you want? Do you want that My Will Reigns and Lives in you as Life? If you truly want it, everything is done, because so much is Our Love and ardent Desire that the creature possess Our Will as Life in order to let her Live of It, that as her human will truly wants it, so Ours fills the human volition with Our Supreme Volition in order to form Its Life there, and Live in her as in Its own Center. You must know that the Divine Will and the human are two spiritual powers. The Divine, Immense with an Unreachable Power. The human, little power, but for however little, it has its power. And both being spiritual, the one can pour itself into the other and form one single Life. All the power is in the volition, and being spiritual power, it has the space of being able to place inside of its will the good that she wants, and also the evil. In fact, what the will wants, that is what one finds inside of herself: If she wants self-esteem, glory, love of pleasures, of riches, she will find inside of her volition the life of self-esteem, of glory, the life of pleasures, of riches, and, if she wants, sin—even sin will form its life.

            “Even more, if she wants the Life of Our Will in hers, wanted, commanded by Us with so many sighs, if she truly wants It, she will have the Great Good of possessing Our Will as Life. And if this could not be, the Sanctity of Living in My Volition would be a difficult and almost impossible sanctity, and I do not know how to neither teach difficult things, nor do I want impossible things. Rather it is My usual Way to make easy, for as much as it is possible for the creature, the most arduous things and hardest sacrifice. And if necessary I place there of Mine in order to have that the little power of her will becomes sustained, aided, animated, by the Invincible Power of Mine, and so render easy the Good, or the Life of My Volition, that the creature wants to possess. And so much is My Love, that in order to make it all the more easy, I whisper to the ear of the heart: ‘If you truly want to do this good, I will do it together with you, I will not leave you alone, I will place My Grace, My Strength, My Light, My Sanctity at your disposition; we will both do the good that you want to possess.’

            “Therefore, not too much is needed to Live of My Will; the too much is in the volition—if this decides and strongly and perseveringly wants it, already she has conquered Mine and has made It hers. O! how many things the human volition can enclose being a spiritual power that gathers much and loses nothing, it resembles the light of the sun. How many things does the sun not enclose, while one sees nothing other than light and heat? And yet the goods that it encloses are almost innumerable, and one sees that as it touches the earth, so it communicates its admirable goods; and yet one sees nothing other than light. Such is the human will, how many goods does it not contain? If she wants, it can contain Love, Sanctity, Light, reparation, patience, all the virtues, and even her Creator Himself. Being a spiritual power, it has the virtue and capacity of containing everything that she wants. And not only does it have the power of containing the Good that she wants, but of Transmuting herself into the Good that it contains. In fact, the human will changes into the nature of the Good that she wants, and although she does not do many things that she truly wants, in the will they remain as done. And one sees that on the occasion of doing that good that she wants, possessing the life of it, with promptness, with all love, without any hesitation, she does that good that she wanted to do for so long. Symbol of this is the sun, that finding neither the seed, nor the flower, can give neither the good of maturing the seed, nor the good of the color to the flowers—but as soon as it is given it to touch them with its light, possessing the life of it, immediately it gives the maturation to the seed, the color to the flowers.

            “With indelible characters the human will possesses everything that it does and that it wants to do. And if the memory forgets, yet the will loses nothing, it contains the deposit of all of her acts without that it could lose anything. Therefore one can say: ‘All of man is in the will.’ If this is holy, even the most indifferent things are holy for him. If then it is bad, perhaps even the good changes for him into perverse act. So if you truly want My Divine Will as Life, not too much is needed, even more, because united to yours there is Mine that wants it, there is a Power that can do everything, and as for you, one will see with deeds if in all things you will behave as possessor of a Divine Will. Therefore be attentive, My daughter, and let your flight always be continuous in the Supreme Fiat.”

Paragraph 2737 – III. Filial Trust … says, ‘He yearns Jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us?’”
28 That our God is “Jealous” for us is the sign of how True His Love is. … CCC

Exodus 34:14 – Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God.

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V12 – 6.20.18 – “In the one who does my Will and lives in It, my Love does not find obstruction. I love her and have so much predilection for her that I Myself take care of all that is needed for her: both help and direction, both unforeseen aids and unexpected graces. Even more, I am jealous that others may do something – I Myself want to do everything for her. I reach so much jealousy of love that, if I give to Priests the authority to consecrate Me in the Sacramental Hosts so that I may be given to souls, I reserve to Myself the privilege to consecrate these souls, as they keep repeating their acts in my Will, as they resign themselves, and as they make the human will go out, in order to let the Divine Will enter. What the Priest does over the Host, I do with them – and not only once: every time she repeats her acts in my Will, she calls Me as a powerful magnet, and I consecrate her like a privileged Host, repeating over her the words of the Consecration.

V33 – 11.19.33 – Daughter, so great is the act of disposing oneself to doing My Will, that My Life itself, My Merits, form the paper, the characters, and your Jesus makes the signature in order to make it known and to give her free entrance. One can say that the whole of Heaven runs to the help of one who wants to do My Will. And I feel so much Love, that I take a place in the fortunate creature and I feel Loved by her with My own Will.

“Now, seeing Myself Loved by her with My own Will, My Love becomes jealous and does not want to lose even one breath, one heartbeat, of the Love of this creature. Imagine yourself My Solicitudes, the defenses that I take, the helps that I give, the Loving stratagems that I use. In a word, I want to Re-Make Myself in her, and in order to Re-Make Myself I venture Myself in order to form another Jesus in the creature. Therefore I place all My Divine Art in order to obtain this intent. I do not spare anything—I do everything, I give everything. Where My Will Reigns, I cannot deny anything, because I would deny it to Myself.

V33 – 2.24.35 – “O! if everyone knew the Rights of My Will, Its ardent and constant Love that is so much that while It gives her Life, It puts her forth to the light of day. More than mother, so much is Its Jealousy of Love, that It does not leave her for one instant; It invests her inside and outside, from above and from below, to the right and to the left. And although the creature might not know It, nor love It, with Divine Heroism It continues to Love her and to make Itself Life and Bearer of the acts of the creature. O! My Will, You alone know how to Love with Heroic, Strong, Incredible, and Infinite Love, her whom You Created and who does not even recognize You. Human ingratitude, how great you are.”

V33 – 3.10.35 – “What is done in My Volition belongs to Heaven; the earth is not Worthy of possessing it. And O! the Security, the Happiness, that the creature acquires, thinking that her acts are in the Power of the Divine Fiat, and they find themselves in Heaven as her property, not human but Divine, that await her because they want to court her and form her throne of Glory. So much is Its Love, Its Jealousy, the Identification that It feels with these acts done in Its Volition, that It does not even leave them in the creature, but It holds them with Itself as Births of Its Life, and births of the creature, in order to be able to enjoy them and to feel the pleasure of being Loved, and as an advance that It must give her of Glory in the Celestial Fatherland.