4. New forms of the devotion to the Divine Mercy

The ImagePaint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signa-ture: Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated,first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world (47).

The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands forthe Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands forthe Blood which is the life of souls... These two rays issued forthfrom the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heartwas opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls fromthe wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in theirshelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (299).By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It isto be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even thestrongest faith is of no avail without works (742).

Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the brush lies the greatnessof this image, but in My grace (313). I am offering people a ves-sel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the foun-tain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: “Jesus,I trust in You.” (327). I promise that the soul that will veneratethis image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] ene-mies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I My-self will defend it as My own glory (47-48).

The Feast of MercyThe Feast of My Mercy has issued forth from My very depths forthe consolation of the whole world (1517). No soul will be justifieduntil it turns with confidence to My mercy, and this is why thefirst Sunday after Easter is to be the Feast of Mercy. On that day,priests are to tell everyone about My great and unfathomable mercy(570). Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, butthere must also be acts of mercy, and I demand the worship of Mymercy through the solemn celebration of the Feast and through theveneration of the image which is painted (742).

I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls,and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of Mytender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon thosesouls who approach the Fount of My Mercy. The soul that will go toConfession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete for-giveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine flood-gates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to drawnear to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. (…) The Feast of Mer-cy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that itbe solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter (699).

Look into the abyss of My mercy and give praise and glory to this mercyof Mine. Do it in this way: Gather all sinners from the entire worldand immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. I want to give Myself tosouls; I yearn for souls (…). On the day of My feast, the Feast of Mer-cy, you will go through the whole world and bring fainting souls to thespring of My mercy. I shall heal and strengthen them (206). Mankindwill not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy (300).

4. New forms of the devotion to the Divine Mercy

The Chaplet of the Divine MercyThis prayer will serve to appease My wrath. You will recite it fornine days, on the beads of the rosary, in the following manner: Firstof all, you will say one OUR FATHER and HAIL MARY and theI BELIEVE IN GOD. Then on the OUR FATHER beads you willsay the following words: “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body andBlood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord JesusChrist, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”On the HAIL MARY beads you will say the following words: “Forthe sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the wholeworld.” In conclusion, three times you will recite these words: “HolyGod, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us andon the whole world (476).

The souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by My mercy duringtheir lifetime and especially at the hour of their death (754). At thehour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will saythis chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person, the pardon isthe same. When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person,God’s anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul (811).When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their souls with peace, andthe hour of their death will be a happy one. (…) When they say thischaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Fatherand the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the merciful Sa-vior (1541). Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope ofsalvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were torecite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infi-nite mercy (687). Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, ifwhat you ask for is compatible with My will (1731).

The Hour of Mercy (3:00 pm)At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and,if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, par-ticularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is thehour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enterinto My mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soulthat makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion... (1320).

I remind you, My daughter, that as often as you hear the clockstrike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy,adoring and glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the wholeworld, and particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment mer-cy was opened wide for every soul. In this hour you can obtaineverything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was thehour of grace for the whole world — mercy triumphed over jus-tice. (…) Try your best to make the Stations of the Cross in thishour, provided that your duties permit it; and if you are not ableto make the Stations of the Cross, then at least step into the chapelfor a moment and adore, in the Blessed Sacrament, My Heart,which is full of mercy; and should you be unable to step into thechapel, immerse yourself in prayer there where you happen to be,if only for a very brief instant (1572).

4. New forms of the devotion to the Divine Mercy

Spreading the honor of the Divine MercyAs often as you want to make Me happy, speak to the world aboutMy great and unfathomable mercy (164). Speak to the world aboutMy mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It isa sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. Whilethere is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy;let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them(848). I have eternity for punishing [these], and so I am prolongingthe time of mercy for the sake of [sinners]. But woe to them if theydo not recognize this time of My visitation. My daughter, secretary ofMy mercy, your duty is not only to write about and proclaim My mercy,but also to beg for this grace for them, so that they too may glorifyMy mercy (1160). Write, tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, be-cause the awful day, the day of My justice, is near (965).

Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield through their en-tire lives as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of deathI will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior (1075). Allthose souls who will glorify My mercy and spread its worship, en-couraging others to trust in My mercy, will not experience terror atthe hour of death. My mercy will shield them in that final battle...(1540). To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give won-drous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of thoseto whom they will speak (1521).

5. The Apostolic Movement of the Divine MercyI desire that there be such a Congregation (…), that such a Con-gregation be founded as soon as possible, and you shall live in ittogether with your companions. My Spirit shall be the rule of yourlife. Your life is to be modeled on Mine, from the crib to My deathon the Cross. Penetrate My mysteries, and you will know the abyssof My mercy towards creatures and My unfathomable goodness —and this you shall make known to the world. Through your prayers,you shall mediate between heaven and earth (438). You will recon-cile earth with heaven, you will soften the just anger of God, andyou will plead for mercy for the world. I place in your care two pearlsvery precious to My Heart: these are the souls of priests and reli-gious. You will pray particularly for them; their power will come fromyour diminishment. You will join prayers, fasts, mortifications, la-bors and all sufferings to My prayer, fasting, mortification, laborsand sufferings and then they will have power before My Father (531).

Redaction: Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of MercyMore: www.faustyna.pl© Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy ul. Żytnia 3/9, 01-014 Warsaw, Poland

Imprimatur: Bishop Jan Szkodoń, Kraków, February 12, 2013

This leaflet was developed in Polish and in foreign languages for the spread−ing of the message of Mercy. It is designed to be printed in its entiretyand distributed free of charge. The leaflet in PDF format can be obtainedfree on our website: www.faustyna.pl

I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world.I do not want to punish aching mankind,but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. (…)Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy.

Jesus’ words to Saint Faustina

JESUS’MESSAGEOF MERCY

JESUS’MESSAGEOF MERCY

The Message of MercyA gift of God for our times

My Heart rejoices in this title of Mercy.Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God.

All the works of My hands are crowned with mercy (300).

The Lord Jesus chose and sent Saint Faustina Kowalska of the Congre-gation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy to the Church and the worldwith the message of Mercy. In it, He reminds us of the biblical truth aboutGod’s merciful love for each human being and calls us to proclaim itwith new vigor as well as to implore God’s mercy for the world. For thispurpose He communicated new forms of devotion: the image with thesignature: “Jesus, I trust in You”; the Feast of Mercy; the Chaplet of theDivine Mercy; prayer at the moment of His death on the cross, calledthe Hour of Mercy (3:00 pm); and spreading the honor of the DivineMercy. To each of them the Lord attached great promises, provided thatthey be practiced in the spirit of trust in God (fulfilling His will as con-tained in the Commandments, the Word of God, the duties of one’s state,and the discerned inspirations of the Holy Spirit) and mercy toward one’sneighbors. Only then will the practice of these forms of devotion be anauthentic act of worship of the Divine Mercy.

The entire message of Mercy as well as the school of Christian spi-rituality which the Apostle of the Divine Mercy brings to the history ofthe Church was recorded in St. Faustina’s Diary. This school is basedon coming to know the mystery of God’s mercy and contemplating it indaily life, which leads to growth in the attitude of trust in God and ofmercy toward others. Today the Apostolic Movement of the Divine Mercy,born of her charism and mystical experience, continues her propheticmission of proclaiming the merciful love of God to the world. It is madeup of cloistered and active congregations, various confraternities, asso-ciations, apostolates, as well as individual people who take up the taskof proclaiming the message of Mercy by the witness of life in the spiritof trust in God and active love of neighbor through word, deed and prayer.

In this leaflet are cited the most important statements of the LordJesus taken from the message of Mercy communicated to Sister Faus-tina. The numbers in parentheses after the quotations refer to thepassage numbers that appear along the sides of the text of Saint Faus-tina Kowalska’s Diary, © 1987 Marian Fathers of the ImmaculateConception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Stockbridge, MA 01263, USA.

I am Thrice Holy, and I detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul whichis stained with sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to My generositytoward it. My mercy embraces and justifies it. With My mercy, I pursuesinners along all their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return toMe. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice attheir return. Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they runaway from My Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sin-ners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beatingof their heart... when will it beat for Me? Write, that I am speaking to themthrough their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings,through thunderstorms, through the voice of the Church. And if they bringall My graces to naught, I begin to be angry with them, leaving them aloneand giving them what they want (1728).

1. The merciful love of God

I am Love and Mercy Itself (1273). Everything that exists is enclosedin the bowels of My mercy, more deeply than an infant in its mo-ther’s womb (1076). My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of manor of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Every-thing that exists has come forth from the very depths of My mosttender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate Mylove and mercy throughout eternity (699).

I have opened My Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all soulsdraw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust.Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good(1520). My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors toit. Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy.Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of My mercy (1577).

My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls (…). If only they couldunderstand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that it is forthem that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fountoverflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the tabernacle as Kingof Mercy. I desire to bestow My graces upon souls, but they do notwant to accept them. (…) My Heart drinks only of the ingratitude andforgetfulness of souls living in the world. They have time for every-thing, but they have no time to come to Me for graces (367).

How very much I desire the salvation of souls! (…) I want to pourout My divine life into human souls and sanctify them, if only theywere willing to accept My grace. The greatest sinners would achievegreat sanctity, if only they would trust in My mercy. The very innerdepths of My being are filled to overflowing with mercy, and it isbeing poured out upon all I have created. My delight is to act ina human soul and to fill it with My mercy and to justify it. My king-dom on earth is My life in the human soul (1784).

On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lancefor all souls — no one have I excluded! (1182). [Let] the greatest sin-ners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before othersto trust in the abyss of My mercy. (…) Souls that make an appeal toMy mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than theyask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal toMy compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathom-able and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just Judge, I firstopen wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through thedoor of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice... (1146).

Oh, if sinners knew My mercy, they would not perish in such greatnumbers (1396). The loss of each soul plunges Me into mortal sad-ness. You always console Me when you pray for sinners. The prayermost pleasing to Me is prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know,(…) that this prayer is always heard and answered (1397).

2. Fountains of Divine Mercy

The Sacrament of ReconciliationTell souls where they are to look for solace; that is, in the Tribunal ofMercy [the Sacrament of Reconciliation]. There the greatest miraclestake place [and] are incessantly repeated. To avail oneself of this mi-racle, it is not necessary to go on a great pilgrimage or to carry outsome external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet ofMy representative and to reveal to him one’s misery, and the miracleof Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decay-ing corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hopeof] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so withGod. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, howmiserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’smercy! You will call out in vain, but it will be too late (1448).When you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Bloodand Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down uponyour soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerseyourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pourthe bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the con-fessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I amonly hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the miseryof the soul meets the God of mercy. (…) From this fount of mercysouls 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 hum-ble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, becauseMy grace turns away from them to humble souls (1602).Just as you prepare in My presence, so also you make your confessionbefore Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never ana-lyze what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul inconfession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light (1725).

The EucharistI desire to unite Myself with human souls; My great delight is to uniteMyself with souls. (…) When I come to a human heart in Holy Com-munion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give tothe soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to Me; they leave Me toMyself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am thatsouls do not recognize Love! They treat Me as a dead object (1385).

Oh, how painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves toMe in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferenttoward Me. I love them tenderly and sincerely, and they distrust Me.I want to lavish My graces on them, and they do not want to acceptthem. They treat Me as a dead object, whereas My Heart is full oflove and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of My pain,imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her chil-dren, while those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No oneis in a position to console her. This is but a feeble image and like-ness of My love (1447).

Although there appears to be no trace of life in Me, in reality it ispresent in its fullness in each and every Host. But for Me to be ableto act upon a soul, the soul must have faith. O how pleasing to Me isliving faith! (1420). Eternal life must begin already here on earththrough Holy Communion. Each Holy Communion makes you morecapable of communing with God throughout eternity (1811).

3. The Desires of God

Man’s trustI desire trust from My creatures. Encourage souls to place great trustin My fathomless mercy (1059). The graces of My mercy are drawnby means of one vessel only, and that is — trust. The more a soultrusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly area great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My gra-ces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is Mydesire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad whensouls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts (1578).

No soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed orbrought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placedits trust in My goodness (1541). Most dear to Me is the soul thatstrongly believes in My goodness and has complete trust in Me.I heap My confidence upon it and give it all it asks (453). He whotrusts in My mercy will not perish, for all his affairs are Mine, andhis enemies will be shattered at the base of My footstool (723). Thesoul that trusts in My mercy is most fortunate, because I Myself takecare of it (1273). Oh, how I love those souls who have complete con-fidence in Me — I will do everything for them (294).

You give Me most glory by patiently submitting to My will, and you winfor yourself greater merit than that which any fast or mortification couldever gain for you. (…) If you submit your will to Mine, you draw uponyourself My special delight. This sacrifice is pleasing to Me and full ofsweetness. I take great pleasure in it; there is power in it (904).

Distrust on the part of souls is tearing at My insides (50). Oh, howmuch I am hurt by a soul’s distrust! Such a soul professes thatI am Holy and Just, but does not believe that I am Mercy and doesnot trust in My Goodness. Even the devils glorify My Justice but donot believe in My Goodness (300).

Mercy toward othersEvery soul (…) should reflect My mercy (1148). Be always mercifulas I am merciful. Love everyone out of love for Me, even your greatestenemies, so that My mercy may be fully reflected in your heart (1695).Know that whatever good you do to any soul, I accept it as if youhad done it to Me (1768).

I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of lovefor Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and every-where. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolveyourself from it. I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy to-ward your neighbor: the first — by deed, the second — by word,the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the full-ness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. Bythis means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy (742).

Spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses,is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not ob-tain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew howto gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged,for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy (1317).