Are you ready to know how to get to Heaven? Bold claim but hey if we can do what God says we should then why doubt, right? If you've never heard of St. Faustina and God's Divine Mercy then buckle up. You're about to find out another "secret" the devil doesn't want many people to know!

Here I will share with you what I learned from Fr. Chris Alar. He's a priest of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. You can find his talks about various topics of Catholic faith and devotion online. More about him here. Basically he's the head and chief expert on Divine Mercy from their priestly congregation.

Before we proceed, first I invite you to read these previous posts of mine. This is so you understand the context of the Catholic doctrines in here:

• Repent from your Sins: The Devil Rejoices Whenever People Do Not Confess To Priests
• Kinds of Sin: Should We Still Go to Confession Just For Those Venial Sins?
• Get Rid of Temporal Punishment from Confessed Sins: What's Up With the Controversial Plenary Indulgence?
• Better than Plenary Indulgence?: Jesus Said, "Bring to Me Souls..." And Then Divine Mercy Sunday Happened
• About Grace and Mercy: 3 Things Most People Never Ask From God
• Love of Others: There's a What Now? 14 Acts of Mercy?

If you already know all of that or have read each one, let's start!

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Divine Mercy 101

Finally I had the time to share what I learned from a recollection I attended around July last year. 😅 The last time I went to a recollection was back in high school. That was many years ago. 😂 Fast forward to 2023 and I attended the very first one since then. Haha.

So what did I learn? Here's everything in bullet points. 😁

In the Beginning... and then Jesus became man.

• Men and women have different roles. Men are external (seeding), women internal (nurturing and giving birth).

• God had mercy on Adam and Eve instead of crushing them after sinning. So don't be afraid of confessing your sins.

• God's mercy is creation. Redemption is the second form of mercy. The Holy Spirit will return us back to God and make us better thru sanctification.

• Mercy is the highest form of love. Loving the unlovable. Divine Mercy is God's love. Jesus paid for our sins.

• Who started the Catholic Church? Jesus Christ.

• The answer to suffering (caused by the original sin) is the Church.

• The sacraments make us different than any other faith.

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The Mass

• The perfect form of prayer is during the mass. Why? Because the priest offers God (Jesus) to God to God. (Holy Trinity)

• The world is in such a mess because of the lack of the Holy Spirit. (Baptism)
  The 2nd act of redemption (after Jesus died on the cross), the Holy Spirit works on our sanctification.

• When we come to mass we are there to witness Jesus saving us (calvary). Doxology is returning us to God.

• Venial sin is forgiven thru the mass. It can only be forgiven through the penitential rites in the mass.

• People should get to mass before or during the penitentiary rite (I confess).

• Guardian angels add what you wanna give to God during mass. Your angels go up to the altar and around the priest.

• The Mass is heaven on Earth. In it is where Communion allows uniting with God/Jesus. Mass is sanctification!

• Some reminders: (1) Don't eat anything until 30 minutes after communion. (2) Only receive communion twice a day (max)!

^{Ang Bahay ng Alumni recollection venue was packed!}

On Confession:

• Get grace from confession. Confess grave and venial sins.

• Confess sins and let it go. Even if you forget a sin, it is forgiven!

• A serious sin must be confessed. Confess grave sins that have been forgotten. If you know (consciously) and don't confess a grave/serious sin ever, all the times you confessed will be invalid.

• FYI priests pray for the grace, to forget the sins they hear, upon ordination.

ABC's of DIVINE MERCY

Adam and Eve did not ask God for mercy. They did not become merciful towards each other. Neither completely trusted in God. (And so it is important to:)

• A-sk for God's Mercy
• B-e Merciful to Each Other
• C-ompletely Trust in God's mercy

How do we get back to Heaven? Thru God's grace. Trust is the vessel by which all grace is received.

God has been giving us ways to be saved since forever!

Side note: How does goodness or evil reach our soul? Through the eyes and mouth.

^{From the Diary of St. Faustina, entry number 742. | source}

The Devotion of Divine Mercy

Here's what the devotion to the Divine Mercy is all about: F-I-N-C-H.

1. FEAST of DIVINE MERCY

The Sunday after Easter completes the octave leading to Divine Mercy Sunday (the feast). On Easter Sunday, Jesus opened the door to heaven. (Finally we can get past death from Original Sin like Jesus Christ who was the first to be resurrected!)

7 days represent a pilgrimage. The 8th day means entering the door. The 8th day (feast day) is greater than the 1st day (according to saints like Augustine, etc.) as we shall walk into that door.

So, we shall attend the Lord's wedding. What do we wear? The parable talks of the wedding garment which is our soul. We cannot enter Heaven if we are not dressed appropriately and are dirty.

The first stain in our garment is sin. Confess sins to remove that. The second stain is temporal punishment. We still have to pay for our sins even if they've been forgiven after confessing them.

Purgatory is where the detachment from the sins happens (AFTER death). It is a place where we're prepared to get to Heaven.

How to get to Heaven?

Through the following:

• plenary indulgence
• prayer
• fasting and almsgiving (Works of Mercy)
• perfect love

The Feast of Divine Mercy cleans you of attachment from the sins (temporal punishments are discarded while still ALIVE)!

_{Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City. Regally decorated for Divine Mercy Sunday 2024 fiesta.}

What to do on this day?

Basically we must confess, go to mass then take the Eucharist on the tongue. After communion during the feast day, ask the Lord Jesus Christ to grant you the complete forgiveness of sin from all punishment as told to St. Faustina.

The devil then cannot call you out on ANYTHING before the Divine Mercy Feast celebration once you're done! Why? Because your slate is wiped clean!

How about non-Catholics?

There is only salvation thru the Catholic Church outside of Jesus Christ. How are non-Christians judged then? By the natural law. God puts it in their heart. Christians are judged by Scripture.

Fallen away Catholics are in much danger as we are judged through Scriptures AND the Sacraments. We have to bring such brethren back to our Church through prayer.

2. IMAGE of the DIVINE MERCY

Seal the doors (door posts) of your house with the image of Divine Mercy. Consecrate your house to the Image of the Divine Mercy for protection from storms and everything else.

The image captures the entire Passover (in the form of the Son of God).

Jesus ordained the first priests, washed their feet. (This is why all ordained clergy can administer the Sacraments on us.)

What wipes out the devil's 2 tools?

• SIN vs. Baptism and Confession
• DEATH vs. Life (blood and water) of Jesus

The body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ is in the Holy Eucharist.

Note: All Divine Mercy images have the same grace.

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Promises of venerating the image

Here's info from the Diary of St. Faustina:

^{screenshot source}

3. NOVENA of the Divine Mercy

Significance of the number nine:

It took 9 months for Jesus Christ to be born. And on the 9th day from His ascension, the Catholic Church was established (Pentecost). That's when the Holy Spirit descended to the apostles.

(And so praying the set of prayers Jesus declared to St. Faustina is no different. We can pray it before and until the feast day or anytime we have a petition to God.)

^{Everyday there's a different "theme" or group of people to pray for. | source}

4. CHAPLET of Divine Mercy

Common priests (we the lay people) can offer sacrifice (too). According to Fr. Chris, if you miss mass, go to confession then pray the rosary and the chaplet.

• Liturgy of the Word: meditate on the Scriptures (pray the rosary)
• Liturgy of the Eucharist: offering of sacrifice (pray the chaplet)

(The chaplet can be prayed in more or less 10 to 15 minutes. However if you'd like to add more prayers to the chaplet itself, it's fine too. Like this one, for example:)

^{From St. Faustina's Diary | Screenshots source}

5. HOUR of Divine Mercy

This hour is at 3 pm, the time Jesus died on the cross. (Best time to pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy after the 3 o'clock prayer.)

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Remember:

Our "last hope" of Salvation lies in everything mentioned above.

• ABC's of Divine Mercy
• F-I-N-C-H

But wait there's MORE! Next up, I'll share with you where I got something I thought I'd never have. Haha. I'll also share a short video summary of what I was able to record during Fr. Chris' talk.

Am just happy I went to this recollection last year! I got priceless "freebies" because I joined! ♥️ Anyway, what do you think so far? Feel free to share thoughts via comments.


XOXO,
@artgirl