We are living in a world where many are becoming indifferent to God. Countless are the numbers of those who live as if God does not exist. And what is the fruit, if any, of such a poor life? Just tell these people to tell you what they really experience in their heart of hearts.
Living a life aloof from Jesus’ mercy is simply a miserable earthly existence. Jesus knows this very well! In fact, in entry 1228 of her Diary, St Faustina faithfully recorded his powerful, sorrowful as well as shocking words: Today bring to Me souls who have become lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: ‘Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.’ For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy(Diary, 1228).
Jesus’ most painful cry recalls that these souls can be easily compared to ice and corpses. The indifferent souls are the ones of whom Jesus says: There are souls who thwart My efforts (Diary, 1682). And these souls are not simply of people living in the world but also of those chosen souls of consecrated people and priests that, for some way or another, they lack real love for Jesus. In 1702 Jesus says: Souls without love or devotion, souls full of egoism and selfishness, proud and arrogant souls full of deceit and hypocrisy, lukewarm souls who have just enough warmth to keep themselves alive: My Heart cannot bear this. All the graces that I pour out upon them flow off them as off the face of a rock. I cannot stand them because they are neither good nor bad (Diary,1702).
In another entry, this time number 1447, Jesus talks about his inexorable pain which he suffers from persons who are cruelly indifferent to Him.
Oh, how painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves to Me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward Me. I love them tenderly and sincerely, and they distrust Me. I want to lavish My graces on them, and they do not want to accept them. They treat Me as a dead object, whereas My Heart is full of love and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of My pain, imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her children, while those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No one is in a position to console her. This is but a feeble image and likeness of My love (Diary, 1447).
In front of such a terrible heartache of Jesus, we are called not to judge but to show immense mercy for these brothers and sisters simply by praying from our heart for them. That is why the wording of the last day, Day 9, of the Novena of the Divine Mercy, explicitly says:
“Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen”.
Knowing that without Him we can do nothing Jesus reminds us of the infinite benefits that are available to us if we return once more to His unfathomable Mercy, particularly in the Divine Mercy Sunday. As a matter of fact, in entry 699 Jesus talks in great detail about the Feast Day of His Mercy. He says:
My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the First Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.
In other words, Jesus here is expanding more the remedy He gives in entry 1682 of the Diary where he says: If souls would put themselves completely in My care, I Myself would undertake the task of sanctifying them, and I would lavish even greater graces on them. There are souls who thwart My efforts, but I have not given up on them; as often as they turn to Me, I hurry to their aid, shielding them with My mercy, and I give them the first place in My compassionate Heart.
How healing and encouraging is the fact that Jesus has not given up on us! Let us follow then his personal loving counsel which is to be found in entry 742 of St Faustina’s Diary: I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it. I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy (Diary, 742). Let us pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet everyday for the conversion of sinners knowing that, as Jesus solemnly says: The loss of each soul plunges Me into mortal sadness. You always console Me when you pray for sinners. The prayer most pleasing to Me is prayer for the conversion of sinners. Know, My daughter, that this prayer is always heard and answered (Diary, 1397).
