Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC: Mary's Gift of Mercy: John Paul II and the Second Greatest Story Ever Told

let me say a word and defense of reason in dialogue with faith because faith is that proof faith unites us to that substance a reason in order to realize its full potential needs the horizons revealed by and truths contained in the faith and not just any sense but the Catholic faith thank you for the students for life for sponsoring me to be here so many blessings on them I know you guys work very hard on campus you're very dedicated we had dinner before the talk they go to the deep to the abortion mill in Pittsburgh about every week don't you guys so quite a sacrifice quite a great group there and I thank you for having me I was told that there was a talk last night and I hope there's not some confusion I was told there was a talk last night where they were giving away free beer if I see that we've got a packed house unfortunately we are not offering free beer tonight so if that's you you can you can you actually can't get out now because they roll look at you no but in case I don't know if it was on the posters or not this is probably why because it's such a good turnout as you may have heard that we're going to be giving away books if any guys heard of the book 33 days to morning glory some of you okay I had so it's a preparation for Marian consecration and I did my Marian consecration for the first time when I was a freshman here and it absolutely changed my life the problem was when I did that that I did it on December 8th and so the ending days of the consecration it was true st. Louie de Montfort where there's a growing list of Whitney's and prayers and around finals week I had so many prayers to say and I was so stressed out that I decided to have mercy on students and do a version that's a that's not as much a 33-day prayer marathon so you can do it even if you have finals coming up so I think there's going to be a push this semester to do the consecration and if you like the book it's a it's a preparation guide for doing the total consecration to Jesus through Mary that's sort of updated from Louie De Montfort that includes st. Louie De Montfort there's a week with Lou De Montfort a week with Exum in Colby a week with Mother Teresa in a week with John Paul the second so if you want that book you got to stay for the whole talk and then do we have our the books here I might be digging myself into a hole that anybody okay there are the books thumbs up okay so at the end of the talk when people are going out I think there's question answer time afterwards but I know you guys are students if you have to get out too if you have to get out anytime you can do that no problem but you get the books at the end of the talk okay so that's probably why you're here so but you got to sit through an hour all right gotta pay our dues okay let's get started with a prayer in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit payment 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 Saint Joseph in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and then let's not be here it's water one of my favorite quotes from Blessed John Paul the second is that in the design he says in the designs of Providence there are no coincidences in the designs of Providence there are no coincidences and the fact that the talk this talk that we're going to be giving today Mary's gift of mercy with that bold subtitle the second greatest story ever told write it the reason it's wandering and I was asking the Lord why are you having it on this anniversary of Roe versus Wade I didn't plan to give the talk on this anniversary and I was thinking I was asking the Lord why now there's obviously a connection with you know the culture of death and abortion and a need for mercy and that's a theme of this talk but I remember before the talk I was I went to the the Porcello porch uncola beforehand and prayed and I was asking the Lord Lord why why did you pick this state what do you want me to say and when I got out of the chapel I went to the little the tomb of the unborn child where there's several unborn children buried and as I was there praying there just a thought a gentle thought came into my mind and it was this that this may be the lowest point on campus oh sure there's a lower campus I don't mean that and yes there's the circle where people drive the cars but in terms of the campus proper it occurred to me that that was maybe perhaps the lowest point on the entire campus even lower than the porch uncola itself and it was just a passing thought I said okay I got to prepare my talk and so I was going back to Holy Spirit monastery where my talk was and as I was walking up there and I got to the front door and I looked up at the big cross that's above the monastery there and I said to myself wait a minute now this is the highest point on campus and maybe I was thinking that because I was huffing and puffing because I'm out of shape but I what I realize is it's very interesting this is the highest point on campus is this giant cross the lowest point of campus is the tomb of the unborn child relatively speaking you might go find if you spring a surveyor in they might have something else that's a bit lower but in a certain sense it's the highest and the lowest points and I was thinking what the what the Lord might be saying in that is that we as Christians always need to keep our eyes up at the cross always have our eyes up and Jesus isn't on that cross so it's actually a symbol in a sense of the Paschal mystery that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus is suffering death and resurrection that's part of our Christian life at the same time the tug of our hearts in our daily lives where the cross of Christ goes through all the centuries our hearts really need to be pulled down and into the deepest suffering of our era or of any historical period for the people of that time they need to be attuned to that if they were truly going to be Christians who have the heart of Jesus Christ our hearts should be going down to that lowest place where there's the greatest tragedy the greatest suffering the greatest bloodshed the greatest inhumanity to man and we find that here and with the culture of death in the Holocaust of abortion you know I I think Alex mentioned is it 40 years is this the 40th anniversary with Roe vs. Wade I think in the 40 years I don't quote me on this but I did some research not too long ago I think this is still right then in 40 years worldwide there's been now more than a billion abortions now a figure like that is something that we can't fathom and if you're anything like me what happens is when you think of a tragedy the tragedy of our time the culture of death and its greatest symptom abortion it's something that we don't want to look at it's hard to look at I remember when I was a student I would think about all the time and as the years went by after graduation I found myself not really thinking about abortion so much even though it's a daily horror of our lives there's like what 1500 a day and I what I started of thinking was that the reason I was putting it out of my and it's because I have I was believing the lie that I couldn't really do anything about it that I was powerless you know if you're powerless if you if you have power to stop a tragedy then you use your focused on it you go for it you do it you stop it right if you see somebody about to shoot somebody you go and they stop but the thing is if your hands are tied and you're in jail and you and it's just happening in front of you what is are the natural human response to look away at least that's the one last thing we can do is just turn our heads and not look right I think a lot of us are in that position where we're thinking we're powerless especially the way you know certain politics have been that it may seem that it was even more powerless than before in terms of pro-life and so the response that it may be welling up in our hearts is a temptation to just look away and I think what the Lord is saying is we can't look away but don't be afraid or as John Paul would say be not afraid as Jesus echoing the words of Jesus because there is something we can do and there is a sign of hope in fact what the Lord has given us in our day is what I believe is one of it one of the greatest signs of Hope in the history of humanity after the story of Sacred Scripture this is why the subtitle for this talk the title is Mary's gift of mercy in the subtitle the second greatest story ever told bold but I mean what I say and I hope by the end of the talk you'll agree with me that my argument is that the greatest story of all is the story of Sacred Scripture of Jesus Christ and the Apostles in Salvation history but the second greatest story ever told is what I want to tell now and it's a story it's one of the stories of salvation history and I think it's the most powerful of all of the narratives of all the stories that we have in church history you're free to disagree but I'm going to make my argument in this talk and the reason why I think it's given in our time is because in our time we need more than ever a sign of hope we need a witness to hope as the biography of john paul ii by george Weigel it says you know a witness to hope we have one of the greatest stories one of the greatest witnesses to hope in a time of seemingly despair or when it seems like we're we've lost there's a message and a story that I want to tell now it's not the best storyteller but it's a great story so maybe the story will make up for this story talent it would be good you won't be falling asleep but hopefully this story will give us hope on this sorrowful horrible tragic anniversary and hope my hope is that it will in kindle our hearts to dedicate ourselves even more to the kingdom of christ to the building up of the culture of life and fighting the forces of evil in our time because Jesus is thirsting that we do that Jesus is asking us to follow him in our day in in in the midst of all these things now so that's the preface and now without any further ado I want to get started with the second greatest story ever told and I'm seeing some faces that have already heard this story in the crowd and I want to remind them you can go if you want lent hasn't started yet this may be a penance for you but thank you for coming anyway maybe just wanted the book all right the second greatest story ever told it's it's a story that surrounds the life of a boss of john paul ii he's the centerpiece of it but there's a lot of things going on you've probably heard a lot of bits and pieces of the story I'm about to tell but maybe never all of it put together as a central narrative of one amazing idea that I think God is doing in our time I want to present that but before I talk about john paul ii i want to give some of the peripheral parts of the story and understand blessed john paul ii and the amazing witness that he is in our time and his story is in our time we need to know something first about the story of poland now I do love disclaimer I'm not polish all right but I love Polish history and I spent a lot of time my commute I lived in Poland for a year and I studied the language and the culture and it's one of the Polish history is one of the most amazing histories in my opinion one of the reasons why it's so amazing is that there are several times in Polish history that God has seemed to use Poland to save the world or at least to save Europe but then to go on to save the world now that's bold but I want to give you some examples and in some instances of that number one I'll give you three examples of times that it seems that God has used Poland is super Catholic country to save the world to save humanity in a sense First Instance cr6 1683 1683 there was this huge Turkish army this Muslim army that one decided they wanted to take over Europe what they needed to do was get a foothold in Europe that would be their base camp to go on and conquer the rest of Europe and they had their sights fixed on the city of Vienna and in Europe at the time all the princes and kings and things were bickering among themselves they were divided and there's this huge massive army of Muslim Turks decided we can have easy picking with Vienna that will be our base camp and we'll take over these divided Christians very easily and so they attacked Vienna and there was so many of them attacking Vienna that during the summer people would look at the city of Vienna and they said during the September it looked like there was snow surrounding the city and why did it look like there was snow because of all the white tents of this Ottoman Turkish Empire and so the idea is these Turks these Muslim Turks were digging under the walls these giant walls of Vienna blowing them up and they were intending to storm the city and the people in Vienna were shooting arrows out with messages saying we can only hold out for a week more we can only hold out for and it was getting down you know through five days left two days left or whatever their time it would they were it was they were about to collapse and nobody was coming to the assistance of Vienna but then but except for one King there was a king of Poland Qingyuan sobieski he heard of the plight of Vienna and even though it wasn't politically expedient for him he went with his polish hussars the famous Polish Calvary and they came to Vienna they had some help with some of the German and Austrian princes they who decided to kick in some forces and Qingyuan sobieski himself led a charge right at the commanders tent send people flying killing them sending them going and they all fled back to the Ottoman Empire and that was the high point of Islamic rule and threat to Europe in fact the day of the victory was September 12th and they say that the the 911 September 11th that the reason the terrorist picked that day was to sort of undo the shame of losing that battle so to go one day before and have a victory that would overshadow September 12th which was the great defeat and so but if it weren't for Qingyuan sobieski in this courage in the polish hussars we might likely all be speaking Arabic now and the Hall of Europe may become Muslim at that time and who knows what the rest of the world would have gone but that was one instance where God seemed use poland to save europe to save christian europe another time we'll fast forward a bit to the year 1920 1921 john paul ii was born and he was very proud to be born that year because of what he calls or what the poles call the miracle on the Vistula and that the background to that was 1920 that was shortly after the end of World War one and that was a time when the armies and the peoples of Europe were flat on their backs exhausted from World War one and there was the armies were depleted the people there were so much suffering but there was one army in Europe that was not flat on its back in fact it was raring to go and conquer and that was a Russian army that had been stirred up it was a peasants and it was a million-man army and they were fired up by the likes of Lenin and the in the Communists and they had a goal of going into Europe and conquering it it's flat and smack easy pickings all they had to do was pass through the roadway of Poland and so they were going through Poland and there's this ragtag Polish army led by kit marshal pilsudski said no Russian army is going to march through our territory and in a daring move King our Mina marshal Poe sinski attacked this million man army split it in half and sent them like those Ottoman Turks back to their home and there was a Polish there's an English historian Norman Davies he said if it weren't for marshal Pilsudski stopping that million man Russian army likely all of Europe would have become communist and atheists and Christianity in Europe would have collapsed back in 1920 so once again where it seems that God used Poland in a powerful way to save Europe to save the world now well fast forward a more of a famous one that some less might be more aware of 1989 what was the big iconic thing what was the big thing we saw on TV what was it was a big moment for 1989 what happened right the fall of the Berlin Wall right that was the beginning of the collapse of communism in Europe right this atheistic totalitarian regime right wrong it wasn't that was one of the that was one of the dominoes that happened but it began actually in the Digga dank shipyards of Poland with the ten million man Solidarity labor union that fought against the totally the communist regime in Poland and led the domino effect of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the communism throughout Europe in fact I was at living in Poland during one of the big anniversaries for this and they had all the heads of state in Europe in Poland for this giant Domino thing they have like dominoes where each country was on one of the dominoes and they tipped them all over and the first domino was Poland so once again amazing history and there's other instances there's so many amazing things in Polish history but once again a significant part of modern history where God seems to use Poland to save Christian Europe now among all these examples that I just gave there in my opinion there is nothing more powerful than something that the Lord did with Poland even more recently and what I what I'm talking about is basically something that happened on the eve of some of the worst bloodshed military speaking in the history of humanity the worst war ever world war two on the eve of that war on the eve of some of the were suffering in human history Jesus appeared to this little nun in Poland named Sister Faustina and he revealed to her the modern of divine mercy what I mean by modern messages you know the message of divine mercy is really the message of Sacred Scripture in fact as the Catechism says divine mercy is the hardest sacred scripture the heart of the gospel but the modern message of divine mercy is where Jesus came and appeared to someone as part of the prophetic charism of the church where Jesus appeared to someone to give a message that's very deeply needed in our time that reiterating the message of the first greatest story ever told this message of Sacred Scripture mainly the message of his mercy of course but Jesus is always merciful it's all throughout scripture why does he appear to st. Faustina in such dramatic fashion even having a picture painted having her do a diary why does he appear to st. Faustina in our time on the eve of World War two it's because of what the very meaning of Mercy is mercy is a particular form of love when it encounters poverty weakness brokenness sin mercy is love when it went love when it meets suffering and according to blessed john paul ii our modern era is a time of unprecedented mercy unprecedented evil and that's bad news right but the good news is that in Romans five verse 20 st. Paul says where sin abounded grace abounded all the more so that in a time of unprecedented evil God wants to give unprecedented grace and that's what he's doing and saying and offering through the modern message of divine mercy it's Jesus himself coming in our day these are John Paul's word words Jesus as if Jesus himself comes to our day to remind us it in this time of unprecedented evil he's giving us unprecedented grace he will not allow evil to have the final word and he will he will give even greater mercy that's the message of divine mercy and that's the message that Jesus came to give through Saint pastina to the modern world on the eve of the worst suffering in humanity with World War two but Jesus also knew that the culture of death would grow in our day and that we would be here this evening discussing whether on the anniversary of the 40th anniversary of Roe versus Wade when there's been in the last 40 or something worldwide something like a billion abortions which makes in a certain sense that the Holocaust of World War two and the tragedies and the bloodshed they're just a drop in the bucket compared to what's gone on the last they're 40 years but again the message of mercy that Jesus wants to give to us is a message of hope and even greater grace and but it seems in some ways too good did it be true so I want to continue with this story which in that in this amazing dramatic way that Jesus gave gave it to us now we'll go back Jesus appears to st. Faustina right she keeps a diary and then and she has an image of divine mercy painted and then she dies right she dies in 1938 becomes a saint good she doesn't have to suffer through World War two but that message of divine mercy that she gave started to become very popular it even began to spread during World War two despite the Nazi occupation but after the war after World War two when Europe was in agony this message of divine mercy this message of God's presence with suffering humanity spread like wildfire throughout Europe throughout suffering Europe people would look at that image of divine mercy they would see that beautiful prayer Jesus I trust in you and they would take comfort they would take consolation they would know that our merciful Savior is with them it would remind them of the promise of Sacred Scripture and it was spreading like wildfire the problem was some of the bishops and some of the diocese got a bit nervous they saw that this message was spreading and they were saying well who is this nun maybe she is a crazy person you know claiming that Jesus spoke to her we need to get this checked out right we got to bet this thing and so they took documentation that was spreading in their diocese and they sent it to Rome and they asked Rome would you look at this would you make a judgment about this Faustina and her message of mercy and so the Vatican they got these documents but there was problems with some of the translations from some of the different materials because the translations were bad and there was errors in the human tation rome couldn't didn't notice that sometimes in the diary they were saying is is Festina saying I'm love and mercy itself or is this Jesus we can't tell it's a bad translation and so they decided to put a ban on the message they put a ban on the message of divine mercy to the great pain of many many people throughout Europe and even in America where it was being spread and a lot of people were upset with this respectfully but they went to their bishops and they said please get the church to reconsider this is such a dear devotion to us this message spoke to me look at led to this miracle in this miracle in this miracle well there was so much clamoring that there was a bishop in Poland who is listening he even said you know as like people wouldn't even let them sleep these people say please Bishop do something and so there was this bishop in Poland and actually all these people they probably should have known that something was going on that they should have expected this because in the diary of st. Faustina itself Jesus told Festina that there would come a time when this message would seem to be completely undone it would seem to be that it would be completely fall away and then she and then she said but then God would act with power and this message would be a new spring or light in the church now but now we'll put that on hold there's it reminds me of another passage in the diary Festina meant a little bit of tangent but nowhere I'll bring it back back to that Bishop but before we get there I want to bring up another passage in the diary Festina that I have sort of looked at and I was like what the heck does this mean jesus said he said and one one time in the diary of Faustina he said to Faustina I bear a special love for Poland and if know this is a very Catholic country they and they went through a lot of suffering that's why he loved them so much I think as they suffered so much and United it to Christ I bear a special love for Poland and if she will be obedient to my will from her oh 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 now okay we'll put that on hold don't worry I'll get back to that but the thing is obviously with passages like that it made some people nervous and so there was this band and but then the people were saying please we love this message we love the image and there was this bishop who opened up the investigation he got better documentation a better translation he sent it to Rome Rome took time with it they investigated it and after a thorough examination of all the documentation they lifted the ban on the message of divine mercy six months later the bishop who had been doing all of that behind the scenes work six months later was elected pope john paul ii did you know that I love that detail right six months later he's elected to pope john paul ii well and then when he became Pope he forgot all about the message of divine mercy right wrong no he didn't in fact one of his second encyclical his second encyclical letter was devious and mr. cordilla rich in mercy and he said that he had had Faustina st. posting on his heart for a long time when he wrote that but something else is significant a lot of times people haven't heard this but he also at the beginning of his pontificate he went and visited the shrine of divine mercy in Koval Enza Italy a shrine in Italy and while he was at that shine he made a startling statement this is what he said at that shrine he said right from the beginning of my ministry in st. Peter's C in Rome right from the beginning of becoming Pope I considered this message of divine mercy my special task Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man the church in the world it could be said that precisely this modern situation assign that message of divine mercy to me as my task before God so he sees this message of divine mercy as his special task and as a task assigned to him by God now then throughout his pontificate he did speak over and over again about the message of divine mercy about first it was venerable Faustina then blessed Festina and then Saint Faustina I want to fast-forward we don't have time to get through all that but I want to fast-forward to the canonization when when when Sister Faustina became or Blessed Festina became st. Faustina st. Faustina was canonized she was made a saint as the first saint for the great Jubilee year the year 2000 that and john paul ii during the canonization ceremony he said by this act of canonizing Faustina I intend to pass this message of divine mercy onto the onto the new millennium which needs it so badly and it was interesting because it with on Divine Mercy Sunday and it was on Divine Mercy Sunday and while he was giving the homily at this mass the crowds were massive they went all the way back to the Tiber and beyond and it was interesting because Sister Faustina st. Faustina's convent in Poland had there was a bunch of pilgrims also gathered there at the convent and it was amazing because if you read in the diary of Faustina she actually had a vision of her own canonization where she's describing this event she's saying there's all these people going as far as the eye can see and st. Peter see in Rome and the Pope is there and and she's saying and there I am and all these other things and she says if there was one detail I'm butchering it because I'm not getting exactly exact but I'm paraphrasing but basically she said but there was one thing that was a bit confusing to me somehow all the people gathered in Rome but there was also his sisters were gathered at the convent with pilgrims there and they could see one another how this happened I don't know well on Divine Mercy Sunday the year 2000 and that canonization it's st. Faustina's convent they had the big jumbo Tron's and there was a simulcast and the sisters could see the people in Rome and that was what Postino was seeing so it was amazing and it was a great day of joy I remember and she even said I saw that on that day Jesus was blessing everyone present and I remember on that day when I was watching on TV when I was a student here a student oh I love the message of divine mercy I thought this is so awesome and when I watch all this going on in the year 2000 I was just like you could feel the blessing that was coming in from the event watching a live on television and it was just it was such a great event but the the height of the highlight for the whole day the thing that knocked my socks off as I was watching this this canonization event and the homily was that John Paul the second shocked everyone by saying in now henceforth for the universal Church the second Sunday of Easter will be known as Divine Mercy Sunday why was that significant it was significant because that was one of the main things that Jesus wanted wanted proclaimed through this modern message of divine mercy in fact he would plead with Faustina and she would say to Jesus but Jesus he would tell her I want this feasts proclaim and so Festina would go to these theologians and priests and she'd say Jesus once Jesus appeared to me once this feasts proclaimed and they say there already is such a feast shows what you know sister right and then so she would go back to Jesus and she said Jesus they told me that there already is at your feast and Jesus responded to her and who knows about it in other words that's why I want to proclaim nobody knows about it and I want my mercy to be liturgical II celebrate so everyone can share in it and he give great amazing promises which if I had time I wish I could tell you about those promises of Mercy Sunday but huge promises so that was a huge day Divine Mercy Sunday canonized Faustina passes the message onto the new millennium any-any declares Divine Mercy Sunday an official face of the church as if that weren't enough apparently after these big benefit Asians they would not have banquets and things like that the Vatican wouldn't do that but for this one they made an exception they had a huge banquet and John Paul attended so did many priests in my community the Marian Fathers Immaculate Conception father seraphim meal anko one of our older priests he's like god this is the divine mercy guru he's got this the white beard looks like Santa Claus but he he was there at this event and he said he was there with dr. Valentin Fulcher I think isn't it Foster who is the doctor who helped get the miracle approved in all this stuff and dr. Foster had to leave the banquet early to catch a flight back to United States before he went John Paul the second called him to him and father Seraphim relates that John Paul the second said to dr. Foster as he was leaving wait before you go I just want to tell you today is John Paul the second today is the happiest day of my life now this is John Paul the second who had quite a few victories in his day right this is after 89 that great victory over communism in the year 2000 at this banquet he said today is the happiest day of my life why what's the great where does great joy come from great joy the deepest joy comes from fulfilling one's mission in life one's vocation and John Paul the second at the beginning of his pontificate he said this is a special task assigned to me by God because of the current modern situation that it's his that he saw my is my my conjunction conjecture here is that he saw his mission was to give this message of divine mercy in our time and hand it on to the new millennium that he knew would need it so much and so he said today is the happiest day of my life you know and at that point he could hear the Lord say well done oh my good and faithful servant right no but there was more he kept going right he's the Energizer Bunny Pope he just keeps going that wasn't enough it wasn't just the year 2000 the great year of mercy the great Jubilee year because something else amazing happened Cardinal Christophe schönborn the one who has wrote a large part of the Catechism was the editor for it he was there for this event I'm about to describe and said it was his conversion to divine mercy when he heard the words I'm about to read what he means by that his conversion to this mess modern message of divine mercy what happened well in the year 2002 john paul ii went to the shrine of merci and crackle yah guava Kenickie I think I got it right in Poland to dedicate the shrine of divine mercy there which was the shrine for Poland in Europe for divine mercy and while he was there he gave this homily that blew me away when I heard it I thought I thought that I thought that declaring Mercy Sunday was big listen what he does in the homily knock my socks off again I mean I was sockless I have to join the Discalced Carmelites after this Alex but again I was blown away by this stuff this is listen what he says where's my quote hold on it's in here somewhere so he says he says it's in the context of him consecrating or entrusting the whole world to divine mercy this is what he says he says 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 Saint 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 of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled 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 the end but I was like whoa the reason I was saying whoa is because remember that passage I read earlier about the spark and they will prepare for the Lord's final coming that's what's stuck out like something like Santa Claus on Easter it was like it just was like crazy right there the spark that will prepare them the reason I say that is because when I came across that passage in the diary 15 on my own I was embarrassed by it I don't like the apocalyptic stuff I don't like end-of-the-world stuff I thought I don't want to see this stuff I want to just keep reading here and I thought in most of the priests and clergy that I know are also embarrassed by that stuff and they would flip over that but here's the Pope highlighting that passage that controversial passage and even strengthening it may the binding promise of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled that there's a spark which will prepare the world for Lords final coming he identifies as the message of divine mercy this modern message of divine mercy which just reiterates what's in Sacred Scripture and the reason why it knocked my socks off so much is what john paul ii is saying is that he's not saying that we know the day or the hour right who knows the day or the hour if you know that raise your left toe right okay good if not none of us know the day or the hour but what he's saying is the way we prepare for the lord's final coming is not with fear and trembling but with trust in God's divine mercy that's the preparation this extraordinary gift of mercy in this time of mercy now we'll go on as if you know when I heard that when should Cardinal schönborn heard that he said this is enough for me hook line and sinker I love this thing and he started to do the world apostolic Congress is on mercy and all this stuff but would you believe there was a lot of people out there still want to clergy a lot of people out there that did not like divine mercy I don't know they like the justice right they don't like all this to my mercy stuff and they would say oh this is just John Paul's polish kick right he just likes this most inna because she's polish and this will all pass he should never have made mercy sunday universal feasts in the church well to silence those critics John Paul didn't speak but in my opinion and Pope Benedict's opinion divine providence itself spoke God Himself spoke and I want to tell that amazing story because it gets even better now but with a with a quick preface all right you guys are probably out a long day I'll give you a quick other story throw your curb uh when I was what is my story though I'm forgetting here okay it's a long day for me too when I was um when I was in the seminary I loved Blessed John Paul the second he wasn't blessed as dead but I loved John Paul the second he was like my hero he's one of the reasons I wanted to go into the seminary and I read about everything I get my hands on by John Paul the second I loved his stuff and one thing is I'm kind of a melancholic personality type you know I am very depressive I get down easy right I'm like he or right remember that's usually me well I love John Paul the second I saw how old he was and frail and I would look at his life and I would say his life is so beautiful his life is so amazing that if I said Lord if he just dies of like a heart attack in the bathtub I'm going to be so depressed and I was like and that you know what there can be no fitting and such a beautiful wine so I might as well be depressed about it now already right okay we're talking major a or action right here bizarre yes but that's father Michael for you and but the thing was the ending of his life was so much beyond anything I would have imagined it's beyond what a scriptwriter of the most wonderful Hollywood movie could make it and I want to share that with you now you may know bits and pieces I want to tell you some of the full story which when I heard it not something that knocked my hat off it was it was it was crazy listen to this John Paul the second April 2nd 2005 what happens John Paul the second dies right and what is April 2nd 2005 it's the day before Divine Mercy Sunday oh wait a minute wait maybe it has a potential to being the best story ever if you would have just you just want to hold on for one more day it would have been the great story second greatest story ever ready right wrong listen what happened John Paul the second April 2nd the day before Divine Mercy Sunday he's in his he's in the Vatican they're dying and Cardinal Cardinal G Bush his longtime personal secretary is there in the room with him and John Paul's labor breathing is labored and he's going in and out of consciousness and Cardinal Jeeva said that at one point he felt like this imperative in his heart tell him telling him to offer mass right now and so he obeyed it was so strong that he obeyed at the time John Paul was out of consciousness and so he set up for mass and he recognized that it was late into the evening in fact it was into the night on April 2nd and so as we do if he said he set up for the vigil mass and the vigil for that was Divine Mercy Sunday and so he set up the lecture he set up the sacramentary the Missal for Divine Mercy Sunday he offered Mass and John Paul the second was conscious enough to be able to receive the Precious Blood withdrew a drop a droplet of the precious blood less than an hour later in fact more like less than a half an hour later John Paul the second went to his eternal reward as pope benedict xvi himself puts it he went to the lord in the arms of mercy and the later on even commented i'm paraphrasing because i remember the exact quote but basically if that's not divine providence i don't know what is right but he put it in his very sophisticated nice way right but it's true and that really I mean where I'm with the Marion fathers of the macula conception people thought we were nuts for years spreading this message of divine mercy in fact when the ban was made we were really persecuted for it in fact we had to take all of our divine mercy materials and put them in big bags and bury them out in the field behind the Marion Helper Center in Stockbridge in the Marion but the amazing thing what the Marion saw and many people saw is after that happened it was like you know a lot of people say that when John Paul died there was like this explosion of grace in the world part of that explosion of grace was that the hearts of so many clergy who had been critical or cynical were open to divine mercy so that now it's spread all over the places father seraphim calls it the great the largest grassroots movement in the history of the Catholic Church because it didn't start with the clergy it was though eight people loving it and saying we love this message this message of God's merciful love why do people love it so much what's so amazing about this message it's just reiterating for us the heart of Sacred Scripture that the hope that Jesus has the heart of the Good Shepherd that he goes after the lost sheep that as it says in the diary of Festina the greater the sinner the greater his right to God's mercy it's that message as saying even if your sins or as many even if your sins were as many as there are grains of sand on the seashore if you threw yourself into my mercy and trust in that mercy and turn away from sin you would be completely cleansed and there's that amazing promise of divine mercy Sunday where it's people say it's a plenary indulgence it's it's not a plenary indulgence you can get a planarian awful indulgence on that day but it's a it's a special gift of grace I don't have time to get through it I wish I did it's a great grace there's all these great graces of Mercy Sunday should I say it real quick all right okay real quick all right real quick the grace of Mercy Sunday plenary indulgence you have to do the indulgence prayer confessions like 21 days before after something like that don't quote me on that something like that and you have to do ah what else prayers for the Holy Father and then the big thing is total the detachment from all sin that's the kicker if you're an attached from all sin raise your right toe who knows maybe we are River but there I heard a story about Saint Philip Neri that he was once giving a mission where people could receive a plenary indulgence for going to the mission and the Holy Spirit told him it was a packed house that only two people were receiving the plenary indulgence Philip Neri and a six-year-old boy presumably because people were attached to sin now does that mean we don't strive for poner indulgences no we do strive for them right because even if we don't get a plenary nomes we still get a partial indulgence right but the idea is the grace of Divine Mercy Sunday that's not one of the stipulations it's that you do that it's that you go to confession sometime during Lent be in the state of grace do some token act of mercy and simply have that desire to receive and go to connect go to confession sometime at least during Lent or Holy Week or the day of mercy Sunday and have just the intention to receive that grace of Mercy Sunday and it's I called the clean slate grace it's why it's my favorite day of the year and I'm not ashamed to say that but it's the clean slate grace the guy that jot that Carol Voigt with John Paul the second assigned to investigate what is the nature of this grace and it was a top theologian in Poland at the time rajat ski he said that the grace of Mercy Sunday is like a second baptism it's not a baptism of course but he likened it to a second baptism so thoroughly does it cleanse the soul these are the amazing races that Jesus is promising how can he give a grace like that because he can go he's God and he can promise what he wants and if he appears to some woman and she's a canonized saint and he says look I want to give this grace and this is my promise chances are it's true and I believe it and that's and I would happily receive that grace unto my mercy Sunday and hopefully all you will to because it's a great day anyway where were we ah the greatest second greatest story ever told pretty awesome right right there right a beautiful ending john paul ii poland all this stuff going on right bores and Jesus I trust you I'm appearing to the nun awesome right you guys aren't convinced yet you're like that's good alright but then you know Divine Mercy Sunday and the greatest day of my life right all that stuff still not convinced but then I'm dying on mercy Sunday all right well here's another one it gets even better as high as they say right it gets even and it does get even better because john paul ii he died on on the vigil of divine mercy Sunday but being a good faithful priest he prepared his homily for the next day Divine Mercy Sunday but because he died he wasn't able to give it and so an archbishop of the Vatican delivered John Paul's last words to humanity these are literally his last words and listen to what his last words are John Paul the great one of the great great great saints of our time he says as a gift as a gift to humanity which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil selfishness and sin fear the risen Lord offers his love that pardons reconciles and reopens hearts to love it is a love that converts hearts and gives peace how much the world needs to understand and accept divine mercy exclamation point his Lord we believe in you and confidently repeat to you today Jesus I trust in you have mercy on us and on the whole world these are the last words a blessed john paul ii the great mercy Pope delivered after his death and the last homily he ever gave what does he say how much the world needs to understand and accept a vine mercy Jesus I trust in you I really like that with those last words the best Jesus I trust in you have mercy on us and on the whole world I like to think of his iconic words for his whole pontificate that he were in his very first homily what were those words be not afraid write to me we've got the two sides of the same coin right here be not afraid Jesus I you be not afraid why because we trust in Jesus who has revealed himself as infinite love and mercy never turning away a sinner who comes down with a contrite heart never in fact his love for them is even greater like the heart of the Good Shepherd finding a lost sheep that's the good news so that was the greatest second greatest story ever told in my opinion the story of Faustina in the time of unprecedented evil God gives unprecedented Grace and an unprecedented witness pretty awesome Amen or oh my Amen but it gets even better alright I got 10 minutes left 13 minutes left alright so if you're tired shake out your arms we're almost there but I got to tell you this part it does get even better and I didn't realize it got even better till the stump till the summer laughs the summer before last I can't remember which December it was like not last summer the summer before that one and basically what happened is that book that I'm going to be giving away to you guys 33 days to Morning Glory that was when I wrote that book I see Michael Baker out here he was part of a novice class that had been praying for me after I got when I was at Steubenville I did my beer in consecration somebody gave me the book total consecration is used through Mary with Saint lo de Montfort right and I was like either like Gately you got it you got to read this thing I'm like man I don't have time you guys probably say the same thing right I got all these other things that studied it gave me this book and I said and he just gave it to me so I went back to my dorm room I looked at the back and it said total consecration to Jesus through Mary is the quickest easiest surest and most perfect way to become a saint and that was like man that is what I need I'm reading this book and so I read it and as I shared earlier I ran the thirty three day prayer marathon to do the consecration which was the height of this book and I consecrate myself on December 8th it was I'll tell you the year do you know how old I am 1995 was a 95 1995 and everything changed it was like it was something amazing happen I really felt Mary's presence come my life was great and that's when I was like I started feeling a vocation to priesthood I had a beautiful girlfriend here we broke up I went and and then actually it was interesting I went to the seminary eventually she she called me once she was a French exchange student she called me and she said Michael this is she graduated before me I was still a student here she said she said Michael I said Oh her name was blush because she's as beautiful as her name too and her accent just the guys are laughing the girls are kind of like did he just say that so she called me up she said she said Michael I said hey boss I hadn't talked to her in a while she said I just want to tell you next week I'll be entering the convent and I'll be giving my life in prayer for you to be a holy priest she said every day I'll be praying and sacrificing for you so give your all Mike and I said blush I'm going to work hard and I did in fact I worked then when I got into the seminary the founder of her community called me on the phone and like there's a hit there's like 300 nuns in their community they're out in Europe and he said down he said brother Michael I said oh hello father is like this famous priests in Europe he said I just want to tell you I have a holy envy of you I said why he said because I've never seen a nun pray for someone as much as I see sister Bernadette pray for you because her name went from being launched a sister Bernadette and and I said and then I said Wow and he said bye-bye so I got the picture so then I worked even harder but one of the things that happened was and Josh and I sister Berta and I are still very good friends she praised her me like crazy and I've read all these books right but this she's really the if any of there's any good in them it's coming from her prayers I know that all my other spiritual mothers I know up very clearly but the idea is and this was a perfect perfect case in point when I graduated and I made my consecration I had you know this great I was swimming in these graces with the consecration but then I went through this real time of dryness and my devotion to Our Lady and I felt like and part of it was I didn't feel good enough I always saw him areas like up on this big pedestal she was larger than life and I just had this idea of like the words from Fatima penance penance penance right and I was like ah I'm not doing enough I'm not doing enough rosaries I'm not doing this she mustn't and when I felt her it seemed like her loving presence left I thought it was because she didn't like me anymore cuz I was too much of a knucklehead she's like ah that one and so I went through about 12 years Michael right didn't I tell you guys all this because I gave a talk to the novices when brother Michael was a novice and I and I went through like 12 years of dryness and darkness with my devotion to Our Lady I love Jesus right because I knew he was divine mercy but with Mary a haha she must not like because I'm not prayed enough rosaries right and I'm not pious enough I'm not all this enough well I asked the novices brother Michael Baker and a bunch of the other guys I confided them I said guys please pray for me you know I'm talking I was telling them about this talk about Mary I'm like I'm talking about this when I'm not feeling in my heart please pray for me and I remember sister Bernadette had been praying for me for years any time we would talk on the phone which is rare don't scandalize anybody it was rare like Christmas or something like that or if she wrote me a letter rarely write um they would it would say she would always say how's your devotion to Mary and she prayed and prayed and prayed that was like her keep the intention of her heart and I remember I don't I can get in all the details because I'm losing the time here but basically I went on a retreat and the retreat got cancelled because I'm in a position now as the director of the Association Mary helpers I lost 30 pounds in two years of must wait from all the stress and everything I and I didn't have a case in two years you guys can start playing the violin right no day off in two years and I'm just I was like okay I have my retreat my retreat started the office where I've got 75 employees they're calling and there's all these emergencies I had to cancel my retreat and I'm like Lord what are you doing to me I can't even make him retreat I can't I can't make a retreat I can't even go have vacation whatever why are you doing this to me right and I went to bed that night a discouraged I woke up at the next morning and I had the entire idea the entire book idea for the entire book of 33 days of morning glory in my mind and I was like wait a minute that could work and I remember I sat down at my computer I started writing for the next three days the phone calls in the email slow down and I wrote for three days straight but then I had to get back to work because that was my retreat time right and I flew back to Stockbridge but my actually had taken my first vacation I scheduled the first vacation two years my sister and her kids and her husband were going to come up she called me up she said Mike the kids all have the chicken pox we're gonna have to cancel so I spent the next seven days writing around the clock I got about three hours of sleep at night and I would research and write research and write and after 10 days I finished that entire book and and it was amazing I know with sister Bernadette's prayers and others like her for two reasons one because I'm such a knucklehead it was like why can I write a book like that when I'm the one who's the punk vault I mean like I don't know about married right and I just got blasted with all this grace in the process of writing and learning about maximum Kolby mother Teresa John Paul the second although the obstacles were lifted and I was like I get it and I was starting to see like with maximum Kolby he had such a tenderness in his devotion to Mary he's like my brothers our dear little little mother can do everything for us turn to her and it lifted all these things but what I realize is the grace when I got that grace I realized it was it was the gur the specific grace that I got with sister Brenna's birthday or something like that so I knew she was praying and then that book partly because I'm giving some away in last year just that one year that we did there was a hundred and twenty-five thousand copies distributed because a lot of people are like I like it it's easier than de montfort but you're like all that father gateway what's he doing no but the idea was with the de Montfort consecration you're actually supposed to retreat emotion to Mary a lot of people don't they just do the 33 days but they're supposed to be together so it's actually a really big preparation what I do is they summarize the de Montfort and make it so that people say well father gaily what are you doing you're keeping people from prayer no because of what I'm saying is you actually spend more time in prayer because the the de montfort version which actually was put together largely with by the de Montfort fathers after his death there's a lot of vocal prayers it's hard for a lot of people would have a hard time sitting still like me to get through I like more of a competitive prayer of Mary's prayer pondering in the heart and so the idea is it's two and a half pages a day of meditation that students can do and you read those two and a half pages and the idea is that you take the core nugget of it which identify it but at the end and you ponder it in your heart all day long so it's not just a one time of prayer throughout the day you're when you're walking to class or whatever you're in a 33 day retreat pondering what you're learning about the mirror and consecration with the week with lo de Montfort a week with maximum Colby a week with Mother Teresa a week with John Paul and so the idea is I mean anybody who wants them so long as we have them here and if you're here and you can't get one we'll see if we work something out but you can have a copy and I encourage you this semester to do the consecration if you haven't done the consecration do it it's the quickest easiest surest way to become a sing hot dog right if you've already done it I encourage you to renew it so that you can get the insides of insights of Colby and Mother Teresa and John Paul okay now can you guys hold out for I got five minutes left can you hold out for seven more minutes yeah okay as I still got to finish the second greatest story ever told all right but that's the thing about the consecration now all right let me get ready for this I'm gonna have to go fast what I realized as I was writing this book is this it for me the runner up to the second greatest story ever told what clearly been Fatima I thought battle-ax is like this amazing story where while world war one is raging Mary appears of these three Shepherd children and what's amazing to me is she tells she reveals and then this amazing stuff one thing that she reveals to them is she's saying if people don't convert and pray a worse war is going to come during the pontificate of and she mentions the Pope and whose pontificate the word is going to happen and then she goes on and she says and if Russia is it isn't a consecrated to my Immaculate Heart she will go and spread her errors throughout the world people at the time were saying Russia Holy Russia right because Russia was holy at the time and all this and poor Russia has no influence how is Russia going to spread her errors throughout the world they're going what the heck this is 1917 17 and the Bolshevik Revolution it was just in its infancy so people are like what's going on here and Mary also said it showed the children a vision of a big ship dressed in white right and this Bishop the children were terrified because this bishop dress and white would be shot and killed and they were terrified because they recognized that Bishop as being the Pope and it was so terrifying in fact that the church that the the hierarchy of the church different church leaders they decided to keep that secret so it's not to disturb the faithful well that was Fatima it's just in this amazing story of and sure enough World War two happened there was tremendous suffering Russia did begin to spread her errors throughout the world that things came true I thought this is totally amazing but now this is where I realized that fatha the Fatima story ties in intimately with the second greatest story ever told as I've called it because Mary appeared to those Shepherd children May 13th 1917 at 5:00 p.m. 64 years later at 5:00 p.m. John Paul the second is getting in his popemobile to do is whens to do Wednesday off to do his audience in st. Peter's Square and as he's going along a trained assassin aliança pulls out a gun and at close range shot fired several shots at John Paul the second John Paul the second is shot in the abdomen and that he bleeds to death on the way to the hospital one of the great tragedies of this twenty century right wrong father Mikey little stinker right wrong he doesn't he doesn't bleed to death in the way the hospital miraculously they get make their way through through the traffic in record time in miraculous time but the big miracle if you ask John Paul the second what happened he says yes it is a miracle one hand fired the gun and another because that wind well the thing is it seems like he should have been killed right because that's the image of Fatima was his bishop dress and white would be shot and killed but he wasn't killed so what happened John Paul gives the answer now he says yes what it one hand fired the gun another hand guided the bullet so John Paul said he identified that other hand is Our Lady of Fatima who spared his life spared his life in 1981 and the idea is this is why this talk is called Mary's gift of mercy is that it was an act of mercy from our mother of mercy sparing the life of blessed john paul ii who should have been killed but basically in a certain sense but people were probably praying the rosary or maybe it was just her the mercy of her motherly heart saying you know that they have no wine figuratively speaking in our time the wine of mercy and saying that we didn't have it she spared his life so he could go on to bring the church into the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart which is the triumph of divine mercy why the triumph of divine mercy I'll explain now John Paul was a shot in 81 right John Paul he identifies that Mary Our Lady Fatima is the one who spared his life with her hand God guiding the bullet well a year later in 82 on the anniversary of the of Our Lady of oh it all happened in Our Lady of Fatima by the way I forgot about that that's why I note about May 13th right the anniversary so he goes to Fatima a year later on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to the mother of God and the mercy of God John Paul was uniting these two themes here the mother of God and the mercy of God and what he did is is in his homily on that occasion he gave one of the most beautiful homilies that ever read from of his and he basically talks about the meaning of Marian consecration and what's stunning for me in this in this homily is he says the whole meaning of Marian consecration this shocked me I was like what he said the whole purpose of the consecration the meaning of the consecration is for Mary to bring us to the pierced side of Christ which she identifies as the fountain of Mercy that Mary's whole role is to bring us into divine mercy that's the meaning of the consecration that's everything who Mary is and when I read that as I was writing that book in those ten intense days that was one of the biggest lifts of the block that I had with Mary because what I realize is holy Toledo Mary hadn't abandoned me she had to she hadn't abandoned me those years because I was such a knucklehead as I thought right that really she was just doing her job I was full of all those warm fuzzies right after the consecration but then she got out of the way and she was more like behind me pushing me into the Rays of God's mercy into the end of the pier side of Christ so that I would come to know and accept of I mercy I believe that was a grace obtained through the prayers of my Our Blessed Mother and I realized she wasn't rejecting me she was trying to get me to discover the mercy of her son and she got out of the way and was pushing me into it so that so the ideas 82 John Paul but there's more to this connection this is where I started to see holy Toledo the second greatest story ever told the Fadiman mercy in all this mercy Pope Faustina all these things go together even Colby but I have time to get into that it all fits together because then what happened later with fast-forward 1980 1984 John Paul the second invites all the bishops of the world to join him in st. Peter's Square in Rome to solemnly consecrate and Trust the whole world to Mary's Immaculate Heart where Russia is included I won't get in all that but we're to consecrate the whole world to her Immaculate Heart in an at4 John Paul with these bishops consecrates the whole world to Mary's Immaculate Heart but he ends his prayer the entrustment pray the consecration prayer by uniting the consecration of Mary and again divine mercy listen to his words 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 it put a stop to evil may it transform consciences may your Immaculate Heart marry reveal for all the light of hope what's the light of hope it's the Rays of God's mercy the Rays of the good news Jesus I trust in you that's the power of merciful love that overcomes the evil that was 84 he cons and trusts the world to Mary's Immaculate Heart invoking the power of divine mercy that's 84 85 86 87 88 89 five years later Mary had some work to do took a five years what happens in 89 the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet totalitarian regime which persecuted the church in a horrible way and it begins to collapse I believe through Mary's intercession because of that entrustment and consecration and the reason I believe that so strongly is in 91 when when the Soviet Union was officially dissolved mikhail gorbachev signed the dissolution of the soviet union what day was that December 8th 1991 the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception so again this is called Mary's gift of mercy why because Mary's whole being is to bring us to the mercy of God in the triumph I believe the triumph of her Immaculate Heart is the triumph of divine mercy because that's the spark that will prepare the world for the lord's final coming and the way we prepare for the lord's final coming is if we get everyone to trust in the mercy of god to turn away from sin and to experience that saving mercy which brings not only good out of evil but an even greater good out of evil and so I want to leave you then with one image and that is the image that was at the crest of john paul ii papal motto this is the whole meaning of the consecration which I hope all of you will do because in the reason I hope all of you will do it is be well I'll get to that the crest and I'll make it quick I know I've been saying it that crest what do you have we have a cross and what's below one of the arms of the cross and M right that's because for John Paul the second the summary the essence of the consecration is John 19 verses 26 to 27 when Jesus dying on the cross looks at Mary and John the Beloved Disciple and looking at John he says woman he says I know he says he is Mary okay he says Mary he says woman behold your son and to John behold Your Mother and then john paul ii says that is what it's all about the consecration is simply to give Mary permission to be that mother that was it's a response to the gift that Jesus himself gives us from the cross of Mary as our spiritual mother but Mary who respects human freedom better than anybody because she knows what human free will can do when she said Fiat and you all know what happens she's waiting for all of us to accept her fully to give her full permission to use her full motherly mediation in our lives and that's what the consecration is we can always go deeper with it but if we do that then you will be able to say you will look back on this time as a student here at stew mill as I did when I made my consecration and say it was the turning point in my life that's the words of john paul ii when he was 18 years old he read true devotion to Mary he did the consecration and he said it was the decisive turning point in his life that's the power of the consecration it makes it can have it gives Mary permission to make our lives into something beautiful for God that's what she wants to do in the quickest easiest surest way hot dog right who having wants to pass this up so I encourage you to do the consecration and this is a message of hope great hope the consecration divine mercy on this day of infamy this day of the anniversary of Roe versus Wade which seems again as I started with it seems like just an anniversary of despair in many ways it's an anniversary of great sorrow but this message that I think divine providence gave for this date is that mercy overcomes evil and he's looking for just a few of us to give our lives completely to the mercy of God with trust to the powerful intercession of Mary and by the consecration so that he can take each one of us and make our lives beautiful for God and use them to conquer the reign of Satan in the world that's what he wants to do and he can he can take the littlest souls to do it I hope you'll have a fruitful consecration I think the preparation day for the Annunciation which would be the big one I think because the Annunciation actually has changed this year it's on April 8th this year so you would start on March 6 all right so if you want to start March 6 but again it's student-friendly you can still do it and have midterms and finals okay let's close with a prayer and thank you for your attention and then the Father and of the Son and of 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 never shall be world without end amen Mary Mother mercy pray for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen you you

Channel: Franciscan University of Steubenville

Views: 105,409

Rating: 4.8493152 out of 5

Keywords: Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, Catholic, college, Fr. Michael Gaitley MIC, Association of Marian Helpers, Mary, Divine Mercy, Mercy Sunday, Divine Mercy Image, John Paul II

Id: hKzEt2MZQiM

Length: 71min 16sec (4276 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 14 2013