A Family Offering to Merciful Love is basically where a family makes a "mercy deal" with Jesus. In other words, they ask Jesus to pour out on them the rejected mercy other families refuse, and for their part, they strive to accept this rejected mercy and share it with others. In our time, when the family is so much under attack, when, sadly, so many families refuse God's mercy, Jesus' Heart is especially wounded. A Family Offering to Merciful Love is meant to give Jesus the consolation of a family that chooses to receive his rejected merciful love. This doesn't mean the family has to be perfect. In fact, the more imperfect they are, the more Jesus longs to pour out his mercy on them. They simply need to be open to receiving and sharing his merciful love. I suggest the following formula for making a Family Offering to Merciful Love, which begins with Jesus' words to St. Faustina:
Jesus, you said to St. Faustina: The flames of mercy are burning me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh, what pain they cause Me when they do not want to accept them! (1074). You, at least, come to Me as often as possible and take these graces they do not want to accept. In this way you will console My Heart. Oh, how indifferent are souls to so much goodness, to so many proofs of love! My Heart drinks only of the ingratitude and forgetfulness of souls living in the world. They have time for everything, but they have no time to come to Me for graces (367). My daughter, take the graces that others spurn; take as many as you can carry (454). I want to give myself to souls and to fill them with My love, but few there are who want to accept all the graces My love has intended for them. My grace is not lost; if the soul for whom it was intended does not accept it, another soul takes it (1017).
Lord Jesus, if you want to pour your mercy out on souls, how much more must you desire to pour it out on whole families, especially in our time when so many families reject you. Therefore, we the ______________ Family offer ourselves to your merciful love and ask for the graces and mercy that other families refuse. We ask this in order to console your Heart and because we need your mercy. Fill us with your mercy, Lord. Please forgive us our sins, and give us the grace to be merciful to one another in our deeds, words, and prayers. May the rays of mercy that go forth from your Heart reign in our home and in our hearts. Please make our home a place where your mercy can rest and where we, too, can find rest in your mercy. Bless us with your mercy when we leave our home and bless us again when we return. Bless everyone we meet with the mercy you pour into our hearts. Especially bless those who visit our home — may they experience your mercy here.
Mary, Mother of Mercy, help us to faithfully live our Offering to God's Merciful Love. We give ourselves to you and ask you to share with us your Immaculate Heart. Help us to accept your Son's mercy with your own openness of heart at the Annunciation. Help us to be grateful for God's mercy with your own joyful heart at the Visitation. Help us to trust in God's mercy, especially during times of darkness, with your own steadfast faith at Calvary. Finally, Mary, protect and preserve our family in love, so that one day we may rejoice together with you and all the saints in the communion of the eternal Family of Love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Faustina, pray for us.
St. Thérèse, pray for us.
I recommend that a family make such an offering on one of their favorite Marian Feasts, on St. Joseph's Feast (March 19), or on one of the "Mercy Feasts" such as the memorial of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (Oct. 1) or St. Faustina (Oct. 5), Divine Mercy Sunday (the second Sunday of Easter) or Trinity Sunday, which is the day St. Thérèse first made her Offering to Merciful Love. I further recommend that the Family Offering be accompanied by a Divine Mercy Enthronement, meaning that the family put up in their home an Image of Divine Mercy (if there isn't one already) and ask Jesus to reign there. An appropriate prayer for such an enthronement is as follows:
Jesus, you said to St. Faustina: "I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: ‘Jesus, I trust in You' (327). By means of this image I shall be granting many graces to souls" (570).
Lord Jesus, through this image of your mercy, please grant us your grace. Whenever we look at it, help us to remember your love and mercy and fill our hearts with trust. Just as your mercy is depicted in this image as going forth from your pierced Heart, surround our home with the rays of your mercy. May the blood and water that flows forth from your Heart always be upon us! Jesus, we trust in you.
I recommend concluding such a prayer by praying a Divine Mercy Chaplet. Also, it might be a good idea to invite a priest to bless your home and your Image of Divine Mercy.
