I have decided as part of my NaBloPoMo challenge to Reblog posts I have enjoyed reading myself on Saturday & Sundays. Perhaps you too will find something that touches your own heart in a special way as you read along!
I have always appreciated kindness & have made a conscious effort to extend kindness to others, (as God would have me do.) Donna at ayearoflivingkindly.com does a stunning job encouraging those with this same goal to persevere in their efforts to be kind in a sometimes difficult world that we live in! This most recent article touches on the importance of honesty and it’s proper use as we strive to be a conduit of kindness to one another.
The article struck a cord for me due in part to an emotional scar that has been difficult to heal as the result of someone’s “honesty.” Not many years ago someone wrote a defamation letter against our family regarding their “honest” opinion of my loved ones. This letter damaged not only relationships that were already strained, but had such a domino effect that a marriage eventually was destroyed.
I remember the letter trying to be “rationalized.” When we were told the writer was “entitled to their opinion” and “to share it how they wished,” all I kept hearing in my own thoughts was Thumper from the Disney movie Bambi saying…. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” How could a cartoon rabbit in a forest (with an adorable foot-twitch,) have the wisdom to be kind and yet it be so lacking in the actions of this person was fascinating to me in this moment. Admittedly, they were/are entitled to a personal opinion. But…being dishonest, when our honesty has a potential to hurt others, is most times a far kinder gesture to make. God is pleased with our ability to discern when to quietly be dishonest…all as a measure of love.
I’ll be back on Monday with a “giggle” of my own to share, but for now enjoy the beautiful insight from Donna’s site & I pray there will be a special nugget unearthed as a wonderful discovery for you as well!!
“Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true.” (Robert Brault)
“I’m just saying this for your own good.”
“Don’t be so thin-skinned. I’m just telling it like it is.”
“Hey, I call it like I see it.”
“Jeesh, you’re so touchy!”
These phrases are often used to justify saying hurtful things. Sometimes the speaker may really believe that the listener needs to hear his unvarnished opinion about the poor sap’s looks, abilities, opinions, or prospects.
Speaking on behalf of poor saps everywhere, we don’t. We don’t need someone to tell us all the things that are wrong with us or all the things we don’t do as well as we should. That’s what that persistent little voice in our own head does—and it doesn’t need any help.
I have decided to do my first “three-piece” blog post. Hopefully it will end up more appealing than a man’s leisure suit from the 1970’s! 😎
Just like any good suit each individual piece is important to the over-all success of the completed outfit! So it can be with prayer; in particular a devotion to The Divine Mercy, as taught to us by Jesus through St. Faustian Kowalska of Poland.
Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, known today the world over as the “Apostle of the Divine Mercy,” is numbered by theologians among the outstanding mystics of the Church. To this simple, uneducated, but courageous woman religious, who trusted Him without limit, Our Lord Jesus consigned the great mission to proclaim His message of mercy directed to the whole world: “Today,” He told her, “I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful Heart” (Diary, 1588). You are the secretary of My mercy; I have chosen you for that office in this and the next life” (Diary, 1605) …… “to make known to souls the great mercy that I have for them, and to exhort them to trust in the bottomless depth of My mercy” (Diary, 1567).
To profit from the great gifts received by honoring the devotion to The Divine Mercy we must fulfill the conditions of the Divine Mercy devotion: trust in God’s goodness and active love toward neighbor.
3-3-3 for the Trinity!
This three-piece series will address 3 primary aspects of The Divine Mercy Devotion, which I will outline for the next 3 Wednesdays! By the end you will have a fabulous new spiritual “suit of honor” to wear forever, just as St. Paul instructed the Collassians to wear!
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Collasians 3:12-17
Join in together as we cloth ourselves with:
The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy
The Hour of Mercy
Spreading the honor of The Divine Mercy
WEEK ONE: THE CHAPLET OF THE DIVINE MERCY
This Chaplet was dictated to St. Faustina by the Lord Jesus Himself in Vilnius on September 13-14, 1935, as a prayer of atonement and for the appeasement of God‟s wrath (see Diary, 474-476).
Those who recite this Chaplet offer to god the Father “the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity,” of Jesus Christ in atonement for their sins, the sins of their loved ones, and those of the entire world. By uniting themselves with the sacrifice of Jesus, they appeal to the great love that our Heavenly Father has for His Son and, in Him, for all humanity.
By means of this prayer, the petitioners request “mercy on us and on the whole world,” and by so doing, they perform a work of mercy. If the faithful add to this the foundation of trust and fulfill the conditions regarding every good prayer (humility, perseverance, matters in conformity with God’s will), they can expect the fulfillment of Christ’s promises which are particularly related to the hour of death: the grace of conversion and a peaceful death.
Not only will the people who say the Chaplet receive these graces, but also the dying at whose side others will recite this prayer. The Lord said: “When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul” (Diary, 811). The general promise says: “It pleases Me to grant everything they ask of Me by saying the chaplet” (Diary 1541) “….if what you ask for is compatible with My will” (Diary, 1731). For, anything that is not compatible with God’s will is not good for people, especially for their eternal happiness.
On a different occasion, Jesus said: “ by saying the Chaplet, you are bringing humankind closer to Me” (Diary, 929), and again: “The souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by My mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death” (Diary, 754).
HOW TO RECITE THE DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET
The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. The Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Faustina and followed by a closing prayer.
1. Make the Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
2. Optional Opening Prayers
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and 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.
(Repeat three times)
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
3. Our Father
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.
4. Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst 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.
5. The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will 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.
6. The Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
7. On the Ten Small Beads of Each Decade
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
8. Repeat for the remaining decades
Saying the “Eternal Father” (6) on the “Our Father” bead and then 10 “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion” (7) on the following “Hail Mary” beads.
9. Conclude with Holy God (Repeat three times)
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
10. Optional Closing Prayer
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
Photo Courtesy of facebook hugs n’ merciful blessings!
“I’m just saying this for your own good.”
hugsnblessings 