Explaining the Faith - How to Receive Graces During a Pandemic

welcome everyone for our returning series of explaining the faith i'm father chris aylar it's a joy to be back last week was our first episode in a couple weeks and we're gonna keep on going and so we're glad you joined us today and i know i had been announcing uh that i'd be doing the sacraments today you guys are so flexible and awesome i appreciate your patience but you know i was busy now there's some good news in this i was busy we were working 18-hour days this week to film and prepare for an ewtn uh series that i'm going to be doing that will be broadcast in five-part episodes um the week before divine mercy and it's going to be all about divine mercy and so we're very excited and i was working on that so when i finished and i sat down to do the sacraments just yesterday i said oh man there's so much in the sacraments i really hope you join us because i'm going to do a whole series on the sacraments it's that powerful there were things i was learning going back to my own notes from seminary you guys are with me you're my seminary students my catechism students and i used to have whole courses on each of the sacraments and so we're going to lead you that way but for today as brother mark showed you we're going to do a talk because it just popped into my heart later yesterday and it's going to do how to receive the graces during a pandemic now this applies to everybody if you say well father my church is open again this doesn't apply to me yes it does i promise you just listen through this you're going to find so much i think because even again as i was praying on this and working on it things were just coming out of nowhere in terms of what we can do for grace and so for this talk we're going to be doing um what we do for ourselves and others that even if your church is open or closed and you know what um the reason that i postponed the sacraments was because the sacraments are a huge part of this now father if my church isn't open if my church is closed how do i get the grace i don't have the sacraments and i figured you know what that's what we're going to talk about more today so let us begin with a prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen heavenly father we ask that you send the holy spirit down upon us please heal comfort and console those who are sick the family of those who are ill especially those suffering with the coronavirus and for all of us who are affected by the pandemic may your grace give us the courage to persevere mother mary help us on this journey and we ask all this through christ our lord amen name of the father son and of the holy spirit amen so as you know this will end when we talk about what we can do during a pandemic there's so much you can do i promise you there are things here that you're not doing because i'm not doing some of these things and they're all powerful all right now there is a lot of confusion going on right now father church is open are they closed are they this are they that in fact there's even justifiable anger or one of my friends bishop corleone out in san francisco you know he's one of the ones that is standing up to the civil authority saying we deserve to have the churches open we're not going to force anybody to go if they are at risk but we want the churches open for those who want to go i've pointed out the example of the minnesota bishops who basically said wait a minute there's something wrong here when you are allowing liquor stores tobacco stores to be open and there was a point of an electronics store where they had a hundred people in electronics store and they were all touching the same equipment putting it on shelves yet the bishops there said we can't have 11 people at a mass 10 was our limit at the time i don't know what it is now but this is justifiable in terms of at least questioning it now that's a whole other topic for another day let us just say this let's keep praying for our churches to open until then i'm going to give you some helpful advice on what to do even again if your church is already open you're going to learn i think some things here that might be helpful all right now even with the churches closed or the fact that you can't leave home there's a ton of grace do not waste this grace sacraments as we have said are the best way but many of you are not able to have the physical sacraments right now many of you are not able to go to confession or communion because either you're homebound or maybe a church is closed or even if not it's very limited right now so what do we mean when i say you can still receive the grace of confession and communion if the sacraments aren't available the answer is through temporarily and i underscore temporarily act of contrition and act of spiritual communion now let's have brother mark put up our first two slides the first slide this is what the catechism of the catholic church says now regarding can you receive grace okay quote among the penitence acts contrition occupies first place what does this mean what this means is the most important thing regarding confession is your contrition and your contrition isn't necessarily dependent upon if the church is open or not you it's in your heart so this catechism is saying that's the first step let me continue to read among the penitents acts contrition occupies first place contrition is quote sorrow of the soul and detestation the hatred for the sin committed together with the resolution not to sin again that's very important now when it arises this contrition from a love by which god is loved above all else contrition is called perfect now before mark go brother mark goes to the next slide let me explain this basically what that slide just said is everything that we bring to god the number one thing for forgiveness is contrition and again that comes from the heart your heart can come from your body right there at home all right now let's go to the next slide if brother mark can put up such contrition listen to this remits venial sins it also obtains the forgiveness of mortal sins now what are we talking about here not even yet having the sacrament of confession just the contrition in your heart if it's perfect it forgives venial and mortal sins it says you mean father even if i can't get to confessional because it's closed i can be forgiven this is what it's saying let's continue it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if that's the important word here if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession this means going to the confessional as soon as possible okay so what does this mean this means if you have access to a priest and the church is open yes you got to go to the confessional the sacrament requires us to do that however what this catechism is saying is if for whatever reason you can't get there the church is closed or you're home bound or you're sick and god knows if this is the case you can receive forgiveness of venial sins and even mortal sins if you are truly contrite and you have the intent to go back to confession this is powerful it's the same with holy communion if you make a spiritual act of communion which we do at the end of every mass here and you truly desire god to be united with him and god to be come into your heart in jesus body blood soul and divinity to enter into you just like you have in the sacrament the church also teaches that you can make a spiritual communion asking god to give you that grace as if you really received him sacramentally now does this replace the sacrament no is it as good as the sacrament no you have to go to the sacraments what this is telling us is if you can't absolutely go then this can help us tentatively that's the key all right so the next slide is an example of a spiritual communion so what mark is showing this is what we read at every mass my jesus i believe that you are present in the blessed sacrament i love you above all things and i desire you in my soul since i cannot now receive you sacramentally which means in actual holy communion come at least spiritually into my heart as though you were already there i embrace you and unite myself to you permit not that i should ever be separated from you all right so bob basically again we can't replace the sacraments these though however are are able to hold us over with real grace until we get to the sacraments so the grace is there god is like do you think god's going to abandon us i get letters all the time father the church is closed i am not able to go is is god going to send me to hell if i die and i've committed a sin because i can't get to confession this is what god does through his church he gives us a way to receive the grace now i'm going to show you a quick three and a half minute video this is one of the first videos i ever did once the pandemic began you may have seen it it's got kind of lost out there on the web you've probably not seen it but i'm going to show you a funny video in my expressions and everything that i did one of the very first videos of all of the ones i did out on when the pandemic began but it answers this exact question the question was no confession no communion does that mean no grace let's see the answer to that question as brother mark plays this quick video you know today i'm just going to speak to you about a brief moment from my heart but with a little help from cardinal ratzinger hi i'm father chris aylar here at the national shrine of the divine mercy and you know one of the most common questions i've been getting during this time of the coronavirus is father i can't get to confession and i can't receive holy communion am i still able to receive grace and the answer is if you desire it yes why because god's mercy is that great you know we hear saint faustina talk all the time about the unfathomable mercy of god so stop trying to fathom it his mercy is infinite and he never wants to stand in the way of you receiving that grace so what do you do okay if you can't get to confession make an act of contrition what is an act of contrition simply telling god from your heart that you are sorry for your sins and you'll try to do better remember a great saint once said saints are simply sinners who keep on trying and the catechism tells us that the first and greatest act of a penitent is contrition just having a detest for your sins and a resolution to sin no more when you do that god will forgive those sins the catechism says even mortal sins as long as you have the intention to return to the sacraments as soon as possible then if you can't receive holy communion what do you do you make a spiritual communion and what is that that is simply just telling our lord lord i cannot receive you right now sacramentally fully body blood soul and divinity and holy communion but i desire it from my heart so please give me the grace as if i did receive you sacramentally and you will receive that grace as long as again you desire it in the heart and you have the intention to go back to the sacraments as soon as possible so father can i even use this for a plenary indulgence does it meet the conditions of confession and communion yes it does for instance if you do a plenary indulgence like right now the church says if you pray the chaplet of divine mercy for those affected by the virus even if you don't know them you can receive a plenary indulgence two of those conditions are confession and communion so yes the act of contrition and the spiritual communion can help meet those conditions again the church says as long as you have the intention of going back to the sacraments as soon as possible so in the meantime are you longing for the sacraments of course but listen to a little insight given to us from cardinal ratzinger sometimes we need to experience hunger spiritual and corporal to appreciate once again the lord's gifts and to understand the suffering of our brothers and sisters who are hungry bodily and spiritual fasting as a vehicle of love so once again we see god bringing a greater good out of even this worst of tragedies so again yes sometimes we need to experience hunger corporal and spiritual to help us grow in our spiritual lives thank you and god bless you all right so i hope you enjoyed that video but you know it does explain the main point of what we want to say here so now while public masses are canceled in a lot of places again we can still receive many graces even if your church is open you might be sick as i said might not get there but again there are many graces one of the best is the live streams that we are doing right here at the national shrine of the divine mercy we're going to talk about that more but the live stream masses televise masses and devotions these are all powerful ways to get the grace you know if we look at our next slide sinclair of assisi a great saint of the eucharist as you can see right there she was actually the patron saint of television now wait a minute father didn't she live like in the middle ages or way back then yes but why is she the patron saint of television because our pious tradition tells us that one time she was too ill to go to mass and so um on her her desire though our lord answered and on her wall jesus gave her a vision of the mass and this is why she became the patron of tele vision tele meaning long distance and vision so it's far seeing that's what television means television far seeing meaning i can see something happening in rome it's amazing and so anyway at every mass the whole communion of saints the body of christ is mystically present so if you dial in by one of our live streams you are part of that now cardinal ratzinger teaches in his book spirit of the liturgy which you know i've referenced a lot that the time the point to make is that time and eternity become one so he said as a baptized member of the body of christ you can actually participate spiritually in the celebration of mass anywhere around the world even if you can't be there physically this is coming from pope benedict so but it's important again as my video said to intend to return to the sacraments as soon as possible because again nothing replaces the actual sacraments please don't write me a letter saying father it's not right that you tell everybody that they don't need to go to the sacraments remember all of this is under the indication or the understanding that you physically can't get there if you physically can receive the sacraments we are supposed to that's the real guaranteed grace these are holdovers temporary other ways when you can't get there all right now this whole question this whole thing if you will about you know designing you know father there's no sacraments there's no mess look at our next slide this is actually a church in europe isn't that sad i mean just to see those church doors like that i mean that doesn't tug at your heart i mean this really was a heart tugger but don't lose hope all right i want to tell you a couple quick examples of why not to lose hope do you know that foreign missionaries were kicked out of japan in the 16th century all right but catholics there survived for 250 years without access to any priests this is amazing only was baptism because the laity is allowed to do that and marriage in the case of the emergency of no pastor which was celebrated by the laity but all the other sacraments could not be celebrated in the absence of any priests they didn't have them for 250 years yet they kept their faith and catholics survived so well under those conditions they had a thriving underground community we're seeing that around places in the world today was there what was going on what happened though when the missionaries returned in the 19th century they basically thought that christianity had died in japan yet they found a thriving underground community this is awesome let's take a look at our next slide this is the korean martyrs now in the 19th century korean missionaries same kind of thing they returned to korea and they found 4 000 catholics that were living in korea and guess what only one of the 4 000 had ever been to mass this means that these people held on to their faith despite all of the trials and the tribulations so there's many examples we know about stories from the nazi concentration camps and the russian siberian work communist camps about priests being imprisoned yet they would smuggle in little pieces of bread and wine and they would say the mass so this is powerful to say let's not lose hope god's got this god is in control now life as a catholic without access to the sacraments is obviously not ideal we know that and the sacraments are the ordinary means by which god gives us his grace you've heard me say this before i'm going to say it again and we're going to do more talks about it what makes us so different from every other religion in the world is the sacraments they are remember your definition what is a sacrament it's an efficacious sign meaning efficacious it does something of god's grace all right it's real instituted by christ and entrusted to the church by which divine life is instilled in us and this is what it does it's not a symbol it's guaranteed grace and so it does something but the church does allow in times of precautionary for health reasons and pandemics to have to still count on the mercy of god to give us this grace when we can't get to the sacraments now i received some letters that were complaining about some of the bishops and i wanted to just touch on this because during epidemics priests and bishops are allowed to make changes like wearing gloves like one person wrote in about confirmation the priest had a cotton ball to administer the oil and they said father that's not valid actually it is because in the early centuries this goes back thousands of years in the church during epidemics epidemics priests used actually a small spatula to apply sacred oil during anointing of the sick rather than touching the victims so there are some pre uh bishops now who use cotton balls again it's allowed not preferred not the ultimate best way but in under the circumstances now distancing priests from the faithful to prevent the spread of the disease yeah it might be drastic and it's not the best we know this but it is one that the bishops have the right to do in hopes of preserving life so please try to understand that okay now if lay catholics my whole point is this if lay catholics you guys have proven yourselves under extraordinary conditions like we're in now and thriving when you're deprived of the sacraments and this has been seen in the past history they did it for hundreds of years then we're setting a good example the ones who did it for hundreds of years if they managed it i think we can manage a few more months hopefully this will come to an end and we'll still keep our faith all right now let's look at some ideas now for how to live out your faith in this time of social distancing all right i'm going to give you nine quick examples i'm gonna bother not showing slides right now because i think uh i just want to get through these because i think you get the point but they might be little sparks for your memory all right first we talked about watch the mass on your computer or your television why remote attendance does not fulfill your sunday obligation people are confused by this father if i watch mass do i fulfill my sunday obligation no it doesn't but many are still okay because the bishops in many dioceses have waived the sunday obligation again not permanently temporarily so then you can watch the live stream make the spiritual communion and still spiritually benefit as best you can from real grace but again it doesn't fulfill the sunday obligation what it can provide is spiritual comfort opportunities to make a spiritual communion we just talked about and to get an education through the priests and the homilies it's way better than doing nothing so god bless all of you for joining us all right next learn the liturgy of the hours and i'm going to this one i do have a slide for i'm going to have mark show a slide because you've seen it it comes in four volumes there is a one volume edition but the divine office is a daily prayer of the church and it's actually part of the liturgy that's what they sometimes call the divine office the liturgy of the hours it it's an extension of the mass and so we're praying when you pray the office from home you are in spiritual communion with many around the world we religious pray it every day it's obligatory for us if you're not praying it might be something you pray to pray you know you might want to um you know ask god or discern maybe you learn this prayer all right the next one is easy read scripture this gives us a daily chance to be fed with liturgy of the word which you get at mass now places like give us this day and magnificat they're actually offering missile lets with daily readings online digitally for free during this crisis so there's a lot of resources now remember the scripture is important because it's like the first part of the mass the liturgy of the word and um you know this is very very important and you know a spiritual communion where you're asking god to come in your heart is like liturgy the eucharist and so you need to do these things okay now next keep tabs on the state of your soul it's very easy to fall even though people think well i'm home i'm not sinning you can still fall into sloth uh looking at things on the internet we shouldn't be looking at anger being around our family so much more this we have to do do a daily examination of conscience if you didn't see my homily a few weeks ago i i walked through i remember it was a monday i forget the date but i walked through how to do an examination of conscience it's powerful tool so when confession in the confessional is not available the sacrament of confession is not available the faithful can make an act of contrition as we talked about in the video ask god to forgive your sins but you got to do a an examination of conscience so you walk through what those sins are with the intention again of going to confession when it's available now the catechism states that sacramental confession is necessary for us catholics we got to go quote though catechism 1484 quote however unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession again what i'm teaching you today doesn't replace the sacraments it's if you don't have access to the sacraments it's not if you it's not as if you have access to the sacraments you say well father chris said i don't have to go to the confession now even though it's open down your street and you know has set ups for social distancing no no no no also too please i've gotten a lot of letters on father can you hear my confession over the phone uh can we skype now i i get it it seems like if it was skype that it could or should maybe be allowed but no the church can't risk this this is how important the seal is because somebody could hijack that signal somebody could see it somebody could hear you if you're in your house and you don't think anybody's in there the church teaches treats the seal the priest treats the seal with his life and so no online confessions over the phone or on skype are not allowed all right next pray the rosary and the chaplet these are actually forms of the mass what do you mean father in one of my talks i explained this if you can't make mass the next best thing is to pray the rosary and the chaplet why because the rosary is like the liturgy of the word the first part of the mass remember i said it's like a meditation on scripture when you pray the rosary you're meditating on the mysteries they're all scriptural you know mary and the visitation or the annunciation or jesus carrying his cross when we meditate on those mysteries of the rosary we're meditating on scripture that's the first part of the mass liturgy of the word so if you can't make mass do a rosary it's like the first part of the mass liturgy of the word now you can also like the second part of the mass you can actually do like the liturgy of the eucharist by praying the chaplet how if you pray the chaplet it's like liturgy of the word because you're offering sacrifice that's what the priest does and a lot of times people be like well father i'm not a priest yeah by your baptism you share in the three offices of christ priest prophet and king by virtue of your baptism this is amazing i am a ministerial priest with the caller i can do the sacraments now you by virtue of your baptism are shearers in the common priesthood and that means you are obligated to make sacrifice well how many sacrifices of lambs or bullocks have you made recently okay no christ has replaced those animal sacrifices well then father what do i sacrifice you offer up the chaplet eternal father i offer you the body blood soul and divinity of your dearly beloved son our lord jesus christ in atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world when you do that you are doing like the liturgy of the eucharist you're offering sacrifice so this is powerful pray the rosary pray the chat but you know if you don't already have a family prayer time now's a great time to start all right let's keep going a bible study or some kind of spiritual book reading group you can even do those online now very powerful connecting with fellow catholics through technology you're doing it now when i see the conversations going on in our live stream now of course you want to pay attention to the mass that's first and foremost but like for instance my talk right now you guys are communicating with each other god bless you you're utilizing the technology god gave us for the right reasons you're sharing your faith all right here's a big one the next one we're sacramentals such as the crucifix brown scapular metals like the miraculous metal these are all occasions of grace you can do that at home wow what about displaying holy cards of your favorite saints you know your children always want you to read stories or your grandchildren don't read some story about some crazy magician and harry potter and all that kind of stuff read your grandchildren or children a story about the saints and this is powerful now another thing that you can do is to gather up let's look at our next slide this is one this is a lady online that actually shows she has no qualms she shows her home altar she's online this woman's a catholic she's online and she's always talking about her home altar take a look at all these things she has there she has the image of the sacred heart she has the crucifix look at all that there so basically you can do what she does you can gather up your devotional items and create a home altar the image is look at there if you can see in the image she has the sacred heart of jesus when you bring the image of the sacred heart of jesus you're bringing in the eucharistic heart into your home you're bringing in the eucharistic jesus into your home father i'm missing the eucharist i long for the eucharist that's good that's lovely but you do have a chance to bring in the eucharistic jesus through the image of the sacred heart now we're not worshiping the canvas like you would an actual blessed host but you get the point very powerful stuff all right next is you can do a create a do-it-yourself retreat we got a couple of good ones next slide let's look at the famous father mike gately's 33 days to mourning glory a do-it-yourself retreat of miriam consecration now the big movement right now in the year of saint joseph is father don call the way my other brother his consecration to saint joseph so you can go and do these retreats at home whenever you wish with uh join with father mike gave your father don calloway all right now the last one is be charitable gotta support our church and we got to support our neighbors the more you give the more you receive and we can do that from home too that's one of the biggest things we could do now all right those are some practical tools but i'm going to continue to teach more now what jesus said now jesus said the works of mercy this is in in the diary of faustina number 742 he said they are critical and what did he say the works of mercy are word deed and prayer now you can for sure do two of those three word and prayer you can say nice things about people even if you're quarantined you can pray for people especially pray for people if you're quarantined deeds might be a little harder if you're confined but you know what you can at least get two of the three and maybe even some deeds if you do some things for others in a way from home like sending them a nice email or or sending them you know something that they need add to their home you can do it now let's look at our next slide this is the words that came from the diary 3 13 17. let's read this jesus said many souls are often worried because they not do not have the material means with which to carry out a corporal act of mercy yeah i hear that from a lot of people father i can't leave my house i can't do these works of mercy well let's work what jesus says you might not be able to feed the sick or visit the imprisoned but remember there's more than just the corporal works of mercy there's the spiritual works of mercy here's what jesus says yet spiritual mercy which requires neither permissions nor storehouses is much more meritorious which means valuable and is within the grasp of every soul that means guys you can do this from home the spiritual acts of mercy like praying if a soul doesn't exercise mercy somehow it will not obtain mercy on the day of judgment all right so very important so spiritual mercy like praying for others um having masses said for others this is powerful and this is one of the ways to answer the evils of the pandemic wow all right it can be offered by you for anyone from anywhere anytime you don't have to risk catching the virus but bring divine power and love into other people's lives your own all right these days there's plenty of people and things to pray for our government and you know protecting the unborn that we just celebrated the anniversary of the overturning of some laws but now there's other laws that we still haven't overturned to protect roe v or like roe v wade we have to instead of anniversary acknowledging roe v wade we should be on that anniversary doing penance and prayer all right now there are several ways to obtain spiritual mercy for ourselves and others those in need here's what we're going to go through with you i'm going to give you some ways to do spiritual mercy all right father you say spiritual mercy how do i do it all right first one live the marian charism with us this is a slide of our marian seal and so you can see the mirians of the immaculate conception for christ and the church do you realize that when you live the marian charism with us as a marian helper you share in all the spiritual benefits that we merit through our prayers masses rosaries because you're united with us when you're a marian helper you're united with us now why the marians well i tell you i'm not aware of very many other communities that have been through so much in our short history 350 years of trial tribulation epidemics pandemics wars the marians have been through it all so if you want to know what community to join with to get through a tough time like this look no further than the marian fathers what do i mean well all right throughout the life of our founder saint stanislaus papchinsky who lived from 1631 to 1701 he founded us his homeland poland was scourged by wars and plagues and had repeated epidemics and he was burdened with unimaginable trials not only him but the nation and these trials were used by god to form our community not as a bunch of lackadaisical comfort seeking people but battle-hardened veterans that know what it's like to get through a war not just maybe a physical war but a spiritual war he is now the patron saint of those in mortal danger what better saint to pray to in the time of a pandemic we got hundreds of thousands millions of people who've lives are at risk or or have already died and he's the answer later we'll um we'll talk about i i won't be able to do on this talk but i'm going to hopefully talk about our renovation in the future but we were down to one member our congregation was so persecuted and and in the early 20th century we fell down to one member we were renewed if you didn't hear i did a homily on blessed george a couple days ago now the congregation of marian fathers faced trials in the 20th century like crazy now others did too but we had a special part in this because not only is it the great depression but world war ii every night we read from our album of the dead and it seems like there's another marian priest that was in prison in either a nazi work camp or a siberian work camp um man we went through it the cold war soviet control affected europe and especially poland and lithuania that's where we're from poland and lithuania and the turmoil of the church following vatican ii um we are pontifical right which means we are um right under the papacy and that has caused some confusion you know after vatican ii so we've been through it you want to help the grace to get through it stick with us stick with the mirians then not only that but following um uh after after uh uh our renovation there was a ban on divine mercy this was everything we put our trust in god we're going to be dedicated to divine mercy but you banned it yes and and it was a faulty translation but then finally the ban was lifted in 1978 because it was a faulty translation but this showed who we are we marians bearing the first community to ever bear the title the immaculate conception and the community that brought divine mercy to the world shows you why god renovated us and why god has you here with us the two biggest spiritual weapons of our time are merry and divine mercy you want everything to fight this battle to get through a pandemic it's mary and divine mercy and where do you find that look again right to the marian fathers we'll bring you the scripture we'll bring you the sacraments we'll bring you the mass and we'll get you through it until this pandemic is over and so this is powerful the fact that we exist today is proof of mary and divine mercy god's sovereignty that he saws through this mess and he's going to get us through it again we have hope the purpose and this that god his purposes i guess you should say are going to win out in the end over every kind of evil god's will be done this is what we're talking about so in our 350th year we marians have seen it all and we are recommitting to this mission of mary and divine mercy and we want you to join us it's the only way through this mess the first fridays and first saturdays are about the sacred heart of jesus and guess what the immaculate heart of mary that's coming up this friday and saturday join us this is the only way out of this mess it is knowing that jesus and mary will see us through all these storms we make reparation to the sacred heart and immaculate heart and we're on our way surviving this mess all right what's another way all right not only align yourself with the miriam's let's look at our next slide we have a choice for virtue or vice and as catholics we must be called to a life of virtue both in good times and in bad so i'm going to give you some practical advice here father what do you mean all right i'm going to give you some practical advice very simple live the virtues what are the virtues father there's a lot of them but we'll focus on the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues what are the cardinal virtues i'll walk through them one by one but temperance prudence justice and fortitude and what are the greatest or what are the theological virtues faith hope and the greatest of these is love all right now let's talk about this let's go to the cardinal virtues you gotta have these because these are virtues on the natural level so that they will help you form virtues on the supernatural level so do i mean justice prudence fortitude and temperance are how we live amongst each other in a worldly sense but when we do that god is ready to give us and he does it our baptism but perfect in us the virtues of faith hope and charity those are supernatural virtues why do we need these all right prudence this is easy just think before you speak this is the biggest thing that gets me in trouble i don't always think before i speak we got to use reason don't simply react don't react to everything you hear about the pandemic or every story that comes out think it through speak before thinking this is a passionate issue father is it right or wrong do i take the vaccine not take the vaccine we have an article on the vaccine i'm going to be doing a video on that in the future just let's be prudent let's not jump on everything let's think about it let's think use reason to react responsibly all right temperance temperance kind of builds from that temperance is moderation don't panic and again don't believe everything we hear i get emails all the time another story you know i just got one a few weeks ago that says the united states has declared war on china i mean if i'm going to panic on everything i would have been running to the food cellar you know i i mean we we have to think these things through we have to have temperance don't panic and believe everything we hear um also two beach you know don't panic and hoard things like there was videos out there of people going into walmart and buying every toilet paper on the shelf that should not be allowed because now you're not thinking about others you have to have temperance moderation don't clean out the store of all the toilet paper leave some for others all right justice what is justice learn your obligations to yourself your family and your neighbors what am i obligated to do during this time and i'm going to talk about this more in a minute fortitude the last of the cardinal virtues what is that just be courageous all right you can't get the virus from the eucharist i struggle with my own mom on this my mom for years before the virus wouldn't take the precious blood because she was convinced that she would catch hepatitis a from from the precious blood that somebody else sipped from and she'd die you can't get a virus from the eucharist it's impossible god can't coexist it's this body and blood he can't coexist with sickness now that doesn't mean don't be prudent please don't write your bishop and say father chris said that i can never get the virus so i can take my mask i'm not saying that just be have some courage don't give up all right now those are the cardinal virtues that help us live on a natural realm with our brothers and neighbors but when we do that we grow in the supernatural virtues that we were given at baptism called faith hope and love faith now we have to remember our strength is not just natural we have supernatural strength given to us jesus and mary the graces that i've been talking about through prayer and the sacraments or an act of contrition and spiritual communion all right faith is very important faith is a living trust it's a living trust all right what about hope because we have faith we have hope that many of our neighbors probably don't have so if you see your neighbor you might have to realize god gave you a little bit more faith and therefore a little bit more hope don't forget about them they might be despairing you can at least pray for them be a good example you know a lot of people right now are down but with our hope we can help rise them up you know it's kind of like realizing that you know evil right now is having its hour okay but the lord will have his day we might be losing a few battles right now but god wins the war our job is to minimize the casualties all right then finally the last of the virtues the highest love everything we do should have god and our neighbor in mind love god the first commandment second commandment like it is love our neighbor especially the sick so those around you love them love those with with that don't maybe have the same faith or hope you do share it be a good example you were blessed with it you don't have to force them on it or first it on them but you can live it and they see it those losing faith and hope because this epidemic are ones that want to be picked up by you now we can do this we have to pray because there's a lot going on right now people are dying suicides are up and these poor people who are going to the hospitals you know i have a suicide ministry and the people who are going to the hospitals in the mental health clinics or the clinics to get treated or to be able to be get help for their depression and their not only depression but also their you know struggles they're given a lot of times no help because they are told sorry you can't come in because of the virus and so a lot of these people are mentally despairing and end up taking their lives wow we have to come in here with our you know spiritual works of mercy pray for these people even if you don't know them so we are merciful to others by being virtuous when we grow in virtue we're helping others we can generate grace for them through prayer and especially those who are near death man this is important all right let's keep going because faustina was an example of this now let's let me read you some words that jesus told saint faustina here's what faustina said i don't have a slide on it but i'm just going to read it to you jesus said my daughter help me to save a certain dying sinner right now we know a lot of them because of corona say the chaplet i have taught you for him she said when i began to say the chaplet saint faustina said i saw the man dying in the midst of terrible torment and struggle listen to this his guardian angel was defending him can you imagine the battle going on right now for this guy's soul the war and she said his guardian angel was defending him but he was as it were powerless against the enormity of that soul's misery that's why it's important we have hope not to be like this soul that's in misery the soul was in such danger jesus called faustina in to be able to assist this soul she said a multitude of devils and demons was waiting for his soul oh my gosh this doesn't send a shiver down your spine a multitude of demons are swarming around ready to snatch this guy's soul and jesus says faustina in like you guys because this soul didn't have the hope or the faith she did and faustina says and why i was saying the chaplet so she jesus used her she starts praying the chaplain then that opened the gates to mercy and then jesus says i saw jesus faustina said i saw jesus just as he is depicted in the image the rays which issued from jesus's heart this is the red and the white uh brother mark hopefully i can show the image over my left shoulder you could see the image of divine mercy the rays of the red and the white now she said the rays which issued from jesus's heart enveloped the sick man and the powers of darkness fled in panic this is the power of the chaplet the sick man peacefully breathed his last whoa i understood how very important the chaplet was for the dying it appeases the anger of god that is diary number 1565 wow now our prayers are vital for the salvation of souls in their last moments right now there are many souls in jeopardy people are dying we can do this even if you don't know the soul this is what's going to bring grace to them and you you want to know how to get grace in a pandemic so especially now when we have limited access to the sacraments many places around the world people are dying without the sacraments this is going to mean our prayers are even that much more important people who are dying can't get certain sacraments and and and maybe can't get to confession or anointing but our prayers and our hope can help them our model for responding to this pandemic should be as the christians did before us they faced all kinds of pandemics and tragedies and they gave outstanding witnesses of love and charity the highest virtue so for instance the plague in europe remember the plague in europe that's really what saved europe how ironic is that father you're telling me the plague saved europe yeah because millions of people saw how the catholic priests and nuns treated the sick without fear and when they saw that they said you know what after i get better i want to be that i want some of that what is it that they have it's their faith and so this is what god gives us in our faith we went through world wars god can bring a greater good remember satan has three tools um you know well sin and death are really the two tools but of that pride fear and confusion and right now he's using the big time tool of fear but john paul ii his first words after being elected pope be not afraid what does the bible say 365 times one for every day of the year be not afraid let us turn with trust to mercy mercy trusting god's mercy is a living faith now this doesn't mean don't be smart don't be prudent don't socially justice i'm not uh um socially okay i can't even think of the word right distance not justice it doesn't mean i'm telling you not to do that of course we need to do that but we have to have trust in god all right now let's go to the next one our next slide is plenary indulgences these are fascinating do you know right now that the church is offering us tons of plenary indulgences because of the pandemic listen to this anyone right now per the church who recites the divine mercy chaplet with the intention now listen up here because next time you pray the chaplet you might want to have this intention to implore from god in into the epidemic or the pandemic so next time you pray your chaplet you say lord i have the intention of offering this to end the pandemic that or relief for those who are sick lord please i offer this chaplet for those who are sick with coronavirus or for the salvation of those who already have died from the pandemic you can get a plenary indulgence really father yeah if you pray the chaplet with the intent lord and the pandemic or lord i'm praying for relief for those who have the coronavirus or lord i'm praying for the salvation of those who have already died from it you can get a plenary indulgence this is powerful now listen to this the um the faithful suffering that our our the faithful of our church our laity that are going through suffering from the coronavirus and subject to quarantine by order of you know your doctor or your health official if you're in a hospital or stuck in your own home can also if you have that spirit of detachment from sin which is a requirement for the plenary indulgence you too can gain a plenary indulgence just the very fact that you are quarantined in your home or hospital if you unite listen to this let's show brother mark our next slide actually i'm sorry i forgot the slide that just says plenary indulgences so basically i wanted mark to show that slide that just says plenary indulgences but listen to the next slide listen to this if you are quarantined you can get a plenary indulgence if you quote unite spiritually through the media you can get a plenary indulgence if you unite spiritually through the media to one the celebration of holy mass okay we offer the holy mass two the recitation of the rosary huh at five o'clock we offer you the recitation of the rosary through media three the pious practice of the way of the cross or other forms of devotion such as the chaplet ladies and gentlemen we offer you all three of those stay with the marians if you watch the live stream if you've been quarantined the church says and you watch the livestream mass you can get a plenary indulgence if you've been quarantined and you watch the rosary you can get a plenary indulgence if you've been quarantined and you watch the chaplet you can get a plenary indulgence this is amazing you can get all three of those right here every day with the marian fathers now another plenary indulgence is for health care workers and family members who are exposed you too because you're risking out a love to care for somebody and this is very powerful all right but father my mom is in the hospital the priest won't come to anoint her this is a problem priests aren't able to come sometimes all right well there's also an answer to the church from the church the church quote listen to this the church prays for those who find themselves unable to receive the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and viaticum final communion entrusting each and every one to the divine mercy by virtue of communion of saints and the granting to the faithful of the plenary indulgence at the point of death this means this father my mom can't get anointing of the sick the priest wouldn't come i'm afraid she's not going to be forgiven of all sins and punishment actually look at our next slide a plenary indulgence is available to these people that can't get a priest that means complete forgiveness of sins and all punishment if they do this one they are disposed properly disposed meaning you know they want god they're not satan worshipers most do want god two have they have recited a few prayers during their lifetime because in this case the church makes up for the three other usual conditions that are required so if your mom is sick in the hospital she ever prayed well yeah father okay that's the next part and finally for the attainment of this indulgence that the uh the use of a crucifix or a cross is recommended not required so basically if your parent is dying and they can't get the sacrament if they are just open their heart to god call them on the phone say mom are you just opening your heart to god just be open to god yes and if you said any prayers mom dad have you said any prayers well even if they're unconscious but you know they prayed back in the day that's enough this is incredible amount of grace that's given right now all right the next thing you can do spiritually a works of mercy is look at our next slide divine mercy devotion you guys all know this jesus made these extraordinary promises to all those who spread the message of divine mercy and i'm sorry i'm running out of time i got to go through these pretty quick all right now here's what i want to show you let's look at our first slide souls who spread the honor of my mercy i shield through their entire lives as a tender mother her infant and at the hour of death i will not be a judge for them but the merciful savior this means just live mercy at that last hour a soul has nothing which will defend itself except my mercy in other words this is all we got don't let it pass by happy is the soul that during its lifetime immersed itself in the fountain of mercy because justice will have no hold over it diary 1075 the very fact you're with us means you're turning to god's mercy the very fact that you hear means you are part of god's mercy machine and that you are giving this grace for your soul and others one way to do this is to offer your prayers and devotions not only for yourself but others at the three o'clock hour jesus said at three o'clock he grants many prayers we here pray at three o'clock the the divine mercy chaplet join us now this chaplet is powerful let's look at our next slide how powerful is the chaplet jesus said at the hour of the death basically saint faustina is saying pray the chaplet for those who are dying and he says at the hour of their death i defend as my own glory every soul that will say this chaplet are you kidding me or when others say it for a dying person the pardon is the same father my husband he's unconscious and he really wasn't doing good in his life you can pray this chaplet for him jesus says when you pray it for the dying person the pardon is the same amazing when this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person god's anger is placated unfathomable mercy envelops a soul and the very depths of my tender mercy are moved for the sake of the sorrowful passion of my son this is one of the few times in the diary god the father speaks incredible and jesus as that jesus says when they say this chaplain in the presence of the dying i will stand between my father and the dying person not as the just judge but as the merciful savior that is from diary 1541. what i just read diary 1541. all right how powerful is this chaplet let's keep going priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation even if there were a sinner most hardened this is the one of the passages that changed my life if he were to recite this chaplet only once he would see receive grace from my infinite mercy diary 687 the key here is if you can do nothing else father i can't do all that i'm sick i'm not feeling well if you do nothing else just pray jesus i trust in you now if you say father you just went through so much i can't get all that you know what praise be to god let me have mark show the next slide i have just finished a book and it's it covers everything you need to know about divine mercy finally one place i think where you can go one place and get one explanation of divine mercy everything you need to know how to receive the graces what prayers to make what promises jesus makes what you need to do for divine mercy sunday why would a merciful god allow suffering i explained the feast in the image in the novena and the chaplet and the hour of mercy i explain all that i explain divine mercy what it is and where we find it in the mass and how we receive it so please consider getting this book it's called understanding divine mercy again if brother mark can put it up there you can call 1-800 or visit shopmercy.org and you can get this explained god bless you all right next thing next powerful tool that god gives us is the veneration of the image and we can do this at home let's look at our next slide here's a close-up view of the image of divine mercy father i can't receive the eucharist right now well as i said invite the eucharistic heart of jesus into your home through the image jesus let's look at our next slide gives many promises of this image he says i promise the soul that will venerate this 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 diary 47 and 48. this is amazing and i'm sorry i jumped ahead yes no i'm on track okay that is powerful stuff so venerate this image venerate the image at home asking for the victory over the coronavirus and approaching our lord through this image if you can't get to mass or adoration that is powerful powerful stuff all right now enthrone the image in your home actually there's prayers to enthrone it you can find them on our website and throw in the image of divine mercy or the sacred heart now this is powerful stuff all right so this is if you want to do this let's show our next slide it's the image again but on the top look at that for a free image you don't have one you don't know where to get one if you don't have a copy we'll send you a free copy a beautiful divine mercy image 5x7 if you want to get it for free i'm not trying to sell anything here but for free go to the divine mercy dot org slash image and when we welcome his image into our homes we are inviting the lord into our lives it's it's like having a picture of our best friend and you know you can light a votive candle if you can do that safely all right now i know i'm running out of time but let's got a few more things to go all right one of the things we've got to remember is to do social caring not just social distancing all we hear about on the news is social distancing let's look at our next slide basically this is can you believe this is a real advertisement i mean where have we lost our humanity i get it we got to be protective i get it we got to follow rules but to stay away like each other are some kind of demons that i hate you because you might hurt me this is not the attitude we want it's very easy to assume that somebody is is out to get me and they don't care about me no we want to know this is easy for our neighbors and problems to not be our problems but only ourselves a self-focus and pope benedict once said listen god commands us to pray for our neighbor because our neighbors had to put up with us quite a bit and now they need our help so pray for them so show our neighbors we are christians by our love not forgetting them love our neighbor we can love jesus and through jesus we love our neighbor you know jesus even says console my heart what else can you do at home console the heart of jesus part of that 33 days of morning glory father mike talked about was a book he wrote after one he said or he wrote called consoling the heart of jesus now the consoling the heart of jesus is easiest done from home what does that mean father listen jesus said i need you to make reparation to my wounded heart my heart is dying to pour graces onto the world and where do the graces of divine mercy come from the red and the white the blood and the water they come from the heart of jesus they come from the sacred heart of jesus but jesus says make reparation to the wounds in my heart i'm dying to spread mercy all over the world but my heart's so wounded i can't right now to the fullest extent god's mercy always is given to the world but he's saying make reparation to my heart and i'll pour even more mercy on the world and this is why it is important that we do the first friday first saturday devotions join us this coming friday and saturday to do that we can make reparation to the sacred heart of jesus and the immaculate heart of mary to unleash millions of more times grace around the world and man do we need that all right so we're closing up here we are promised by christ that we will face persecution all right we will have to pick up our crosses there will be burdens in our life we may even be poor we may be sick without friends jesus never promised us comfort in this world he promised us life in a paradise in the next world so our greatest burdens here are things that want to stop us from getting to that paradise remember your paradise isn't in this world it's in the next and so we need to focus yes it's true on our daily needs of food shelter clothing work health care that's all important but our greatest focus should be on the burdens that come from within ourselves that are stopping us from getting to that paradise for all eternity our greatest burdens are our vices our sins our addictions our wounds our misery and jesus told saint faustina and she said you know she was communicating with jesus and jesus said give me everything this is kind of a cute story and see faustina says i've already given you everything jesus and he says no you haven't she says yes i have he says no you haven't she says jesus i've given you everything what haven't i given you he says you haven't given me your misery it's the only thing that's truly your own [Laughter] wow he said no you haven't given me this misery so inner healing like deliverance prayers for this inner burdens these miseries does wonder for us being able to live and handle exterior burdens like challenges in life and those other things so do this now do i need something more than heaven no that's all we need jesus mary and joseph this is all we need we can be at peace even in the face of a pandemic and sin and suffering because jesus mary and joseph are with us now and always so consecrate yourself to jesus through mary and joseph to jesus the divine mercy by consecrating yourself to mary to jesus through mary or consecrating yourself to joseph to jesus through joseph in these difficult times these devotions that we can practice are more powerful than ever and you can practice them in your home when we open ourselves up to god through these devotions prayer fasting almsgiving if you can't get to the sacraments acts of contrition acts of spiritual communion reading scripture praying the rosary doing the chaplet everything i just told you they mean now more than they mean more now than ever so jesus invites us as part of this mission if we say no that role and the graces will be given to someone else jesus said this in the diary 367. if we live in an age of incredible technology which we do take advantage of it don't let physical distance keep you from meaning that you can't have a relationship with someone you can we are all members of the body of christ we're never truly alone you know i saw an article that says you know what we need to think about it says is god allowing all this isolation because he's giving us what we want i said huh and i'm reading the article and it makes the point that up until the coronavirus we've been really leading a life of isolation and it occurred to me that when i used to fly a lot even before the coronavirus i would look at the people waiting to get on an airplane and maybe 200 people 197 of them would be buried in their cell phone no communication even people sitting next to each other i remember eating dinner in the airport and i was at the table next to a husband and wife because um you know i mean she had a wedding ring and he did so i assumed they were wedding husband and wife they never said a word the entire meeting the meal he was reading uh his cell phone and she was reading hers no communication whatsoever we've isolated ourselves and so i read this article that says is god may be allowing us what we've already wanted well hopefully we'll be waking up and saying no lord we want communion in the body of christ but we're going to make do with best what we can and what you give us in the meantime this is everything i've walked through today all right now one last thing i can't be without turn to our lady the immaculate conception let's look at the next slide isn't that a beautiful picture of mary i love that picture of mary i mean that is the most beautiful picture right so turn to our lady the immaculate conception as we marian say our health and our protection that's what we always say mary is the queen of heaven and earth to whom god entrusted everything including her own son his own son do you realize mary's the patroness of the united states and the patroness of life those are two big things that need prayer right now our nation and the preservation of of life in the womb now i don't have time right now because i'm running out of time but there were two devotions let me just show them for two seconds the first one you want a powerful devotion pray our lady and doer of knots pope francis even talks about this one i don't have time to explain it and the next one is our lady of good success you might recognize this picture and this was an apparition where a nun from ecuador in the 1600s talked about all the spiritual mess we were going to get into in the 20th century and it's all come true so i don't have time to explain it but what i do have time to explain is we can use this suffering by offering it up to god i suffered two weeks with coronavirus really bad offer up that suffering if you're like me that you were sick to god this can actually be a time of blessing like being able to spend time with your family now well father we're ready to kill each other no see it is a blessing suffering can make us more like the crucified christ father i hate suffering i know so do i but read what saint faustina says about it saint faustina tells us oh if only the suffering soul knew how it is loved by god it would die of joy and excess of happiness wow someday we will know the value of suffering but then we will no longer be able to suffer the present moment is ours diary 963 basically this is what jesus is telling us that we have an opportunity or faustina that we have an opportunity to make the most of what the situation is remember god is in charge not us and so the final thing that i wanted to talk to you about a big way you can bring grace to yourself and your loved ones let's look at our last slide is an enrollment in the association of marian helpers this is awesome and you can visit mic prayers dot org it takes but ten seconds there's no cost it's very quick basically we need help and we need help and our brethren we need help and we need to help our brothers and sisters and as much as possible and that helps us this spiritual benefit society called the association of miriam helpers is the best way to do it all right now why how does it work all right basically when you become a marian helper again father i can't go to africa and do missions that's okay god may be calling you to be a suffering servant in your home father i'm too busy i work seven days a week 15 hour days okay god maybe he's not calling you to do a ton of prayers but maybe when you get in the shower each morning or before you go bed at night you can say a little prayer for all these members of the association of mary and helper because they're praying for you when you're a member of the marian helpers there's strength in numbers you pray for us we pray for you it's called an enrollment in a spiritual benefit society because people can share in the graces the prayers and the good works of the marians of the immaculate conception just like you were a marian priest or brother listen to some of these benefits god bless you there's two quick slides here are the benefits of enrollment i've never talked about these fully i've just advised you to enroll but let people say father what does it mean to be a member what do i get what is my benefit here it is one daily holy mass is celebrated for you you can't get any more grace than that incredible holy mass next is offered for members on the first friday and first saturday join us we're gonna live stream that's powerful next holy mass offered for deceased members especially on all souls day all souls day is very powerful and we pray for your deceased loved ones now next slide a special mass offered on feast days of our savior and our blessed mother like the sacred heart of jesus next the continuous novena to the divine mercy is prayed here at the national shrine of divine mercy and you share in those graces wow next daily prayers all right this is powerful are offered by workers right at the association of marian helpers they pray for you daily and my favorite number seven father chris or father joseph that's the title of the director prays for you i pray for our marian helpers god bless you we want you to be part of that so you can enroll yourself your family your friends even your deceased loved ones powerful you can arrange to have a card sent to the people to announce it or if if they're protestant or or you're not getting along with them but you want to make amends through god you can do it where we don't have to send a card so they don't even know this is powerful there are a lot of people are in need right now including ourselves and this is a very powerful way to give grace for yourself and others when many of us can't physically attend mass you still share in the graces of our mass because our masses aren't stopping not to throw me in jail before i stop the masses here so help us fight against this pandemic enroll yourself rule others god bless you this is the greatest way to grace so two last places up i just want to remind you again the first one please sign up be a mirian helper let us spread this message of mercy around the world let us pray for each other there's more power in that go to mic prayers dot org be one join us we pray for you you pray for us again no cost just 10 seconds to sign up god bless you and finally last slide again if you want to get all of this divine mercy in an easy place please visit us at shopmercy.org and you can get this book just came out or call 1-800-462-7426 i spent a lot of time writing this book and i wanted to make sure i got it right for you guys you guys were the inspiration you guys are the ones that get me up every day to want to do this if i wasn't getting any any any feedback from you guys i wouldn't think we were reaching anybody but god bless you all you are giving us feedback that we're we're feeding the sheep yeah i know there's got to be some things i still work on yet but god bless you for being open to the truth and god's message of mercy and so till next week may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen and god bless you why be a marian helper because we mary and father celebrate a mass for you and all our members each and every day you can share in all the prayers good works and merits of all the miriam priests and brothers around the world and now you can share the graces just as if you were a marian priest or brother every all souls day we see a mass for all the deceased members of the association of marian helpers again there's no way that after we die we can help ourselves but we have to rely on the prayers of those here on earth and we members of the marian fathers will be praying for you as a deceased member of our association you can share in the graces of the perpetual novena to the divine mercy remember jesus told saint faustina that the chaplet of divine mercy is one of the most powerful prayers we can make and every day here at the shrine of divine mercy we pray it and you can share in those graces so if you have any questions or you want to learn more how to be a marian helper please visit micprayers.com or call 1-800-462-7426 and let me personally pray for you and your loved ones thank you and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: Divine Mercy, Mercy, Jesus, Christ, Marian, priest, catholic teaching, spiritual, spirituality, grace, pray, prays, praying, chris alar, alar, fr. Chris, fr. alar, Catholic, Church, God, quarantine, homebound, virus, pandemic, epidemic, closed church, sacrament, act of contrition, spiritual Communion, confession, Eucharist

Id: IkvcTI2a9tA

Length: 85min 48sec (5148 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 30 2021