Your duty is to trust entirely in My Mercy, My duty is to give you all that you need. I make Myself dependent on your trust: if your trust is great, then My generosity will be without limit”. (Diary 548)
Trust in a Suspicious World
The most difficult virtue but the most noble of mankind is trust. It is also the most important and respected virtue a person can have in life; trust in one’s neighbours, relatives, and friends. Nearly always, without exception you will find this trust is reciprocated. Trust is what makes us real Christians in a world that is suspicious of everyone and everything, a world that now seems to be engaged in a endless cycle of self indulgence and mistrust.
What is trust?
The dictionary defines trust as faith, so to trust someone is to have faith in them, and what is faith? Well again the dictionary tells us faith is hope in promise. If someone promises to do something for you, to have faith in this promise is to trust that person to see it through, and if you have this great virtue of trust, you can not fail to have another wonderful virtue that goes hand in hand, the virtue of humility.
Trust and humility are inseparable companions. Trust is a basic requirement in any relationship, it is that which develops a relationship into a loving one, it is through trust that people become good friends.
So too, is this the way with God.
Trust in My Mercy
"The soul that will trust in My Mercy is most fortunate, because I Myself take care of it" (Diary 1273). Trust is the very essence of Devotion to the Divine Mercy as revealed to St. Faustina in 1931. St. Faustina's whole mission was to bring souls to trust in God. The young Helen Kowalska (St. Faustina) could see God in everything. It was this vivid sense of God's presence in her life and all around her, that developed the mystery of her great trust.
Young children will only fully give their trust when they are in the presence of their parents, but we are all God’s children, and we are always in His presence, so like St. Faustina we should never be hesitant with our trust in God, because trust is the first prerequisite for receiving His Mercy.
The graces of my Mercy
“The graces of my Mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is trust." St.Faustina recorded in her Diary "I am aware that you are within me, and all around me, you are in all things, and in all that happens to me". A humans trust in God, is also the result of their acceptance of God's Mercy. Jesus desires all people to put their trust in Him, appealing to the greatest sinners, to abandon themselves to trust in Him (Diary 1146). The trust of St. Faustina in Jesus was beyond all abandonment. Jesus said to St. Faustina,"your duty will be to trust entirely in My Mercy, My duty will be to give you all that you need. I am making Myself dependent on your trust" (Diary 548).
Knowledge of God
Fr.Ignacy Rozycki who was asked by Pope John Paul II to examine the revelations to St. Faustina, wrote in his book, Fundamental Characteristics of The Devotion of the Divine Mercy, that "Trust gives a knowledge of supernatural reality, and thereby an understanding of the mystery of God's Mercy. It kindles in the human heart a desire to possess the eternal and gives hope that with the help of God's grace this will be attained. The deeper a souls knowledge of God, the more its trust in God's Mercy.
Trust and Humility
Trust in the goodness of God is all the stronger, the humbler it is. Fr. Rozycki went on to say that a proud person who builds his life on human circumspection cannot put his trust in God. The humble person on the other hand knows that all that is good in him, and around him, comes from God, he recognises his own limitations, his own weakness and his dependence on the Creator, putting his trust in God's wisdom, power and mercy.
Another prolific writer on Devotion to the Divine Mercy Fr.George Kosciki, wrote “…my greatest need is to live baptised in the Lords Mercy, but how do I do this ?…” He asks, I know that I am baptised in His mercy, but how do I live in His mercy ? I am now convinced that trust is the key.
The Floodgates of God's Mercy
Trust in the Lord and in His mercy is the key to open the floodgates of His mercy. Trust is an act of our free will, which gives the Lord permission to act freely, according to His will. Our trust gives God the freedom to act mercifully. By our trust God can fulfil His plan and desire to have mercy on all. Trust and humility are also connected with contrition, that is recognition of one's misery and sorrow, for the evil we commit. Jesus said, "I am mercy itself for a contrite soul”. Without contrition, trust would be arrogance and presumption. How do we grow in trust?
Guided by God's Mercy
Ask to be transformed into His mercy, like Saint Faustina. Ask Mary to teach you how to grow in trust, as she had to. Remember the essential condition for receiving Divine Mercy, is trust. The nearness of God’s mercy and His closeness to us can be experienced, especially at times in history when the Church is really suffering, and when there is a threat to the purpose of our existence and the meaning of life, and this is why, in the situation of the Church and the World today, many individuals and groups are being guided to the Mercy of God.
All of us on this planet are pilgrim people on a journey to eternity. Let us pray that during the journey to this Sacred place, all people in the world will have an encounter with Divine Mercy, because God wishes to transform each and every one of us on this earth into living icons of His Mercy. Remember, He offers His mercy and His peace to all who trust in Him.
Special Prayers of Mercy
Consecration Prayer to Divine Mercy
Jesus, Divine Mercy, I consecrate my entire life, from this day on to you without reserve Into your hands I abandon my past, my present, and my future. From this day forward make me a true follower of your teaching.
Let Your Divine Mercy Image protect my home and my family from all the powers of evil in this world to day. May all who venerate it never perish, may it be our joy in life, our hope in death, and our glory in eternity. Amen.
Apostles Prayer of Trust
Merciful Jesus, I believe in you and I trust in you, come to the aid of my weakness and my incapacity. Grant that I may be able to make you known and loved by all and confident of the immensity of your love, I may be able to combat the evil which is in me, and in all the world for Your glory, and my salvation. Amen
Prayer of Trust in His Mercy
O Lord, behold here before You a soul who exists in this world in order to allow You to exercise Your admirable mercy, and manifest it before heaven and earth. Others may glorify You through their faithfulness and perseverance, thus making evident the power of Your grace.
How sweet and generous You are to those who are faithful to You! Nevertheless I will glorify You by acquainting others of Your goodness to sinners and by reminding them that Your mercy is above all malice, that nothing can exhaust it, and that no relapse, no matter how shameful or criminal, should allow the sinner to despair of forgiveness.
I have offended You grievously, O beloved Redeemer, but it would be still worse if I were to offend You by thinking that you were lacking in goodness to forgive me. I would rather He deprive me of everything else than the trust I have in Your mercy.
Should I fall a hundred times, or should my crimes be a hundred times worse that they actually are, I would continue to trust in Your mercy.
(Saint Claude De Columbiere)
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