Help Wanted: In Need of God's Mercy

Dave, a member of our Divine Mercy prayer group, had a problem. His son had recently lost his job and was without health insurance. He needed a good job - fast.

Coming up was The Divine Mercy Novena, which our parish prays together. A Novena, for those who don't know, is nine days of prayer in preparation of a celebration of a feast day. Appearing before St. Faustina in 1935, Jesus Christ asked that before the Feast of The Divine Mercy, we pray The Divine Mercy Novena - beginning on Good Friday and ending the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday. (Such a Novena is prayed on ordinary rosary beads using the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy. It only takes a few minutes each day.)

"By this Novena, I will grant every possible grace to souls," Christ told St. Faustina (Diary, 796).

Putting his total trust in the God of mercy, Dave decided to pray the Novena. He and his wife came each evening to our church and offered the Novena up for their son so that he could find good employment.

Jesus tells St. Faustina: "The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is - trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to Me, because I pour all the treasures of My graces into them. I rejoice that they ask for much, because it is My desire to give much, very much. On the other hand, I am sad when souls ask for little, when they narrow their hearts" (Diary, 1578).

Dave asked our Lord for help and trusted in His mercy. But this storyline has a twist. On the Monday night after the Novena began, Dave was going down to have a cup of coffee in the room below the church. Suddenly, on the last stair, his ankle twisted, and Dave fell and hit his head. Other parishioners helped him up to a chair. He was feeling faint and momentarily blacked out. The decision was made to get him to the hospital to have him checked out.

Dave had broken his ankle. Still, he continued to pray the Chaplet, offering his suffering up for his son, so that he would find a job.

Jesus promises much to the heart that trusts. He tells St. Faustina: "Entrust everything to Me and do nothing on your own, and you will always have great freedom of spirit. No circumstances of events will be able to upset you" (Diary, 1685).

At another point, the Lord visits St. Faustina and says: "My daughter, do not be afraid of what will happen to you. I will give you nothing beyond your strength. You know the power of My grace; let that be enough" (Diary, 1491).

Obedient, faithful, and trusting, Dave finished his Novena, and his trust in God bore much fruit. His son got a job right after the Novena. The job was even better than the one he had before, and with better benefits! God blessed him in great abundance.

Jesus tells St. Faustina: "I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls" (Diary, 1074).

Later, Jesus says: "Tell them that no soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust in My goodness" (Diary, 1541).


Jay Hastings, of Bartlett, Tenn., is the founder of a growing group of Divine Mercy devotees who ensure that the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy is being prayed every hour of the day. The 24-hour Chaplet members now consist of more than 500 people from across the United States, as well as from Mexico, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Belize, India, Kuwait, and Iraq, who are assigned an hour each day in which to pray. They pray for three things: the promotion of the Divine Mercy devotion; the sick and dying in the hour that you pray; and people about to commit mortal sin. To join the 24-Hour Chaplet, contact Jay via e-mail, pj7772@msn.com or via phone, 901-438-7772.

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