Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy;
so I bring into the abode or Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory,
souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice.
May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart
put out the flames of Purgatory,
that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be celebrated.    

Eternal Father,
turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls suffering in Purgatory,
who are enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus.
I beg You, by the sorrowful Passion of Jesus Your Son,
and by all the bitterness with which His most sacred Soul was flooded:
Manifest Your mercy to the souls who are under Your just scrutiny.
Look upon them in no other way but only through the Wounds of Jesus,
your dearly beloved Son; for we firmly believe
that there is no limit to Your goodness and compassion. 

Amen. 

Commentary from the Book of Fr Michael Gaitley:

“Consoling the Heart of Jesus” 

The fourth obstacle to living out the foundation (which is trusting Jesus and in the mercy of God) is something Fr Michael calls “the sensitivity of the Lord’s Heart”. Since the Lord is asking for complete trust and friendship, it would not take much for us to hurt Him because of our weakness and fickle-mindedness. We might not be able to trust the Lord at all times, and according to St Faustina, that was one of the biggest thing that could hurt the Lord. Since we do not want to hurt the Lord, we pretty much create a safe distance from Him. We can say: “Lord, we can be friends, and I can trust you sometimes, but there are boundaries, and we should keep a distance”. It does not have to be that way.

Fr Micheal suggests a couple of ways to combat this: 1. Seek help from Our Blessed Mother (A Marian Consecration); and 2. A spiritual communion to Merciful love. “Marian consecration basically means giving Mary our full permission (or as much permission as we can) to complete her motherly task in us, which is to form us into other Christs” (113). While the Spiritual communion to Merciful love is the “summit” of St Therese’s spirituality, which is simply seeing the Heart of Jesus and giving him “permission to fill us with all the mercy others have rejected… this gives him great relief primarily because someone has chosen to receive his mercy fully…” – the same mercy which overflows to others (118). 

Most merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said,
“Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.”
Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls
and souls of little children.
These souls send all heaven into ecstasy
and they are the heavenly Father’s favorites.
They are sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God;
God Himself takes delight in their fragrance.
These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, 
O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy.  

Eternal Father,
turn Your merciful gaze upon meek souls,
upon humble souls, and upon little children who are enfolded in the abode
which is the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus.
These souls bear the closest resemblance to Your Son.
Their fragrance rises from the earth and reaches Your very throne.
Father of mercy and of all goodness,
I beg You by the love You bear these souls
and by the delight You take in them:
Bless the whole world,
that all souls together may sing out the praises of Your mercy
for endless ages. 

Amen. 

Excerpts from the Book of Fr Michael Gaitley:

“Consoling the Heart of Jesus” 

“Too often we linger with bad news. We allow ourselves to be seduced by juicy gossip, gory details, and shocking scandal… All that bad news is empty, nothing, and only a small slice of reality… It is often just a distraction, a waste of time, or worse. Dwelling on evil leads to evil. It leads to anger, envy, bitterness of spirit, lust, discouragement, and despair – but there’s another way. We can avoid the bankruptcy of such hopelessness…” (106-107).

“Instead of looking at the bad news, we can turn to the good news, to Christ’s love, and we can love him even more than before… It seems this is why God permits so much evil in the world: not so that we become discouraged and hopeless but so that the sight of it will help steel our wills to be more fully for Christ” (107).

Most merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself,
You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You.
Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart
the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church.
Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church,
and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart;
but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy.   

Eternal Father,
turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who have separated themselves
from Your Son’s Church,
who have squandered Your blessings and misused Your graces
by obstinately persisting in their errors.
Do not look upon their errors,
but upon the love of Your own Son and upon His bitter Passion,
which He underwent for their sake,
since they, too, are enclosed in His Most Compassionate Heart.
Bring it about that they also may glorify
Your great mercy for endless ages. 

Amen. 

Commentary and Excerpts from the Book of Fr Michael Gaitley:

“Consoling the Heart of Jesus” 

“Before entering the convent, Faustina Kowalska didn’t seem particularly special. She came from a poor family, didn’t have much formal education, and was full of weaknesses. Yet the God who lifts up the lowly (see Lk 1:52) chose her to show what he can do (and what he wants to do) with all us little ones, if only we’ll let him. On one occasion, Jesus spoke to Faustina about her weakness: You see what you are of yourself, but do not be frightened at this, If I were to reveal to you the whole misery that you are, you would die of terror. However, be aware of what you are. Because you are such a great misery, I have revealed to you the whole ocean of My mercy. I seek and desire souls like you, but they are few. Your great trust in Me forces Me to continuously grant you graces. You have great and incomprehensible rights over My Heart, for you are a daughter of complete trust” (104).

It took me a while to convince myself to enter the seminary – to heed the call to the priesthood, precisely because of how I saw myself, and how much I identified with my own weaknesses. I didn’t trust myself that I could live the life of His priest. Consequently, it resulted to not trusting the Lord as well – the one who calls me to be ever closer to Him. But the Lord, who is rich in mercy, somehow broke into my defenses – and the rest is history. It was precisely when I started to identify and define myself with God’s mercy that I began to understand the power of his Life and miracle in me; Jesus started the do and be the miracle of my life. I thank the Lord everyday, that while he calls those who are unqualified, he strengthens and qualifies them with His love and abundant mercy.

“…We should strive to have ‘great trust.’ Jesus seeks and desires such trusting souls, but they are few…. because few people give Jesus their complete trust. Yet such trust is what he wants – and needs… [If we trust him completely,]… Then he can work his miracles of mercy…” (104-105).

Most compassionate Jesus,
You are the Light of the whole world.
Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart
the souls of those who do not believe in God
and of those who as yet do not know You.
Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them
that they, too, together with us,
may extol Your wonderful mercy;
and do not let them escape from the abode
which is Your Most Compassionate Heart.   

Eternal Father,
turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of those who do not believe in You,
and of those who as yet do not know You,
but who are enclosed in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus.
Draw them to the light of the Gospel.
These souls do not know what great happiness it is to love You.
Grant that they, too, may extol the generosity of Your mercy for endless ages. 

Amen. 

Commentary and Excerpts from the Book of Fr Michael Gaitley:

“Consoling the Heart of Jesus” 

According to the Diary of St. Faustina, there is nothing that could offend the Lord more than having no trust in him – no trust in the power of His mercy. In his discourse, Fr. Michael proposes the easiest and fastest way to console our Lord. “…The best way to console Jesus’ Heart is to give him our trust, and according to the expert, the best way to live trust is with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving, the way of joyful, trustful acceptance of God’s will” (96).

“Living joyful, trustful acceptance isn’t complicated. One simply offers himself (herself) to God with confidence and then accepts everything with praise and thanksgiving, seeing all as coming from God’s loving, fatherly hands… This way of trustful acceptance means that we strive to let nothing disturb us and… that we strive to continually praise and thank God for everything” (96). For the good things that come our way, we thank the Lord; for the not so good things that fall on our lap, we give thanks and praise to Him. The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.It is much easier to thank the Lord when things are going well; but we tend to ignore Him when things did not go the way we want them to in life.

Furthermore, the author states that that it is not about “choosing our own crosses”, but accepting the daily crosses that comes our way – trusting that God has given us a cross that might teach and heal us – make us better persons; make us holy. “…The spirituality of trustful acceptance focuses on accepting well the crosses God chooses for us.

The point is this: there is nothing sweeter than consoling Jesus’ Heart by way of childlike trust, praising and giving thanks to God for all the things that come our way, accepting God as the good Father that He is.

Jesus, behold, I give you my heart.
If my desires aren’t in harmony with yours,
then please change them according to your wisdom and love.

Dear Jesus,
you know that by myself, I’m too weak to change my desires,
but you can do it.
Jesus, I trust you to do it.
Jesus, I thank you in advance for doing it.

Amen. 

Commentary and Excerpts from the Book of Fr Michael Gaitley:

“Consoling the Heart of Jesus” 

Today, we are invited to focus on our attachments, so as to refine and purify our intentions. Fr. Michael reminds us of the importance of remember the “first things first” or the primacy of contemplation, as one of the ways in which we deal with our attachments. “…The primacy of contemplation means that if we stay fixed on the goodness and glory of the Lord, we’ll begin to have an attitude of indifference without having to force it” (88).

“It may happen that we don’t go to the Lord because we have attachments and are afraid he’ll make us get rid of them” (88). What is that thing that we think we cannot live without? If that one thing we are afraid of losing prevents us from coming closer to the Lord, it is probably one of our biggest attachments. “Jesus simply wants us to go to him… Go to Jesus as you are… Jesus loves sincerity, that he loves it when we’re completely open with him… The more open we are with him, the more deeply he can heal us – and this especially applies to his being able to heal us of our attachments” and present spiritual conditions (88).

“The Lord is so gentle and wise in leading us. The steps he’ll ask us to take toward holiness will be steps that are appropriate to little souls – “little steps”… One of the ways the Lord makes our progress relatively easy is by beginning to detach our hearts from something well before he asks it of us. He usually does this without us realizing it…” (90).

“When we go to Jesus, especially to his Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, he fills us with his love and peace, and at the same time, in his great mercy, he silently loosens our grip on our attachments. After some time, without us realizing it, he holds what he’s just pulled out of our mouths… The moral, of course, is to trust in the Lord, to go to him. He’ll help us become detached, and it’ll happen with a certain ease… Yes, trust in the Lord. Go to him as you are with all your attachments, and don’t worry.” (91)

 But as for prophecies,
they will come to an end;

as for tongues, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

For we know only in part,
and we prophesy only in part.
But when the complete comes,
the partial will come to an end.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child;
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child.
When I became an adult, 
I put an end to childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
but then we will see face to face.
Now I know only in part;
then I will know fully,
even as I have been fully known.

And now faith, hope, and love abide – these three;

and the greatest of these is LOVE.    

Commentary & Excerpts from the Book of Fr Michael Gaitley:

“Consoling the Heart of Jesus” 

Hope is given to us when we know that despite our sinfulness, we can come to the Lord. The greater our sinfulness, the more abundant the mercy of God is for us; this doesn’t mean that we continue on sinning and dwell in our sinfulness. It only means that when we sin and offend Jesus, greater is the love and mercy of Jesus for us. The greater the sin, the more powerful is one’s conviction for reparation; the greater forgiveness received, the deeper love is given. (see Lk 7:36-47).

Fr. Michael reminds us today that “even our deliberate sins… can be a means to consoling Jesus” (84). 

“We’ll always be stumbling and falling. We’ve got to accept that fact while striving to avoid sin. Yet, when we do fall, even seriously and voluntarily, we ought to have the attitude of the repentant child who jumps into her father’s arms with great confidence in his mercy. We sometimes forget that this is what most pleases the Lord, namely, when we go to him with confidence despite, or rather, because of our sins, weaknesses, and attachments” (85).

Our sins keep us humble. But it can also keep us away from the Lord, because of our “subtle form of pride”, making ourselves believe as if we are unworthy to receive God’s mercy. Yes, the price of the our sins have been paid for already by the Lord at high cost; but while this is true, the Lord did this only out of love for you and me. “The grace of forgiveness available in the Sacrament of Confession is not cheap. It cost the lord dearly. While this painful fact should make us want to flee from sin, it should also remind us that God’s mercy is always there for us because of the infinite price that’s already been paid” (85).