Each day until Divine Mercy Sunday on April 7th, I will email you one thought from that day’s brief reading in Fr. Gaitley’s book. I render full credit for these thoughts, respecting copyright laws, to Fr. Michael E. Gaitley. I will conclude each day with a prayer, which I ask you to pray with me for this intention: the conversion of our Parish. Only God can make every one of us saints, ready for heaven, and that is the intention for which I ask you to pray for in this novena.
Day One
I began Fr. Gaitley’s book this morning before sunrise, sitting at my desk by an open window. The city was quite still, but then a quiet rain began touching the skylight above my window. The gentle drops made me think of how God’s tenderness comes upon us and how easily we miss His soft touch. It made me also think of how ungrateful and suspicious we can be. Along with sunshine, rain is the most essential gift to life on earth. But no doubt our phones and computers will tell us how terrible the rain is today, that increasing “atmospheric rivers” prove the climate is in chaos, that emergency crews are standing by to rescue victims, and that nature is angry at us. The fact is, God is not angry with us. He is sending us rain today, and He will send us sunshine tomorrow.
Fr. Gaitley’s book begins on Day 1 today with Trust. He begins at the beginning: with the serpent lying to Eve: “Satan casts doubt on God’s goodness, making Him look evil and untrustworthy.” Did God really tell you…? Evil whispers distrust into Eve’s ear and so makes her doubt even the goodness within herself. “Man … let his trust in his Creator die in his heart,” the Catechism says. Fr. Gaitley concludes his two-page reflection today from Sr. Faustina’s diary. Her fellow sister confided that “she had no trust in God, and became discouraged at every little thing,” but that she had decided to “practice trust.”
We begin our Month to Mercy by practicing trust. When we hear the rain, we will thank God. When Mister Sun shines we will bless his Creator. When we are hungry we will tighten our belts, and when we are thirsty we will commend ourselves to God’s mercy. We will put our trust in Him.
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, fire of mercy. Help me better to know the great and unsurpassable goodness of God.