DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

St. Faustyna Kowalska 

On October 5, 1938, a young religious by the name Sister Faustina (Helen Kowalska) died in a convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Cracow, Poland. She came from a very poor family that had struggled hard on their little farm during the terrible years of WWI. Sister had had only three years of very simple education. Hers were the humblest of tasks in the convent, usually in the kitchen or the vegetable garden, or as a porter.

On February 22, 1931, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to this simple nun, bringing with Him a wonderful message of Mercy for all mankind. Saint Faustina tells us in her diary under this date:

"In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord
Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing,
the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening
of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one
red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord;
my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After
a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern
you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'"

Some time later, Our Lord again spoke to her:

"The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous;
the red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These
two rays issued forth from the depths of My most tender Mercy at
that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the
Cross....Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for
the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him."

Courtesy of www.ewtn.com

Try to be MERCIFUL as God is infinitely Merciful!!! 

Sabbath

The Third Commandment:

"Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works; but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work on it, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all the things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and sanctified it."

I'm sure that almost everyone has been to family parties that are exact replicas of the party held exactly one year earlier. Have you ever noticed that conversation topics repeat over and over again? Well, in my family, one of the topics that comes up every New Years Eve is vacation time. When exactly we are planning our days off is a big ordeal so that we can all take the same days off, spend them together to do all sorts of things meanwhile aggravating everyone with all our comedy at each other's expense.

Have you ever come home from a big "family vacation" absolutely exhausted... and in need of a vacation?  Its the feeling of getting home and going right to bed because you have work tomorrow, and just spent your entire time off partying and adventuring all over creation. Truth is we need some time off from all the LABORA that we do in our daily lives.

God knows we need the rest. That's why he gives you a day off every week! Even though circumstances may force us to work on Sundays, God tells us it is important to rest ourselves and invites us to do so  in Him! St. Augustine of Hippo once said "My heart is restless, O God, until it rests in Thee." Predicting and preceding our eternal rest in heaven, God invites us to weekly go to Mass and to kneel in prayer receiving Him in His infinite COMFORT and MERCY. 

Two thousand years ago, the eternal bridegroom made a date with you every week of your life! Keep it!, and let God who is all love enter into your heart and give you His comfort and his mercy this way you may rest in Him.