49 Angle Road, Walkerville
P.O. Box 378, Walkerville, 1876
Tel: 073 462 4937
walkerville.divinemercy@catholicjhb.org.za
4 June 2017
Pentecost Sunday (John 20:19-23)
On Pentecost Sunday the Church gives us for meditation the Gospel of the resurrected Jesus imparting His peace to the disciples, and breathing on them the Holy Spirit. He also tells them that if they forgive the sins of any they will be forgiven, but if they retain the sins of any, they will be retained.
The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Peace. That Spirit was given to us at Baptism, and in a more powerful way, at Confirmation. When the Spirit dwells within us, we live in the peace of God--that peace which surpasses all understanding. But we can also choose to banish the Holy Spirit from our hearts, and one way of doing so is by withholding forgiveness from those who have hurt us. Jesus said that if we retain the sins of any they will be retained. Yes, those sins will be retained at the dear cost of our inner peace.
Let us constantly beg the Holy Spirit to help us to forgive those who have hurt us so that we can live constantly in His peace. St. Faustina experienced this and wrote these words to the Lord: “Your Spirit, O Lord, is the Spirit of Peace; and nothing troubles my depths because You dwell there, O Lord” (Diary 761).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus I praise You for the wonderful gift of divine peace, which I can experience every day, thanks to Your Holy Spirit dwelling within me. Preserve me, dear Lord, from withholding forgiveness to anyone, that I may live always in Your peace. I trust in You! Amen.
11 June 2017
Holy Trinity Sunday (John 3:16-18)
This Sunday we once again hear those beautiful words: “for God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son…” Do we really fathom the love God has for us in sending His Son to be tortured, ridiculed and scorned in order that WE could one day enter eternal life? If not for Jesus, would we have no access to the Father, and His Holy Spirit would still be far from us as well.
St. Faustina experienced union with the triune God, and so she realized that we do not comprehend God’s love for us. She recorded these words: “I was united to the Three Divine Persons in such a way that when I was united to Jesus, I was simultaneously united to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. My soul was flooded with joy beyond understanding, and the Lord gave me to experience the whole ocean and abyss of His fathomless mercy. Oh, if only souls would want to understand how much God loves them! All comparisons, even if they were the most tender and the most vehement, are but a mere shadow when set against the reality” (Diary 1073).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, I have to admit that I don’t often reflect on the love of God: The Father’s love in sacrificing His Son, Your love in laying down Your life for us, and the Holy Spirit as the bond of love uniting the two of You. Allow me to experience Your infinite, divine love in a deep and personal way. Amen.
18 June 2017
Corpus Christi Sunday (John 6:51-58)
In today’s Gospel Jesus clearly states that His flesh is food and His blood is drink, and that the one who feeds on His flesh and drinks His blood will live forever. Although Jesus’ words sounded far-fetched to the crowds who listened to Him at the time, we need to remember that Jesus sent down the Holy Spirit only after He had died, risen and ascended into heaven. Without the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the virtue of faith which we received at Baptism, we also would have a hard time swallowing the concept of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
St. Faustina, a woman of deep faith, reflected on what really happens in Holy Communion: “O Jesus! I sense keenly how Your divine Blood is circulating in my heart; I have not the least doubt that Your most pure love has entered my heart with Your most sacred Blood. I am aware that You are dwelling in me, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, or rather I am aware that it is I who am living in You, O incomprehensible God! (...) I am aware that You are within me and all about me, that You are in all things that surround me, in all that happens to me” (Diary 478).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, who am I that You have given me the precious gift of faith and the possibility of receiving You in Holy Communion at every Mass? Abide in me always, Lord Jesus, and never leave my heart from one Holy Communion to the next. Amen.
25 June 2017
The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 10:26-33)
Jesus tells us in this week’s Gospel how precious we are in the eyes of God. We are of more value than many sparrows, and even the hairs of our head are all numbered! Not a blink of our eye goes unnoticed. The Lord truly knows each of us through and through, and in His great love, He desires to be in relationship with each one of us. It’s not for His benefit, but for ours, that He wants us to know Him intimately. He created us to find fulfilment in His love alone.
Unfortunately, many of us aren’t interested in being close to the Lord. Jesus told St. Faustina: “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” (Diary 1017).
Prayer: Merciful Lord Jesus, fill my heart with Your love. Forgive me for all of the graces I have ever spurned, and help me to accept all the graces You desire to bestow on me. If there are graces out there that someone else doesn’t want, Lord, I’ll take them! Shower me with Your love, because that is the only thing that will satisfy my heart. Amen.