Divine Mercy Conference 2013 | Fr Michael Gaitley M.I.C. 1st talk

[Applause] thank you thank you done for the introduction why don't we start with the prayer and the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen st. Joseph st. Faustina and Blessed John Paul the second in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen okay there we go okay so again I'd like to thank Don for the introduction I'd like to thank the planning committee for this conference for the invitation to be here and thank all of you for coming I know many of you drove a long way to come here so thank you for being here this day as a as a gift to the Lord and hopefully it'll be a gift for you also from the Lord I also would like to thank somebody I'm not going to mention his name because I don't want to embarrass him it might embarrass him but it's the man who picked me up from the airport the reason I want to thank him is because he said something to me in the car on the way back from the airport that was very helpful for me in preparing the talk today he said father Michael can I give you some advice I said sure he said look the Irish people they don't like the highfalutin theology lectures okay so don't give them any of that they like stories so father Michael if you can tell them a story you're going to be their best friend and so I said okay because and I made me very happy and it was a very helpful advice because I love to tell stories and that's what I want to do in today's talk now I said I love to tell stories in fact I like to tell the big stories I asked one of the organizers I said how much time do I have and they said Oh father Michael you have as much time as you want as much time as you want so long as it's under an hour alright so I'm gonna tell a big story but it's gonna be under an hour okay so don't worry about that I have my stopwatch right here okay but this is what do I mean by a big story I'll give you an example of what I mean by a big story when I was in college I read my first history book that I wasn't forced to read by my teachers it was the first voluntary history book I ever read and you may have heard of it before it was called how the Irish saved civilization right if you guys read that before no oh you have to read that book it's a wonderful book I'm part Irish so so I liked it especially but it was a story about how the monks saved Western civilization in fact when I was on my way to the hotel there was this big edifice it looked like a giant castle I was Don was driving I said Don what is that he said that was one of those there was a castle that the the monks put together so when the Vikings would come they wouldn't steal the books and chalices and things like that and I thought I remember hearing about that when I read the book how the Irish saved civilization they were geniuses right they built these big things so that nobody would take the books and it preserved the books when the Vikings took everything so so I thought that was very interesting but because because you probably know Irish history better than I do I'm gonna save that that story for another time instead I'd like to tell a big story about another country it's not a country I'm from and I don't have any any of the blood in my veins but I have a great admiration for it it's the country of Poland right Poland has an amazing story like Ireland I think it's one of the countries that is particularly beloved by the Lord and the history there's a there's part of the history of Poland in my opinion is I call it this set it has a story that I call it the second greatest story ever told the second greatest story ever told now it's not the what is the first greatest story ever told right it's the story of Jesus Mary Joseph and the Apostles right it's a story of salvation history it's the story of Sacred Scripture but in in terms of church history after the story of Sacred Scripture there's many wonderful stories in church history but I'm gonna make an argument right now and tell you a big story about what I want to argue is the second greatest story ever told in under an hour how does that sound are you ready alright so put your seat belts on right because I have to go quickly this is a lot of details here now you've heard bits and pieces of this story before I'm sure what I want to do is try and put all of the pieces together and when we see all of the pieces together I hope by the time I'm finished you're all agree with me yes that's the second greatest story ever told maybe not maybe not the best storyteller but the greatest story ever told so here we go without any further ado this story that I'm going to tell is its it deals with a piece of Polish history and it really centers around one man less than john paul ii it's a story that surrounds his life and the drama of that life is truly amazing truly remarkable and it fits very well with this conference because it's a story of divine mercy and mary okay so let's begin before we start talking about blessed john paul ii i think to understand him properly we need to look a little bit about some of the history of poland okay now one of the amazing things to me about the history of Poland is that Poland is a country like with the Irish saving civilization it's a country that it seems that God has used several times in church history to save the world or at least to save Europe and I'll give you a couple examples of that to tell you what I mean so you don't think I'm crazy the first example we'll go back the year 1683 1683 during that year there was this huge Muslim army it was a Turkish Turkish army that wanted to take over Europe it was the largest army in the world and they had plans to take over all of Europe and their strategy was first to take a major city on the outskirts of Europe that would be the base camp for them conquering the rest Europe and so they set their eyes they set their sights on the city of Vienna which was at the outskirts the eastern part of Europe at the time and so this huge Muslim Turkish army of more than 200,000 men they began a bombardment and an attack on the city of Vienna now this was taking place in the in the month of September so it was still the summer time but they said as they were watching all of this take place it was like there was snow surrounding the city of Vienna and they said it looked like there was snow around the city because the tents of this army of this Turkish Muslim army were all white and there were so many of these tents it looked like snow is surrounding the city and what was amazing was that these these soldiers were digging holes and tunnels under the giant walls of the city of Vienna and setting off explosives to try and break a hole a breach in the wall so that they could come in and take over the city now you would think that the kings and princes of Europe would come to the aid of Vienna right a Christian city that was in great need under attack by people who aren't Christians and wanting to take over Europe but the problem was in Europe there was no agreements the princes and the kings were bickering and fighting among themselves and nobody was willing to come to the aid of Vienna except maybe a few princes in Germany and in parts of Austria but there was one king who even though it wasn't politically expedient for him he said no we must go and help our brothers in Vienna and that King was Qingyuan sobieski of Poland and even though it wasn't a good political move for him he went with it with his his famous polish Calvary known as the hasar x' because they had these feathers on their backs that when they attacked it would make a hissing sound like the his czars right and they went in and Qingyuan sobieski in his in his polish calvary attacked the captain's tent amid all those tents and he sent the captain and all of his officers fleeing as they attacked that tent and went on to defeat that army and sent them running and fleeing back to the Ottoman Empire leaving a trail behind them of little children and women with their throats cut and faces slashed as a sign of what might have happened had they taken over the city and if they had taken over Vienna and end the rest of Europe and so they say there's many historians that say were it not for Qingyuan sobieski of poland we may all be speaking Arabic today and and all of Europe might have become Muslim at that time and not have been Christian anymore any longer so in an amazing way God seemed to use Poland at that time and it was interesting because the date of that defeat was September 12th 1683 and some of you in the United States there's an infamous day and in fact throughout the world of September 11th right they say that that attack of September 11th was meant to reverse that defeat of September 12th so the TAC was the day before to try and and change history that way but it was an amazing way that God seemed to use Poland to help Christian Europe ok I'll give it that's one example I'll give you a second example the year is 1920 in the year 1920 something happened that was known as the miracle of the Vistula and blessed john paul ii was very happy to have been born in the year 1920 because that was the same year of that miracle on the Vistula well what's the miracle on the Vistula it was basically that what happened it was a historical battle that took place where it's 1920 so it's shortly after World War 1 the armies of Europe were really depleted and tired out because of World War one they were flat on their backs but there was one army that was very strong in fact it was an army of it with more than a million men and they were fired up because of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and they had plans to conquer all of Europe for atheistic communism all they had to do was pass through the bridge way into Europe which was known as Poland but there was one marshal of the army in Poland and it was a ragtag army you know they were tired out from world war ii like it world war like everyone else and when the Russia this million man Russian army this polish marshal Joseph Joseph Pilsudski he had when a daring move he attacked this million man army and miraculously won the battle and sent this million man army back to Russia and English historian Norman Davy said that it were it not for marshal Pilsudski and the Polish army all of Europe at that time likely would have been can become atheist communists back in 1920 and so it was once again a time where God seemed to use Poland to help and save Europe for at least a saved Christian Europe now let's fast-forward a little bit closer to our own time to the Year 1989 what happened in the year 1989 the big iconic moment right that we all saw in television what was the big thing that happened in 1989 that we saw on our televisions right the fall of the Berlin Wall that was the that was the beginning of the collapse of communism in Europe right wrong that was actually it started in the Gdansk shipyards of Poland with the Solidarity movement that was backed by blessed john paul ii the collapse of the Berlin Wall was one of the dominoes that the Domino started though in the Gdansk shipyards in Poland so it really started there with the Solidarity movement this this ten million man labor movement in Poland that was backed by John Paul and began the domino effect of the collapse of communism that that which had caused the church so much suffering and persecution so these are many different ways words it was interesting how God seemed to use Poland to help and save Europe and to defend Christianity in a way now among all of those examples that I just mentioned though there is nothing that even none of those in my opinion even come close to another event where God seemed to use Poland in our time and I'm thinking of it actually happened on the eve of some of the worst the worst bloodshed the worst horror the worst tragedies in a certain sense in human history until terms militarily speaking it happened on the eve of World War two that time of great suffering and it happened in the country that many would argue suffered more than any other country of Europe the country of Poland which had a casualty rate of more than 17% more than 17 of them of the population were casualties of World War two but on the in the in in that very country on the eve of some of that worst bloodshed the Lord did something amazing he appeared to this little nun in Poland named Sister Faustina and he revealed to her the modern message of divine mercy now of course the modern message of divine mercy Jesus wasn't revealing something new some new gospel it's just that he was reiterating or he was repeating or he was drawing our attention to really the center of Sacred Scripture which is God's mercy to sinners but he came in our time in this modern time which has so much suffering and on the eve of the worst war in human history to remind humanity of his presence with us and that we need not be afraid and that we can trust in him because the message of divine mercy is the message of God's love in the midst of suffering in a certain sense you could say that mercy is a particular when it encounters poverty weakness brokenness and sin that is mercy and what God was revealing in this modern area era which has so much suffering as he reminds us through Sister Faustina with her prophetic witness that he remains with us and we need not be afraid no matter how dark the darkness be it is no matter how great the suffering is he reminds us that we could always have on our lips Jesus I trust in you that is one of the great gifts of this message of divine mercy it's that in a certain sense God has come into our own time to remind us I know that times are difficult but I want to remind you that I'm here with you and that it the greater the evil the greater mercy I want to give that's the message of divine mercy a mess of hope for our time now this message of divine mercy as you can imagine would have been very popular in post-world War two Europe right because after World War two Europe was suffering greatly after the war right there was so much poverty there was so much heartache from all of the losses of the war and so it's no surprise that the message of divine mercy began to spread very quickly throughout post-world War two pall of Europe but one of the things that happen as some of the bishops in Europe began to get concerned because here's this message spreading like wildfire throughout Europe from this nun that it claims that Jesus had been speaking to her and the bishops were saying is this true is this authentic was Jesus really speaking to this person is this a true prophetic voice for the church in our time and so the bishops rightly decided to test it and to and to research it and to investigate it and so they took all of the materials that had been spreading throughout Europe and they did a research on it and they they asked for some materials from Poland to be sent to them but there was just a one problem some of the translations of these Divine Mercy materials were not so good and not all of the information was accurate and so the bishops in Rome who were investigating the message of divine mercy sometimes they couldn't tell as Faustina speaking here is this supposed to be Jesus and they didn't have an answer and so the bishops decided from Rome the Rome decided to put a ban on the message of divine mercy and that when the message of the ban went out many hearts became very saddened because this message of divine mercy had brought so much consolation in war-torn Europe after the war and so a lot of the a lot of the faithful were asking the bishops please get the church to reconsider and it was interesting it became a kind of a dark time for the message of divine mercy but you know it really a certain sense it shouldn't have been because if people would have read in the diary of st. Faustina Jesus had actually told Faustina that something like this would happen he said to her that there would be a time when this work of mercy would seem to be completely undone which is the period of the band but then God would act with power and this message of divine mercy would be a new light in the church so if somebody if people would have just read that in the diary they wouldn't have been so much sorrow I know my own community in Stockbridge Massachusetts we had been spreading the message of divine mercy for quite some time sure a few years after the death of Faustina because Blessed michaelsavage Co Sister Faustina spiritual director had given some divine mercy materials to one of the Marian priests and he escaped Europe he escaped the the Nazis and he went through Russia and through Japan and he made his way to the United States and they began spreading this message but when the band came out my community we had all of these prayer cards of the divine mercy and obedience to the church we packed them all out up and buried him in the field behind our Center in obedience and it was a very sad time but again in the diary it was telling us there will come a time when it will seek it to be completely undone but then God would act with power and it would be a new light in the church and there was another passage that was very interesting in the diary maybe some of you have heard of it before where Jesus spoke about this message of divine mercy and he said these amazing words he said to Faustina I bear a special love for Poland and if she will be obedient to my will I will exalt her in might and holiness from her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for my final coming now that's a pretty amazing passage the spark that will prepare the world for my final coming will come out of Poland now what does that mean well we'll put a pause on that I'll come back to but some pretty amazing passages but let's go back as I'm telling this what I'm calling the second greatest story ever told let's go back to the story line so the message of divine mercy in war-torn Europe it's banned and people are very disappointed and they're clamoring to their bishops and they're saying please get the church to reconsider and there was one bishop in Poland who is listening he was constantly badgered by the people saying please please get the church to reconsider and he took it seriously and so he spoke with a cardinal in Rome and he opened up an investigation and through that bishops efforts that bishop in poland the message of divine mercy that ban that had been given to it it was lifted and once again the message was able to be spread well six months after the ban was lifted that bishop in poland was elected pope john paul ii six months after the ban was lifted he was elected pope john paul ii pretty amazing right but then when john paul ii when he became Pope he forgot all about the message of divine mercy right no he did not and as example of that I'll tell you a couple of things one his second encyclical letter those important documents that the Pope's write his second one was called deivis and mr. cordia rich in mercy and he wrote at the beginning of his pontificate and he said later that when he wrote that he had Saint Faustina on his mind for a very for a long time but even more remarkable and more amazing john paul at the beginning of his pontificate i think it was in the year 1981 yeah it was in 1981 he visited a shrine of divine mercy in coe Valenza italy and listen to his words there when he spoke this is what he said he said right from the beginning of my ministry in st. Peter's Sea in Rome so right from the beginning since I became Pope I considered this message of divine mercy my special task Providence assigned it to me in the present situation of man the church and the world it could be said that precisely this mess this situation assigned that message of divine mercy as my task before God so john paul ii saw the message of divine mercy right at the beginning of his pontificate as a specially assigned task that god had given to him that divine providence had given to him for the present situation of humanity now throughout his pontificate john paul ii continuously would speak about the message of divine mercy he made he declared st. Faustina venerable Faustina then blessed Faustina and if we fast forward to the year 2000 he canonized Saint Faustina as the first Saint in the year 2000 for the new millennium and during that ceremony during the Canon Asia canonization ceremony of Saint Faustina it was remarkable because in his homily he said by this act of canonizing Saint Faustina I intend to pass this message of divine mercy on to the new millennium and there was something else that I always think was amazing about that day Divine Mercy Sunday - the year 2000 was during that year during that ceremony there was a prophecy that had been fulfilled the inlet from the diary of st. Faustina because in st. Faustina's diary she talked about her canonization ceremony actually she had a vision of it during her life and she said it was sort of strange one of the things that was strange to her was that she could see this huge gathering in st. Peter's Square in Rome and there was all these people gathered there but at the same time she saw all of these people gathered at her home convent in Krakow and she said it was interesting because the people in Krakov and the people in Rome could somehow see each other how that happened she said I don't know but now it was interesting because in that year during the ceremony there was these giant Jumbotrons right a simulcast so that the people in Poland could see the people in Rome and the people of Rome could see the people of Poland it was an amazing fulfillment of what st. Postino herself had seen but also one of the amazing things and one of the what I got most excited about that that day on Divine Mercy Sunday was that John Paul the second sort of did a surprise announcement many of you are familiar with this where he said and now henceforth in the universal Church the second Sunday of Easter will be known as Divine Mercy Sunday he declared the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday for the universal Church and that was a very important event why because in the diary of st. Faustina Jesus wanted this feast of mercy proclaimed and celebrated in the church in fact it was so important that Sister Faustina that st. Faustina went at when Jesus asked for it she went to some priests and theologians and she said to them Jesus once this feast proclaim this feast of divine mercy Sunday and the bishops and that they are that the priests and theologian said there already is such a feast and so Festina went back to Jesus and she said Jesus the priest tell me that there already is such a feast and Jesus responds and who knows about it he said I want this feast declared so that everyone will celebrate it so everyone can liturgically celebrate this feast of divine mercy and so jesus' deep desires through Faustina declared through Faustina were fulfilled on that day through blessed john paul ii and what was kind of another interesting anecdote from that day was after the canonization ceremony after John Paul declared Divine Mercy Sunday a universal feast in the church there was this big banquet in Rome a giant dinner that they held and during that dinner there were some of the priests in my community one of whom did a lot of work fatherfather seraphim miko lenko he did a lot of the work behind the scenes with regards to the beatification and canonization and miracles for st. Faustina and there was a doctor there at the banquet doctor Agustin full Fulcher booster excuse me doctor Agustin future foster future booster there is something like that ok I got to do my studies a little bit more right so this doctor was there right and he had to leave early to go back to the United States because you an American doctor and Blessed John Paul the second asked to speak with him before he left and Blessed John Paul said to him he said before you go I just want to tell you that today is the happiest day of my life did you ever hear that story before that he said John Paul the second today is the happiest day of my life now blessed john paul ii had a lot of victories he had a lot of things to be happy for it this time right 1989 the father collapse of communism the success of the Solidarity movement and all of these things and yet he said that was the happiest day of his life why because I believe the most the greatest joy we can have in life is when we're fulfilling our god-given tasks in life when we're fulfilling our mission and john paul ii saw this message of divine mercy as a special task assigned to him by god for the present situation of humanity and when he declared Divine Mercy Sunday when he canonized Faustina he saw that his mission was being accomplished to the full and it brought him great joy and so he could say today is the happiest day of my life but the good news is is it got even better and the story got even better why because John Paul didn't stop there if we fast forward now to the year 2000 to john paul ii went to krakow lebesgue niki at the shrine that's run by the sisters of Our Lady of Mercy this beautiful shrine of divine mercy and he he consecrated that beautiful shrine there to divine mercy and he made some a statement in his homily that Cardinal Christoph Shawn borne said when he heard it he said it was his conversion to divine mercy the sense of you know he always loved divine mercy in Scripture but it's where he became a staunch defender and proclaimer of the message of the modern message of divine mercy through Faustina well what was it that he heard what was it that that changed his heart what was it that John Paul said that changed many hearts I'd like to read you part of the homily that was so powerful for many people this is what john paul ii said well first i'll give you the context he consecrated he entrusted the entire world to divine mercy on that occasion and these are the words that he said he said today therefore in this shrine I wish solemnly to entrust the world to divine mercy I do so with the burning desire that the message of God's merciful love proclaimed here through st. Faustina may be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope may this message radiate from this place to our beloved homeland and throughout the world may the binding promise of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled the binding promise from here there must go forth the spark that will prepare the world for the Lord's final coming this spark needs to be lighted by the grace of God this fire of Mercy needs to be passed on to the world in the mercy of God the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness I want to say a couple of things about that for a moment he talks about the binding promise and then he quotes that passage in the diary of st. Faustina remember the one that I mentioned earlier about the spark that will prepare the world for the Lord's coming now I found it amazing that John Paul quoted that passage in the diary of st. Faustina and the reason I say it was amazing because I remember when I was a seminarian and I would read the diary of st. Faustina that was a cinge that passage about the spark that I always sort of quickly went through the pages on I didn't want to read I don't like the apocalyptic end-of-the-world type of stuff I thought what is this I'm not gonna look at this but what was amazing to me was that John Paul the second highlighted that passage he says may the Bunnymen's strengthen it he said may the binding promise of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled that the spark this spark needs to be light of God this fire mercy which it was it so that spark that will prepare the world for the Lord's coming is this fire mercy now what does that mean does that mean that the Lord is going to be coming next week we don't know does it mean he's coming next year we don't know none of us know the day or the hour and john paul ii isn't saying that we know that day or the hour but what's remarkable to me is we know that the lord is coming at some time and that the way we prepare for the Lord's coming is not with fear and trembling but with trust in divine mercy it's a message of hope it's a message of consolation that the way we prepare for the Lord's coming is by trusting in his mercy being merciful to others and receiving that mercy now that when John Paul said those words I was totally amazed at this point I thought if this is it couldn't get any better and but you know what and it was actually it needed to get better you know why because at this point in his pontificate there was something where I would hear a lot of sort of complaints sometimes you know I was in the seminary and so it was around priests and the clergy a lot right they say the message of divine mercy is the is the greatest grassroots movement in the history of the Catholic Church but it's taken the clergy a little while to accept it it's mostly mostly been the laity who have led the way right but I remember a lot of times I would hear priests and I would hear different seminarians and they would all say oh that message of divine mercy that's just John Paul the seconds Polish kick right it's just a Polish thing it's not for the universal Church I think they were wrong and as a seminarian I thought they were dead wrong but I didn't quite know how to argue the point well I don't I didn't need to argue the point because God Himself did something to put an exclamation point on the message of divine mercy what did he do well I'll tell that story now but I got to start with it a little bit of my own story if you don't mind for a second here's a bit of my own story when I was in the seminary John Paul the second and even today John Paul the second was my hero right he was a big reason of why I went into the seminary and I was trying to model all of my formation to be a priest on blessed john paul ii I loved him and I loved his story and I read everything I could get my hands on in fact I did my master's thesis on the Blessed John Paul the second and I and I just kept studying his thought but I'm kind of a melancholic temperament in other words it's easy for me to sort of get down and depressed unfortunately that's why I loved of mine divine mercy so much I always have to tell myself Jesus I trust in you right to not get depressed well one of the things when I would read the life of Blessed John Paul the second I would say this is such a beautiful story this is such an amazing story but then I would say to myself well Lord you know what his his life has to have a fitting end to such a beautiful story and you know what there can be no fitting end to this story you know lord if he just dies of a heart attack in the bathtub or something I'm gonna be so depressed right because there needs to be a fitting end and I don't think there can be a fitting end of this beautiful story so I'm gonna get depressed about it beforehand bizarre yes but that's father Michael right but it was amazing because his ending came in a way even more amazing more beautiful than anything I ever could have imagined why what happened well let me tell you the story blessed john paul ii went to his eternal reward on what day right it was april 2nd 2005 the day before Divine Mercy Sunday oh darn right shucks he was so close if you only would have held on for one more day right wrong you know I remember thinking that if he would have just held out it would have been so beautiful the ending he was so close wrong what happened well Cardinal Jewish Cardinal a carnal Jeeva Shu is his longtime personal secretary relates a story that as John Paul the second was dying in his room in the Vatican carnal Jewish was there and carnal Jewish felt this this imperative speaking to his heart telling him celebrate Mass now and so carnal Jeeva took it seriously and he set up for mass John Paul was unconscious he was going in and out of consciousness they said so carnal Jeeva set up for mass and by then it was past evening and so you know if you're gonna celebrate Mass on a Saturday and Saturday evening you have the vigil mass for the next day right so Cardinal Jeeva set up the Vigil Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday he offered Mass in the room with Blessed John Paul the second and John Paul the second who was coming in and out of consciousness was able to receive Communion through a droplet of the precious blood just a drop and it was less than a less than an hour later he went to his eternal reward less than an hour later he went to his eternal reward and as Pope Benedict the sixteenth commented he died in the arms of Mercy how beautiful the man who said when he declared Divine Mercy Sunday today is the happiest day of my life was called home to his eternal reward right at the beginning of that great feast day in the arms of Mercy as Pope Benedict said now what a beautiful ending amen amen [Applause] but wait in the United States they have all these commercials they always say but wait there's more right for only 19.95 right and but wait there is more that's not the end yet the story gets even better right if this is the second greatest story you've ever told it gets even better why what happened well john paul ii went to his eternal reward on the eve of divine mercy Sunday but that wasn't the final word being the great priest ring the bait great Bishop ring being the great Pope that he was he was always prepared right and he'd prepared a homily for the next day for Divine Mercy Sunday and but he had died so he couldn't give it so there was an archbishop of the Vatican who gave his homily for him for Divine Mercy Sunday and these are Blessed John Paul the seconds last words to humanity listen to what he says he says as as a gift to humanity these are John Paul's last words to us as a gift to humanity which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil selfishness and fear the risen Lord offers his love that pardons that reconciles and reopens hearts to love what kind of love he says it is a love that converts hearts and gives peace what kind of love he's going to tell us he says how much the world needs to understand and accept divine mercy again how much the world needs to understand and accept divine mercy Lord he says we believe in you and confidently repeat to you today Jesus I trust in you have mercy on us and on the whole world isn't that beautiful John Paul the second last words to us how much the world needs to understand and accept divine mercy Jesus I trust in you have mercy on us and on the whole world why is that so beautiful to me it's like the bookends the two bookends for his whole pontificate he started his pontificate with that famous homily where that's there's that famous line where he says be not afraid right be not afraid he knows that the modern world is dark and frightening but he says be not afraid why because of the love that overcomes evil the love that's greater than evil the love that overcomes fear and selfishness and sin merciful love so he begins by telling us be not afraid echoing the words of Jesus in Sacred Scripture and how does he end his pontificate his last words Jesus I trust in you it's two sides of the same coin why should we not be afraid because we trust in Jesus who is reliable because he's infinite mercy and mercy is the love that has the power to overcome evil no matter how great it is so there we go John Paul's final words the second greatest story ever told Amen or oh my Amen right all right [Applause] okay but I think you guys are gonna start getting frustrated with father Michael because this is this is the great this story never ends there's more the story gets even better and I didn't realize it get got even better until the summer before last when I some of you know I wrote a book called 33 days to Morning Glory right and it's a it's a preparation for Marian consecration and I have to make a confession before I wrote that book I had a very I had a lot of difficulties in my devotion to Mary you know I knew that Jesus loved me because he was divine mercy right but with Mary I wasn't show it so sure I mean I thought Mary must not I did my Marian consecration which I'll tell about mice the story tomorrow but I did my consecration when I was a my consecration of Jesus through Mary when I was a freshman in college and it was a great day of grace but then shortly after that it seemed like all the consolations disappeared and I thought Mary must not love me anymore because I'm too much of a sinner right I'm too much of a knucklehead okay and and I thought maybe I knew Jesus loved me because he's divine mercy and the greater the sinner the greater right to his mercy so I thought I know Jesus loves me but I must not be praying enough rosary or doing enough penances or something Mary must have abandoned me that's why it seems like she's disappeared and so for about fourteen years I had a real time of dryness with my devotion to Mary but I had a lot of friends who were nuns and sisters and they were praying for me a lot and in in one one retreat I got a grace where I was able to write that book in 10 days in 10 days times and it totally transformed my devotion to Mary ivory I began to really understand Mary as my mother and part of writing that book in that 10-day period I would get like three hours of sleep at night and I would read all night and I would write all day read all night write all day with about three hours of sleep in between and the the way the book was organized is there was there was a chapter on st. Louis de Montfort st. Maximilian Kolbe a Blessed Mother Teresa and john paul ii and it was the chapter on blessed john paul ii well all of them each one had a special grace for me but it was the one on blessed john paul ii the nth that i started to realize oh my goodness what a gift we have in our Blessed Mother and I also began to realize the second greatest story ever told gets even better what do I mean by that well what I think is sort of the runner-up to the second greatest story ever told you know maybe tied with the with how this Irish saved civilization maybe that's the other runner-up but one of the runners-up was the story of Our Lady of Fatima I love that story I think in in terms of church history that's one of the most amazing stories in all church history but what I came to realize as I was working on that book that summer in those 10 days is that the story that I love so much about blessed john paul ii and divine mercy and st. Faustina and Poland gets even better and it gets even better because it's intimately tied with the story of Our Lady of Fatima and I want to tell you part of that story right now you know a lot of the details so I'll do it in a fast forward kind of way okay Our Lady of Fatima the story of Our Lady of Fatima Mary appeared to the children the three Shepherd children in Fatima in 1917 right while world war one was raging Mary appeared to these children and she revealed to them several things one of the things she said to them as she said if people don't convert then there will be a worse war and she even said during the pontificate of the Pope when this war would happen and sure enough during the Pope that she mentioned that's when World War two started that's amazing she said it beforehand and she warned apparently we didn't convert she also said if Russia is not consecrated to my Immaculate Heart she will go on to spread her errors throughout the world and the church will have much to suffer and indeed that's what happened apparently Russia wasn't consecrated to Mary's art macula heart and the Soviet a theistic regime caused the church so much suffering right now but at the time people were saying Russia Holy Russia you know is a very holy country at the time it was also a very poor country at the time they thought how could it have this influence the Bolshevik Revolution was just in its infancy so this is again 1917 but there was another thing that mary revealed to the children it was a frightening image of a bishop dressed in white who would be shot and killed and the children were terrified at this vision and when the authorities in the church got this message they decided not to make it public so as not to frighten the faithful it was known as one of the secrets of Fatima the story of the bishop being shot and killed who they identified or the children identified or saw as the being the Pope what a terrifying vision right okay so that's some of the story of Fatima but what was amazing about that is Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the Shepherd's ldren on May 13th 1917 at 5 p.m. 5 o'clock in the evening exactly 64 years later Blessed John Paul the second is getting in his popemobile right for that for the for the Wednesday audience in st. Peter's Square and as he's going in the popemobile a trained assassin ally akka close-range fires a gun I think at least twice and it hits the Holy Father one of one of the bullets goes into his abdomen and and Blessed John Paul the second is rushed to the hospital and he bleeds to death on the way to the hospital right no you're supposed to say no father Michael that's not what happened why what happened he was rushed to the hospital the gamellia hospital in record time during rush hour traffic in Rome they couldn't believe they made it so quickly and he survived so what's the story though Our Lady of Fatima said that this bishop drew it dressed in white would be shot and killed and if you ask Blessed John Paul the second who that bishop was he said that was him but he didn't die so what happened and he said he said he knew was him because of the the anniversary May 13th and he knew that that was that our Lady Fatima was speaking about him but why didn't he die he himself explains he said one hand fired the gun another hand guided the bullet you see that bullet missed vital arteries and vital organs by millimeters if it would have struck some of those arteries he would have bled in minute he would have bled to death in minutes but the bullet ricocheted throughout his abdomen and it avoided all of the vital our organs and arteries and John Paul was convinced that it was the hand of Our Lady of Fatima this spirit is life he was so convinced of that in fact and I believe it's true as well but he was so convinced of that in fact that the very next year it was it was 19 that he was shot in 1981 the very next year on May 13th 1982 he went on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving that he said to the mother of God and the mercy of God interesting it was a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the mother of God and the mercy of God that's where I began to realize that John Paul the second in his mind consciously brings together Mary and Divine Mercy because when john paul ii went to Fatima he gave a very long homily much like my talk right hopefully it's not putting you to sleep right I had coffee beforehand I hope you did too right but he gave a very long homily and here's a beautiful homily and the whole homily was on the meaning of Marian consecration or what he calls barren entrustment and when he gave that homily he basically described he said what the meaning of Marian consecration when we entrust our lives to the mother of God the whole purpose of that is for Mary to bring us to the pierced side of Jesus on the cross which he I hadn't which he identifies as the fountain of Mercy that Mary's Hall being her whole existence and the whole meaning of Marian consecration is for Mary to gently bring us to the foot of the cross so we can experience the blood and water which gushed forth from the hot side of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us that's who Mary is and suddenly it clicked for me when I read that because I thought Mary had abandoned in me for those 14 years when it seemed that my devotion to her was dry but I was I fell in love with divine mercy I loved divine mercy I knew that Jesus loved me for once because I knew I was such a sweet broke and sinful soul and I knew that he must be the one that loves me the most because he has the heart of the Good Shepherd the heart of the one who goes after the lost sheep though heart of the one who looks for the one that's suffering most broken even most sinful I was convinced of that but I thought I saw Mary on this giant pedestal saying to me pray the rosary pray the rosary pray the rosary or penance penance penance and I thought oh no I'm not good enough she must not like me anymore wrong she loves all of her children as máxima and Colby says she loves all of us at every moment without exception but the idea was I what I saw was that Mary she got out of the way she wasn't in the forefront anymore but she was behind me for those years pushing me into the Rays of divine mercy she was doing her job in the beginning it was all of these consolations but then afterwards she said okay now I have to get to work and she got behind and brother Michael because I was a brother at the time and then she pushed me into the Rays of Mercy and that's what she wants to do with all of us and that was the meaning of the Pope's homily that that's the meaning of Marian consecration so there I have to say I got eight minutes left so it's good I'll finish in eight minutes okay here we go so John Paul there when I read that I started to see my - but what was because become my two favorite things even though my devotion to Mary was dry I love the consecration I started to see these two great things these two great themes of the pontificate of john paul ii were coming together divine mercy and mary he said i went on that pilgrimage of god a pilgrimage to the in thanksgiving to the mercy of god and the mother of god now let's fast forward that was 1982 right you guys still with me it's a long story put on your safety belts smack yourselves right do some stretches alright we're we're in the home stretch here so that woke me up a little bit alright good so it that was 1982 now we fast forward to two years later okay two years later the year is 1984 john paul ii invites all of the bishops to join him in Rome where he has flown in the statue of Our Lady of Fatima where he has put the bullet that he was that they found that he had been shot with it was in the crown of Our Lady of Fatima he he had the statue flown in the st. Peter's Square invited all the bishops of the world to join him and in a solemn consecration and entrustment of the world to divine - to the Mary's Immaculate Heart in fulfillment of what Our Lady of Fatima had asked for and so during that ceremony during that entrustment consecration ceremony he made this beautiful prayer but listen to how he ended the prayer again it's that connection with Divine Mercy and Mary this prayer of entrustment to the mother of God this is what how he ends it he says let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption the power of merciful love may this merciful love put a stop to evil may it transform consciences may your Immaculate Heart Mary reveal for all the light of hope what is the light of hope I think it's those rays of Mercy that go forth from the Heart of Jesus that is the light of hope it's as a message of mercy this power in our time that can overcome evil as he said the power of merciful love so John Paul as he's entrusting the world to Mary's motherly intercession invokes the power of divine mercy in the midst of the troubles of humanity this is 1984 and I'm sure what was deeply on his heart and mind was that the Soviet Russia had spread its errors throughout the world and was causing the church so much persecution tremendous persecution well that was 84 right 85 86 87 88 89 five years later so took me a little bit of time right now five years later was a big job for her what happened what was that what was the beginning domino the fall of the Berlin Wall right Ron did you listen before it no it was the Solidarity movement in the Gdansk shipyards that began the collapse of the dominoes one of them was one of them was the call it was the collapse of the Berlin Wall isn't that amazing it only took her five years to get that started and that was 80 that was 1989 but none then it took three years before the Soviet Union which had caused the church so much persecution so much suffering was solemnly dissolved I think it was in nineteen and three years later I think it was in 1991 and I've been told that Mikhail Gorbachev when he was signing the document officially dissolving the Soviet Union he signed that document unbeknownst to himself he signed it on December 8th 1991 the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception as in my opinion a sign of the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart so what really what this whole story is about the alternative title for me on this is not just the second greatest story ever told which by this point I hope you'll agree with me I think it's an amazing story that where God has used where it's it's the confluence of this country that had suffered so much and that God had used as it offered up its suffering and it had salvific value for the church in the world but in a special way with this message of divine mercy not only did it liberate Europe right with it with this but that it's also the message that prepares the world for the Lord's coming but it's a message that's not frightening it's a message of be not afraid Jesus I trust in you that we prepare for his coming by letting his mercy enter in our hearts by being merciful to others by trusting in that mercy by asking for mercy by pleading with mercy on ourselves and on the whole world as he said Jesus I trust in you have mercy on us and on the whole world it's a beautiful message it's a beautiful story and God made it such a beautiful testimony because he knows how much we need convincing it's not easy for us to trust in mercy it sounds too good to be true when I first read the diary st. festina I thought this is too good to be true I'll tell you more of that story tomorrow when I tell some of my own story but for so many of us the devil is so good at blackmailing us with our sins making us think God doesn't love you you've done this this this God doesn't love you anymore baloney if the devil tells you that you can tell him go to hell right that's the only time you can say that okay all right I don't want to hear any father Michael said I could say that no you can only say that to the devil okay but the if he tries to mother Theresa said that's a danger for all of us that we would doubt God's mercy for us it's a lie from the devil his mercy is infinite and the greater the sinner the greater is right to his mercy but he knows that we need convincing he tells us in Sacred Scripture he shows us and proves it on the cross he reveals it to us every day in the Eucharist but he's so good that he gave us a prophetic witness and an amazing story in st. Faustina and Blessed John Paul the second to tell us it is true and I truly do want to give this message for your time that I realize when in a time of great darkness I'm giving unprecedented mercy and I just want you to trust in that's the message of our time that's why we're all here that's why we're excited about divine mercy it's not just some picture it's not just some saint it's that there's a promise in our time for us in a special way that God is giving extraordinary graces of mercy he doesn't have to do it but he's God and he can do what he wants and he knows that the powers of evil are very strong today I know there's a battle that's taking place right now in Ireland a pro-life battle and that the Lord is reminding us at this conference that his mercy is more is more powerful than evil and then he wants to remind us that when we invoke the power of that mercy it can overcome every evil you know and I would encourage you to pray I come from the United States of America which is unfortunately been knocked down low by the culture of death so pray hard for the culture of life to succeed in this country invoke Divine Mercy with power because it's all in in virtue of the sacrifice and the sufferings of Jesus Christ and that he wants to give that mercy but we have to ask for it okay I've got 15 seconds left but may I take three minutes more okay because I do want us to make one last point I called this the second greatest story ever told but I also think the second story the second part of it is Mary's gift of mercy that's the alternative title Mary's gift of mercy why because what I believe is this that the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart is really the triumph of divine mercy that Mary's gift of mercy was that she spared the life of our mercy Pope that she spared his life so he could bring the church into the triumph of divine mercy which I believe he has done when he entrusted the world to divine mercy in 2002 and when he canonized Saint Faustina and declared Divine Mercy Sunday an official feasts in the church but now remember the message of divine mercy as father seraphim would say it's the greatest grassroots movement in the history of the church so you've still got a lot of work to do there's still a lot of convincing of the clergy to do I know that I'm part of the clergy and to let them know this isn't just some fringe devotion as Pope Benedict the sixteenth Hinton's himself said divine mercy is not a secondary devotion it gets to the center of our faith and that this prophetic message through John Paul it needs to be heard he took him on Divine Mercy Sunday as a prophetic message to all of us that I want this proclaim in our time and in the parishes and in the churches I want divine mercy Salah Sunday solemnly celebrated so keep working hard at that and I would I would encourage you to do is entrust your lives to the mother of God why is John Paul the second story so beautiful why is it one of the second as do I believe it's the second greatest story ever told I believe his story is so powerful because he entrusted his life to Mary and she made his life as mother Teresa would say into something beautiful for God because when he was 18 years old he read the book true devotion to Mary he consecrated himself to Jesus through Mary and he later said that was a decisive turning point in his life when he consecrated himself to Jesus through Mary it was a decisive turning point in his life why because of what what the theme the theme of this conference really for John Paul the heart of what consecration is is it's that passage from the Gospel of John when Jesus is dying on the cross and he looks down at Mary he down at John he says to Mary woman behold your son and then says to John behold Your Mother and then from that hour John took her into his own home John Paul the second said all of us represent John John represents all of us because we're all his beloved disciples and what we're all called to do is entrust ourselves to the mother of God we're all called to take ourselves take Mary into our hearts into our Joy's into our sorrows we're called to bring Mary into everything that's what the Marian entrustment is it's a response to Jesus himself entrusting Mary to us and it's us saying to Mary yes I now will entrust myself to you to please Jesus one of the most pleasing things we can do for Jesus is to give our lives over to his mother who brings us into divine mercy as I just shared she wants to do it she needs to do it it will make her happy but what she needs from us because she respects human freedom very much she needs our yes she needs us to say to her Fiat she needs us to say to her let it be done to me she needs us to say to her Mary I give you permission to be my spiritual mother I give you permission to form my life to make it pleasing to your son and the good news according to saint-lo to man firt is that it's the quickest easiest surest and most perfect way to become a saint if you don't want to become a saint raise your left toe right all of us are called to become Saints why not follow the quickest easiest surest way to holiness people say father Michael there's no easy way to holiness it's all the cross sure we all carry the cross but the beautiful thing about a mother is that she has a way of making the crosses into something sweet when you stub your foot or stub your toe or scrape your knee your mother was there to kiss it and make it better if you have to take a bitter pill she's there to put honey on it that's what Mary can do and just as she was there at the foot of the cross consoling Jesus as he was in his moment of agony she wants to be there for all of us in our time of suffering so that when we're on the cross we will also have that consoling presence of our spiritual mother so I encourage you to make the consecration as I said I wrote a book on how to do it but there's other books out there however you do it do the consecration and after the talk I'll be in there I'd like to meet some of you I'll be at the table signing and and that type of thing I still don't understand that but I'll be there doing it it won't be worth something someday I promise you know so thank you for listening I'm sorry I went 5 minutes over [Applause] let's thank you very much let's close with a prayer in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit amen glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen Saint Joseph's name the Father in the Son the Holy Spirit amen

Channel: Divine Mercy Conference

Views: 63,787

Rating: 4.770925 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus I trust in You, Divine Mercy Conference, Dublin, Ireland, Divine Mercy, Divine Mercy Sunday, 2013, Saint Faustina, Mercy Sunday, RDS, DivineMercyConference.com, Eucharist, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Behold your Mother, John 19:27, Catholic, Fr. Michael Gaitley MIC, talk

Id: S3jzq5r-sxU

Length: 65min 45sec (3945 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 07 2014