One of the most touching prayers that influenced my own spirituality and understanding of the message of Divine Mercy is Sister Faustina's prayer 'Help Me Be Merciful'... The very first time I found this prayer in the Diary of Sister Faustina, I stopped reading it, startled, shaken and mesmerized by its simplicity, beauty and powerful message it conveyed to me...
On the day of the Nativity of Sister Faustina to heaven seventy two years ago, I wish to celebrate it by sharing with you the same prayer, wishing all of you and praying for you that through the power of Divine Love and Mercy we may all be transformed into mercy... for the better world, for the better humanity, for better ourselves...
Help me be merciful
+O Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart beats, as
many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to
glorify Your mercy.
+I want to be completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living reflection, 0
Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass
through my heart and soul to my neighbor.
Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors' souls and come to their rescue.
Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors' needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings.
Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all.
Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks.
Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor.
Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.
+You yourself command me to exercise the three degrees of mercy.
The first: the act of mercy, of whatever kind.
The second: the word of mercy - if I cannot carry out a work of mercy, I will assist by my words.
The third: prayer - if I cannot show mercy by deeds or words, I can always do so by prayer. My prayer reaches out even there where I cannot reach out physically.
O my Jesus, transform me into Yourself, for you can do all things. (Diary, 163)
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ReplyDeleteI am in business now. Lovely to be reminded of St. Faustina and her lovely shrine I visited outside Krakow.I recall all the young sisters there and wonder what has happening in Ireland -We are nearly all pensioners now ... I guess we are in a different time zone now. Some call it post modernity but it is only a fancy name for the secular state!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you got to spin around in some of them fast cars if not on the circuit itself - Tom says they are a far cry from the three- wheelers that scoot in and out between the trucks and cars in South Africa.
How is your French? - there is a large French speaking population in Montreal and Quebec . In fact the two cultures live side by side most of the time rather than integrating, I am told ; a bit like Northern Ireland only they have not been fighting over territory and rights like us here! Hope you are enjoying all that is coming your way and not too lonesome for Kiabakari . They will manage . Keep singing .
Hi, Lena! I was away for two day from my hosts' laptop, so wasn't able to post news. My French? Actually, I learned it a bit years back and it's coming back nicely (surprisingly)... being among French speaking people boosts my memories and the phrases and words come up easier... still a way way to go to any reasonable level of understanding which would allow me to communicate.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy my first ever visit to Canada. The country is amazing and people are...I just lack words that would remotely describe the level of their love, kindness, openness, caring hearts and going to extremes to make my stay memorable and fascinating. This is just unbelievable.. I feel so honored and so humbled by the whole atmosphere here... I may need to worry as I like the place more and more...too much to be honest! I may forget that I am supposed to go back to Tanzania!