Divine Mercy Takes You From Hopelessness to Holiness

Sometimes the journey toward Heaven can feel… hopeless.

We can start strong - doing our daily prayers, going to Mass, picking up our cross. But then we slip. We fall into the same sin we swore we'd leave behind. Especially lust, we can be so determined and a few weeks later do something we regret so much.

Every Catholic today struggles with this tension. 

The tension between who they want to become versus who they are becoming.

It can honestly be crushing to see ourselves fail over and over again.

Being sorry for sin is good, but beneath that sorrow can often lie something deeper: a distorted understanding of the spiritual life.

 

That’s Alright

In Australia, if you apologise after bumping someone’s drink, the typical response is something like:

“That’s alright” 

“All good”

It’s a good way of brushing away the awkwardness. But when it comes to sin, that kind of mentality can make the damage we’ve done seem insignificant. But it is super important. We may have a distorted view of spiritual life - but the issue isn’t that we see actual mortal sins as too bad.

The problem lies somewhere else.

St John Cardinal Newman famously said that the sun and moon should fall than for someone to commit just one venial sin. (Sounds harsh, I know, but keep reading and it will make sense) 

We were made to be in friendship with God, to love him. Mortal sin is the only thing that can separate us from that.

If sin is that serious, then what hope do we have? And where’s the problem with our perspective?

The problem is that we do something that God never intended us to do: look at our sins in isolation.

Sin only makes sense when you look at it with mercy.

It’s true. By ourselves, we are weak. We fail. We can even do terrible things.

God’s not waiting to strike you down with a lightning bolt whenever you mess up. He’s on your team. You have the all-power God working with you and waiting to forgive you after every sin.

The hopelessness we can feel never comes from the Holy Spirit. The idea that our sins are greater than God’s mercy is not humility — it’s a lie.

Pope Francis put it bluntly: 

“God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking His mercy.”

 

Judas and Peter: Two Sinners, Two Endings

One of the biggest tragedies in the Gospel wasn’t the crucifixion. It was that someone, Judas, lost hope.

Judas did something horrible. He betrayed his best friend… his God for a few silver coins.

But in all the chaos, he forgot what Christ had said about his mercy.

Seeing the abyss of misery within himself, he saw that by himself there is no hope… and well we know how that ends.

Christ willingly offered himself on the cross but never wanted this.

Let us not forget that Peter also committed a very grave sin that same night. He abandoned Christ in his darkest hour and denied him three times!

Probably like Judas, Peter cried when everything sunk in. He was sorry for what he did. But unlike Judas, he didn’t lose hope. He placed himself in the care of God’s mercy. He allowed those tears to lead him back to God.

Peter had abandoned Jesus, so Jesus had every right to scratch his name out of any plans He had. But after He rose, that’s the complete opposite of what happened. 

Jesus went out of his way to find Peter, not to nag him, but said “Peace, be with you.” Judas’ mind was a mess, but Peter was offered peace. 

Christ never told Peter, “That’s alright”. He went beyond that. He showed him the wounds he bore. The holes in his hands didn’t just demonstrate how important sin really is, but how far God’s love is willing to go for you.

Peter became a saint. He is the rock that the Church was built on. He is venerated across the world. He is the first pope.

If Peter lost hope, he would not be a saint. If Judas offered himself to God’s mercy - who knows? We might have Cathedrals named after him.

 

Divine Mercy Sunday

To be a saint is to rely radically on God’s mercy.

And the saints knew that. St Thomas Aquinas said that despair is so dangerous because it draws us away from God and like Judas, makes us “rush headlong into sin.”

God knows how prone we are to give up. That’s why He made His mercy impossible to ignore.

In the 1930s, Jesus appeared to a humble Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, with a message for the whole world:

“The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy.”

He even told her to make a special feast day so sinners would never forget his love. This message is so important to God that Christ himself intervened.

Almost 100 years later, the Church just celebrated its 25th feast day of ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’.

Now more than ever, this is what society needs. We live in a world that condones everything but forgives nothing. Even Pope Francis recognised this, so the last book he wrote was labelled. 

‘Hope’. 

 

If you have been struggling with seeing God through the lens of mercy or want to develop a deeper understanding of God’s mercy - I would recommend ‘The Diary of St Faustina'. 

The Diary goes into the life of St Faustina Kowalska (‘the Apostle of Mercy’) after entering the convent as a nun and discovering God’s love. She had encounters with Mary and Jesus which gave her a clearer understanding of love, one which the society needs now so desperately. 

This book is about Jesus trying to get our attention. It’s what Jesus wanted you to know about himself. 

You can get the book today with code VIRTUE for a special discount.

Never forget God’s mercy. Without it, God just isn’t the same.

 

I’m praying for you,

God Bless,

Virtue Books and Gifts