A Year With St. Faustina

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1723-1728.

We often read in the Gospels of how the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus. They think they've come up with a clever trap and they'll catch Him saying something wrong. But, because He's God, they can't really ensnare Him. Sister Faustina is going to talk about the snares people set for her soul. This reminded me of some verses I recently read in Luke 7:31-35.

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1717-1722.

20 more days to go!

I apologize if the recording sounds a bit off, I didn't have my settings correct. Sheesh!

It is common with human nature that we tend to look at other people's actions instead of looking at ourselves. We don't like to have a mirror in front of our face to see who we really are inside. If we ever get to the point where we think we don't have much work to do, well, we know we have much work to do. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1712-1716.

Because of the "Don't judge anything" movement that occurred several years ago, we've gotten to a point where we think we can't ever tell people that they are doing something sinful. It might make people feel bad and that's seen as the worst thing on earth. We think the most loving thing to do is to keep silent, tolerate sin, or even encourage sin. Sister Faustina is going to call someone out who is sinning and it's a loving act. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1706-1711.

Sister Faustina is going to be talking about the Feast of the Ascension. I thought it would be a good time to give you a geography lesson on where the Ascension took place and how it relates to Jerusalem. What were the Apostles doing after the Ascension. It's a good time to meditate on this Mystery of the Rosary. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1700-1705.

Back when I was a teenager before I turned by back on God, I was extremely lukewarm in my faith. Even after I started to come back, I was still pretty lukewarm. I didn't want to totally immerse myself in God. Once, I converted to Catholicism, I realized that a lukewarm faith means nothing. Christ is going to talk about lukewarm souls. I will discuss the Seven Church of the Book of Revelation. To lukewarm Laodicea, Christ gives a stern warning.

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1694-1699.

My husband and I have been doing Lectio Divina together and the other night we were reading through Luke 3:1-6. Luke is laying out all the major players of the time in order to establish the historical reality of Christ's time here on earth. We got to talking about how God uses the most unlikely people to complete His missions here. Sister Faustina is one of those people. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1689-1693.

Sister Faustina praises God as Creator today and I wanted to have some fun while talking about Creation. Creation is amazing and I'd like to share some of the things in Creation that blow my mind. I'm also going to recommend a 40-minute video for you and your family. It's a great video that shows the majesty of God's Creation. 

How Great Is Our God

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atUGBua2AzE

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1682-1688.

We are mostly going to hear from Christ and He has so many good things to say. After the readings, I want to take one particular part and just read through it slowly. Really listen to what Christ is saying and hopefully bring these things into your prayer life. These are all things that I know we can get better in. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1678-1681.

There is a saying that says, "You only live once, so live it up!" I've actually heard someone say instead, "No, you only die once, but you live everyday." And so, everyday we should offer that day to God and do our best to follow His Will. I often tell my kids, "Don't live a life of regrets." Living a wild, reckless life isn't proof of really living. Sister Faustina shows us what it means to "really live." 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1674-1677.

Sister Faustina is getting moved to another place, a hospital, because of her sickness. We are going to go through each number we read and I'll highlight something that jumped out to me. In the last number, an angel says something that I really want to key in on. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1668-1673.

Sister Faustina is going to receive letters from other sisters in other convents and they might take you aback. There's nothing malicious in their words, it's just interesting to hear how they talk to each other. Sister Faustina takes the letters in good spirit. We are going to talk about what makes a good friend. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1661-1667.

You know what this day means, Catholic Pilgrims? It means we only have thirty days left together, so basically just a month. But, we are going to make it a great thirty days. 

We've been traveling with Sister Faustina through another Holy Week. I was wondering what the Apostles did on Holy Saturday. How did they deal with the letdown? 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1655-1660.

Now that we are so close to the end of our readings with this diary, you may be thinking of recommending it to someone. If someone would have handed this diary to me after I first became Catholic, I would have gotten nothing out of it. I wouldn't have been able to grasp many of the things she talks about. So, we are going to talk about the right person to recommend this diary to.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1652-1654.

Things will be done a little different today. We have four prayers to read. Before the start of each prayer, I'm going to give you an idea for a possible intention. You might want to stop the podcast and bring someone to mind to pray for. After reading the four prayers, we will be done for the day. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1647-1651.

Most of the time when we hear Sister Faustina talk about her sufferings, she is suffering all alone. Christ is there, obviously, but it's rare for the other Sisters to try to come and alleviate her sufferings. Suffering is hard enough but suffering alone is even more miserable. This reminded me of my maternal-grandmother and how she would often send me to visit those that were lonely. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1642-1646.

Often times we look at our present situation in the world and think, "Man, this is the worst. There has never been a worst time. It looks like the end is near." Christ is going to talk to Sister Faustina about how the world is not as powerful as we often give it credit. We need to trust His plan. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1637-1641.

Every once in a while, I like to do a refresher course on here about different teachings or practices of the Church. That's not to say that you all listening don't know but it's always nice to brush up on different teachings. Sister Faustina is going to confession and she talks about how her spirit was struggling to give a good confession because she was feeling so bad. We'll talk about the disposition our soul should be in during confession. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1633-1636.

As we've been reading through these past couple of days, Sister Faustina has been talking a lot about the sufferings that she is going through. We are in the year 1938 and that's the year she does pass away. She died on October 5, 1938, so we still have more than half a year with her. We used to hear more about her work of getting the Divine Mercy message out to the world; now we mostly hear about her sufferings. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1630-1632.

As I was reading through Sister Faustina's writings, I realized that it's just one big long prayer. As I tried to meditate on what I wanted to say afterwards, I couldn't think of anything to add. It needs no comment from me. Join with Sister Faustina in this powerful prayer. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1625-1629.

I think in today's readings we find one of the hardest teachings of Christ--to love our enemies. Christ is going to talk to Sister Faustina about having great love for those who cause her sufferings and who hate her. If you are anything like me, you find that very difficult to do. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1617-1624.

We are entering into another Lent with Sister Faustina. Even though, we may not be entering into Lent right now, it's still an important Church season to talk about. It's important to reflect on the Lenten season before it occurs. We often wait till the last minute to think about it and that leaves us scrambling around trying to figure out what we want to do.

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1612-1616.

Christ is going to tell Sister Faustina that He needs her sufferings to rescue souls. She is going to go through some very difficult times. She's going to be very physically ill. Two Sisters come to her asking for her help when she dies. She's working really hard for others. We can use our sufferings to help others, as well. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1607-1611.

Whenever you are going through a trial, you always wonder why God won't make it end as soon as possible. Especially if you are praying for it to end soon. We can't understand what God is up to and it can lead to a lot of frustration. Sister Faustina's mission has had lots of trials. But, there are reasons for the trials and we'll discuss those reasons. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1602-1606.

Have you ever thought about how much has been written about Christ? He has been the topic of thousands of books, papers, and scrolls, more than any other person in the history of the world. Nobody even comes close. There can be a tendency to reduce Christ down to just "one among many," or Social Justice Warrior Jesus, or Nice Guy Jesus. But, we must always remember, He is God and nothing less. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1596-1601.

Another 100 numbers down! The milestones seemed to be coming quicker and quicker. 

Christ is going to say something that is absolutely heartbreaking. He says, "When I enter into certain hearts it's as if I enter into a Second Passion." We are not entitled to Holy Communion. It is a beautiful gift of love. We should approach with complete humility. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 6, numbers 1590-1595.

We enter into the last notebook today, Catholic Pilgrims. As per our custom, I will just read the prayer at the beginning. However, the prayer is very short, so I will read a few numbers past that. I won't be doing a reflection, though, so that you can just sit with the prayer and what Sister Faustina has to say. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1582-1589.

Another 10 days down! And today is the last day in Notebook 5. 

We are going to go an a cool history lesson through ancient Turkey, which was called Asia Minor in the Bible. Sister Faustina writes about how Christ is fully man and fully God. This is called the Hypostatic Union and that doctrine of the faith was declared in 451 AD in...you guessed it--Turkey. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1576-1581.

We are two days away from entering into the last notebook of the diary. I'm thrilled we have made it so far. 

Our readings will be a little longer as we dissect Sister Faustina's litany of desires. I think these desires are ones that we should desire, as well. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, number 1571-1575.

What is true humility? I think a lot of people are confused about what true humility really is. One thing that it is not is denying our talents and gifts from God. God gave them to us for a reason and we are to use them. Sometimes, people will be threatened by our talents and gifts. They may be threatened by our lives if we are striving for sainthood. This should never make us shy away from sainthood. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1566-1570.

We've all probably played that thought experiment where we ask what we would do if we only had a week or a day to live. Most people usually say that they would gather their loved ones around them and maximize their time with them. Sister Faustina is going to mention Christ's final coming. We are going to do that same thought experiment with the End Times. What would we do if we knew Christ was coming soon? 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1560-1565.

We get some great advice today from Christ on how to fight temptations. Yesterday, Sister Faustina was fighting lots of temptations in our readings. Christ gives her some pointers, if you will. They are perfect pointers for all of us to follow. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1158-1559.

Sister Faustina is experiencing the Darkness of the Soul. We've seen her here before and she always finds her way out of it. However, this reminded me of a letter from the "Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. Screwtape, a devil, talks about the Law of Undulation, meaning how a soul moves through peaks and troughs. It's during the troughs that a devil can really tempt a soul away from God. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1554-1557.

We are going to talk about indelible marks that are left on our souls. There are three sacraments that leave permanent marks on our souls marking us as different things. Today, we learn from Sister Faustina that there is an additional indelible mark given to souls called to a higher degree of holiness. So, we will talk all about indelible marks and what they mean. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1548-1553.

You know and I know, that we are reading the diary of a canonized saint. I don't think any of us question that. We've read so many wonderful things in this diary, but, today, Saint Faustina shows up. These writings, taken as a whole, are just undeniably the words of a Saint. I'm excited to read them with you. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1537-1542.

Christ is going to share with us today how much His heart hurts when people are ungrateful for His love and blessings. We come to just expect God's blessings and mercy which in turn makes us ungrateful people. The only proper response to Christ's love and blessings is one of gratitude. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1531-1536.

We've seen before Sister Faustina be very down-hearted by the state of her country, Poland. Today, we will see her lament all the transgressions of her country and the state of her country's "soul." You may be listening and feeling down-hearted about the state of your country's "soul." If we care about our country and love our country we want it to be healthy and full of virtuous citizens. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1525-1530.

Another ten days down! Good job!

We are going to talk about pride and our judgment of others' souls and...our judgment of our own righteousness. Sister Faustina is going to have a couple of interactions with two different sisters. We are going to focus on one sister in particular that unjustly judges Sister Faustina. 

Today readings will be from Notebook 5, numbers 1520-1524.

We are going to have two sets of readings today. One set will be our normal readings from Sister Faustina. The other reading will be a letter that connects to Christ's words today. I'm going to be talking about hardened sinners. All of us have wondered at some souls, haven't we? We wonder how hardened sinners have conversions. And, yet, we know that somehow God finds a way to pierce their darkened souls. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1514-1519.

Our default setting as humans is to be impatient. If you take a moment to think about all the ways we are impatient it's quite a long list. Sister Faustina is going to be talking briefly about patience and how there is much power hidden in patience. She also talks about how patience leads to victory. We'll discuss what she means. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1508-1513.

The message today is all about suffering. When someone is first diagnosed with something, we all rush to this person's aid. As time goes on, people drop off and some even seem annoyed that a person remains sick. Sickness can cause a lot of loneliness. Sister Faustina shares how much she suffering when people doubt her sickness, stop helping her during her sickness, or even forget that she is sick. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1502-1507.

With the advent of social media a lot changed in how we present ourselves. There is the opportunity to present the most spectacular parts of your life. But, I've noticed there is also a growing pressure to present your life as a "hot mess" to show "reality." Sister Faustina is going to disclose that she once tried to show that she had humility by displaying it with "excessive zeal." She realizes that she wasn't presenting the truth.

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1496-1501.

Congrats on finishing another hundred numbers! We are in the 1500s now. 

Sneaky Satan shows up and tries with a number of different persuasions to try and tempt Sister Faustina away from spreading the message of Divine Mercy. We'll go over his common tactics. 

At the end, I'll be revealing what we will be reading for next year's podcast!

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1490-1495.

Things are back to normal today. We are a homeschooling family and so I have taught all three of my kids. Repetition is part of schooling. Sometimes, people just need to hear things over and over again before they get it. On Day 304, we have heard some repetitive things from this diary now. I invite you to not get impatient with the repetitions. We need to hear some of these things over and over again before our soul fully understands. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, number 1489.

This is our last day of reading these conversations with Christ and a certain soul. So, like the last couple of days, I will read the conversation and then leave it at that. Tomorrow we will get back into my reflections. Today, Christ is speaking to a perfect soul. 

Today's reading is from Notebook 5, number 1488.

We have two more days of these conversations with Christ and a soul. They are different than anything else we've read. I hope you are enjoying them. They are very special readings. Christ will be speaking today to a soul striving for perfection. 

Today's reading will be from Notebook 5, number 1487.

Our readings today will be like the past two days. We will be reading a conversation between Christ and a soul. The soul is suffering and Christ works to get it to open up to Him. If you are  going through some deep suffering right now, I think you'll find today's readings comforting. 

Today's reading is from Notebook 5, number 1486.

DAY 300!!! Can you believe it?! Congratulations, Catholic Pilgrims!

Again, today, is one of those different days. We will be reading a conversation between God and a despairing soul. I'm pretty sure this was the conversation my soul had with God back a long time ago. I will just be reading the conversation and then I will leave it at that. I encourage you to put yourself in the place of the soul.

Today's reading is from Notebook 5, number 1485.

We are getting ready to enter into a section of readings that are very different than anything we have read so far. So, I'm going to approach them in a different way. For the next couple of days, we are going to be reading conversations with God and a soul. They are so impactful that I don't want to ruin them with my thoughts afterwards. I just want you to put yourself in the place of the soul  and meditate on what Christ is saying. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1478-1484.

There is so much I wish to discuss from our readings today. However, I can't go on and on. Lol. We are going to focus on the fact that we should never burden anyone with living their faith life with the same devotional practices that we choose to practice. We need to make sure that we are allowing the Church to be the authority figure and not us. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1472-1477.

Sister Faustina is going to ask Christ for a greater intellect in order to better understand Him, which is the most perfect reason of all. However, it is often common that we want to have a greater intellect in order to puff up our own ego or make us the smartest person in the room. We need to make sure that if are seeking a great intellect that we are doing it for all the right reasons. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1467-1471.

Thank goodness that on our Judgment Day it is only Christ that stands and judges us. He knows the big picture of our life. That doesn't necessarily mean that we won't get a judgment of Hell if we have mortal sin on our souls. However, we know that Christ will be a Just Judge. I'm grateful that people here on earth don't get to judge my soul because they don't have Christ's insight. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1462-1466.

So, if we become a Christian than all is peace and harmony, right? Well, that's not exactly true. At some point in our Christian life there is going to be division: Division within ourselves, division with others, and the world at large. Sister Faustina has had to deal with a lot of division in our readings within herself, with others, and even with Satan. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1457-1461.

Yesterday, Sister Faustina was very sick in her cell. She chose not to ask her confessor come to her cell for Confession because she's worried that the other sisters will murmur even more about her. They have been talking about her and viewing her as being lazy and not as sick as she claims to be. Jesus has something to say about her decision to deny herself Confession. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 453-1456.

Boy, today's readings really convicted me. It's all about sickness and how we treat people when they are sick. It is often that we get upset and irritated when people tell us they are sick. And...we all become doctors, don't we? We all diagnose everybody and tell them that it's not real and all in their head. I don't respond well to people telling me they are sick and, so, I was super convicted by Sister Faustina's words. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1449-1452.

So, it's the New Year! 1938. Where were you in 1938? If there are any of you listening alive at that time, let us know! If you think back all the way to the beginning, we really started on our journey with Sister Faustina back around 1926. We've come a long way with her and she has grown a lot. I'd like to hope that we have, too. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1444-1448.

Most of our readings today are Christ's words. Really, really pay attention to what He is saying. He talks about how hard it is on Him when people are indifferent toward Him in Holy Communion. He greatly desires us to meet Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation so we can receive His mercy. He wants more than anything for us to receive His mercy and love. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1437-1443.

Parental warning: I will be talking about Santa today, so you may want to listen without young children around. 

Congratulations on another 10 days down!

So, it is Christmas Eve with Sister Faustina. Really focus on all the different emotions she goes through and her constant focus on God during this special time of year. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1433-1436.

Is God allowed to be angry? I have heard numerous people over the years talk about how it's wrong for God to ever be angry. "The Old Testament God is just an angry God." Sister Faustina is going to write a lot about God's anger in our readings today and she spells out exactly what God gets angry about. Hint: It's sin. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1428-1432.

You are going to feel for Sister Faustina today. She is suffering greatly and the other Sisters around her are not being very compassionate or understanding. We will be talking about how we are not privy to all that is going on in someone's life. We need to realize that there may be inner turmoil going on that may explain why someone is acting a certain way. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1423-1427.

I think one of the hardest things about being a Catholic today is when you have to hold the line and defend the teachings of the Catholic Church. They are not popular with the culture and even with some Catholics. It can be hard to be the only one, it seems, not relishing in everyone else's sin, as many in the culture do. Sister Faustina shares in some joy with another Sister when she knows that she shouldn't. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1417-1422.

Christians are often accused of being all faith and no science. Which is ridiculous seeing as hundreds of scientific discoveries have been found by people of faith. As Christians, we are free to follow both faith and science. Science is a tool given to us by God to understand the material world. However, Christ today is going to talk about the importance of having a deep faith in things that can't be seen. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1412-1416.

Can you imagine saying the "Hail Mary" one thousand times each day for nine days? Today, we are going to read about how Sister Faustina does, in fact, just that. Count me as impressed. Our topics for today will be about Mary's Immaculate Conception and the Rosary. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1406-1411.

Have you ever felt abandoned by God? I'm willing to bet that many of us have felt that way. Even Christ, Himself, cries out from the Cross, "My God, My God, why have You abandoned me?" The very human side of Him felt the weight of the suffering and sin and He felt abandoned. But, the important thing to remember is that God never abandons us. He is always right there holding us together if we invite Him into our suffering. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1401-1405.

Do you have the patience of Sister Faustina to carry on work for so many years, knowing the you may never see the fruits of your labor? She realizes that she will never see the fullness of all the work she has done. Yet, she still wants to do God's Will because she knows it will bless others. God often does not let us see the fruits of our labor and I think there are good reasons for it. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1394-1400.

Congratulations on making it through another 100 numbers!

So, we are getting closer and closer to the end, so after today's readings, I'm going to talk about what's in store for next year. We are going to go over some "business" issues. Also, I'll discuss why it's important to read the writings of the saints. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1388-1393.

The Catholic Church has seven sacraments. They are more than just nice symbolic ceremonies. They affect an actual change within us. The most perfect of all the sacraments is the Eucharist because it not only imparts grace but it is the actual communing with Christ in a physical way. Sister Faustina understands this completely. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1382-1387.

Another ten days down! Congrats!

We will have more interesting scenes from the convent today. Sister Faustina is visited by a deceased sister in need of prayers. What we are going to focus most, though, are Christ's words. He comments that souls don't pay attention to Him and treat Him like "a dead object." 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1375-1381.

I am the absolute worst at conversing with people when they are hot and angry. I just end up getting hot and angry, too. Sister Faustina, today, is going to have all kinds of things going on in the convent. She gets a visit from five angry men at the gate and she handles the situation very well. It's a good lesson in how to respond to people. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1370-1374.

Sister Faustina shares with us that from her earliest years she wanted to become a saint. I think sometimes we set the bar too low for our young people--meaning teenagers. We don't expect hardly anything from them and, yet, there is so much greatness and potential sitting inside them--especially at a time when they have so much energy and youthfulness about them. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1365-1369.

One of the things I love reading in this diary is how devoted Sister Faustina is to Christ. She tries so hard, she prays so hard, and she is always looking for ways to be better. Because of this, Christ has created a new life within her. It's tempting to look at her and say, "She seems like she's always been a saint. She doesn't struggle like the rest of us." But, don't be deceived, she's struggled in her own way. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1360-1364.

My son asked me the other day if I would want to live here on earth for a million years if I could. I told him that I wouldn't want to and he asked why. I told him that our goal is to get to Heaven someday. Sister Faustina talks today about what her destiny is and she knows it's to reach Heaven and become a saint. That is our destiny, too. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1352-1359.

I was once having a conversation with someone and they said to me, "Nobody is going to tell me how to live out Christianity. I decide for myself." That comment begged the question, "Nobody? Not even Christ?" In contrast, Sister Faustina gives the most perfect and appropriate response to our Christian Faith.

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1345-1351.

What happens in our life if all we see is our misery and never the mercy and love of Christ. Well, it makes for a very sad life. I had an interaction with a guy online about three years ago for an extended period of time. All he could see was his great misery and great sins. Try as I might, I could not get him to recognize Christ's mercy. He just couldn't see it. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1341-1344.

Sister Faustina is going to talk about sickness and death. She's even going to envision her own death as she meditates on death. It got me thinking a lot of sickness and death and our absolute fear of both. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1335-1340.

I recently finished reading the "Scarlet Letter" with my daughter and when I went to do my podcast, part of our readings reminded me of the book. Struggling against our sins is not the problem. What is the problem is when we lack courage to confess our sins and fail to even try to struggle against them. It is not failure to struggle against sin and sometimes fall back into it. It is failure to just give yourself over to you sin and never even try. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1330-1334.

Let's talk about one of my favorite topics in Christianity--Angels!

Two years back, I did a study on angels and shared a lot of my newfound knowledge with my followers. Sister Faustina is going to ask Christ a question about angels. So, I thought it would be fun to talk about them. 

My Guardian Angel blog: https://catholicpilgrim.net/wp-admin/post.php?post=2250&action=edit

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1325-1329.

Another ten days down!

We will talk about sainthood today. Sister Faustina is going to talk about her desire to be a saint. I know that most of think that sainthood is for other people to do and not us. We don't see ourselves as saint material. But, that's just not true. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 5, numbers 1322-1324.

We start Notebook 5 today and so, as is our usual custom when we start a new notebook, our day will be shorter. We will say the prayers at the beginning and then leave it at that. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1318-1321.

Milestone Day! We will finish up Notebook 4 today. 

Christ wants for us to hand our misery over to Him. When we do, we will be transformed and God will create good out of that misery. It doesn't sound possible but it truly is. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1315-1317.

We all know, as Catholics, that there are the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy. The spiritual works of mercy are a little intimidating because sometimes people don't like us offering those types of mercy. However, Christ is going to talk about the importance of performing spiritual works of mercy. I thought today would be a good refresher of the seven spiritual works of mercy. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1309-1314.

Whew! I'm on my soapbox today! We have seen in this diary just how much Sister Faustina loves Christ. She spends massive amounts of time in prayer, she goes to Mass all the time. You  know that her heart belongs to God and her attitude is the proper response to God. Recently, my teenage daughter heard a message of low standards when it comes to a relationship with Christ.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1304-1308.

Milestone Day! Only 100 more days are left in our readings. Congratulations on tuning in everyday. 

Sister Faustina is visited by a young woman who she feels will be a stray sheep. People leave the faith for numerous reasons. However, there are things we can do to make sure that we are never the reason why someone leaves. Ultimately, it's in their control, but we can always do our best. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1299-1303.

Milestone Day! Another 100 numbers down!

Our topic today is on leadership. I'm sure you all have had a good leader and a bad leader at some point in your life. Mother Superior goes with Sister Faustina to look over some oof the Divine Mercy image and holy cards. Sister Faustina talks about all the wonderful ways Mother Superior has been a good leader. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1294-1298.

Have you ever done something you know you shouldn't have and you realize pretty quickly that you were in the wrong, so you run   to fix it? If you are like me, that doesn't happen very often because of pride. It's rare that when we've done wrong that we go and fix it as fast as possible. Sister Faustina says something wrong to two poor needy children and she runs to fix it. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1288-1293.

Have you ever noticed that some people at Mass just half-heartedly come up to receive Communion? There is a certain body language of people who fully understand what they are going up to receive. And there is a body language of those doing it merely out  of habit. Christ talks about today about how it pains Him to have people receive the Sacrament of Love out of habit. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1284-1287.

We are going to read a very good prayer of thanks. Sister Faustina is going to spend a lot of time thanking God. On the other end, I will share a recent story of when I was hit hard at Mass with the realization of how ungrateful I was acting. When I stopped to think about how ungrateful I was acting, I recognized just how many blessings God had actually been giving me. I was just too grumpy to notice. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1278-1283.

Another ten days down!

Sister Faustina shares with us that her brother is coming to visit her. She seems a little anxious about it. The last part, though, is what we are mostly going to focus on. She gives us some details about what it is like to work at the gate. She contrasts how she treats the poor at the door with how another treats the poor. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1272-1277.

This is my longest podcast to date. The reason is because Sister Faustina brings up the A word. Yes, she speaks of abortion. It's too important a topic to not give due diligence. I hope you will hang in there for this longer, but highly important podcast. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers  1266-1271.

Sister Faustina gets a new job. She moves from the garden to the gate. Also, today, she is treated pretty poorly by several of the sisters in the house. We're going to talk about how we treat people when we do our job. That can mean any job whether it be paid, volunteer work, or work in the home. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1262-1265.

We will be reading mostly a longer prayer from Sister Faustina. I would encourage you to get into a very prayerful mindset. The biggest thing to focus on is the fact that she is saying, "No matter what, Lord, I will bless you." And that is the attitude of a true saint. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1256-1261.

I heard a really good homily that talked about the struggle for us to understand when innocent people suffer. I thought it would be a good thing for us to talk about because we see Sister Faustina suffering and, also, her confessor and spiritual director. Trying to get this message of Divine Mercy has caused a lot of suffering for all three of them. But...why and what does it mean? 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1251-1255.

We are going to hear a term that I have never heard before. It's called "holy indifference." Normally, when we speak in spiritual terms, being indifferent is not a good thing to be. But, holy indifference? I had to stop and think about what that exactly means. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1246-1250.

It can kind of be troubling when we read about a saint that performs mortifications. It's hard for us to understand, it makes us a little queasy, and we aren't quite sure if it's something good to do. My daughter asked me the other day about Sister Faustina performing mortifications. She wanted to know what I thought about it and what Jesus thinks about it. So, I thought we'd dive into this touchy topic. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1243-1245.

As we look around our world we can tell that things aren't great. I'm sure every time period has thought that things were getting really bad and the end was near. However, in the past, most were able to hold on to their belief in God. Collectively, as a whole, nowadays we aren't turning to God. Instead, we are putting ourselves up as gods and the consequences are predictable--disaster and despair. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1239-1242.

Have you ever had a person show you kindness and you totally buy into it and then it turns out not to be sincere? It always makes us a little tender in our heart, doesn't it? When we put our trust in someone that shows us kindness and then it turns out that they were looking to set snares, it makes it hard to deal with that person. So what are we to do?

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1234-1238.

We will talk today about why it's so hard for us to give others mercy. It's not hard for Christ, but, man, it sure is hard for us. I thought of some reasons about why it is so difficult for us as humans. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 4, numbers 1231-1233.

Milestones day today! We have finished another 10 days and we move into Notebook Four. 

It will be short and sweet today. There is a prayer at the beginning of Notebook 4. We will pray along with her and then leave it at that while looking forward to what is in store in this new notebook. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1224-1230.

We will finish up the Novena today by covering three days. The readings will be a little longer but when we are done, we will finish up Notebook 3. Here are the souls we are to bring today.

Day 7: Those souls that venerate and glorify God's mercy.

Day 8: Souls in the prison of Purgatory.

Day 9: Lukewarm souls

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1218-1223.

We are continuing on with our condensed Novena. On Day 5, Christ wants heretics and schismatics brought to Him. On Day 6, He wants meek and humble souls and, also, the souls of children. Take a moment to think about the souls you would like to offer up as your intentions. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1214-1217.

We are continuing on with our Novena we started yesterday. We can't do the full nine days because of time constraints. So, we are lumping some days together.  Christ has asked that certain souls  be brought to Him each day. 

Day 3: We are to bring devout and faithful souls. 

Day 4: We are to bring pagans and non-believers.

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1209-1213.

Sister Faustina is going to be doing a Novena to the Divine Mercy. Christ has asked her to do this and He is going to tell her what souls He wants brought to Him each day. We won't be able to do each day one day at a time, but we can bring souls to Christ. 

Today we will bring all sinners for Day One and for Day Two we will bring priests and religious. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1201-1208.

Sister Faustina is at the vacation house and she's not doing well. In fact, she is getting worse. While there, she is visited by St. Joseph. Since 2021 is the year dedicated to St. Joseph, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about St. Joseph. I share my experience of visiting his church in Nazareth and the cave that was likely his workshop. We, also, discuss what we can learn from a saint that we don't know much about. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1196-1200.

Congratulations! Another 100 numbers down! 

Sister Faustina has a secret and she's not telling us. That's gonna drive me crazy! She's going to be going to a vacation house and she's very anxious to go, but she doesn't share it with us. Mostly, though, today we will be talking about being intentional and finding solitude. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1191-1195.

There's not a major theme today in our selection of readings. It's very much like diary entries. At one point, she'll talk about a sister who asks her some questions and then talks her words and distorts them. She reflects on how we should spend our lives growing in love for God and how we need to cling to Christ during life's storms. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1185-1190.

Do you have a grateful country? I've heard that the people of Haiti are some of the most gracious and appreciative people out there and, yet, they have so little. Contrast that with first world countries around the world that seem to have an ingratitude problem. Why is that? Well, that's what we are going to talk about today. Hint: It has to do with comfort. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1180-1184.

So, do you wanna hear about the lance that pierced Christ's side? Christ mentions it today in our readings and so I thought today would be a great day to go on a little history lesson with me. While in Turkey, I got to visit one of the claimed spears. It's an interesting story and I did a lot of research on the spear. I wanted to know if the one I was going to see in Turkey was the ONE. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1172-1179.

Congratulations on another 10 days down!

There's an old saying that goes, "I'll rest when I'm dead." This phrase got me thinking about why it's so hard to live out the Christian faith in a faithful way. Sister Faustina admits that she is struggling to live out God's Will faithfully. This is an honest admission and we will talk the struggles with living our faith well. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1160-1166.

We hear from Satan again. The Saints often have encounters with Satan because he attacks them so much. He hates they are able to pull lukewarm and cold souls out of his grasp. Also, we will have an interesting reflection as I wrap my favorite comedian, Brian Regan, into Sister Faustina's writings. 

Link to "Me Monster" skit by Brian Regan. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kLIe9vYop8

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1160-1166.

We are going to hear from Christ about a particular scene in the Bible that we never really reflect much on. It's kind of a forgotten part in His whole Passion. We are also going to hear Sister Faustina ask Him why He lets crime and sins go without punishment right away. He gives her an answer that can be hard for us, as humans, to understand. 

Today’s readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1153-1159

Sister Faustina has a vision of her new Congregation and Christ reveals to her how He wants her to spread mercy. There are three main ways—words of mercy, prayers for mercy, and deeds of mercy. I, also, share how difficult it has been to get this podcast up and running. The visual is pretty ridiculous but full of God’s grace. Whew!

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1148-1152.

These readings are some of my favorite from St. Faustina. They really speak to me and are totally relatable. We are talking about emotions today and how they threaten to overwhelm us sometimes. They can definitely get the better of us and Sister Faustina gives us the solution--pray for actual graces. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1142-1147.

When non-believers focus on God, they only focus on what they perceive to be "angry" Old Testament God. They never focus on God's mercy or love. Christ speaks beautiful words about His infinite mercy and it's a message that so many need to hear. Christ wants us to lead with a message of mercy. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1133-1141.

We are celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi with Sister Faustina today. It's so important that we understand that Christ's Body is fully given to us in the Holy Eucharist. Everything in the Old Testament must be greater and utterly fulfilled in the New. Holy Communion is not symbolic--it is the true Body of Christ. It's a miraculous way to be united to our Savior. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1127-1132.

Sister Faustina sees the devil lurking around her convent. When she demands that he tell her what he is doing, he says he is looking for idle and lazy souls. God gives us the gift of life and it is an absolute shame when we squander the time He gives us by being idle and wasting our days with useless entertainment. Sister Faustina tells us that it is the tired and toiled souls that will rejoice. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1121-1126.

Have you ever looked at a couple and seen them gushing in love and staring into each other's eyes? And then you look at yourself and your significant other and you don't see that same level of gushing love? Does it make you feel like maybe you don't love your significant other enough? Sister Faustina has the ability to be in ecstasy and be thoroughly connected to God. Many of us don't experience this and so we may wonder if we are doing something wrong.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1115-1120.

So what happens when you are trying to do God's Will but it does not feel good? What is brings you a lot of suffering and torment? Does that mean you are on the wrong track? Sister Faustina experiences just this issue. We have seen her striving as hard as she can to live out God's Will, but it doesn't always feel good to her. So, does this mean she is on the wrong path?

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1100-1114.

There's nothing too earthly-shattering today in our readings. But, we will be talking about Mary, as Sister Faustina talks about her in  the last part of our readings. You can never talk enough about our Mother Mary and I thought we would go into some of the doctrines that deal with her. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1106-1109.

We all understand the concept of "if you love someone set them free and if they come back to you they really love you." We understand that in order for someone to truly love, they have to be free to make the choice to be with us. However, when it comes to God, we have a very hard time understanding the free will concept. People actually think God is mean for not creating us in such a way that we never choose evil. But, because God loves us, He gave us free will. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1100-1105.

So, another hundred numbers down!

We will talk about sacrifice and suffering which is a common  theme in Sister Faustina's Diary. It's a topic that has to be talked about when speaking about love. You cannot have true, authentic love without sacrifice and suffering. Too often we think that real love will be devoid of these things but it's exactly the opposite. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1094-1099.

I was on the internet the other day and what struck me was how many people were talking about how fearful, sad, depressed, and sorrowful they were. They seemed to be a lot of interior unrest. Sister Faustina talks today about the interior life and how external things can affect it. There are a lot of things that we think interiorly that affects our health. We will talk about those things today. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1089-1093.

Where is all the courage? Do you ever ask yourself that? It does seem like we live in a time where courage is just not practiced at all. We desperately need courageous people to speak the truth and do courageous acts. Sister Faustina today talks about courage and how if God has graced you with courage, He wants you to do something with it. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1085-1088.

Why are vices so much easier to fall into than virtues? We really have to practice living out virtues, but vices seem like our default setting. Sister Faustina tells us that she falling into a vice--ten times in the day. She is struggling to live out the virtue that she wants to practice. Christ tells her why she is struggling. Today, we will talk about the seven deadly sins. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1079-1084.

Have you ever pondered on the fact that most of our saints come from very quiet and humble backgrounds? Not all--there are some kings, queens, and popes. Sister Faustina was just a simple nun living in Poland. She basically had an obscure life yet God was able to do amazing things through her. This is all because she opened her heart and mind to God and surrendered her life to Him. God can do the same through us. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1074-1078.

Most of our readings are of Christ speaking to Sister Faustina. I wish I had just a little bit of her mysticism. How incredible to have Christ speak so frequently with her. I can only imagine what a blessing it must have been to be that closely united. What we are going to do is walk through Christ's words and pull out the things that stick out to me. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1069-1073.

So, do you have a sin or two that you still struggle with even if its been confessed? Do you struggle to fully believe in Christ's mercy? Sometimes this sneaks up on me. There are some sins that I've committed that haunt me from time-to-time. It's a trick of the devil, I know. But, if you realize anything from this diary, let it be that Christ wants to shower you with mercy no matter what sin you've committed, no matter how unworthy you feel, no matter if you are afraid to approach Him. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1062-1068.

Sister Faustina is allowed to go back to her Congregation in our readings today. She has handled her sickness and suffering very well. She has not wasted her time with grumbling or complaining. She has used her suffering for the good of others. This is wildly different than how most of us--myself included--handle sickness. She is a good model for how we should approach sickness and suffering. We can choose to use it for good. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1055-1061.

We've been going through Holy Week with Sister Faustina and we are now at Good Friday. The readings will be a little longer to keep the flow of the day. I really love the rhythm of the seasons of the Catholic Church. I especially love Holy Week. It helps make Easter all the more glorious, I think. I share a cool Easter Vigil experience I had at the parish on the UVA campus. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1050-1054.

What happens when we become numb to what Christ did in His Passion? Sister Faustina meditates often on Christ's Passion and it only makes her grow in appreciate of Christ's sacrifice and gift to us. She becomes even more sensitive to the gravity of sin. I think it is important that we meditate on Christ's Passion with right intention and with the goal to grow closer to Christ. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1043-1049. 

One of the most misunderstood elements of the Catholic Church is the papacy. There are many misunderstandings and outright lies about exactly what the papacy entails. Sister Faustina has a vision of the Holy Father in her writings today and I thought this would be a good time to talk about the pope. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1038-1042.

Sister Faustina feels great sorrow when others are suffering. She always feels empathy and wants to help those close to her and even strangers. Social media has created an unsympathetic society. We just see others as unknowns behind a screen. It is so important that we "lead with empathy," as my brother likes to say. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1033-1037.

We are going through Holy Week again with Sister Faustina and she is meditating on Christ's Passion. This made me think of a scene from the movie "Passion of the Christ." There's a very specific scene where Mary is putting her head to the ground to "feel" Jesus through the stone floor as He is being held prisoner. I talk about when I went in the cell where Christ was held. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1027-1032.

We know that, as Christians, we are to help out our neighbors. Sister Faustina helps out a sick person in another room and renders them a great service. This reading reminded me of when I read Pope Leo XIII's encyclical "Rerum Noverum." He stresses in it how important it is for us to help people at the local level. More help can be done there than by a government. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1021-1026.

Christian's are often accused of being boring, lame, or too strict. This is a gross generalization, however, there have been some Christians that deny themselves all goodness in an attempt for piety. We must remember that God wants us to delight in His good gifts. We have to be temperate and prudent or we can tend towards gluttony. It is good, though, to find joy in the good, the true, and beautiful. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1014-1020.

We think we know how horrible sin is, but do we? We live in a world and culture that is trying to make all sin acceptable, even celebrated. Because sin is packaged as something that looks fun, cool, comfortable, or pleasurable, we don't often realize how horrible sin really is. This is why Confession is so important. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1005-1013.

This is my last day recording from Turkey. Since our departure is what is weighing on my heart, it's what I'm going to talk about today. Somehow I'll make it connect with the readings today. The readings speak of all souls knowing Christ's mercy and love. Here in Turkey, for the most part, those things are not known or understood. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 3, numbers 1001-1004.

Today we enter into Notebook 3 and we are going to ease our way into it. Sister Faustina gives us two poems and it will be good to hear them and just sit with them. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 996-1000.

More milestones today! We hit number 1000 and we will finish Notebook 2. Yay!

If we only get one thing out of this diary, we have to see that Christ wants to pour mercy out on everyone who asks for it. As humans, we can believe that there are some people that aren't worthy of mercy; those people that have done the worst of worst deeds. However, Christ does not view them the way we view them. He wants to shower mercy even on the worst sinner. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 991-995.

You can be sure that you will be tested in your Christian life. It is through that test that your love will either show up or it won't. There hasn't been a saint yet that hasn't gone through some trial. That's honestly how they become saints--through the test. It's so easy to love God when things are going great. But, easy love doesn't show the depths of your love and devotion. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 985-989.

We've all seen the reports that rates of depression, anxiety, and fear are on the rise. I can't help but speculate that these rises are caused by the abandonment of faith. Sister Faustina talks about how she is astonished that people would deny eternity. If you believe that this world is all there is; it definitely will cause you to live your life in a way that may leave you desperate to cling to this life no matter what. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 979-984.

In our current culture and climate there is the push to make all sins okay. We are told that Christ is happy when we are living out our truth whatever we decide that to be. Today, though, Christ tells Sister Faustina that He is pleased with her effort of living out God's Will. So, if Christ can be pleased with certain actions, He can be displeased, too. We can't trick ourselves into thinking that Christ is a-okay with everything. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 971-978.

Sister Faustina knows that greater knowledge of God brings about greater love for God. What are the ways we can have greater knowledge of God? Scripture is the obvious answer and attendance at Mass. Are there other ways, too? I talk about some ways that I think you can gain a greater knowledge of God. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 964-970.

Sister Faustina is a mystic...however, most of us are not. What does that mean? Are we lacking in our faith if we aren't mystics, too? No. Not all of us have this special grace and that's okay. Because Sister Faustina is a mystic it can be difficult for some of us to relate to her or get anything out of this diary. To be sure, though, even non-mystics can get much out of her diary.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 958-963.

Has anyone ever come to you and asked for you to pray for something that you knew was not good for them? Sister Faustina is approached by a woman who asks for prayers for something that was not good. Sister Faustina tells her that she can't pray for such an intention, but will pray for her, in general. That takes a lot of courage to say but we have to remember that God will not bless sin. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 952-957.

Somehow I make a connection between "The Karate Kid" movie and Sister Faustina's Diary. Lol! You never know where my mind is going to go. Sister Faustina shares with us that sometimes she just doesn't understand what God is doing in her life but she surrenders regardless. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 949-951.

We will pray a litany to the Divine Mercy today. I would encourage you to think of any intentions you may have before we pray this litany. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 942-948.

What's love got to do with it? Everything! Love for God and love from God is at the heart of our relationship with Him. Sister Faustina's writings today are like a beautiful love letter to her beloved. The best way to love God is to give Him your whole life. 

200 DAYS!!! CONGRATULATIONS!

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 934-941.

Because of the flow of our readings today, it's going to be a little longer today. Pay close attention to what Sister Faustina has to say about confessors and spiritual directors. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 929-933.

We are all called as baptized Christians to proclaim the Good News. Two of the best ways to do that is to: 1. Live our Catholic Faith fully and boldly and 2. Be able to explain the faith with clarity and charity. Sister Faustina today is greatly concerned for mankind, especially for those that don't know Jesus and those that know who He is but don't love Him. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 924-928.

Sister Faustina is overwhelmed by all the sin on Shrove Tuesday. She wonders why God allows humanity to exist.  All the bad in the world can overwhelm us and make us wonder what God is up to. It may even cause us to question whether we should be people of faith. We must remember that our calling as Christians is to wade into the dark and bring light, because...if not us, then who?

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 919-923.

Do you ever feel like you shouldn't burden God with all that's on your mind? Do you think that He has more important things to do than listen to you? God tells Sister Faustina to tell Him everything. He wants her to approach Him like a child and talk to Him about everything. Don't forget, God can handle all your thoughts and prayers and He wants to hear what you have to say. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 915-918.

Sister Faustina shares a really dramatic scene. She tells us about a sick Jewish woman that she and another Sister are trying to figure out how to baptize before she dies. So, we are going to talk about Baptism and refresh our memories about this wildly important Sacrament. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 911-914.

It's all downhill from here, Catholic Pilgrims. What do I mean? Well, today is the halfway point with regards to the numbers. Congrats!

We will be discussing the Blessed Trinity today as Sister Faustina gives her thoughts on the oneness of God. The Blessed Trinity is not an easy mystery to explain, but it is a reality. God revealed that He is Three Persons in One God. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 903-910.

A lot of people leave their Catholic Faith or Christianity, in general, because they have had a bad experience with a bad Christian. That is why it is so important for us to give good witness because people are watching and we are held to a higher standard as Christians. We, also, have to remember that bad Christians are NOT living up to the Christian ideals that God desires for us. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 897-902.

Congrats! Today we have gone through another one hundred numbers!

It will be a little different today. Sister Faustina will tell us about another sister that she knows is lying to her. I'm going to read a blog to you on the 7th Commandment a few years ago. I did a whole series a few years ago about the 10 Commandments and tried to come at the topics from different angles to make you think. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 893-896.

Obedience is the word of the day. It's a hard word for us modern day people. We think we are above obedience and too independent for it. However, there is One person we must always be obedient to and that is God. To be sure, we will always be obedient to something or someone, no matter how independent we think we are. We will be obedient to ourselves, the culture, a government, or God. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 889-892.

In order to feel worthy or that our lives are worth something, we believe that we need to amazing, great deeds. And so, we look down on simple, everyday work or work for our children and family. It's just not big enough we tell ourselves. But, what Sister Faustina shares with us that is that anything done with great love automatically becomes a great deed. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 883-888.

We are going to talk about silence...again. Sister Faustina talks about it a lot and I do think it's something important to keep discussing. It's vital that we find time for silence out in nature. We don't need to go on a big trip. We just need to find a few moments of stillness and silence in God's created world in order to refresh our souls. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 879-882.

We are going to hear from Sister Faustina what she's really afraid of; we hear her reasons for why she feels inadequate. It's sort of an excuse list, but the excuses seem pretty valid. We make excuse lists, too, when God asks something of us. We feel like maybe there's someone else better for the job. But, God knows who He wants to complete His work and He will make up what is lacking in us. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 875-878.

Sister Faustina prays some very specific prayers today and they are answered. Sometimes, though, God does not always answer our prayers in the way we want. So, we have to trust that God knows what He's doing and He will do what is best. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 870-874.

What if someone comes into your life that is nearly impossible to love? What if they are someone that commits unspeakable acts? Sister Faustina shares with us that we are to love others for the sake of Christ. She even says that sometimes love of Christ is the only motive that can help us to love those that seem impossible. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 864-869.

A orphan girl visits Sister Faustina in our readings and she is suffering greatly. Sister Faustina feels bad because she isn't sure how to console her. This happens to us, as well. We often encounter people going through some great suffering and we don't know what to do or say. Sometimes, there just don't seem to be the right words. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 861-863.

Sister Faustina writes about self-love today. She comments on how focus on self should not be our top priority. This flies in the face of every popular message out there. The culture tells us that self-love should be our top focus. Christianity teaches us to empty ourselves out for others. So, we talk about how the self-love conversation has to be a little more nuanced than the culture tries to make it. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 855-860.

We celebrate New Year's with Sister Faustina. She takes some time to reflect on the past year. She counts her blessings and contemplates her shortcomings. I discuss why I don't like New Year's resolutions but I do like taking some time to reflect on the past year to see how far we've come, what blessings we've received, and where we need to grow. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 851-854.

Sister Faustina comments on how God is unchanging. He is perfection itself. As humans, though, we should grow and change. It's popular to say, "You don't have to change for anyone!" Really? We shouldn't strive to change for the better for Christ, our loved ones, or even society in general? That's a very selfish comment. We have to examine the change being asked of us and discern whether we should work to change or not. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 846-850.

We talk today about loved ones that have fallen away from the Faith. It's heartbreaking and so worrisome to know that a loved one no longer has a relationship with Christ or has fallen away from the Sacraments. What can we do? Christ stresses how praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet can be a great help. I offer, what I hope, are some encouraging words and I pray for fallen away loved ones at the end. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 842-845.

Merry Christmas! In our readings today, Sister Faustina is preparing for the Midnight Mass. She is back with her community to celebrate and is very happy about that. I reflect on what it was like to live in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas. It really helps you to appreciate that specialness of the Advent and Christmas season. When something has been stripped from you, you often see the importance of it. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 837-841.

Sister Faustina laments today about how her dang pen won't work. I think we can all relate to this frustration. Lol. In all seriousness, though, we focus today on finding silence. It's so important to find a few moments to sit in silence each day. God needs us to be still and silent to hear His voice penetrate our souls. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 833-836.

As Sister Faustina is lying in the hospital, God gives her a special grace to feel when souls are dying. She realizes that she needs to strengthen them with her prayers. This is just another example of the connection between baptized souls. Our Christian faith is more than just a private, personal relationship with Jesus. Christ gives us to each other to help each other on our journey to Heaven.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 827-832.

More and more, we are turning Christ into just a social justice mascot. Political parties like to use Christ to prove a point or try to push an agenda. While it is good and right to make sure that we make society as good as we can, we can't reduce Christ to just the face of our movement. Sister Faustina shows us in her writings today the appropriate response to God--one of worship and praise. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 823-826. 

Sister Faustina talks about how it would be a misfortune if she missed Mass. She doesn't want to miss Holy Communion. There was a time in my life when I never once thought of it as a misfortune if I missed going to church. I just didn't care and what an ungrateful attitude I had. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 817-822.

During Confession, Sister Faustina sees Christ take the place of her confessor. We know, as Catholics, that in Confession the priest is in Persona Christi-- in the Person of Christ. This got me thinking of the much heated debate about how women can't be priests in the Catholic Church. So, we are going to dive into that discussion.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 812-816.

Satan hates God's mercy. He will do anything to convince us that God's mercy isn't for us: We aren't worthy, our sin is too big. But, none of this is true; the only unforgiven sin is the one we refuse to bring to Christ for forgiveness. Don't ever think that your sin is greater than the mercy of Christ. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 805-811.

Our readings are longer today, but the overall podcast is shorter. Today we get the promise from Christ that praying the chaplet at the moment of a dying person's hour, it delivers much mercy to them. What a great promise to keep in the back of our mind.  

Milestone Alert: We've made it through another 100 numbers!

Also, I goof in this podcast and say that it is day 174 instead of 173. Sorry!

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 800-804. 

Sister Faustina's writings today are like quick diary entries. We will take time to reflect on a few of the things that are very noteworthy.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 794-799.

Sister Faustina meditates on Mary and Joseph's journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Her reflection got me thinking about just how strong and courageous Mary was/is. She is such a strong woman and she dealt with so much as the Mother of God, yet she did it will strength and courage. She is such a great example for us and she can always be a source of strength for us when we feel weak or scared. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 787-793.

Sister Faustina is on a one day retreat and she's just kind of writing down different musings that come to her mind. I take this time to look at myself and see how well I'm doing with the areas she wants to get better in: Listening better, being patient, not worrying with others judge us, suffering without drawing attention.  

Another ten days down! Good job, Catholic Pilgrims!

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 782-786.

As we know, Sister Faustina talks a lot about suffering for God and how it is a way to show love. This was an emotional reading today because it caused me to reflect on the suffering I've had being kept from Mass through lockdowns. But, recently, I found out daily Mass is available and I got to go. It's been glorious. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 777-781.

Heaven is about worship of the Almighty for eternity. It is the full union with God and basking in all happiness and glory. There is a tendency, though, of thinking of Heaven as only a place where we will be reunited with our loved ones. While this will be wonderful, too often, we forget that the point of Heaven is to be united with God. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 771-776.

What if you could gain a greater capacity for happiness and knowledge in Heaven? What if that meant you needed to do the hard work to have a relationship with God here on Earth? Would you do all that you could to be rewarded with a greater capacity for happiness? God gives us graces and we must respond to it and allow those graces to help us grow closer to God. The closer we grow to God here on Earth; the closer we will be in Heaven. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 768-770.

Have you found a kindred spirit in Christ? Sister Faustina talks today about how God gives grace to kindred spirits that are united to God. They easily recognize each other. I talk about how connected I felt to other Catholics when I was at the World Meeting of Families. 

Warning: Today's reflection is not appropriate for young ears.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 764-767.

Christ tells Sister Faustina to "defend children from evil." As you know, I go with what falls on my heart for my reflections. Today, Christ's comment placed on my heart to discuss my experiences of working with children that have sexually abused and those that have been abused. We are failing to defend children from evil because we are afraid of standing against the culture.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 760-763.

We will focus on one line from today's readings. A priest tells Sister Faustina not to worry about human opinion when it comes to doing God's Will. This is so hard for all of us. It is hard to deal with people's forceful and negative comments about our Catholic Faith. But, we must remember, Christ's truth always takes precedence over human opinion.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 756-759.

Sister Faustina has a vision today of the Upper Room and she sees the institution of the Blessed Sacrament. I describe my experience of being in the Upper Room when I was on pilgrimage in the Holy Land. The Upper Room was utterly different than what I had imagined it to be. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 750-755.

We have to work with God's grace. If God asks us to do something we must do it and realize that God will do His part to help us fulfill our mission. He will give us graces to help us. Sometimes we will have to be patient and wait as things work themselves out, but if God wills something, He will help it to happen.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 745-749.

Are we willing to accept ridicule, persecutions, and hatred for Christ? Or, do we try to make Christianity fit the popular culture so as to make it easy for us to live it out, not angering enemies of the Catholic Church. If the popular culture applauds your brand of Christianity, you can be sure it misses the mark. We cannot conform Christianity around the secular culture--to do so makes Christianity ineffectual and bland. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 742-744.

Jesus is going to talk about works today, so we are going to talk about works today. Faith and works are not in conflict with each other. In fact, works arise naturally out of faith. If you love and believe in Christ then you desire to show your love through works. Words only go so far. 

Congrats!  Another ten days down. We are moving right along. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 736-741.

Let today be a call to evangelization. Sister Faustina visits Hell and her descriptions are horrific. We must live our Catholic Faith with joy and passion so that those who don't believe might see a difference in us. If our lives look just like the culture then we will draw no one to Christ.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 731-735.

In our lives today, entertainment is a top priority. The entertainment mentality has pervaded our faith lives. Too many look to sit back and be entertained by religion. If not, well, then it is time to move on till we find something more entertaining. Sister Faustina shows us a deep spiritual life requires worship and praise even when times are hard, even when God's presence pervades us, and when we are discouraged.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 725-730.

Who is the number voice that guides your life? Is it your spouse? Your best friend? Your favorite politician? Is it your own voice? Sister Faustina shares how Christ's voice is the only voice she wants to hear. He is her number one. There are many, many voices that influence our life but the voice we should put the most stock in is Christ's.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 720-724.

Sister Faustina shares that it can be hard to live in a community. She ain't kidding! No matter what community we are in, people can be difficult. We ourselves are difficult. It's so important for us to learn to be good community members whether that be at work, school, church, or at home. People need patience and mercy. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 714-719.

Christ seems to say some really harsh words to Sister Faustina. He tells her that she needs to be aware of what she truly is. It is so important that we are truthful with ourselves about our sins and about how those sins have made us do things that are not becoming to us. I share my experiences as a counselor. It is very difficult to get people to truly look at who they are and who they have become. Too often we want to blame everyone else for our shortcomings and sins. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 709-713.

Apologizes for the mispronunciation of ciborium by me today in the readings and for the scratchy sound at the very end. 

Sister Faustina realizes that she may not see the full fruits of her labors with regards to the Divine Mercy message. She knows that her life may end before the message fully spreads. She's okay with that. We, too, should always be ready to make things better even if we never see the full fruits of our efforts.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 702-708.

Sister Faustina shares how much she loves to be close to God. She wants to talk to Him, learn from Him, share her life with Him. The good news is that God wants us to be close to Him. He is not a distant, unapproachable God. He is relational. He desires a close relationship with each of His created souls. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 697-701.

So often, we look to Christ as a last resort to solve our problems. This is true for individuals, communities, and countries. Too often we look to politicians, the media, and progressive movements to fix problems. If we don't seek Christ's guidance in any problem we try to fix, not only will we not fix it, we will more than likely make the problem worse. Sister Faustina reminds us that God must come first. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 692-696.

Sister Faustina talks about the sufferings of death today. I would wager that most of us fear that sufferings of death and would just  like to go peacefully in our sleep when we are 95. But, the reality is that this probably won't happen to most of us--most of us will suffer in some capacity. Talking about it helps to lessen the fear. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 686-691.

Do we show up in the hard? Do we show people we love them by showing up even when we are tired or even if we really don't want to do something at the moment? Sister Faustina is very tired and, yet, she still goes to give a Holy Hour. Christ tells her this pleases Him very much. It's because she still chose to give to Him even when it was hard. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 680-685.

Sister Faustina is asking for the intercession of Jesuit Saints. I thought today would be a great day to talk about the Jesuits and how they came about. My daughter recently learned about St. Ignatius and how he came to found the Jesuits. What I love about the Jesuits is their willingness to go into the unknown to bring the Gospel. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 675-679.

Sister Faustina mentions todays that the practicing the virtues is important to living out God's Will. So, I thought today would be a good day to talk about the Cardinal Virtues. We know that the virtues are good to practice, but I'm not sure we think about them very often. If we don't know what we are aiming to practice, it will be difficult to practice them. I thought it would be a good time to go over Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 669-674.

Sister Faustina is being tormented by Satan and she just wants to run into the garden to cry aloud. She is even tempted to miss Holy Communion because of temptations. Christ appears and asks her a very pointed question. It's a question that Christ will ask to each one of our souls at least once in our life. It reminds me of a question Christ asks in John 6. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 664-668.

Sister Faustina talks a lot about doing God's Will in our readings today. What impresses me is how willing she is to do God's Will even it means she is hidden and meek. She isn't worried about being known or famous. My pride causes me to struggle with doing things God wants when it may not be seen by others. This is a fault that I think many of us struggle with and it all boils down to pride. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 658-663.

How do we know if we are truly being guided by the Holy Spirit? Well, there are safeguards we need to put into place to check and make sure any inspirations are truly from God. St. Faustina shows us those safeguards: Talking with a spiritual director, speaking with priests, other friends grounded in their Catholic Faith, and lots of prayer.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 653-657.

Sister Faustina talks about having contrition for her sins in her writings today. It is so important that we have true contrition for our sins. There is imperfect contrition and perfect contrition. We will discuss the differences today and, also, how to have contrition for our sins. Sometimes, our sins can make us numb and cause us to forget how much pain they inflicted on Christ.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 646-652.

We get the continuation of the saga that happened in yesterday's readings. Today, everyone has changed. The confessor is less severe. Satan doesn't show up. Christ doesn't have too much to say and St. Faustina has renewed strength and courage. I think what we are seeing is the battle of self-will vs. God's Will. Even saints have to work out their holiness.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 643-645.

The readings today are very curious. Her new confessor tells her to give all these inspirations up, they are all an illusions. And curiously, she is relieved to get this message. However, she falls into darkness. Later, Christ talks with her and seems completely fine with how things are playing out. It's all very curious and I'm interested to see how this plays out. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 639-642.

Sister Faustina has been going through Lent. Now she is thinking about Palm Sunday. I share my experience of walking the Palm Sunday path when I was in the Holy Land. Whenever I read the Palm Sunday narrative, it reminds me of the fickleness of the human heart when it comes to Christ.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 634-638.

Sister Faustina has a conversation with Mary in our readings today.  Mary implores Sister Faustina to get the message of mercy out so that souls can receive it before the Second Coming of Christ. At the Second Coming, Christ will be the Just Judge. We prepare for lots of things in our life, just in case something happens. Do we prepare our souls for the coming of Christ? 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 629-633.

As Sister Faustina is getting ready to depart, another sister comes and apologizes to her for being so difficult. Sister Faustina had been patient with this other sister and, in the end, it had brought about good change. Though it can be incredibly difficult to be patient with those that try us, we can change their hearts if we show them a Christ-like witness.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 624-628.

Sister Faustina has a interaction with an elderly sister who was struggling to believe that she has been forgiven by God. Sister Faustina promises to pray for her and ask Christ if she has been forgiven. Sometimes, we struggle with doubts about whether God really loves us or really forgives us. God wants us to trust Him, but, thankfully, He never tires of reassuring us.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 617-623.

Sister Faustina writes about how our prayers for specific souls in purgatory may not get applied to who we attend. God will apply our prayers to those that need them. I did an Ancestry DNA kit a few years back and I realized that I have a lot of ancestors that could possible use my prayers for them if they are in purgatory. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 615-616.

Sister Faustina gives a lot of thoughts on following God's Will versus our own will. There are times when we know, deep in our bones, what God wants us to do. Many times, we just ignore and pretend not to know because we realize that following God's Will will mean giving up some sin we enjoy. Or we think we know better. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 610-614.

Sister Faustina fears that she has possibly offended Christ. Because she is unsure, she decides to stay away from Communion until she can later get to Confession. While her desire to be free of sin is admirable, it is not good that she stays away from Communion. Her confessor even tells her so much. If we have mortal sin on our soul, we cannot receive Communion. But, we can with venial sin on our soul and we should because the Eucharist is food for our soul.

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 605-609.

We hear about how Sister Faustina has a rough morning. She's sleepy, she struggles to stay focused in prayer and meditation. She talks about how each day she deals with battles in the morning and battles at the end. This is important to read because it helps us see that saints struggle, too. They have bad prayer times. They deal with constant battles. All saints go through this and, so, we should see that sainthood is not out of reach for any of us. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 601-604.

Today is the first day where I truly was stumped by something Sister Faustina wrote. It caused me to raise an eyebrow, but it's not the first time a saint has talked about this certain issue. St. Paul does in Colossians. So, I had to do a little research to understand. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 596-600.

Sister Faustina asks Christ to take on the sufferings of her confessor. Christ mostly grants her prayer and she immediately starts feeling struggles and aversions. I ask the question, "Are we willing to suffer for others?" I share a story of when I was asked to suffer for someone and how hard it was to do, even though the suffering was utterly minor. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 593-595.

What makes a truly happy soul? Do whatever makes you happy? Do whatever it takes to get yours? Nah. Sister Faustina tells us that a truly happy soul must be humble. I have some ideas, too, of what  makes us truly happy.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 587-592.

Love conquers fear. When we love God and get to know Him better through reading Scripture and praying, we start to understand His heart all the more. Knowing Him better helps us to not fear God as just a God of punishment, but as a God of mercy. Realizing this, we lose our fear of God and, instead, our relationship with Him becomes so much better. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 580-586.

Christ tells Sister Faustina that those with a lukewarm faith break His heart. It even breaks His heart more than those who sin who don't believe in Him. The fact of the matter is, is that a lukewarm faith does absolutely nothing for us. Here's the thing, we don't want ANYONE to love us with a lukewarm love, why would we ever think it's okay to love God that way? 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 574-579.

Eternity with God is full of joy and glory. It will be better than we  can even comprehend. Sadly, there are many that don't believe in eternity and this non-belief causes them to live their lives in a very different way than Christians. Sister Faustina expresses gratitude  and praise  for eternity in the writings today and it's a great thing to ponder.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 570-573.

Sister Faustina's greatest fear is to offend God. This is exactly right. Too often we worry about offending other people rather than worrying about offending God. To be sure, we shouldn't walk  around trying to offend people through hateful talk or nasty names. However, we cannot worry about whether our Catholic Faith offends others. We have to live our faith boldly, defend truth logically, and stand-up for Christ whether it offends or not. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers  568-569.

Sister Faustina defines how she wants the Superior to relate to the sisters. It is a fantastic look at true leadership. What is important to understand is that not everyone on earth has the gift of leadership. But, if you do, true leadership is about serving as Christ served. True leadership should never be self-serving. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 565-567.

Sister Faustina writes today about the respect she wants the sisters to give their Superior. So, we are going to talk about worship, praise, respect, and honor. Catholics get accused pretty frequently of giving too much honor and respect to the Pope, the Saints, and Mary. People tell us that we worship them. We are going to discuss some big theological words: Dulia, Hyperdulia, and Latria. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 559-564.

Sister Faustina has a vision of the building that is to house her new convent. The problem is that it's a run-down, crumbling building. She's a little disappointed. I share what it's like to visit the ruins of once-glorious Catholic Churches here in Turkey. Surprisingly, it doesn't cause me to despair. I try to explain why. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 549-553.

We are continuing on today with reading about how Sister Faustina's new Congregation will operate. Don't let this be dry readings to you. There are a lot of good things to reflect upon in these words. I want to focus on what she has to say about work and silence. My grandfather always told me to embrace work and he was a good example of that for me. And something I have to work on is learning to be silent. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 542-548. 

Sister Faustina is laying out how the new Congregation will work. We made be tempted to see these readings as not really pertaining to our lives. I think, though, that it is important to understand and see exactly what the Religious give up for Christ. If we are looking for Christianity to be cushy or comfy, we are misguided and don't understand that our lives as Christians should not be worldly. 

Milestone Day! We are a third of the way through the year! 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 536-541.

Sister Faustina is envisioning what the new Congregation will look like. Our Religious do so much good in the world and I share a story of an atheist that ended up converting to Catholicism. One of the reasons was because of the witness of Religious. 

Here is the interview with him. 

https://catholicpilgrim.net/?p=1866

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 530-535. 

The podcast is a little longer today because we will be saying a prayer for our priests at the end. Christ tells Sister Faustina to pray for the souls of priests and I thought it would be a good idea for us to pray for them, as well. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 525-529.

The life of a saint is filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. There are moments of great feelings of joy; there are moments of dryness. If we are expecting our faith life to be full of nothing but highs, we will be disappointed and tempted to walk away from the faith. We must realize that the dry points may be times of fortification. Like Sister Faustina, we need to just keep going. 

We start Notebook Two today!

Today's readings are from Notebook 2, numbers 522-524.

It will be a short reading today. Notebook Two starts with a beautiful short poem and I will read it and then let you reflect on its message of mercy. It's a great way to start this next chapter. 

Congratulations! We made it to the end of Notebook One! Whoop, whoop!

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 512-521.

We complete Notebook one and this is a big milestone for all of us. After our readings today we will summarize our journey thus far with Sister Faustina. We've been through so much with her and we've seen that the life of a saint is never easy but always full of intention and perseverance.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 506-511.

All the writings today have to do with patience. Sister Faustina's spiritual director is encouraging her to be patient with regards to discerning whether she should start a new Congregation. Sister Faustina writes about how she is going to arm herself with patience. I struggle mightily to be a patient person. Learning to be patience requires training our patience muscle. It takes a lot of hard work.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 498-505.

Sister Faustina is always trying to find ways to be more obedient to God. She's always looking for some way to surrender more. That made me wonder about my life. What would it look like if I tried to be more obedient and to surrender more? I encourage us all to assess our lives and see what we would do differently. It wasn't too hard for me to list out a few things I can work on. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 492-497.

Sister Faustina is really struggling with her upcoming Confession. She has all kinds of doubts and thoughts about why she shouldn't have to follow God's Will for her life. Her Confession doesn't go very well. I think we can all relate to this. There are so many temptations that come to us that try to get us to NOT go to Confession. It's the one Sacrament where we are most hesitant. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 489-491.

Sister Faustina's has frequent visits from her Guardian Angel. He seems to be present in order to give her strength.  I don't think we call on our Guardian Angels enough. They are such wonderful helps from God. I share my story of when I believe I met mine. It's a good story. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 485-488.

Should we care about what other people say about us? Sister Faustina says that she has given up caring about what other people say about her. There is a fine line to walk here. Of course, we should always be open to constructive criticism from others. However, if people are just saying nasty things about us or trying to call us out without doing it with the true intention of helping us to be better, we shouldn't take any stock in their words.  

Today's readings from Notebook 1, numbers 479-484. 

Sister Faustina professes her love for the Catholic Church. As a former Protestant, I wish that lukewarm Catholics could fully  understand what they have in the Church. It is where we receive the Sacraments, it is where we receive teachings from the Magisterium. I lived without these things for 30 years and I know  what it is like to be without the fullness. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 474-478.

I'm so excited for today's readings because we hear the prayers that we pray when praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. There are people that are against this diary and feel that it is a dangerous book. But, if you just read today's words and prayers, it is baffling to think that anyone takes issue with such beautiful prayers and the message behind them. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 471-473.

Sister Faustina sees a vision of one of the angels that stand before the throne of God. She describe him as very beautiful. She attributes this beauty to the closeness this angel has with God. As humans, we spend tons of time, effort, and money working on our external beauty. How often do we work to grow our internal beauty? Internal beauty manifests itself exteriorly and helps us to shine with a Christ-like light. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers  466-470. 

Let's have fun talking about God's Creation today. Sister Faustina stares out her window and looks at the heavens. The stars and moon cause her heart to burn with adoration for God. It is so good to marvel at creation and it helps us grasp at the mind of God. I give you a few of my favorite places in creation that I have seen. Share yours!

The show is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. They are a Catholic jewelry company. Check them out at www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 456-465.

The readings are a little bit longer today, but Sister Faustina is on a three-day retreat and I wanted to keep a flow of thought. The speaker speaks about God's goodness--one of His greatest attributes. Many people--believers and non-believers--struggle with fully believing in God's goodness. Lots of people who have experienced deep pain have a hard time accepting that God is good. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 450-455. 

Till our last breath, our lives have purpose and meaning. No matter our age, no matter our place in life, we can fight the good fight against evil and work to save souls. When I was in college, I cleaned house for a retired couple that had forgotten that their lives had purpose and meaning. Sister Faustina's writings reminded me of them. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 445-449.

One line from Christ in today's readings gets me fired up. When we look around at the present state of things, there is a real desire to just hunker down and keep our Catholic Faith to ourselves. While things may look bleak, we were made for times such as this. This is our fight and we must have courage. In the present state of things, there is little joy or happiness; it is up to us to bring the Good News of Christ. It's a little longer today, but I felt we needed a pep talk.  :)

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 440-444.

Sister Faustina's confessor talks to her about the three degrees of accomplishing God's Will. The first degree is following rules and statues of our faith. The second one is listening to internal inspirations and finding a way to heed the call. I share a story of a time when I got a big internal inspiration from God, but I ignored it. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 435-439.  

Does Sister Faustina's writings seem heavy to you? I read an article that said Sister Faustina's Diary may not be good for people that struggle with scrupulosity. Sister Faustina does have a tendency to second guess herself and to feel that she is just the worst sinner out there. If you struggle with scrupulosity know that you aren't alone. God may have chosen St. Faustina to deliver this message because she so greatly needed to understand Christ's mercy.   

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 429-434. 

I think fear is one of the most crippling things plaguing our world today. Everyone is afraid of something and that fear has caused us to draw in on ourselves. I'm not immune. Sister Faustina writes about how she is frightened by the greatness of what God is asking her to do. When it comes to spiritual matters, we can't let fear control us and keep us from heeding God's call. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 424-428.

Sister Faustina has a vision of a soul that was in front of the judgment seat of God. Many wounded souls were coming to bear witness to how they were treated by the newly judged soul. It wasn't a pretty sight. There are so many wounded souls walking around about us and it is imperative that we pray for people and, also, that we are aware of those around us.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 420-423.

100 DAYS! Congratulations on listening in for 100 days.

I hope you all understand that it is no coincidence that we are reading this diary together during in this time. There is so much angst in the world and the way we are going about handling it as a culture is not helpful. What is left out is mercy. It is time to put what we have been reading about into practice--we must be people of mercy.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 413-419.

The image is finally up! This is causing the demons much torment because of all the souls that are being flooded with mercy. Satan does not want the message of mercy to be known. He wants us to feel sunk in sin and feel left to be judged by a callous and spiteful god. Mercy, though, heals and drives out evil from souls. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 411-412. 

The closer you get to God, the harder Satan will try. I don't know about you but I feel I would be hysterical if Satan were openly attacking me as he sometimes does Sister Faustina. Yet, she handles it with great confidence in God. She prays, she calls on her Guardian Angel, she stays calm. We need never worry when Satan attacks because God will always send us helps to combat him. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 405-410. 

The Sorrowful Mysteries are my favorite set of mysteries to pray. I know that might sound weird, but those mysteries ground me in Christ's love. Sister Faustina is reflecting on the Passion of our Lord. It is good for us to be reminded of what He endured because when we don't it becomes even hard to appreciate Christ's Resurrection and His victory over death and sin. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 401-404. 

Sister Faustina is still at home with her family and she is being inundated with visitors. She loves that she gets to talk so much about God, but she also is a little overwhelmed by it all. She's used to silence and solitude in the convent. She says that this is a chance for her to practice "much virtue." It is jarring to come back to the "real world" when you have been in deep spiritual connection to Christ. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 395-400. 

We get a break today from convent life. Sister Faustina is going home to spend some time with her dying mother. While on the train, she has a deep conversation with a woman. This reminded me about how important it is to be aware of people around us. If we are constantly buried in our phones and have headphones in, we close ourselves off from having authentic human interactions. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 387-394.

What is love? Is it good feelings? Is it romantic words spoken and words of flattery? No, love is an act of the will. It is shown in deeds. Real love shows up when we do acts even if they are hard, even if we don't feel like doing them. In our faith life, we must show up. There will be times when our faith life will "feel" dry. This doesn't mean we give up. This is an invitation to show our true love to God.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 383-386. 

We have to talk about a phrase written down in Sister Faustina's writings--the blackest ungratefulness. I detail my recent trip to the middle of Turkey to see the cave churches of the first Christians. They were so grateful to Christ that they were willing to hold Mass no matter what. 

The show is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. They are a Catholic jewelry company. Please check them out at www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 378-382.

I think it is common for us as humans to focus more heavily on Christ as Judge instead of Christ's Mercy. Sister Faustina writes, "He desires everyone to know this before He comes again as  Judge. He wants souls to come to know Him first as King of Mercy." This is so key to leading people to Christ. I give my thoughts on why we focus more on judgment rather than mercy. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 374-377.

As I read through today's writings, I realized that for someone who is far from God, her reflections would cause disgust. Who is this woman that wants to deny her own will, her own judgment, her own tongue? It is a sure fact, though, that our judgment and will is clouded if left to ourselves. That is why it is so important to gather confessors, spiritual directors, good scholars, and honest friends around us that can help us see where we may be in err. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 367-373. 

Congrats on following along for 3 months! 

Christ reveals today in Sister's writings how much He desires to pour out more love, more mercy, more goodness on souls, but they just don't trust Him enough or come to Him enough. God wants to rain down mercy, grace, and love on us and it is sad that too many souls don't accept this. God's love, mercy, and grace do not run out; we cannot tap out God's goodness. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 362-366. 

Sister Faustina gets called out for being self-willful. What she wants to do seem so small to some of the disobedience that we see out in the world today. However, Christ tells her that we have to be obedient in small things. This will help us to be obedient in bigger things. Too often, people think that they should be obedient only to themselves. They set themselves up as the supreme authority in their lives. They think they know better than Christ and His Church.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 358-361. 

Sister Faustina writes about a special practice that her convent does at the beginning of each new year. They pick out a patron saint to carry with them through the year. I LOVE this idea. What a great practice to add into our faith lives. Think how great it would be if each year we select a patron saint for that year and work to know them better and get closer to them. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 356-358. 

Our readings today are different than any other day. We will be praying a litany to the Blessed Host. I would invite you to think of any intentions you have before starting this prayer. This is a beautiful, short litany for poor sinners and it will be a great way to start or end our day. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 351-355. 

We hear today about living a life of faith. We must live our faith life in even small things. It is very common for Christians to compartmentalize our faith life: We live our faith on Sundays for an hour, the rest of the time we fully live our secular life. Often we do this because we've been told to hide our faith from those that it would offend. We cannot do this. We don't need to be obnoxious, but we must let our faith permeate every aspect of our lives. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 346-350. 

Sister Faustina asks Christ for a share in His suffering that He endured with the Crown of Thorns. She wakes up and she can feel a thorn piercing the left side of her head. This reading reminded me of when I saw the thorn tree on the Mount of Olives. The thorns on these type of trees are what were used for Christ's crown. 

The show today is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. They are a Catholic jewelry company. Please check them out at www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 342-345. 

Sister Faustina thanks God today for the many sufferings in her life. Her list is actually incredible and would baffle so many in the world today. "She's thanking God for being humiliated, treated rudely, and having spiritual dryness?" Too often we don't understand how suffering shows true love. But...just think about how Christ on the Cross makes you feel, or thinking of fallen service members, or emergency workers that have given their lives to serve others. Their love moves us to tears because in their suffering, we understand what they gave up for us. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 336-341.

Sister Faustina's confessor encourages her see if she has any attachments to things or any other creatures. This is a great practice for all of us. We ALL have attachments to things and we must be careful not to let our attachments turn into idols. We have to look deeper than just attachments to material items. Do we have attachments to comfort, pleasure, or...even safety? 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 331-335.  

In our readings today, we get a lot of talk about being childlike in our faith. Many of us take "childlike" to mean immature and silly. But, Christ means that we should come to Him in wonder, awe, and simplicity.  As adults, we sometimes complicate our faith and try to be "too smart." Children, though, love simply. They just want to please, to be near, to love, and be loved. This is what Christ desires from us.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 325-330. 

One of the best prayers we can say when we need a quick, effective prayer is, "Jesus, I trust in you." We must remember,  though, that God may not answer our prayer in the way that we think best. We must trust that God knows what He is doing and that we may not fully understand His answer in this earthly life. 

The show today is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. They are a Catholic jewelry company. Please check them out at www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 318-324. 

Sister Faustina is attacked by demons at two different points in her writings today and her response to them is pretty awesome. Sister Faustina also prays deeply for souls that don't know God's love and mercy. Why don't more souls let God love them? There can be many reasons: Feelings of unworthiness, anger at God, or a lack of knowledge of Christ's love for us. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 312-317. 

Sister Faustina is quite upset with how Christ looks in the painting of the Divine Mercy image. She doesn't feel it captures Christ's beauty well enough. Have you ever thought about what Christ looks like? I do all the time. In fact, when it comes to images of Christ, I'm pretty picky about how He looks. Not that I really know, but there are some that are definitely more beautiful than others. What's most important, though, is that any image of Christ should help lift our mind and heart to God. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 305-311. 

God's mercy is so boundless and generous. We often forget that and we often don't trust in God's mercy. Sister Faustina writes about God's Mercy over and over and Christ reminds us over and over. If only we understood how much God wants to pour mercy over us. It is our duty to pray for all souls that have passed on, no matter the state of their religious life. We have no idea the bounds of God's mercy.  

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 302-304. 

Sister Faustina writes about how she desires to save souls, be a missionary, a preacher, and a martyr. Basically, she wishes she had loads of gifts so that she can reach many souls. Her true gifts are the gifts to endure suffering for others and she's a mystic. So often, we want God to plainly point out to us our gifts. 

Our show today is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. They are a Catholic jewelry company. Please check them out at www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 294-301. 

We get some great words from Christ in today's readings. We hear about what the two rays mean in the painting of the Divine Mercy. Reading through Sister Faustina's writings today, I was struck by all the ways we can love Christ more: Trusting in Him, staying close to Him, working on virtues, and seeking to better ourselves. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 289-293.

How often do you think of Heaven and eternity? What kind of person are you? One that lives in the past? Only lives for the present moment? Or pines away for the future? Sister Faustina tells us that she gets fearful of eternity and its mysteries. I think we all feel that way a little bit. We must always live in the present moment but live as though eternity exists...because it does. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 285-288.

Sister Faustina states that she will never leave the battlefield. What she is saying is that she will always fight against sin and evil. We, too, must be willing to enter into spiritual warfare. We can't just allow anything and we must be willing to say no to evil. I get pretty fired up in this podcast because this is a topic I am very passionate about. 

*I realized after publishing this, that I mispronounced ciborium. Sorry!

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 279-284.

Christ's words today can cause us to feel uncomfortable. He talks about suffering and how much it can show that we love Him. This can be hard for us to hear, especially in a world that sees suffering as pointless and something to be utterly avoided. But, it is exactly Christ's suffering that helps us to recognize how much He loves us. 

The show today is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. They are a Catholic jewelry company. Please check them out at  www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 273-278.

There is so much to get out of today's readings. They are packed with all kinds of wisdom and good food for thought. We talk about Marilyn Monroe, asking others to call us out, suffering for the good of others, and angels. You just never know where her writings are going to take us!

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 270-272. 

Sister Faustina gets laughed at by a stand-in confessor. It's not a laughter of joy but one of disbelief. It causes her to falter. This made me think of an essay I had read by a female author from the turn of the 20th century. It was an essay on the different reasons we laugh and how we laugh. It was a very thought-provoking essay. Not all laughs are equal. Some laughs can wound; some can lift the spirit. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 266-269.

Sister Faustina writes about a difficult prayer session. She has to give it a go for three hours until she finally starts to feel graces. Our faith life will require this same kind of perseverance. Not every prayer time is going to be great, there are going to be times at Mass when we struggle through it, praying the Rosary can be difficult sometimes, but we need to continue on with it. Don't give up! 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 261-265. 

Sister Faustina has made it Vilnius, the next stop for her. Things are different and she has to learn to embrace new changes. It can be hard to embrace change; we often want to go back to the familiarity and comfort of what we've left behind. I relate this to all the new chapters I've had as a military spouse and how each move has grown and stretched me. 

The show today is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. Please check them out at www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 255-260. 

Sister Faustina is getting ready to leave Vilnius. She is stepping out on the next part of her journey. One thing she talks about is the desire to "hide from people's eyes whatever good" she does. We struggle with doing this. As humans, we desire pats on the back and cheers for the good works that we do. It can feed our ego. But, we need to remember that God sees and that's all that matters. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 251-254. 

Sister Faustina says that when she walked into a chapel, God's presence enveloped her. Isn't that so true about our Catholic Churches? When we go in, because Christ is physically present, we are enveloped by Him. It's so magnificent. How blessed we are to be able to go spend time with Him where an "hour passes like a minute." 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 246-250. 

Sister Faustina is a disciplined woman and I admire that. If we want to have a fruitful and wonderful relationship with Christ, we must be disciplined people. This is very hard to do in our world which encourages self-indulgence and instant gratification. But, a life without disciplined becomes weak-willed. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 241-245. 

Sister Faustina desires to be helpful, to refrain from speaking about others behind their back, defending people's good names, rejoicing in the success of others, and praying for those that humiliate us and being thankful they give us that chance. Whew, boy, I struggle with so many of these. We talk about why today. 

The show is sponsored by My Saint, My Hero. Please check them out at www.mysaintmyhero.com. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 239, starting at May 1, 1933 and through to the end of 240. 

We read about Sister Faustina taking her vows today. She has a powerful prayer. We are going to pray it ourselves making it relatable to our current times. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 234-239. Stopping at May 1, 1933. 

Does God find Heaven in our hearts like He finds in Sister Faustina's heart? For this to be true, God must be our number one priority. Realizing that our spouses or children aren't to be our number one priority can make us recoil. It sounds harsh to not put those loved ones first. It is important to remember that when God is first in our life, He helps all other relationships to grow in love and goodness. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 229-233. 

Sister Faustina is getting ready to take her perpetual vows and she's all a flutter, just like a new bride. I think it's a good idea to talk about what vows are and how powerful they are. Vows made to or made with God as a witness bind us in a supernatural way to the one with who we make the vow. It's a shame that we don't take vows seriously even or understand their power. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 225-228.

Sister Faustina gives us a list today of things that she struggles with, some of her sins. They seem so minor to things that many of us struggle with, but I think her list gives us good things to reflect on and evaluate where can get better in these areas. I know that they are definitely areas that I can work on and get better. 

Today's readings are from Notebook 1, numbers 220-224. 

There's a lot of people, even Catholics, that don't believe the reality of the Blessed Sacrament. "It's too much," we say. But, who are we to limit God? If we believe in the Resurrection, the many miracles of Christ, and all the miracles God worked through other people, why is the changing of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ too much?