This Apostolate is dedicated to spreading the Devotion to the Divine Mercy and Grace of our Lord Jesus for everyone and every need.
Divine Mercy and Divine Grace
John 3:16-17 " For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."
I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls. (1074)
How painfully distrust of My goodness wounds Me. Sins of distrust wound Me most painfully. (1076)
However, this great misery of mine does not deprive me of trust. On the contrary, the better I have come to know my own misery, the stronger has become my trust in God's Mercy. I have come to understand how all this depends on the Lord. (1406)
Today the Lord said to me, I have opened My Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let [souls] approach this sea of mercy with great trust. Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in My mercy will be filled with My divine peace at the hour of death. (1520)
Tell them that no soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust in My goodness. (1541)
The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is - trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts. (1578)
Tell souls that from this fount of mercy [referring to Confession] souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls. (1602)
I remind you, My daughter, that as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment mercy was opened wide for every soul. In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world - mercy triumphed over justice. My daughter, try your best to make the Stations of the Cross in this hour, provided that your duties permit it; and if you are not able to make the Stations of the Cross, then at least step into the chapel for a moment and adore, in the Blessed Sacrament, My Heart, which is full of mercy; and should you be unable to step into the chapel, immerse yourself in prayer there where you happen to be, if only for a very brief instant. I claim veneration for My mercy from every creature, but above all from you, since it is to you that I have given the most profound understanding of this mystery. (1572) http://www.catholic-forum.com/churches/cathteach/divinemercy1.htm
Church is more than failings of its members, pope tells Germans By John ThavisCatholic News Service
BERLIN (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and appealed for a better understanding of the church, one that goes beyond current controversies and the failings of its members.
The evening liturgy Sept. 22 was the religious high point of the pope's busy first day in the German capital, where he also met with government leaders, Jewish representatives and addressed the parliament.
About 70,000 Catholics gave the 84-year-old pontiff a rousing welcome when he rode in a popemobile through the stadium, which was built by the Nazi regime to host the 1936 Olympic Games. The pope paused to kiss several babies as young people waved scarves imprinted with the theme of the papal visit, "Where there is God, there is a future."
In recent years, the church in Germany has experienced a consistent drop in religious practice, including Mass attendance. Internal debates have simmered over such issues as priestly celibacy, and recent revelations of clerical sex abuse have drawn widespread criticism from other sectors of society.
In his homily, the pope said part of the problem was that people mistakenly see only the outward form of the church and consider it merely as another organization in a democratic society. He asked for a broader understanding of the church as a communion of life with Christ.
He said people need to realize that although the church contains some bad members, "if only these negative aspects are taken into account, then the great and deep mystery of the church is no longer seen."
When that happens, he said, the church is no longer a source of joy.
"Dissatisfaction and discontent begin to spread, when people's superficial and mistaken notions of 'church,' their 'dream church,' fail to materialize," he said.
The pope said that when the church goes through troubled times, its members should take comfort and strength from their closeness to Christ. This sense of "abiding in Christ" is especially needed in "our era of restlessness and lack of commitment, when so many people lose their way ... (and) when loving fidelity in marriage and friendship has become so fragile," he said.
The pope did not discuss in detail any of the particular issues that divide German Catholics. Instead, he encouraged them to support one another and "stand firm together against the storm."
Altar girls were prominent in the procession at the start of the papal Mass, carrying the cross and candles as the procession wound up a staircase to an altar platform high above the stadium ground level.
After making the rounds in the popemobile, the pope was greeted by Berlin's mayor, who gave him a model of the Brandenburg Gate, an emblem of the once-divided city.
While the pope was vesting for Mass, rain began to fall on the bishops, priests and dignitaries seated on the stadium's field. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prelates and politicians around her scrambled to open disposable plastic raincoats.
At the beginning of the Mass, Berlin Archbishop Rainer Woelki formally welcomed the pope to the "city where only one in three people is a member of a Christian church. You are coming to a city where God has been forgotten and atheism has taken hold."
But the city's Christians are working to give new life to the faith and to remind people of the great sacrifices Berlin's Christians made to defend faith and their fellow human beings during the Nazi years, he said.
1. O Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous offspring;
2 you who made heaven and earth with all their order;
3 who shackled the sea by your word of command, who confined the deep and sealed it with your terrible and glorious name;
4 at whom all things shudder, and tremble before your power,
5 for your glorious splendor cannot be borne, and the wrath of your threat to sinners is unendurable;
6 yet immeasurable and unsearchable is your promised mercy,
7 for you are the Lord Most High, of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful, and you relent at human suffering.
O Lord, according to your great goodness you have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against you, and in the multitude of your mercies you have appointed repentance for sinners, so that they may be saved.
8 Therefore you, O Lord, God of the righteous, have not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against you, but you have appointed repentance for me, who am a sinner.
9 For the sins I have committed are more in number than the sand of the sea; my transgressions are multiplied, O Lord, they are multiplied!
I am not worthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities.
10 I am weighted down with many an iron fetter, so that I am rejected because of my sins, and I have no relief; for I have provoked your wrath and have done what is evil in your sight, setting up abominations and multiplying offenses.
11 And now I bend the knee of my heart, imploring you for your kindness.
12 I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge my transgressions.
13 I earnestly implore you, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me!
Do not destroy me with my transgressions!
Do not be angry with me forever or store up evil for me;
do not condemn me to the depths of the earth. For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent,
14 and in me you will manifest your goodness; for, unworthy as I am, you will save me according to your great mercy,
Throughout the long hours I adore You, O living Bread, amidst the great drought in my soul. O Jesus, pure Love, I do not need consolations; I am nourished by Your will, O mighty One! Your will is the goal of my existence. It seems to me that the whole world serves me and depends on me. You, O Lord, understand my soul with all its aspirations. (195)
God made known to me, what true love consists in and gave light to me about how, in practice, to give proof of it to Him. True love of God consists in carrying out God's will. To show God our love in what we do, all our actions, even the least, must spring from our love of God. (279)
Know that when you mortify your own self will, then Mine reigns within you. (365)
I am with you. During this retreat, I will strengthen you in peace and in courage so that your strength will not fail in carrying out My designs. Therefore you will cancel out your will absolutely in this retreat and, instead, My complete will shall be accomplished in you. Know that it will cost you much, so write these words on a clean sheet if paper: "From today on, my own will does not exist," and then cross out the page. And on the other side write these words: "From today on, I do the will of God everywhere, always, and in everything." Be afraid of nothing; love will give you strength and make the realisation of this easy. (372)
I demand of you a perfect and whole-burnt offering; an offering of the will. no other sacrifice can compare with this one.. Let nothing terrify you for I am with you. (923)
Host pleasing to My Father, know, My daughter, that the entire Holy Trinity finds Its special delight in you, because you live exclusively by the will of God. No sacrifice can compare with this.(955)
Catholics, Orthodox face same evangelization challenge, pope says By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In many countries, Catholics and Orthodox face the same challenges in strengthening Christian life, and an important part of that effort is working together with love and respect, Pope Benedict XVI said.
"For a renewed proclamation of the Gospel in the modern world we need evangelizers animated by the same apostolic zeal St. Paul had," the pope said in a message to Catholic and Orthodox scholars meeting in Salonika, Greece, Aug. 30-Sept. 2.
The Inter-Christian Symposium was sponsored by the Orthodox faculty of theology at the city's Aristotle University and the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at Rome's Pontifical Antonianum University. The theme of the meeting was "The Witness of the Church in Today's World."
"In the course of the centuries, the church has never stopped proclaiming the saving mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but that proclamation needs renewed energy today," the pope said.
"In the modern world we see two contradictory phenomena: On one side there is widespread distraction or even insensitivity to the transcendent; on the other, there are numerous signs that in the hearts of many people there remains a deep yearning for God," the pope wrote.
The challenge is the same for Catholics and for Orthodox, Pope Benedict said.
He said they need to recognize what Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975 in his apostolic letter on evangelization: "As evangelizers, we must offer Christ's faithful not the image of people divided and separated by unedifying quarrels, but the image of people who are mature in faith and capable of finding a meeting-point beyond the real tensions .... Yes, the destiny of evangelization is certainly bound up with the witness of unity given by the church http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1103504.htm
