'I was living a lie ... Then, I trusted in Jesus'

Thousands of pilgrims visit the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy on Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Mass., each year. Who are they, and what draws them here? This month, we meet Carlos and Maria Martinez, from Chicago, Ill., who were drawn to the message of Divine Mercy after their priest played them a recording of the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy being sung in Spanish.

Maria: Our priest showed us a video of the Chaplet, and since that day we were like, "Oh, my!" Something happened to us.

Carlos: Our lives changed. We had problems before. We fought a lot. We were always worried about money. We worried about everything. But when Father showed us the video, we felt like it was a guide for us to change our lives. We got married, and we started to fill our lives with The Divine Mercy. Our lives are better now. We don't fight. We have so much peace.

Maria: I wanted other people to know about Divine Mercy, too. So I organized a Divine Mercy prayer group in our parish with the permission of our priest. We pray once a week.

Carlos: The message and devotion helps us to know Jesus better. Jesus gives us everything we ask for. Everything. But we don't ask for material things like money. We ask for faith, first. We ask to be healthy.

Maria: We ask to have compassion and understanding for others, and to be more peaceful. … Here's something I want to share with you. We were illegal in this country, and my husband was working under a different name and a different Social Security number. But one day, after we learned about Divine Mercy, he told me: "I feel like I need to tell my boss the truth. I've been lying." At first, we worried about him losing his job. But we decided we wouldn't worry about that anymore. We would just trust in Jesus. Carlos talked with his boss. Then, his boss gave him the name of an attorney. What happened next was miraculous. Carlos got his working papers!

Carlos: I was living a lie. And I was carrying that weight. Then, I trusted in Jesus, and everything worked out.

Maria: If you trust, God will give you what you need.

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