Fri, Apr 2 - Divine Mercy Novena, First Friday Prayers, followed by Easter Tenebrae

we welcome you to the national shrine of the divine mercy for the beginning of our divine mercy novena that will be in preparation for the celebration of divine mercy sunday we here have perpetually been praying this novena since the early 1940s and we would like for you to join us in opening our minds and our hearts to spreading this message of mercy also this evening after reading of the novena we will pray the chaplet to song of divine mercy followed by a reflection by brother jason lewis on the first day of the novena then we will lead you in praying the chaplet of divine mercy and we will then finish the evening with our first friday devotion where we will lead you in the requirements and the requests of our lord to fulfill our continuation of the first friday's devotion so god bless all of you and thank you for joining us in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen saint faustina's prayer for sinners eternal truth i call upon you and i beg your mercy for poor sinners o sweetest heart of my lord i plead with you for poor sinners almost sacred heart found of mercy from which gushed forth rays of inconceivable graces upon [Music] would have been enough for the whole salvation of the slower although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude the price paid for us can never be equaled therefore let every soul trust in the passion of the lord and place its hope in his mercy god will not deny his mercy to anyone heaven and earth may change but god's mercy will never be exhausted oh what immense joy burns in my heart when i contemplate your incomprehensible goodness oh jesus a desire to bring all sinners to your feet they may glorify your mercy throughout in this ages amen we will now begin the first day of the divine mercy novena on the first day our lord said to saint faustina today bring to me all mankind especially all sinners and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy in this way you will console me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges me most merciful jesus whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in your infinite goodness receive us all into the abode of your most compassionate heart and never let us escape from it we beg this of you by your love which unites you to the father and the holy spirit eternal father turn your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners all enfolded in the most compassionate heart of jesus for the sake of his sorrowful passion show us your mercy that we may praise the omnipotence of your mercy forever and ever amen if you have your prayer book with us for the three o'clock hour we now begin the chaplet and prayers on page okay okay we will now begin the reflection of brother jason on the first day of the novena good evening thank you for joining us on this most solemn day let us from the outset just take a moment to place ourselves in the most compassionate heart of jesus which was open for us upon the cross in commemoration this very day on good friday mary queen of divine mercy and queen of peace pray for us okay so today we have a very special day it's talking to a friend of mine earlier dear friend sister like colleen that said we are going to get a triple dose of grace today so we could call it a a trifecta of abundant grace of divine mercy so to speak we know that today we commemorate in the church first and foremost good friday where our blessed lord offers himself his body blood soul and divinity as the propitiation the lamb of god the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world he stands in place for you and me he takes all the sins of the world upon himself and the punishment of that sin even so much as experiencing separation from his very own father both in his divine person and in his human nature the anxiety that he must have undergone he would have experienced all things like us and he did experience all things like us except for sin we also celebrate the first friday in the first friday devotion and as father chris said earlier in his homily during the three o'clock liturgy if you have a chance to see that you didn't see it i would really encourage you to tune in had some excellent points within his homily and it is appropriate that this particular time this particular year the first friday would happen to fall on the good friday so that's an incredible blessing to us as well so we also have in addition we start the solemn novena to the divine mercy so we have this trifecta of abundant grace that is available to us this particular day and i've been tasked to be able to handle all three and 25-minute talk so pray for me the way that we're going to handle this evening as father chris talked about we've already had our opening prayers we'll have a brief reflection here by me then a sung chaplet at divine mercy and then we'll conclude with our first friday prayers with spiritual communion followed by our tenebrae service which is the last seven words of jesus that is something that you will not want to miss it's very beautiful so we hope that you all participate with that with us as well we know that as catholics as christians in the world this is the most solemn time of the year it is the holy triduum which started last night in the upper room where jesus who is the high priest who is the lamb of god is bringing a new covenant to us a new covenant in his blood jesus only uses the word covenant two times two times from his mouth and all of sacred scripture and it is where it is at the last supper first he says take eat all of this all of you this is my body which will be broken or given up for you and he says take this all of you the chalice of my blood the blood of the eternal covenant so he's instituting something new in the upper room for us everything in a certain sense comes to a fulcrum starting with holy thursday in the upper room with jesus through good friday when he goes through his passions starting in the upper room going out to the garden of gethsemane where his passion is so intense that he sweats drops of blood and that's a real life human condition science and medicine confirms this that one can be under such stress endure rest the capillaries underneath the skin actually break and begin to bleed and when that particular person starts to sweat they will sweat blood so that tells us that jesus has experienced the human condition and the fullness he knew what he was offering he said to the father father if this cup can pass me by let it be but nevertheless let it be done unto me as you will words that we can all take to heart so jesus in the upper room and all of these these events from the upper room to good friday to holy saturday and then his beautiful victorious resurrection over death whereas saint paul says to the corinthians o death where is thy sting o death where is thy power because we look forward to the resurrection of our lord the messiah who was promised he who was to come to deliver the israelites and a new exodus and the israelites at the time of jesus were looking for the messiah messianic anticipation was running high they were looking for the messiah they were looking for deliverance and they anticipated that this deliverance would be much like the first exodus that they experienced from the egyptians when they were held in bondage in captivity now they were in a new captivity and this captivity was the romans so they they felt confined restricted they were impinged upon they were in bondage and they were looking for someone to come and free them release them for that bondage so everything is taken up into christ so in this holy trinium everything comes to its fulcrum everything converges and jesus the christ the promised messiah he who was promised back in the garden remember we were talking last month on the first friday in march and i'm sorry i'm not going to be able to get into i know that i said that i would handle the archetypes that start in the garden of eden that go to mount sinai that go to the temple that find their way to calvary and point to the eternal eschaton of heaven well father chris has graciously agreed that we are going to put out a few videos on that so i will do that talk at a later date we'll notify you when that comes out but everything finds its fulfillment in christ particularly in this triduum he is the adam he's the promised new adam that is to come standing at the foot of the cross with a new eve mary our mother she who was also unblemished not by her own merit but by grace that was given to her from the merits of christ's salvific offering of himself as the paschal lamb upon the cross if you recall back in the garden and the garden of eden just briefly i talked last time that there are stratified spheres in the garden and the closer you get to the center of the garden the more intense is the indwelling presence of the lord god and at the center of the garden at the heart of the garden there were two trees the trees of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life and adam and eve took and they disobeyed they distrusted god trusted the words of the servant took and ate from the apple not the apple ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and their eyes were opened to shame they reflected that who they were all of a sudden they had a new consciousness that they were not in complete communion unity and harmony with god and all of the creation and that triggered consequences consequences for adam for man consequences for eve for woman consequences for the serpent but jesus promised us as we talked about in the proto-evangelium genesis 3 15 i will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed he she will crush your head and you will nip it his or her heel that's the first promise of a redeemer that will save that will come the messiah that will come and redeem all of humanity so we see that taken up in the new adam and the new eve at calvary itself we also see this in the passover and the passover meal the first exodus is moses leads the israelites through the desert leading them out of the bondage in the captivity of pharaoh and the israelites and they're making their trek across the desert and oh there's so much more to talk about this but we know that the event that initiated their pilgrimage was the passover meal and the angel of death would pass over every house throughout all the land of egypt and take the firstborn so jesus so the lord god spoke to his people to his chosen people and he gave them instruction and said for your protection mark the doorposts and mark the doorway of the entrance into your homes with the blood of a of a lamb you you are to each household is to sacrifice a lamb and take from that lamb the blood and mark with the hyssop branch the doorpost on the entryway and then they all the whole family had to eat of the lamb and participating in eating all of the lamb this all gets taken up and converges on holy thursday night and then good friday and in the resurrection of christ so the israelites the angel of death passes over the house and they make their way into the desert in their pilgrimage in this great exodus we see that eventually they make their way to the promised land again a foreshadowing of what our journey is christ the messiah has come he has redeemed us he's the lamb of god he has marked our door post saint john chrysostom state said in the morning readings in the office of readings this morning that if the blood of animals and the blood of a lamb were enough for the angel of death to pass over how much more is the blood of the son of god going to pass over when our lips are sealed with the blood of the lamb our lips our mouths which are the doorway the passageway and he talks about this very explicitly that we are receiving the eucharist and we are receiving the blood of christ we're talking we're talking fourth century here one of the bishops and archbishop of constantinople not long after christianity was legalized in the land for the first time not more than 75 years later he's the archbishop given such brilliant homilies so there was a deep understanding of eucharist and what the link to the passover and the link to the exodus and that christ was the fulfillment of everything that went before including the passover meal and the passover meal was the most sacred festival and all of jewish thought the most sacred one it wasn't a mere commemoration you know we have birthdays right and everybody likes to celebrate birthdays everybody likes to celebrate anniversaries and they're good remembrances of who we are where we come from they mark years but in a jewish mindset it wasn't just a wishful memory it wasn't just a wishful thought all the saving events that took place every family once the jews made it to the promised land they were instructed to celebrate every single family had to celebrate the passover meal every single passover one lamb for every single family it is said that 256 hundred lamb were slaughtered on the first on during the time right before the passover it had to be we know it was a a young male and it had to be unblemished without any unbroken bones the other thing that i think is absolutely fascinating is they would leave that so the lamb would be slaughtered upon the altar father chris hit on this earlier today the lambs would be slaughtered upon the altar within the temple the blood would pour out of the lambs and then basins of water would be brought in and poured over top of the altar the altar the altar in jewish thought is god himself the sacrifice is being made upon the altar of god himself the blood is pouring over the altar itself and then water is being poured over top of the altar going into troughs and as father chris said earlier today going out the side of the temple flowing out the side of the temple into what the gihon river the river closest to the temple one of the rivers one of the four rivers that's mentioned in genesis you remember the one river in genesis that comes through the center of the garden and then it breaks into four and those four rivers go out to water all the earth all the cosmos one of those rivers was the gihon river so from the temple and the right side of the temple flowed out blood from lambs 256 500 of them every single year and we know in the temple just as the garden of eden there were those fears that were stratified and once you got closer to the center of the temple itself you had your outer court where gentiles could even come then you had your inner court where all jews could go including women and then you had your inner court where only a more inner court where only men could go jewish men then you had another court where only the levitical priests could go themselves and then there was what the holy of holies the holiest of all and within the holy of holies what was there the ark of the covenant and it was made out of pure gold and atop the ark of the covenant was the mercy seat and on the mercy seat there were two cherubim that were kneeling in adoration whose wings came up nearly touching which was always symbolic of the indwelling presence of god which was also in the traveling meeting tent in the tabernacle traveling throughout the desert coming to the promised land and only moses could go in at first and then only the levitical priest could go in but in the holy of holies in the temple how often could somebody go into the holy of holies one time a year and who was it only the high priest and he had to offer sacrifice to cleanse himself to even be able to go into the holy of holies this all plays out in this true to him this all plays out in this incredible celebration this incredible gift that our lord god has given to us and his his love for us that he continually pursues his people that he never gives up on his people we continue to break covenant over and over and he continues his father to say i love you and i will never give up on you i'm always here for you you are my people i have chosen you you have my seal upon you i love you so much i offer you my son so what the jewish festival they were not mere commemorations in the jewish mindset every passover made president again the first passover and the deliverance from slavery and bondage of the egyptian taskmaster task masters so passover always became a participation in the first passover in exodus this should sound like what we do every single day on every single altar across the world in every sacred liturgy of the eucharist that we celebrate it's the mystery is truly present just as in jewish there's a technical term that's a greek term enemiesis and it doesn't mean that we just remember it means that the lord god makes the mystery present again in a real way a supernatural way and we participate in these through sacraments in signs and we see through the whole entire and in spirit and we see through the whole entire old testament signs and how important they are symbols how important they are and how all this stuff comes to a convergence in christ i found this very interesting from the mishnah there's a which is uh before christ's jewish text which was said that every generation a man must so regard himself as if he came forth himself out of egypt for it is written it is because of what the lord did for me when i came out of egypt so the jewish passover celebration was a participation in the original act of redemption in exeter in the exodus jesus takes all of these things up into himself at the last room and in the last supper in the upper room he's enacting all of this again he is acting as the priest in that upper room typically the passover meal would be celebrated by the head of the household and you would celebrate with your family jesus is doing something entirely new here he is acting as the head of the household and even recounting the whole entire history that went before him throughout jewish history he is the one who is standing in place he is also the lamb of god he's also he's priest and he's victim i think another thing that is really fascinating is that um priesthood was reserved to the levitical priesthood father chris made a point earlier too when jesus watched the feet of the disciples what he was doing was he was instituting a priesthood priesthood was common to all of the jewish nation and all jewish males prior to their breaking of the covenant when they worshiped the golden calf so every male jew was a priest up to that moment after they violated the covenant then the lord god deemed that it would only be the levites who would be priests so father chris was was spot on when he was saying that there was a sign of ordination part of the ordination of priests but what jesus was doing here was he was reinstituting a universal priesthood because none of the 12 apostles except for whom matthew was a levite the other 11 could have been from any of the other 12 tribes so what he's doing is he's instituting a new passover and he's instituting a new priesthood and he's carrying that forth to the next day as both the high priest and the victim and what happens upon the cross all we could go through the seven last words which we will later we're going to go through the last seven words at tenebrae but when we get to the end and jesus knows after he gives his mother to the disciple john and john to his mother knowing that all things were finished a hyssop branch was dipped in wine and placed up to his lips where he was to drink what would have been understood in jewish understanding as the fourth cup of the passover meal consummating the passover itself and then he gave up his spirit to the father so here we have our paschal victim upon the lamb he slaughtered his blood we know that the soldier comes over to his to his side because the bones of jesus cannot be broken father chris look up what he did earlier explain why the bones could not be broken because ultimately for our lord he had to be an unblemished lamb but they would but the victim would die faster if the legs were broken because they would affixiate on on their own oxygen and blood actually internally in their lungs but they got to jesus and saw that he was already dead so they thrust into his side a lance and again as father chris mentioned we laughed earlier today because father chris abandoned what he was going to say at the end of his homily today because he was struck by the readings himself which praised god it's the word of god right so he abandoned his whole entire homily but i'm like father you stole my thunder is this i was going to touch on this tonight the blood and the water that comes forth from the side because the the roman soldier thrust the lance through the right side of jesus two row two two ribs below they knew with precision exactly how to go into the heart up through the heart and pull out the lance and blood and water would gush forth and we see in the passion of the christ that that jim caviso playing the role of jesus we see the roman soldiers just splattered with blood and water all in an instant it reminds me of that again during his passion when the jews say let his blood be upon us they also said that at the at the it mount sinai the blood is the sign of the covenant it's the sign of new life in god but is jesus done there yet is everything done and consummated know what is left we have to eat of the lamb we have to participate in the banquet feast of the lamb it's not enough just that jesus dies yes it is but he wants so much more he wants us to participate in his own divine life because he makes himself one with his bride and we the church are his bride there are a whole lot more types that we could take up into all of this but we're going to draw upon a little bit more and we have to treat the novena so we're going to go into part two and treat some of the novena but i think that you're going to see how some of this ties together it certainly ties together with the image of divine mercy and all of the message and devotion of divine mercy o blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of jesus as a fount of mercy for us i trust in you that's the great prayer for sinners that jesus told faustina that has serious power it's the blood of water that gushes forth but again remember i have to touch this one part and this will really tie into everything else last month i asked you all to ponder what did it mean when jesus was in the temple and the jews the sadducees and the pharisees were asking him show us a sign who are you that you can turn over the tables in this temple who do you think you are show us a sign for this and he said destroy this temple and i will raise it up again in three days and john says they didn't know he was talking about the temple of his body jesus is the fulfillment of the temple itself the temple was an archetype that points to jesus the lord himself what is in the inner sanctuary holy of holies of the lord jesus in his corporeal body what is at the center of his thoughts of his love is it not his heart the heart that was pierced and when his heart is pierced the moment after his heart is pierced what takes place the temple veil is torn in two because now the holy of holies is open to all and we have universal access to the gift of god to his grace to his mercy and it becomes open to all now we can turn to the novena and i got to give a quick overview of the novena and the point of it to begin with first jesus asked saint faustina in december of 39 1939 not for a novena that we know as the devi of divine mercy first he asked for a novena of chaplets to divine mercy she said that the lord told me to say this chaplet for nine days before the feast of mercy it is to begin on good friday by this novena i will grant every possible grace to souls that's from paragraph 796 in a sense the novena of chaplets actually takes precedence because when we pray the chaplet of divine mercy what we're doing is participating in the triduum in essence eternal father i offer you the body and blood you know the prayer for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world we are participating in the paschal mystery as an extension of the holy mass that takes place every time that we celebrate here at the liturgy but why the chap why we'll pass over some on the chaplet but what about the novena that jesus asked of saint faustina they're found in paragraphs 1209-1229 it was intended for her personally yes but once her writings became public in the diary they became an efficacious exercise for us all because each day we draw upon the paschal mystery of christ's passion death and resurrection particularly coming to the fount of mercy the fountain of mercy the fountain of mercy which is his inexhaustible heart that continually pours out the graces of sacrament and the holy spirit to us on an ongoing basis the overview that faustina gives is the expression she first starts out in 1209 jesus i trust in you then she says the novena to the divine mercy which jesus instructed me to write down and make day before the feast of mercy it begins on good friday so he goes on to give her instructions on what it should look like he said i desire that during these nine days you bring me souls to the fountain of my mercy that they may draw there from strength and from refreshment and whatever grace they need in hardships of life especially at the hour of death whatever graces that we need so there's nine different groups that are being brought every single day and some of us qualify for multiple of those groups he says on each day you will bring to my heart to the fount of mercy a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of my mercy and i will bring all these souls into the house of my father you will do this okay this this is incredible you immerse them in the ocean of my mercy and i will bring all of these souls into the house of my father what an extraordinary promise you will do this in this life and the next so she's not to do it only in this life as she did she's praying this novena with us right now with all of our great mercy apostles i would like to think that father seraphim miklenko is with us as well on each day you will beg my father on the strength of my bitter passion for the graces for these souls so again it's all on the merits of christ and on christ's passion faustina says she didn't know how to make this novena and jesus replied that he would tell her which souls to bring each day into his heart so for the sake of time we're going to chop much of what i wanted to talk about we will talk very briefly about the first day of the novena the day that we are celebrating now i think it's interesting that the ninth day the last day of the novena is for tepid or lukewarm souls the first day jesus says today bring to me all mankind especially all sinners and immerse them in the ocean of my mercy in this way you will console me see how this relates to the first friday we're bringing all souls to his heart to the fount of mercy and he's consoled by us bringing all sinners all mankind especially sinners to his heart to console him in his bitter grief which the loss of souls plunges me that ties directly into the first friday devotion that was given to saint margaret mary alicock and he's consoled by our gratitude our thanksgiving our praise and our trust in him but jesus has a very special place in his heart especially for sinners he loves sinners in the gospel he says he did not come for the righteous but for the sinner who recognizes the need for his mercy and forgiveness to be made whole again and the diary tells saint faustina the greater the sinner the greater the right to my mercy 7 23 he says to her you are my heart speak to sinners about my mercy 1666 you see my mercy for sinners which at this moment is revealing itself in all its power see how little you've written about it she wrote 700 and some pages about it you see how little you've written about it it would only be a drop see how you write a little about it it's only a single drop do what is in your power so that sinners may come to know my goodness faustina concludes with a prayer eternal father turn your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon sinners all and folded in the most compassionate heart of jesus so it all converges in our lord if you were at home and you were worried about your sins too great trust me it is never too great you are the special soul that jesus desires and longs for he is longing for sinners the old blood and water prayer that comes along with the chaplet is so powerful as is the chaplet which we will pray tonight here momentarily so let's turn our hearts and thus bring sinners thus bring all of mankind on this first day of the nevina into the most compassionate heart of jesus our lord at this time let us begin the chaplet of the divine mercy in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit you expired jesus but the source of life gushed for for souls in the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world o fount of life unfathomable divine mercy envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us o blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of jesus as a fount of mercy for us i trust in you o blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of jesus as a fount of mercy for us i trust in you o blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of jesus it's a fount of mercy for us i trust in you our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen i believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth i believe in jesus christ his only son our lord he was conceived by the power of the holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of god the father almighty from once he shall come to judge the living and the dead i believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting amen [Music] it's on our lord jesus christ in atonement for our sins and those of [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on all of us [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful passion [Music] have mercy on us [Music] for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us and [Music] for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us and all the lord for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us and all the whole world for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us on the whole for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy and on the whole eternal father i offer you the body and god [Music] our lord jesus christ in atonement for our sins and those of the world for the sake of his sorrowful passion hath mercy on us [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world for the sake of his sorrowful [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us sat on the whole world for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on lost and on the whole world for the sake of his sorrowful passion hath mercy on us and on the whole world for the sake of his horrible passion have mercy on us [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on the us world for the sake of his horrible passion have mercy on us and on our have mercy on us [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] eternal father i offer you the body and blood [Music] our lord jesus christ [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful passion of mercy on us [Music] have mercy on us and on the world for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us and on the world for the sake of his sorrowful [Music] for the sake of his [Music] for the sake of his have mercy on us and on the whole world for the sake of his sorrow for [Music] for the sake of his have mercy on [Music] for us [Music] have mercy on us for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us [Music] eternal father i offer you the body and blood [Music] jesus christ in adornment for our sins and those of the world for the sake of disorderly pleasure have mercy on us passion have mercy on us have mercy on us and on the whole world for the sake of his sorrowful passion for the sake of his [Music] have mercy on us and on the whole world for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us turn on the whole world for the sake of his sorrowful passion and mercy on us [Music] have mercy on us and whole world for the sake of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us [Music] [Music] i offer you the body and lord [Music] our lord jesus christ [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful [Music] for the sake of his sorrowful [Music] have mercy on us [Music] have mercy on us and on the whole world for the sake of his have mercy on us [Music] have mercy on us [Music] have mercy on [Music] his us for passion for the sake of his sorrow for passion have mercy on sake us his sorrow for passion have mercy on for the us of his sorrow for passion have mercy on us [Music] [Music] and on [Music] holy mighty one [Music] on us and [Music] holy [Music] oh [Music] eternal god and who mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible look highly upon us increase your mercy in us that in difficult moments we may not despair or become ourselves to your holy will which is love and mercy itself amen in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen and god bless everyone for joining us we will now at this time walk you through the fulfillment and the completion of the first friday devotion requirements as requested by our lord before we begin the tenta praise service we know from our lord's promise of the first fridays that we need to do our part to bring his mercy to the world in order to help do that he gave us the first friday devotion to make reparation to the sacred heart of jesus for the sin and ingratitude of mankind and for the wounds to his most sacred heart the purpose of this devotion is to make reparation to those wounds of the sacred heart what are we to do we are to receive holy communion on each first friday for nine consecutive fridays that we may be made in honor and in reparation to his sacred heart our lord's promise is i promise you in the excessive mercy of my heart that all my powerful love will grant to all those who receive holy communion on the first fridays of nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving the sacraments may my divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment we will now have you join us on the screen as we fulfill these promises through the following prayers the invocation prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen heart of jesus burning with love for us inflame our hearts with love for you jesus meek and humble of heart make our hearts like unto yours heart of jesus we trust in you most sacred heart of jesus have mercy on us all for you o heart of jesus sacred heart of jesus we implore make us love you more and more sacred heart of jesus i believe in your love for me sacred heart of jesus your kingdom come blessed be praise be forever the heart of jesus in the most holy sacrament of his love now to fulfill the most sacred heart requirement it is required that we receive holy communion the church has made the statement that in times of unable that you are not able to make or receive holy communion that we can make an act of spiritual communion at some time i also would recommend that you make an act of contrition just telling the lord that you're sorry as the rubrics of the faith say we can do that with one simple heartfelt statement jesus christ son of the living god have mercy on me a poor sinner let us now to fulfill the requirement of holy communion you may join us in the act of spiritual communion and thanksgiving my dearest jesus i believe that you are present in the most holy sacrament i love you above all things and i desire to receive you into my soul since i cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally come at least spiritually into my heart i embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself holy to you never permit me to be separated from you amen and we will now conclude our devotion to the most sacred heart of jesus as we have now been doing since january in these consecutive first fridays we now pray the act of consecration to the sacred heart of jesus most sacred heart of jesus abyss of mercy and source of every grace i consecrate and unite myself to you without exception or reserve all that i am and all that i have past present and future through the immaculate heart of mary your mother i give myself with complete confidence in your mercy and love and i beg you to look upon my offering so that you may use me for your own glory for the honor of your mother and for the salvation of souls help me to speak you all alone in all things hide me in the shelter of your most sacred heart and be my refuge in consolation most tender jesus grant me the graces i need to joyfully accept my daily crosses to lead a holy life and to die a holy death in service to you help me to trust completely in your mercy love and never to fear to humbly throw myself to the infinite ocean of mercy which is your most sacred heart through this weak and miserable instrument that i am may your mercy love glory and power shine forth set my heart on fire with a flame of love which burns in your most sacred heart and teach me how to return love for your love most sacred heart of jesus have mercy on me i put all my trust in you amen most sacred heart of jesus have mercy on us immaculate heart of mary pray for us saint faustina pray for us in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen god bless and we hope you will join us tomorrow at 3 as we do the sacred or the most immaculate heart of mary reparation in the five first saturday's devotion please join us now as we enter in to the solemn entering of tenebrae on this good friday b i have in the case that i don't have uh god come to my assistance glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning [Music] amen [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] or by [Music] my [Music] with me lord oh my great father thine owner [Music] is i reach heaven's defense still be my vision [Music] a reading from the book of lamentations i am the man who has seen affliction under the road of his wrath he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long he drove into my heart the arrows of his quiver i have become the laughing stock of all peoples the burden of their songs all day long he has filled me with bitterness he has sated me with warm wood he has made my teeth grind on gravel and made me cower in ashes my soul is bereft of peace i have forgotten what happiness is so i say god is my glory and my expectation from the lord remember my affliction and my bitterness the wrong word and the goal my soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me but this i call to mind and therefore i have hope the steadfast love of the lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness the lord is my person says my soul therefore i will hope in him the lord is good to those who wait for him to the soul that seeks him it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the lord the word of the lord let us pray lord jesus you carried our sins in your own body on the tree so that we might have life may we and all who remember this day find new life in you now and in the world to come where you live and reign with the father and the holy spirit now and forever the seven last words of jesus the first word from the cross and when they came to the place which is called the skull there they crucified him and the criminals one on the right and one on the left and jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do meditation on the first word they do not know what they are doing they do not know they who killed jesus who is they it is so easy to name others to blame others the romans the crowd pilot herod caiaphas they all played their power and conspired against jesus or simply followed orders to maintain the peace to keep jesus's kingdom from infringing on theirs where are we when jesus's kingdom infringes on ours and our peace and our order and our prosperity and our security where are we when the victims of our peace cry for justice when those disenfranchised by our order call for compassion when the hungry and the lonely beg us to share our prosperity our security our power where are we when christ is crucified among us surely he should have raged at the sinners who nailed him to the tree surely he should have raged at us for the evil we do yet he intercedes for us before the father compassion is there in the first words he utters compassion that calls him into being in his mother's womb compassion that compelled him to the cross the compassion that brings incredible unbelievable grace compassion that echoes through the centuries to all who participate in the killing of christ compassion that cries out from the cross father forgive them they do not know what they are doing so [Music] were you there my lord were you there when they crucified my lord oh [Music] sometimes it causes me to [Music] were you there when they cruised my lord were you there when they nailed him to the were you there when they nailed him to the tree oh [Music] sometimes it causes me to tremble were you there when they nailed him were you there when they laid him in the tomb were you there when they laid him in the door [Music] oh [Music] sometimes it causes me to tremble [Music] were you there when they laid him in the [Music] the second word from the cross now one of the criminals hanging there revived jesus saying are you not the messiah save yourself and us the other however rebuking him said in reply have you no fear of god for you are subject to the same condemnation and indeed we have been condemned justly for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes but this man has done nothing criminal then he said jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom he replied to him amen i say to you today you will be with me in paradise meditation on the second word how much are we like the first thief full of anger because we are not rescued from our sins full of hate because we suffer not only for our sins but also the sins of others we want god to snap his fingers and make right what we have made wrong or what we have allowed others to make wrong how easy it is to cry save us and rail against god when there is no magic cure no miraculous recovery no legions of angels to take away pain and bring wholeness easy it is to scorn the messiah to mock god and to condemn the light of the world because we are unwilling to face what we have done yet god is good there is a cure for sin a cure that does not promise magical solutions but promises that the pain of sin is not the end that when all this is over when the suffering is finished the final word is not death and defeat but life life springing out of the ashes life transformed and fulfilled to the compassionate thief the one who could recognize god's gift to the world to the one who sought god in christ comfort was given today you will be with me in paradise [Music] so [Music] jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom the third word from the cross standing by the cross of jesus were his mother and his mother's sister mary the wife of clopaz and mary magdalene when jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he laughed standing near he said to his mother woman behold your son then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour the disciple took her to his own home meditation on the third word who can grasp the grief of mary watching her son suffer the grief of mary watching him die who can grasp the grief of her of the son who must watch his mother mourn what gift can man give his grieving mother what can he offer when he is gone how can he help her hold her comfort her honor her woman behold your son here is one i love to love you and for you to love jesus takes the disciple whom he loves and the mother who loves him and from this community of suffering creates a community of faith and hope woman behold your son behold your mother [Music] to jesus [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] mother to be [Music] the fourth word from the cross and when the sixth hour had come there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour and at the ninth hour jesus cried with a loud voice eloy eloy lama which means my god my god why have you forsaken me meditation on the fourth word of all the agony that torturous day the lacerations from the scourging the chafing of the crown of thorns around his head the convulsions of his tormented dehydrated body as it hung in the heat all that day nothing reaches the depth of this anguished cry of desolation my god my god why have you forsaken me jesus who found his purpose and strength in the presence of god who was sustained by the immediacy of his relationship with god and who endured all by the tangible power of god always at work within him whose relationship with the father always was a center of vitality and peace found himself totally alone on the cross abandoned by the father plumbing the depths of the human condition walking in the absence of god in the place of sinners in the place of those who reject god my god my god why have you forsaken me and these words is the central mystery of the crucifixion which cannot be fully comprehended that there is no despair so deep or evil so overwhelming no place so far removed from the joy light and love of the heart of god that god himself has not experienced and where god cannot meet us and bring us home so [Music] on [Music] of glory died my richest gain [Music] my forbidden lord that i should boast [Music] me i sacrificed [Music] his feet [Music] me so rich the fifth word from the cross after this jesus knowing that all was now finished said to fulfill the scripture i first meditation on the fifth word there is a kind of timelessness about hanging on a cross it is not a quiet death over in an instant in one glorious moment of martyrdom a cross is as much an instrument of torture as it is the gallows from which to hang the day wears on seconds stretch into minutes which stretch into hours until there comes a point when time enters into eternity when it can no longer be measured except in pain his body gradually weakens there is an ever more insistent demand for that substance which is so vital to life so foundational to all living things so basic to existence as we know it water water to moisten a parched mouth water to free a swollen tongue water to open a rasping throat that cannot gasp enough air water to keep hope alive to keep life alive just a few moments longer water to a crucified man is life oh god thou art my god i seek thee my soul thirsts for thee my flesh faints for thee as in a dry and weary land where no water is who can tell if these words from psalm 63 went through jesus mind but a thirst for water is a thirst for life and a thirst for life is a thirst for god who promises streams in the desert mighty rivers in the dry land and living water to wash away every tear here at the end of it all those promises seem far away yet jesus forsaken by god still clings to the memory and the hope of life i thirst [Music] um mercy lord but thy gracious lord of thy [Music] boundless [Music] no i give myself to thee [Music] to save me all that love of god could give jesus by his [Music] horos no i give myself to bring all my [Music] dance [Music] forgive me [Music] now i give myself to be the sixth word from the cross a bowl full of vinegar stood there so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on his up and held it to his mouth when jesus had received the vinegar he said it is finished meditation on the sixth word what a sigh of relief what a cry of deliverance finally after seemingly endless pain and gasping torment it is over at last the suffering is ended the ordeal is finished and nothing remains but the blessed peace of the absence of all sensation when all there is is pain its ceasing is the greatest blessing of all even when its ceasing comes only with death but jesus cry is more than just welcoming the end of pain it is more than joy at the deliverance death brings he does not merely say it is over he says it is accomplished fulfilled achieved jesus christ isn't a cry of defeat and despair it is a cry of triumph even at the moment of death the race has been run he has endured to the end the strife is over and the battle is won jesus cry is a cry of relief to be sure but it is also a cry of victory the work i came to do is complete there is nothing more to add it is finished [Music] wrong [Music] o bleeding heads [Music] you [Music] the glow of life [Music] i see thy strength all fading in the strife death with life [Music] free jesus all grace on me the seventh word from the cross then jesus crying with a loud voice said father into your hands i command my spirit and having said this he breathed his lust meditation on the seventh word it is the end the very end the end of the ordeal the end of the suffering and jesus alone on the cross tortured exhausted abandoned by his friends forsaken by god gasps for a last breath and gathers the strength for one final cry why would he choose to speak so close to the end why would he muster the last energy he had to cry out with a loud voice couldn't god have heard his thoughts unless god wasn't the only one intended to hear unless his voice was pitched loud so that we too might hear this final dedication of his soul a dedication made despite the pain despite the mocking despite the agony despite the sense of horrible aloneness he felt a dedication made to god before the resurrection before the victory of the kingdom before any assurance other than that which faith could bring jesus entrusts his spirit his life and all that has given its meaning to god in faith even at the point of his own abandonment he proclaims his faith in god which the darkness cannot overcome father into your hands i command my spirit so [Music] take up thy cross [Music] take up my cross [Music] after me [Music] fill thy weeks his strength shall bear thy spirit shall raise thy heart and nerve heart take up thy cross and follow christ northing till death [Music] may hope to glorious [Music] you

Channel: Divine Mercy

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Keywords: Divine Mercy, Divine, Mercy, Divine Mercy Official, Shrine of Divine Mercy, National Shrine of Divine Mercy, Shrine, Mass, Holy Mass, Mass today, Holy Mass today, Catholic, God, Jesus, Christ, Mary, Mother of God, St. Faustina, Faustina, Marian, Marians, Immaculate Conception, priest, catholic teaching, spiritual, spirituality, eternity, live, life, grace, pray, prays, praying

Id: 3niuIMFGrsk

Length: 119min 33sec (7173 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 02 2021