April 10, 2020 Reflection – Good Friday, Divine Mercy Novena Day 1

April 10, 2020
Good Friday
Divine Mercy Novena, Day 1

Dear Family of Mary!

September 25, 2007 “Dear children! Also today I call all of you for your hearts to blaze with more ardent love for the Crucified, and do not forget that, out of love for you, He gave His life so that you may be saved. Little children, meditate and pray that your heart may be open to God’s love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

On this most solemn day, Good Friday, we worship our Crucified Savior. In silence and fasting, we remain with Him as He dies on the Cross and is buried in the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. We then wait with Our Lady and the women. It is a time of silence and patient faith.

We also remember that on this day at the moment of Christ’s death, His Heart was pierced by the soldier’s lance and Blood and Water flowed from our Savior’s side. Jesus revealed to St. Faustina that this Blood and Water is the infinite outpouring of the Mercy of God for sinful man. And so, through her we have been given the Divine Mercy Novena, in which we call forth the Blood and Water upon all Mankind, asking for the salvation of souls.

Jesus chose Saint Faustina to be His “Secretary of Mercy”. She was given the impossible task of spreading devotion to His Divine Mercy throughout the whole world which in our time is so desperately needed. He told her:

St. Faustina wrote in entry 699: On one occasion, I heard these words: My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy (note139) 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 graces 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 havepeace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (699)

The Feast of Mercy is on the 1st Sunday after Easter (this year it is April 19, 2020). And St. Faustina shared with us the instructions that Jesus gave her about the Divine Mercy Novena which Jesus wants prayed for the nine days before Divine Mercy Sunday:

Novena to The Divine Mercy which Jesus instructed me to write down and make before the Feast of Mercy. It begins on Good Friday.

“I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the fountain of My mercy, that they may draw therefrom strength and refreshment and whatever grace they need in the hardships of life, and especially at the hour of death. On each day you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls, and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy, and I will bring all these souls into the house of My Father. You will do this in this life and in the next. I will deny nothing to any soul whom you will bring to the fount of My mercy. On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My bitter Passion, for graces for these souls.” I answered, “Jesus, I do not know how to make this novena or which souls to bring first into Your Most Compassionate heart.” Jesus replied that He would tell me which souls to bring each day into His Heart. (1209)

So today we begin Day 1 of the Divine Mercy Novena!! May we pray this Novena with all our hearts, because our world is in desperate need of the Mercy of God. Our prayers are necessary!

Day 1 of the Divine Mercy Novena:

Today bring to Me ALL MANKIND, ESPECIALLY ALL SINNERS, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me.

Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen.

Now we pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet: Here is a link to directions on how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet (by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception in Stockbridge, Massachusetts:

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2020