49 Angle Road, Walkerville
P.O. Box 378, Walkerville, 1876
Tel: 073 462 4937
walkerville.divinemercy@catholicjhb.org.za
27 December 2015
The Feast of the Holy Family (Luke 2:41-52)
Today’s Gospel presents the honourable example of the Blessed Virgin Mary in her response to Jesus’ odd remark “Why were you looking for Me?” (Lk 2:49). Rather than question the mysterious ways of God, Mary accepted them with humility, not fully understanding, yet simply pondering them in her heart and trusting that their meaning would be revealed to her in due time.
Meditating on the mysteries of God is the only way to reach any understanding of His unsearchable ways. St. Faustina was in awe over His Incarnation and wrote: “That You became a brother to humans, not to angels, is a miracle of the unfathomable mystery of Your mercy. (…) My heart flutters with joy to see how good God is to us wretched and ungrateful people. And as a proof of His love, He gives us the incomprehensible gift of Himself in the person of His Son. Throughout all eternity we shall never exhaust that mystery of love. O mankind, why do you think so little about God being truly among us?” (Diary 1584).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, grant me the grace during this holy season of Christmas to contemplate with wonder the mysteries of Your incarnation and Your life in the family in Nazareth. Transform my hardened heart. Amen.
20 December 2015
The Fourth Sunday of Advent (Luke 1:39-45)
Today’s Gospel is about faith. The Bible calls faith “confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see” (Heb 11:1). St. Elizabeth blesses Mary for having blindly trusted in God’s words to her, even though they made absolutely no sense in light of the natural laws He Himself had placed in action in the world. Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, had not shown such faith when the angel Gabriel announced to him that his aged wife was finally going to bear a son. Would I have believed such a thing? Am I truly convinced of Gabriel’s words to Mary: “Nothing will be impossible for God” (Lk 1:37)?
One day during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Faustina received the grace to see Jesus physically present in the Host. She heard Him say: “What you see in reality, these souls see through faith. Oh, how pleasing to Me is their great faith! You see, although there appears to be no trace of life in Me, in reality it is present in its fullness in each and every Host. But for Me to be able to act upon a soul, the soul must have faith. O how pleasing to Me is living faith!” (Diary 1420).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, I believe in You with all my heart. Increase my faith. Give me genuine, living faith like Mary and St. Faustina had. May my whole life give witness to my belief that You can do all things. I trust in You! Amen.
13 December 2015
The Third Sunday of Advent (Luke 3:10-18)
Again this week we hear John the Baptist crying out in the desert for us to renounce sin and reform our lives, to stop sinning and start practicing works of mercy. Now is the time of mercy, for One mightier than John is coming, coming to gather the wheat into His barn and to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Do we want Him to judge us as wheat or as chaff? As sheep or as goats? We should be consciously living out our faith, constantly putting love of neighbour into action, so as never to hear those terrible words, “Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink…” (Mt 25:41-42).
Jesus told St. Faustina: “If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy” (Diary 1317). The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy has begun and Pope Francis also is calling us, together with Jesus, to practice the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, help me to imitate You in showing mercy to my neighbour. Don’t let me ever try to make excuses for myself, because You have made it clear—the way I act toward my neighbour is the way I act towards You. Teach me true love of neighbour. I trust in You! Amen.
6 December 2015
The Second Sunday of Advent (Luke 3:1-6)
That voice crying in the desert some 2000 years ago is speaking today to each one of us. Preparing for Christmas is not about shopping, decorating and baking, but it’s about purifying ourselves from sin, about cleaning out the manure from the stable of our hearts and putting the fresh hay of God’s grace into the manger in order to welcome our Baby King. If we don’t make any special efforts at preparing our hearts, how can we expect to experience the joy of His coming?
St. Faustina prepared herself for every meeting with the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion. One day she wrote: “Today I prepare for the Coming of the King. What am I, and who are You, O Lord, King of eternal glory? O my heart, are you aware of who is coming to you today? Yes, I know, but—strangely—I am not able to grasp it. Oh, if He were just a king, but He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Before Him, all power and dominion tremble…” (Diary 1810). Even though all power and dominion may tremble, we have no need to fear or to tremble at the coming of our King, for He comes to us as a helpless infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, as Love incarnate.
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, help me during these days of Advent to recognize my most hidden sins and to truly repent of them. I want to welcome You into a pure and humble heart on Christmas Day. Amen.