(Quotes come from the Diary of Saint Faustina, "Divine Mercy in my Soul". The "rep" quotes and other text are copyright Boldradish. Everything Faustina has written is in line with the Old and New Testaments, what Jesus said and what He did, with the teachings of the Church, and has ecclesiastical approval. Please note that some of the pronouns and some of the nouns were changed from original quotes to fit the context of my life, where there was a female spiritual director for example instead of Faustina's priest, but the meaning of the quote is the same and nothing else is changed.)
God: "I am Thrice Holy, and detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to My generosity toward it. My mercy embraces and justifies it. With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice at their return.
"Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart.... When will it beat for Me? Write, that I am speaking to them through their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms, through the voice of the Church. And if they bring all My graces to naught, I begin to be angry with them, leaving them alone and giving them what they want.*" [that is, by refusing God’s Mercy, the soul “wants” God’s Justice, so they and their lives fall into God’s Just Wrath and falls to pieces.]
Soul: "I fly to Your mercy, Compassionate God, who alone are good. Although my misery is great, and my offenses are many, I trust in Your mercy, because You are the God of mercy; and, from time immemorial, it has never been heard of, nor do heaven or earth remember, that a soul trusting in Your mercy has been disappointed."
A natural storm, a living metaphor given by God for the storms in our lives, and how God will calm the storms in our lives through recitation of the chaplet of Divine Mercy in the following diary entry written by Saint Faustina: Today I was awakened by a great storm. The wind was raging, and it was raining in torrents, thunderbolts striking again and again. I began to pray that the storm would do no harm, when I heard the words: "Say the chaplet I have taught you, and the storm will cease." I began immediately to say the chaplet and hadn’t even finished it when the storm suddenly ceased, and I heard the words: "Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.”
God: “Involuntary offenses of souls do not hinder My love for them or prevent Me from uniting Myself with them. But voluntary offenses, even the smallest, obstruct My graces, and I cannot lavish My gifts on such souls.”
God: "Listen, My child: although all the works that come into being by My will are exposed to great sufferings, consider whether any of them has been subject to greater difficulties than that work which is directly Mine – the work of Redemption. You should not worry too much about adversities. The world is not as powerful as it seems to be; its strength is strictly limited. Know, My child, that if your soul is filled with the fire of My pure love, then all difficulties dissipate like fog before the sun’s rays and dare not touch the soul. All adversaries are afraid to start a quarrel with such a soul, because they sense that it is stronger than the whole world.
"Do as much for this work of mercy as obedience allows, but present clearly to [ My representative, your confessor ] the very least of My demands, and she will decide. You must not shirk in any way, but carry out everything faithfully; otherwise, I would find no pleasure in you……”
Rep: How much the spirit is needed. Words and personal determination alone do not make love of God grow. Entrust your spirit to God’s Hands: give Him your heart. “Merciful God, I hand over my heart to You, my spirit and whole being to You. You are as Merciful as You are Holy, and Your promises are always true because You are Truth Itself and incapable of any lie. Make my heart and soul pleasing to You. I ask this on the promise You have made of Your mercy.”
The significance of the two rays on the image of Divine Mercy and how the soul is to live:
God: "The two rays denote Blood and Water. 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 very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross.
"These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy.
"Ask of my faithful servant that, on this day, she tell the whole world of My great mercy; that whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete remission of sins and punishment.
"Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy.
"Oh, how much I am hurt by a soul’s distrust! Such a soul professes that I am Holy and Just, but does not believe that I am Mercy and does not trust in My Goodness. Even the devils glorify My Justice but do not believe in My Goodness.
"My Heart rejoices in this title of Mercy."
“… Mercy is the greatest attribute of God. All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy.”
A Soul with Trust: "You [God] do not give a reward for the successful performance of a work, but for the good will and the labor undertaken. Therefore, I am completely at peace, even if all my undertakings and efforts should be thwarted or should come to naught. If I do all that is in my power, the rest is not my business. And therefore the greatest storms do not disturb the depths of my peace; the will of God dwells in my conscience.”
God to the Trusting Soul: "My delight is to unite myself with you. It is when you submit yourself to My will that you give Me the greatest glory and draw upon yourself a sea of blessings. I would not take such special delight in you if you were not living by my will.
“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.”
Rep: Definition of “host”: the spirit in which God can dwell. The “Heaven Host” refers to the good angels in Heaven and those who keep watch on earth who keep the love of God. Keeping the love of God can only be done through a grace from God, not through one’s own personal determination alone. Therefore it is important to hand over one’s spirit to God willingly, and implore His Mercy, that He might assist us in making ourselves a dwelling place for Him.
God to the Trusting Soul: "Today bring to me the souls who especially venerate and glorify My mercy, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over My Passion and entered most deeply into My Spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death.”
Rep: He meant to bring to Him spiritually, during prayer. To become a soul who glorifies and venerates God’s Mercy is the ultimate goal of every soul. The soul is happiest and most joyful when it is most pleasing to God. This is a goal that is pursued throughout the entire life of the soul on earth, before entering eternity.
Soul: "Although I have great enthusiasm, and the desires burning in my heart are immense, they [and my actions because of them] are never above Your Will, O God.”
It occurs occasionally in a soul that it is tempted to despair of God’s Mercy. This occurs for the following reason: when God’s Mercy enters a repentant soul, the Light drives out the Darkness. Darkness is not empty: occupants exist in the Darkness. Spiritual occupants of Darkness are permitted to come and go into any part of their territory.
If a soul is dwelling Darkness, the spiritual occupants can also dwell within that soul. The soul becomes a Host of dark spirits, as opposed to a Host of God, Who is [spiritual] Light.
Hosts of God are spiritually united with other Hosts of Light. Their souls feel connected, one to another, through the Love and Joy of God.
Hosts of Darkness are dead: because they are spirits, they cannot physically die, but their souls are deprived of Life of the Spirit. God alone is Life. Only when a soul has God dwelling within it, is it alive. Therefore, Spirits of Darkness, without God, are spirits that are dead. Humans are spirits, and so is a human is a Host of Darkness, the human's spirit is dead. A person may not be aware of his or her spiritual death: many people are so worldly, they do not know when their soul has died. When a person in this state of spiritual death physically dies, he or she is separated from God forever, left to ever-increasing despair and hatred and anger, with no relief from these states. There is no sense of connection between these spirits, other than pain, agony, hatred, jealousy, envy, despising, loathing, etc.
Spirits of Darkness are destructive spirits. They work to destroy constantly; they are far from God Who Alone can create, and therefore they are incapable of creation. Therefore, these Darkness Spirits are constantly working to destroy the very territory that hosts them. They destroy their own home, their own host.
It is not possible to be a Christian and not believe in the spiritual world. It is not possible to be a Christian and not believe in Angels and Demons and Exorcisms. If a person claims to be a Christian and rejects these things, they are a not a Christian. A Christian is a person who follows Christ, who performed exorcisms, cast out demons, and was tended to by angels (all recorded in the Gospels).
Sometimes, the presence of spirits of Darkness feels pleasurable at first, but once you let them into your life, they will attack and destroy it. This is why we have to have faith and believe what Saints and holy people and the Church tells us, because they have come before us and have more experience than us.
Like irresponsible, insane people who trash their own homes and then abandon them, or narcissists, sociopaths, dependent personality disorder, dependent-avoidant personality disorder, “energy vampires,” or borderline personality disorder persons who abuse, trash, and suck the life out of another person and then dump them to find a new victim, so these spirits work against their own territory, and when there is no more energy left in the person, throw the Host away.
Hosts of Darkness, therefore, do not feel the connectivity between one another that Hosts of God feel. They are not capable of love in the sense that Hosts of God experience Love because the Light of God, Who alone is Love, is not in them. They are not capable of wisdom or understanding in the way that Hosts of God are for the same reason. They are isolated, and the only way they are capable of keeping their ranks together is through anger, violence, manipulation, lying, oppression, anxiety, fear, arrogance, binding souls one to another, idolatry/idolizing one another or themselves, etc.
Imagine that a soul has been dwelling with the Darkness, when suddenly, the Light of God begins to invade the soul. The soul starts to warm up and seeks God’s Light more and more.
This shrinks the territory of Darkness.
The Spirits of Darkness are spirits of oppression, violence, hatred, fear, anxiety, despair, misery and the like. They are spirits that are only capable of lies and loathing. They are all diagnosable psychotics and narcissists. When someone comes up against a psychotic, what is the psychotic’s response? He or she starts yelling and doing everything imaginable to torture and torment the object of his or her hatred, even when it is illogical and counter-productive to do so.
Of course, it doesn’t make sense to attack the Host. To persuade the Host to continue dwelling in Darkness, it makes sense to be kind to the Host so that he will want to remain in Darkness. But the Spirits of Darkness are incapable of this; they are only capable of a show of kindness, but not actual kindness. And the show can only last for so long.
The soul is thus confronted with a spiritual battle for his soul, which is the territory. On the one hand, it is very wonderful to dwell in the presence of God. Nothing makes the soul happier. On the other hand, the soul is being attacked viciously for leaving the territory of Darkness.
What is a soul to do?
God controls both the Light and the Dark. The Dark is only permitted to act to the extent that God permits it. God permits this spiritual battle to take place in the soul so that the soul can distinctly see the evil he is leaving behind. It is also a test of the soul: will the soul trust in God, or will the soul choose darkness?
Darkness is obviously weaker. When has it ever happened that material light (that is, light in the material world, such as flipping a light switch and having a lightbulb light up, or the rising of the sun) came on but darkness decided to remain? When as it ever happened that darkness overcame the light? It could only do so if the light permitted it.
This is a metaphor for the spiritual world.
A soul is, therefore, to continue to trust in God despite struggles. The struggle is considered a “spiritual battle.” This is the first of all spiritual battles that a soul will undergo, and so it seems difficult because the soul has no experience fighting the darkness up until that point. But if a soul continues to trust in God and so continually cries out to God, then the soul will win its first battle.
This crying out to God is done through recitation of the chaplet of Divine Mercy and prayers in the soul’s own words, as well as receiving the Sacraments and being obedient to God’s representative in all things. Clinging to God’s Mercy, fighting with the Light of the Sword of God.
After many spiritual battles, the soul will become much better at fighting. God teaches the soul with each battle.
Only the brave enter into the Kingdom of God’s Light. The weak and cowardly, who look back into the darkness, who refuse God’s Mercy, who refuse to reject the works of Darkness, cannot enter into the Kingdom of God’s Light. We can only have the courage to enter into God’s Kingdom when we entrust ourselves to God through prayer.
Saint Faustina, although never a member of Darkness, was permitted an intense spiritual battle that mimicked the most difficult struggles of a soul. Most souls entering into their first battle won’t struggle as long and hard as she does in the following account.
God permitted her to enter into the struggle against Darkness in this manner so as to obtain graces and strengthen all those who would come after her who are struggling with their own battles within their own souls.
After the struggle is when she entered most deeply into conversation with God and His Light. She was made into a great warrior and rewarded with the greatest feeling, the greatest joy, a soul can experience: being pleasing to God by the successful accomplishment of His Will.
Here is an account of her struggle and the payoff, from her diary, that you might see how she patiently struggled and imitate her in battle and so be victorious (although your initial battle won’t be so long or severe, and in fact you may never enter into a battle this intense—only God knows). You will undoubtedly recognize some of your own fears and struggles in her battle; imitate her response, which is, a continual trust in God, clinging to prayer and the sacraments and God’s representatives’ instruction, so that you might be victorious and come to know peace and joy:
The day I took the [religious] habit,13 God let me understand how much I was to suffer. I clearly saw to what I was committing myself. I experienced a moment of that suffering. But then God filled my soul again with great consolations.
Toward the end of the first year of my novitiate, darkness began to cast its shadow over my soul. I felt no consolation in prayer; I had to make a great effort to meditate; fear began to sweep over me. Going deeper into myself, I could find nothing but great misery. I could also clearly see the great holiness of God. I did not dare to raise my eyes to Him, but reduced myself to dust under His feet and begged for mercy. My soul was in this state for almost six months. Our beloved Mother Directress [Mary Joseph] encouraged me in these difficult moments. But this suffering continued to grow stronger.
The second year of the novitiate was approaching. Whenever I recalled that I was to make my vows, my soul shuddered. I did not understand what I was reading; I could not meditate; it seemed to me that my prayer was displeasing to God. It seemed to me that by approaching the Holy Sacraments I was offending God even more. But despite this, my confessor [Father Theodore15] did not let me omit one single Holy Communion. God was working very strangely in my soul. I did not understand anything at all of what my confessor was telling me. The simple truths of the faith became incomprehensible to me. My soul was in anguish, unable to find comfort anywhere.
At a certain point, there came to me the very powerful impression that I am rejected by God. This terrible thought pierced my soul right through; in the midst of the suffering my soul began to experience the agony of death. I wanted to die but could not. The thought came to me: of what use is it to strive for virtues; why mortify oneself when all this is disagreeable to God? When I made this known to the Directress of Novices, I received this reply, “Know, dear Sister, that God has chosen you for great sanctity. This is a sign that God wants to have you very close to Himself in Heaven. Have great trust in the Lord Jesus.”
That dreadful thought of being rejected by God is the actual torture suffered by the damned. I fled to Jesus’ Wounds and repeated the words of trust, but these words became for me an even greater torture. I went before the Blessed Sacrament, and I began to speak to Jesus: “Jesus, You said that a mother would sooner forget her infant than God His creature, and that ‘even if she would forget her infant, I, God, will never forget My creature.’ O Jesus, do You hear how my soul is moaning? Deign to hear the painful whimpers of Your child. I trust in You, O God, because heaven and earth will pass, but Your word will last forever.” Still, I found not a moment of relief.
One day, just as I had awakened, when I was putting myself in the presence of God, I was suddenly overwhelmed by despair. Complete darkness in the soul. I fought as best I could till noon. In the afternoon, truly deadly fears began to seize me; my physical strength began to leave me. I went quickly to my cell, fell on my knees before the Crucifix and began to cry out for mercy. But Jesus did not hear my cries. I felt my physical strength leave me completely. I fell to the ground, despair flooding my whole soul. I suffered terrible tortures in no way different from the torments of hell. I was in this state for three quarters of an hour. I wanted to go and see the Directress, but was too weak. I wanted to shout but I had no voice. Fortunately, one of the sisters [another novice, Sister Placida Putyra] came into my cell. Finding me in such a strange condition, she immediately told the Directress about it. Mother came at once. As soon as she entered the cell she said, “In the name of holy obedience16 get up from the ground.” Immediately some force raised me up from the ground and I stood up, close to the dear Mother Directress. (10) With kindly words she began to explain to me that this was a trial sent to me by God, saying, “Have great confidence; God is always our Father, even when He sends us trials.”
I returned to my duties as if I had come out from the tomb, my senses saturated with what my soul had experienced. During the evening service, my soul began to agonize again in a terrible darkness. I felt that I was in the power of the Just God, and that I was the object of His indignation. During these terrible moments I said to God, “Jesus, who in the Gospel compare Yourself to a most tender mother,17 I trust in Your words because You are Truth and Life. In spite of everything, Jesus, I trust in You in the face of every interior sentiment which sets itself against hope. Do what You want with me; I will never leave You, because You are the source of my life.” Only one who has lived through similar moments can understand how terrible is this torment of the soul.
During the night, the Mother of God visited me, holding the Infant Jesus in Her arms. My soul was filled with joy, and I said, “Mary, my Mother, do You know how terribly I suffer?” And the Mother of God answered me, I know how much you suffer, but do not be afraid. I share with you your suffering, and I shall always do so. She smiled warmly and disappeared. At once, strength and a great courage sprang up anew in my soul; but that lasted only one day. It seemed as though hell had conspired against me. A terrible hatred began to break out in my soul, a hatred for all that is holy and divine. It seemed to me that these spiritual torments would be my lot for the rest of my life. I turned to the Blessed Sacrament and said to Jesus, “Jesus, my Spouse, do You not see that my soul is dying because of its longing for You? How can You hide Yourself from a heart that loves You so sincerely? Forgive me, Jesus; may Your holy will be done in me. I will suffer silently like a dove, without complaining. I will not allow my heart even one single cry of sorrowful complaint.”
End of the novitiate. The suffering does not diminish. Physical weakness dispenses me from all [community] spiritual exercises; that is to say, they are replaced by brief ejaculatory prayers. Good Friday [April 16, 1928] – Jesus catches up my heart into the very flame of His love. This was during the evening adoration. All of a sudden, the Divine Presence invaded me, and I forgot everything else. Jesus gave me to understand how much He had suffered (11) for me. This lasted a very short time. An intense yearning – a longing to love God.
First vows [First profession of temporary vows, April 30, 1928]. An ardent desire to empty myself for God by an active love, but a love that would be imperceptible, even to the sisters closest to me.
However, even after the vows, darkness continued to reign in my soul for almost a half year. Once, when I was praying, Jesus pervaded all my soul, darkness melted away, and I heard these words within me: You are My joy; you are My heart’s delight. From that moment I felt the Most Holy Trinity in my heart; that is to say, within myself. I felt that I was inundated with Divine Light. Since then, my soul has been in intimate communion with God, like a child with its beloved Father.
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Rep: In the same way that, when we hand over our whole being to God, He sanctifies it, filled it with light, and uses it to bring His Light into the world (we are transformed into His Host), so when we do the Works of Darkness, we are handing over our body to Darkness and they use it to bring into the world more damnation and perpetual, eternal misery.
It might seem that, if someone has acted evilly against us and deserves punishment, then to bring into the world works of darkness for his or her punishment is Just. And Justice is an attribute of God.
But this is the wrong course of action.
Know this: when we bring into the world Darkness, that Darkness first and foremost reaches up through us. We are that Darkness’s first and lasting dwelling place. The Darkness might reach out and scratch or wound the person we send it after, or… it might not, because Darkness is a liar and never fulfills its promises. But either way, the other person will only be scratched or slightly wounded at best, and then the darkness will dwell in the one who brought it into the world.
And it will dwell with the absolute fullness of its destructive capacity.
This is why witches and murderers and those involved with crimes or sins that bring Darkness into the world usually quickly dry up and look terrible and insane. In the case of witches, they often die very quickly after their lives completely crumble once they are entered into witchcraft, because they have literally invited death and chaos and psychosis into their lives. Every punishment they hand out through the works of injustice comes back to them a thousandfold.
This is one of the reasons that God has such great Mercy and Love for sinners: He sees their fate, that they are about to be overwhelmed immensely, beyond their capacity, with the darkness they have brought into the world, and He desires to heal them out of His Love. But if they continue to refuse Him, He cannot act to save them from the Darkness by giving them His Light and the grace to reject the works of Darkness.
There are many Psalms to pray for the punishment of our spiritual and mortal enemies. (One is on boldradish.) We must pray these prayers with detachment, or at most sorrow, but not anger. We must ask God to help us get rid of our sins so that God will hear our prayers, pray these Psalms, and distance ourselves from bad people. We must stay away from them and not go back to them or to our sins. We must forgive these people so that there are no spiritual ties between us and those persons, throw out all physical objects they have given to us and all physical reminders of them in our lives, put their names in a prayer request (first names only, no last names, and put it on private) because God commanded we pray for our enemies, and then we must forget about them and never think of them again.
God: I promise that the soul that will venerate [the Divine Mercy image] will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory.
Venerate means to ask for graces through the Divine Mercy image. That is, to look at the image of Divine Mercy and speak to God through the image. You can ask for any graces, a zillion times a day. You can ask for the grace to stop sinning, or help with your work, or victory over an enemy, or just talk to God about anything at all on your mind through the Divine Mercy image. You can recite any prayer through the Divine Mercy image. God loves to answer prayers and help us with an inexhaustible number of problems or ideas, big or small, throughout the day.
No problem is too small for God. Remember, He created our lives, including all the small aspects and daily routines necessary to life. It pleases Him when we turn to Him for help for everything or include Him in everything, talk to Him about everything, because it shows that we trust in His Mercy and Goodness and that we love Him in response to His Love.
God: "You know what love demands: one thing only, reciprocity......."
God: "Look at the splendors of My Mercy and do not fear the enemies of your salvation. Glorify My mercy."
When you are done speaking with God about anything, it helps to read the inscription, which is part of the image: "Jesus, I trust in You." God likes to hear that you trust in Him, or are making the effort to trust in His Mercy. God needs to hear that you are making the effort to trust in Him, so try to pray the prayer of the Divine Mercy image ("Jesus, I trust in You") often.
God: "Distrust on the part of souls is tearing at My insides. The distrust of a chosen soul causes Me even greater pain; despite My inexhaustible love for them they do not trust Me. Even My death is not enough for them. Woe to the soul that abuses these [gifts]." (That is, woe to the soul that does not make the effort to trust in God, or who ignores or avoids God's great Mercy and avoids asking God for many graces throughout the day.)
God commands certain actions towards our enemies, certain actions that are of His Kingdom of Light, to drive away the Kingdom of Darkness. He says, "Be always merciful as I am merciful. Love everyone out of love for Me, even your greatest enemies, so that My mercy may be fully reflected in your heart."
But what does this mean? Are we supposed to have emotional love towards our enemies? No. We do not have control over our emotions. In fact, it is best of all to limit every emotion we feel towards our enemies. We should try to be as neutrally emotional towards them as possible, although sometimes this is hard because they have hurt us so grievously. We must rely on God for help.
Loving our enemies is an act of will power, not emotion. And it also involves distancing ourselves from people who willingly and knowingly have given themselves over to the Darkness.
Strong emotional attachments, whether positive or negative, create a connection between us and other people. If we feel any strong emotional attachments towards our enemies, we are still spiritually connected to them. This is why we have to forgive our enemies when we reflect on the ways they have hurt us, avoid meditating on hurting them back, and in general, avoid thinking about them. Any goodness we do for them, we must do out of our love of God.
God: My child, in this meditation, consider the love of neighbor. Is your love for your neighbor guided by My love? Do you pray for your enemies? Do you wish well to those who have, in one way or another, caused you sorrow or offended you?
Know that whatever good you do to any soul, I accept it as if you had done it to Me.
God says that we know we will have a love for our enemies if we pray for their conversion. Love is an act of will, not an emotional state. We do not always have control over our emotions. This is why I suggest you put their names in the prayer request as a private prayer. Then, it is done, it is taken care of. We will have done a GREAT good for their soul, and God will accept this good as if we had done it for love of Him. And one act of love of God covers a thousand sins, so it is very important for our own salvation that we do this for our enemies. It brings us closer to God, Who demands we reciprocate His love for us. Then we avoid these bad persons when it is possible; when it is impossible, we avoid giving any personal information or opinions to them and we try to be as polite and limited in conversation as possible.
God: "My pupil, have great love for those who cause you suffering. Do good to those who hate you." The good that we do is to have others pray for them; this is the greatest good we can do for another's soul. Prayer is more powerful than preaching or any other good we could do for someone's soul, especially when they have done us harm.
God: "It is not always within your power to control your feelings. You will recognize that you have love if, after having experienced annoyance and contradiction, you do not lose your peace, but pray for those who have made you suffer and wish them well."
From Faustina's Diary: Before Holy Communion, Jesus gave me to understand that I should pay absolutely no attention to what a certain sister would say, because her cunning and malice were displeasing to Him. [God said to Faustina:] "My daughter, do not speak to this person about either your views or your opinions." I begged the Lord’s pardon for what in that soul was displeasing to Him, and I begged Him to strengthen me with His grace when she would come to talk with me again.
[More from her Diary:] Today, when the sister about whom the Lord warned me came to see me, I armed myself spiritually for battle. Although it cost me much, I did not depart one bit from what the Lord had commanded. But when an hour had gone by, and the sister made no move to go, I interiorly called upon Jesus to help. Then I heard a voice in my soul saying, "Do not fear. I am watching you this very moment and am helping you. In a moment, I will send you two sisters who are coming to visit you, and then you will find it easy to continue the conversation." And at that moment two sisters entered, and then the conversation was much easier, even though it lasted for still another half hour.
[Diary continued:] Oh, how good it is to call on Jesus for help during a conversation. Oh, how good it is, during a moment of peace, to beg for actual graces. I fear most of all this sort of confidential conversation; there is need of much divine light at times like this, in order to speak with profit, both for the other person’s soul, and for one’s own as well. God, however, comes to our aid; but we have to ask Him for it. Let no one trust too much in his own self.
Many people are malicious and it is good to limit conversation with them and not give away personal information or opinions or views or thoughts that we have, and to always call on God to help. She was not preaching to the other sister who was so malicious with words; she was preaching with her deeds, her actions. We must not speak about our relationship with God explicitly with words but through our actions. This is the life God calls us to. Even if we are speaking about mundane daily life, if we ask God to help us speak about mundane daily life with His grace, and we avoid sinning with our words (for example, we ask Him for help not to gossip or lie), we are preaching our relationship with God without ever mentioning God specifically.
Most people do not have the graces necessary to understand it when someone speaks to them about God. It takes a number of graces to understand God and the Kingdom of Light. If we preach God explicitly when a person has no graces, how will they understand us? That is why it is better to pray for souls than to preach to them. It takes much sacrifice and much prayer for a person to receive the light of God. Jesus spent only 3 years preaching, but 30 years in private praying for souls.
God: "Your purpose and that of your companions is to unite yourselves with Me as closely as possible; through love [of Me] You will reconcile earth with heaven, you will soften the just anger of God, and you will plead for mercy for the world." The more we unite ourselves to God through prayer, even continual prayer, continually speaking with God throughout the day, and the more we love God in the privacy of our own hearts, the more we try to seek God in the absolute privacy of our own souls, the more we bring the entire world and all souls in it closer to Him.
It is important to speak about Divine Mercy only when it is God's Will, and only with the words He wills for us to say. He will let you know. You can't speak about Divine Mercy unless you live it and experience it in its fullness first. It IS good to speak about Divine Mercy, yes, absolutely! But in the way that God commands and only at the time that He commands, and only when He has prepared you. Otherwise you will not be giving the message He commands. We have to cling to Him to know; we have to say the message that He wants us to say, not make a new message or give a broken or half-formed message.
Prayer is more important that speech, because without prayer, there is no grace, there is no communication with God, there is learning what God wants, there is no understanding what God wants. Prayer is the most important thing; sincere prayer, from the depths of the heart. There is also a reading assignment at the bottom; but it will be unfruitful unless it is accompanied by prayer. Words become nothing without God's grace to illumine them to the soul.
God: "Your assignment and duty here on earth is to beg for mercy for the whole world." Done... through prayer, through recitation of Divine Mercy chaplet.
God: "My child, make the resolution never to rely on people [including yourself]. Entrust yourself completely to My will saying, 'Not as I want, but according to Your will, O God, let it be done unto me.' These words, spoken from the depths of one’s heart, can raise a soul to the summit of sanctity in a short time. In such a soul I delight. Such a soul gives Me glory. Such a soul fills heaven with the fragrance of her virtue. But understand that the strength by which you bear sufferings comes from frequent Communions. So approach this fountain of mercy often, to draw with the vessel of trust whatever you need."
Faustina writes about spiritual enemies: Pure love never errs. Its light is strangely plentiful. It will not do anything that might displease God. It is ingenious at doing what is more pleasing to God, and no one will equal it. It is happy when it can empty itself and burn like a pure offering. The more it gives of itself, the happier it is. But also, no one can sense dangers from afar as can love; it knows how to unmask and also knows with whom it has to deal.
Why does God command we pray against our enemies if He also commands we pray for them? Praying against them loosens our own souls from sin, humbly acknowledging that God does, in fact, have the authority to punish sin. It loosens our ties within our own soul with the person. It strengthens our trust in God and bond to God. And when Divine Punishment comes upon a person for committing sin, that is often when he or she begins to seek God. Oftentimes when everything is going okay, people don't seek God. So praying these Psalms also help for the enemies' conversions.
God said that those He loves, He disciplines. He does this to free people from sin. Those who are allowed to remain in sin are going to accumulate more and more sin and therefore more and more punishment. For this reason, it is a work of mercy to pray both for a wicked person's punishment as well as for God's mercy for that person, because both aid in the salvation of the person's soul. God commands that we be merciful, so we must do these things.
It is not a work of mercy to be consumed with the world of Darkness try to obtain justice. It is also not nearly as effective, because the Kingdom of Darkness is not just, it is unjust.
If I do not have something myself, I cannot give that thing to someone else. If I do not have $40, I cannot give $40 to anyone. If I do not have peace in my soul, how can I say to someone, "peace"? If the Kingdom of Darkness is devoid of Justice, how can it give justice? Do not seek anything favorable from the world of Darkness.
Nothing good will ever come of sin, even if it might seem like it will. It will not. Ever. Sin (including ignoring God's instruction) will always explode and fall apart and destroy your own life, and deprive you of what you want and need. God alone can help you: turn to His Mercy constantly.
So we must not hand our beings over to Darkness. This includes our physical bodies. God will use our whole being to accomplish His Will. To blaspheme this, Darkness will use our whole being (not just our soul) to bring Darkness into the world and expand their territory of misery.
So, for example, if a person commits suicide, even if, through a miracle of grace, God saves his soul and he doesn’t go to Hell forever but does go to Purgatory for an immensely long time, the person’s body is still in the hands of Darkness. And those spirits of Darkness do not pity or care about the suffering of the suicide: in fact, they dwell on it and feed on it and gain power from it.
They use that body and the image of that body to further curse others with suicide: innocent victims with suicide. After all, spirits of Darkness are unjust. They aren’t cursing people who deserve it with suicide (not at first, anyway, although it will come to that because they are dwelling with darkness). They are cursing victims. They want victims.
God’s Light is stronger than curses. When we dwell in it completely, with daily fulness of the Sacraments and a close relationship with God and having completely driven out all spirits of Darkness (including human spirits), then curses melt off of us.
When we commit sins of the mouth, such as gossip, rumor-spreading, talking behind someone's back, and lying, we are handing over our mouths to the spirits of darkness. "In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest on fire. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." James 3:5
Faustina writes: "I tremble to think that I have to give an account of my tongue. There is life, but there is also death in the tongue. Sometimes we kill with the tongue: we commit real murders. And we are still to regard that as a small thing? I truly do not understand such consciences. I have known a person who, when she learned from someone that a certain thing was being said about her, fell seriously ill. She lost a good deal of blood and she many tears, and the outcome was very sad. It was not the sword that did all this, but the tongue. O my silent Jesus, have mercy on us!"
If we commit sin with the mouth, we have to apologize to God and beg His mercy, through the Divine Mercy chaplet, that we have the grace to no longer commit these sins, otherwise these sins that we have committed will destroy us, even worse than they hurt others, because they open the door to darkness.
When we commit sexual sins (masturbation, fornication, adultery, pornography), it is the same because we are handing over our bodies and minds, our wills, to spirits of Darkness, to increase their territory and power in our lives.
This is a message that people don't want to hear because they make a false idol out of sexuality, meaning they think if they give up sexual sins, they will become miserable. But any time we allow the devil into our lives, any time we let in the darkness, we are going to end up miserably, bitterly weeping, in an unimaginable agony that can't be put into words, even on this earth. All the sad love songs in the world are a testament of this.
And any time we choose the Kingdom of Light, even if we go through a struggle, we will come into joy and peace, a joy and peace that the world cannot give. We stop the flow of darkness in our lives and out into the whole universe.
God did not create us to be used or to use others sexually and then spend our lives weeping while listening to sad love songs. That is not why God put us on earth. He has a better life for us in mind than that. That is a rubbish, miserable life that needs to be rejected completely. That is not your life, but that is what will happen when we commit these sins.
God is saying not to do these sins in order to spare you living death on earth that will turn into impossible-to-comprehend eternal despair. The greatest pain on earth is nothing compared to the least sentiment of pain in Purgatory or utter, hopeless despair in Hell. This is why Mary warned us at the apparition of Fatima that people fall into Hell because of sexual sins more than for any other reason, because no matter how miserable they make us, people don't want to hand them over to God.
God only wants you to be happy, that is why He says to not commit these sins--because they will destroy you and your life, even on earth, by allowing yourself to become a vessel, a host, to darkness and misery. It is very important also to ask God who to be in a relationship with and to give up people who God sees will destroy you, even if they seem like good people. God can see what is in the depths of their hearts and who they will become in a few years time... Anyone with life experience knows, that it is true what is said, "the bad become worse."
If we commit sexual sin with the body and mind, we have to apologize to God and beg His mercy, through the Divine Mercy chaplet, that we have the grace to no longer commit these sins. We hand over our sins to God and ask Him to take them from us. After we do that, we have to mentally say to the thoughts, "I don't want to be this person anymore." Otherwise, the spirits of darkness will be allowed to parade around lives and they will cause ruin and decay, destroy our relationships, mental and emotional and even physical health...
More than we don't want to go to Hell and more than we want to be free of ruin and agony, God wants to free us from this darkness. We have to trust in His goodness, trust in His great desire to liberate us. He has to watch souls fall into Hell every single day after spending a lifetime in misery, a misery He would have helped them avoid. He has been watching this happen for thousands of years. And it breaks His most merciful and loving heart every time. So yes, turn to Him and keep turning to Him and He will free you and help you.
I have seen people who are fornicating who hear of this and then decide to get married but continue fornicating. By doing so, they are not driving out or giving up the spirit of darkness, the spirit of fornication. They are still fornicating even if they are going to get married, and it has horrible consequences in their lives later on. Also, have they asked God if this is the right person to be with? So many people live absolutely miserable lives because they did not ask God, "is this the right person?" and they did not give up their sins.
If someone is trying to clean up a house and another person comes in to throw mud and filth everywhere, the house will never get clean. If you want the Kingdom of Light in your soul so you are not miserable, but you leave the door open to the darkness, how will your soul ever get clean?
There are people who say that no one goes to Hell anymore because Jesus died to save us. These people are just looking for an excuse to continue worshipping their false idols because Jesus said numerous times in the New Testament that if we must reject the works of Darkness.
Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you.* Depart from me, you evildoers.’
“Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
And what is God's Will? That we turn to Him with all of our miseries and problems and sins and hand them over to Him and trust in His Goodness and continue to pray for graces. He gives unimaginable graces to those who trust in His Mercy and recite the Divine Mercy chaplet, so we know it is very pleasing to Him when we pray the chaplet. Let us always do this, at least once a day.
It takes a lot of courage and bravery to admit these truths to yourself. A lot of people adopt these sins as a lifestyle and an identity. But because they are of the Dark, and we were created by and for the Light, these are always a false personality that will never be fully satisfying; it will always leave us empty. They also think that these sins make them tough and strong, whereas they make them weak, cowardly, carbon copies of one another, worn down, and spinning in circles, never able to move forward in life.
When we reject the Kingdom of Darkness and turn to God, casting off the old ways and letting go of the old identity as a member of Darkness, then we discover our true, unique, powerful, living personality: the one that is completely individual and that makes us so joyful.
Ephesians 4:17: "So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess. That is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth."
Ah, see? You will be made new, unique, your true self, and all the futility and deceit of your own life will melt away, no longer weighing you down and inviting misery and pain into your life. You become free, and light, and it is the most wonderful feeling that is continually renewed so long as we actively stay close to God and ask Him, praying, to keep bringing us closer and closer to Him.
Ephesians 4 continued: "Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry [against sin] but do not sin [do not be so angry that you are sinning]; do not let the sun set on your anger [brood on revenge which opens the door for darkness], and do not leave room for the devil. The thief must no longer steal, but rather labor, doing honest work with his [own] hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need. No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. [And] be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ." Then you will be happy, your true, individual, strong, powerful self will come out.
Still, it is a great, great struggle to reach that point, a great battle, and another battle to stay there. So much so that in the spirit world, the one who admits these things and then hands over his or her sin to God is the victor of a battle, that even those toted as heroic by the world's standards are too cowardly to fight in. We must depend upon God's grace to win this battle and pray and call upon God, trusting in His goodness, or else we will never succeed, never win. To depend upon God IS bravery itself; to reject His help is cowardice and arrogance.
This is why God has said that He is a Father and gives His gifts only to the brave, the heroic: Revelation 21:6: "I [am] the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son. But as for cowards, the unfaithful, the depraved, murderers, the unchaste, sorcerers, idol-worshipers, and deceivers of every sort, their lot is in the burning pool of fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The alpha and omega, meaning that only to God, and not to society, will your soul be held accountable. So if society says that such-and-such thing is ok, that doesn't change what is happening in your soul. When you die, your soul goes before God and not before society, making society's standards and false promises of what will bring you happiness meaningless. Only the workings happening in your soul and God's promises mean anything: society's workings mean nothing. Thankfully, we will not be eternally judged by the fickle, shallow, abusive and selfish standards of society; so let us throw them off, because they are lies and Darkness, and let us turn to God and His Kingdom of Light, which is true joy and peace in the depths of our souls, now and in eternity.
Matthew 5:13: "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a another with lust has already committed adultery with the heart." This includes fornicating, pornography, sexual fantasy, etc. Even our thoughts have significance because the spiritual world came before the physical world, it was created first, and therefore has first importance.
Sometimes these images pop up in our heads uncontrollably. This is not a sin; it is a temptation, an invitation to sin by meditating on sexual thoughts further. Just ignore it, or say to the thought in your mind that "I am not that kind of person anymore," and call on God's help in prayer. It's not that big a deal, if you keep rejecting the "invitation," it'll have no hold on you. The devil flees so quickly from the one who is humble and turns to God for support, that once you start rejecting the Kingdom of Darkness and no longer entering into conversation with it, no longer listening to its suggestions, but turning to God instead, it will have no hold on you. It becomes no longer that big of a deal. See here:
Faustina: After the adoration, half way to my cell, I was surrounded by a pack of huge black dogs who were jumping and howling and trying to tear me to pieces. I realized that they were not dogs, but demons. One of them spoke up in a rage, “Because you have snatched so many souls away from us this night, we will tear you to pieces.” I answered, “If that is the will of the most merciful God, tear me to pieces, for I have justly deserved it, because I am the most miserable of all sinners, and God is every holy, just, and infinitely merciful.” To these words all the demons answered as one, “Let us flee, for she is not alone; the Almighty is with her!” And they vanished like dust, like the noise of the road, while I continued on my way to my cell undisturbed, finishing my Te Deum and pondering the infinite and unfathomable mercy of God.
God never permits sin, though. She trusted in God's goodness and so rejected them and the fear that they brought with them. When you start rejecting sin and trusting in God more and more and praying, that is what it will be like: you will become very brave in the face of what would terrify others and your past self and coral others into committing sin.
Remember God said "I am Thrice Holy, and detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to My generosity toward it. My mercy embraces and justifies it. With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice at their return.
Remember also God wants your happiness, even if you have to go through a struggle at first. If you ask Him for the right person in a relationship, even if it takes a very long time, or if so and so is the right person, He will help you. He will also free you from the idolatry of thinking that you must be in a relationship to be happy. Such people are never truly happy, even in a relationship, because idolatry never makes anyone happy. They are only distracted, and once their distraction sours on them, they become the most miserable people. Anyone with life experience has seen this happen over and over again in others' lives, or even their own.
If they permit God to remove their false idol of needing to be in a relationship, then even if they get in a relationship, they will be able to be happy; and if they do not, they will be able to be happy. They won't be dependent on their false idol of a relationship, which will make them miserable, but on God, Who will provide them with everything they need if they ask Him and thank Him and are close to Him. And you see how much more exciting everything becomes within our own soul, rather than fearful, when we have God. God is so much more exciting than another person could ever be, especially a person living in the Kingdom of Darkness. The Darkness is boring and stilted. The Light is full of life and exciting, meaningful, deep, profound, peaceful, creating and fostering and nurturing all uniqueness, and driving out all darkness and sin that makes things so repetitive and stale.
God urges us to avoid this avoidable misery that ruins so many lives and claims so many souls.
When others sin against us physically, they are also forcing open the doors to darkness in our lives. (i.e. threatening our death, attempting to kill us, beating us, molesting us, raping us, etc., even spiritually raping/molesting someone; and lying to us and gossiping or making up rumors about us, and the like). Again, all of these things are fightable with the Light of God, and God will conquer them if we keep turning to Him and invoking His Mercy and turning away from the Darkness and its works and its spirits (including its people: we have to turn away from people who participate in these sins and commit these sins against us, avoiding these people in our lives; if they are co-workers, we can be polite to them, but we must not invite them into our lives or give details about our lives or accept gifts from them).
Faustina: "When a soul has been cleansed, and the Lord is on intimate terms with it, it begins to apply all its inner force in striving after God. Yet the soul cannot do anything of itself. God alone arranges everything." When we take one step towards God, He takes a thousand steps towards us. If we have the grace to want to strive after God, it is because He has given us this grace. Let us be thankful to Him for giving us the grace to want to strive after Him and His Kingdom of Light, so that the darkness might be cast out of our lives and all our spiritual enemies--that is, our own weakness and inclination to sin, spirits of darkness, and humans who have given themselves to darkness--all of our spiritual enemies might be cast out of our lives so that we can enjoy peace.
Once all of the enemies of Darkness are put down and conquered, both in us and around us, we experience great peace and joy in God, even in this life.
God to the Trusting Soul: "Do not fear anything, My child; all the adversaries will be shattered at My feet. The graces I grant you are not for you alone, but for a great number of other souls as well.... And your heart is My constant dwelling place, despite the misery that you are. I united Myself with you, take away your misery and give you My mercy. I perform works of mercy in every soul. The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy. My mercy is confirmed in every work of My hands. He who trusts in My mercy will not perish, for all his affairs are mine, and his enemies will be shattered at the base of My footstool.”
God to the Trusting Soul: "Lean your head on My breast and rest." The Lord pressed me to His Heart and said, "I shall give you a small portion of My Passion, but do not be afraid, be brave; do not seek relief, but accept everything with submission to My will.”
Trusting Soul: The Lord, however, strengthens my will, against which all the attempts of the enemy are shattered as if against a rock. I see how many actual graces God grants me; these support me ceaselessly.
When one day I resolved to practice a certain virtue, I lapsed into the vice opposed to that virtue ten times more frequently than on other days. In the evening, I was reflecting on why, today, I had lapsed so extraordinarily, and I heard the words: "You were counting too much on yourself and too little on Me." And I understood the cause of my lapses.
Rep: We can only avoid the things which permit Darkness in our lives if we turn to God in prayer, depending on Him and asking for His strength in us. If we veer away from God, we will fall.
Trusting Soul: I have come to know that, in order for God to act in a soul, it must give up acting on its own; otherwise, God will not carry out his will in it.
Rep: It must act with God in a very explicit way. Not on its own.
Trusting Soul: When a great storm was approaching, I began to say the chaplet. Suddenly I heard the voice of an angel [of Darkness]: “I cannot approach in this storm, because the light which comes from her mouth drives back both me and the storm.” Such was the angel’s complaint to God. I then recognized how much havoc he was to have made through this storm; but I also recognized that this prayer was pleasing to God, and that this chaplet was most powerful.
Today I saw the glory of God which flows from the image [of Divine Mercy]. Many souls are receiving graces, although they do not speak of it openly. Even though it has met up with all sorts of vicissitudes, God is receiving glory because of it; and the efforts of Satan and of evil men are shattered and come to naught. In spite of Satan’s anger, The Divine Mercy will triumph over the whole world and will be worshipped by all souls.
I learned that a certain soul was very pleasing to God and that, in spite of all sorts of persecutions, God was clothing this person in a new and higher dignity. My heart greatly rejoiced in this.
The moments which are most pleasant to me are those when I converse with the Lord within the center of my being. I try my very best not to leave Him alone. He likes to be always with us…...
+ O Jesus, eternal God, thank you for Your countless graces and blessings. Let every beat of my heart be a new hymn of thanksgiving to You, O God. Let every drop of my blood circulate for You, Lord. My soul is one hymn in adoration of Your mercy. I love You, God, for Yourself alone.
My God, although my sufferings are great and protracted, I accept them from Your hands as magnificent gifts. I accept them all, even the ones that other souls have refused to accept. You can come to me with everything, my Jesus; I will refuse You nothing. I ask You for only one thing: give me the strength to endure them and grant that they may be meritorious. Here is my whole being; do with me as You please.
+ Today, my soul is preparing for Holy Communion as for a wedding feast, wherein all the participants are resplendent with unspeakable beauty. And I, too, have been invited to this banquet, but I do not see that beauty within myself, only an abyss of misery. And, although I do not feel worthy of sitting down to table, I will however slip under the table, at the feet of Jesus, and will beg for the crumbs that fall from the table. Knowing Your mercy, I therefore approach You, Jesus, for sooner will I run out of misery than will the compassion of Your Heart exhaust itself. That is why during this day I will keep arousing trust in The Divine Mercy.
+ Today, the Majesty of God is surrounding me. There is no way that I can help myself to prepare better. I am thoroughly enwrapped in God. My soul is being inflamed by His love. I only know that I love and am loved. That is enough for me. I am trying my best to be faithful throughout the day to the holy Spirit and to fulfill His demands. I am trying my best for interior silence in order to be able to hear His voice......
Rep: Every thought in your head or word in your head is not from God. Often it is the opposite, it is either your own soul or mind speaking to itself or a Spirit of Darkness disguising itself as a Spirit of Light. Faustina had a rare grace. The Voice of God is much more subtle than that.
I recommend you keep a stack of books written by Saints on your desk and flip through them randomly during the day, reading a few paragraphs from one or two of the books a day. (Or more if you wish, but just reading a little bit.) It will inflame your heart with the Love of God and point you in the correct direction (that is, towards God).
The stack can include the Bible or a copy of the New Testament, Divine Mercy in My Soul: the Diary of Saint Faustina, the Imitation of Mary (Thomas a Kempis), the Secret of the Rosary (St. Louis de Montfort), the Story of a Soul (St Therese), Prayers and Heavenly Promises (Cruz), How to Converse Continually and Familiarly with God (St. Alphonsus Liguori), Interview with an Exorcist (Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea), and, this one is most especially important, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence: The Secret of Peace and Happiness (Rev. Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure St. Claude de la Colombiere).
It command you as your representative to do this spiritual practice, that is, to keep these books and flip through them at random. That means that God is speaking through me as I command this of you. You may take your time gathering these books. Ask God for them, and He will be happy to oblige. It is only in this way, by following God and those who have followed Him before you, will you cease to be lost and find God’s Mercy, and so avoid falling into His Justice.
A demon can feign humility, but never obedience. So be obedient to my words, just as Jesus was obedient even onto the Cross.
Marino Restrepo gives an account of his supernatural experiences after being kidnapped and trapped in a cave. He saw all the spiritual connections to Darkness that he had in his soul. As your spiritual advisor, I tell you to listen to this, it is very enlightening and encouraging about God's Mercy and explains a lot of workings of the spiritual world.
God to Faustina (28): "I don’t demand mortification from you, but obedience [to My representative]. By [holy] obedience you give great glory to Me and gain merit for yourself." (clarification because obedience to one's superior who tells you to do the opposite of God's command or is not God's representative is not what is being discussed here, Faustina was in a convent. If we are obedient to worldly superiors such as bosses and parents, specifically to give glory to God, so long as they aren't telling us to sin, is a good thing, but in this context God is specifically discussing obedience to holy, ordained superiors. God will never command you to sin.)
God will never, ever speak through the occult. Even if the occult tries to prop itself up as being nice and good and of light, it never is: it is from Hell. This is why so many people who have gotten involved with New Age and Yoga suddenly feel oppressed and cursed and become obsessed: they have permitted themselves to become territories of Darkness.
One of the worst sins is to say that you have no sin. The soul that offers up its sins to God and asks Him to heal them is a soul that will be filled with God's consolations, Light, graces, and joy. Over time, the sin in a person will become less because they grow closer to God, but there will still be sin or weakness within a person. This is so that we will always be able to seek out God. It is a very joyful thing for a soul to continue seeking God: it makes the soul very happy, and God very happy. If we say we have no sin, it separates us from God's mercy. We can pray for enlightenment about our sins so that we can experience the joy of God's mercy in handing them over to Him and having Him remove them from us and give us the strength not to commit them again. These are great joys.
God: Tell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [the Sacrament of Reconciliation/the Confessional] There the greatest miracles take place [and] are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one’s misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s mercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late.
Baptism is a sacrament that divinizes our soul, makes it possible to accept God's grace, and cleanses our souls of all past sin; this is why baptism is essential for salvation. (Some people are confused on the issue of baptism of desire, saying that because they desire baptism, they don't have to be properly baptized; if a person sincerely desired baptism, he or she would actively seek it out with all of his or her will. Therefore to not seek out baptism, means that a person does not really have baptism of desire. A person cannot baptize him or herself. Baptism of desire is a dying grace, or a grace for someone who is trapped, not someone with freedom of movement or freedom to seek out God.)
The Sacrament of Confession with an ordained priest is like a second baptism. When a soul has died because of mortal sin, Sacramental Confession brings the soul back to life, the way baptism does. To be literally baptized twice is to blaspheme one's first baptism by saying that the baptism has no power.
Without Confession, even if the sin is not being actively committed, the stain of sin remains on the soul. Desiring confession is the same as baptism of desire: if you are not actively seeking it out, there is power to the desire for the cleansing of the soul.
Many people come into a fury and rage when they hear someone speaking on confession in this manner because they are afraid of confession. I ask you, does blind rage, arrogance/haughtiness and agitation of soul such as you see with people who are infuriated by the mention of confession, do those emotions come from God, Who is Peace? Or are those chaos emotions, and therefore from the Darkness? Isn't is obvious that it is spirits who do not want to give up their territory influencing such person's emotions so that they stay away from the Sacrament that would immediately force them out of their territory (that is, a person's soul)?
What should we do if we are horrified at the thought of confession or do not believe in confession? The same that we should always do when we experience any horror or rage: put it in God's Hands. It if very important to pray for a good confession, and if you do not believe in confession, then to ask for God to guide you. "If it is really important that I go to confession, please make it known to me, give me the courage to accept it, and make it really easy on me, God, because You see how confused and afraid I am." Get others to pray for this for you, as well (it is anonymous and private prayer request, nuns will pray this intention with you).
If you fail in asking God for guidance, ... don't. Don't fail in seeking God with your whole heart and mind and soul. It will be bad for you down the line, both immediately down the line and later on. Take it from someone who knows, who has experienced it and seen many people's lives ruined from their putting off this task: seek God now, pray for guidance from Him, pray to be led to Him, now. It's dangerous to put off. God will show you the danger if you do put it off.
God: "I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy." (Can't receive Communion or confession unless you've gone through RCIA)
Praying for a good confession is always important for every confession. Faustina (and I have had this experience, as well): From this, I came to understand one thing: that I must pray much for each of my confessors, that he might obtain the light of the Holy (104) Spirit, for when I approach the confessional without first praying fervently, the confessor does not understand me very well. Father encouraged me to pray fervently for these intentions, that God would give better knowledge and understanding of the things He is asking of me. “Make novena after novena, Sister, and God will not refuse the graces.”
Novena is a petition to God of 9 days (or 9 times) of prayer and is not to be made superstitiously but as a show of effort to God, because the act of praying is a holy work (so, you are showing that you are willing to do a spiritual work to ask God for grace, not that God requires any specific number of prayers to hear you, because He already knows what you need before you ask and knows all your thoughts; a novena directs our attention, hearts, and souls towards God's mercy and the fact that He alone permits all things).
Pray also for the grace for a sincere confession: entering into confession with intent to commit the sin again or committing a sin/opening a gateway to Darkness and thinking, "Oh, I will just close them in confession later," are abuses of God's grace that nullify the confession and so don't close the gateway. We would also have to repent of our insincerity and abuse of the sacrament of confession if we did that.
Of course, if you've never been baptized, then that baptism would replace the confession in removing the bond of sin from your soul and fully closing the gates to Darkness that have been opened against you.
