This article is about how one couple sought Jesus’ Divine Mercy during their young son’s battle with cancer and how they found peace and consolation at his passing with the graces Jesus promised to those who faithfully trusted and submitted to God’s Will. Having witnessed the amazing manifestations of God’s Divine Mercy in the form of various spiritual and physical miracles during their son’s treatment days, the couple started to learn more about Jesus’ Divine Mercy message through St. Faustina. Participating in the parish’s Eucharistic Apostles of Divine Mercy (EADM) Cenacle Formation prepared them for two more bouts of suffering when the husband had to battle with two very aggressive cancer cases over three years. He died cancer free and still holding on to a Divine Mercy prayer card in the palm of his hand. Pope St. John Paul II, in his homily on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 30, 2000, best described the spiritual healing through Jesus’ Divine Mercy that is critically necessary for crisis situations such as these: This consoling message is addressed above all to those who, afflicted by a particularly harsh trial or crushed by the weight of the sins they committed, have lost all confidence in life and are tempted to give in to despair. To them the gentle face of Christ is offered; those rays from his heart touch them and shine upon them, warm them, show them the way and fill them with hope. How many souls have been consoled by the prayer “Jesus, I trust in you,” which Providence intimated through Sister Faustina! This simple act of abandonment to Jesus dispels the thickest clouds and lets a ray of light penetrate every life. “Jezu, ufam tobie.” . . . The invocation of God’s mercy needs to rise up from the depth of hearts filled with suffering, apprehension, and uncertainty, and at the same time yearning for an infallible source of hope. The wife further witnessed many spiritual and physical miracles during her husband’s sufferings and death. She also saw how many patients in the hospitals suffer and die without knowing God, were unprepared and worse, have no one praying for them. The witnessing of how Jesus’ promises of Divine Mercy benefitted her loved ones and realization of how they will benefit mankind, sinners, sick, suffering, dying, faithful, devout, and all, for one’s self or for others were clearly a calling to respond. As St. John Paul II emphasized on Aug. 17, 2002, at the dedication of the Divine Mercy Shrine in Krakow-Lagiewniki: “May the binding promise of the Lord Jesus be fulfilled: from here there must go forth ‘the spark which will prepare the world for his final coming’ (Diary, 1732). This spark needs to be lighted by the grace of God. This fire of mercy needs to be passed on to the world. In the mercy of God, the world will find peace and mankind will find happiness!” The Lord told St. Faustina, “Tell [all people], My daughter, that I am Love and Mercy itself. When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls” (Diary, 1074). And so, two EADM members’ desire to start spreading Jesus’ Divine Mercy message to others with the gift of a Divine Mercy Image for a parish’s Eucharistic Chapel (in memory of their deceased son) continues to this day to wherever Jesus desires his Fount of Mercy to be. Yes, in chapels at cancer centers or pro-life centers in Texas, Main Sanctuaries and Eucharistic Adoration Chapels in New York, or as far away as churches in the Philippines, missions in Vietnam, the cathedral in Quebec City, Canada, a convent in Kluang, Malaysia, a Divine Mercy Shrine in Singapore, and more. Jesus said, “I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: ‘Jesus, I trust in You’” (Diary, 327). And, “I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory” (Diary, 48). It usually starts with His Divine Mercy Image being brought to the Main Sanctuary or Eucharistic Chapel of a parish, and soon Jesus starts touching the hearts of the parishioners who venerate His mercy. Jesus instructed St. Faustina to write down in her diary that He desires His Image to be brought to the rest of the world, and so it was not surprising to subsequently see parishioners starting EADM Cenacle Formations, distributing Rosaries, Chaplets, and prayer cards at hospitals, hospices, etc. Jesus’ miracle of multiplying loaves for everyone who approaches Him works all the time! We, as Eucharistic Apostles of Divine Mercy (EADM), should witness to others that submitting and living God’s Divine Love and Mercy with Jesus, and understanding Divine Mercy as the Way of Life, truly receives Jesus’ promises of peace and joy no matter what one’s life circumstances are. Jesus told St. Faustina: Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield through their entire lives as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior. At that last hour, a soul has nothing with which to defend itself except My mercy. Happy is the soul that during its lifetime immersed itself in the Fountain of Mercy, because justice will have no hold on it (Diary, 1075). 5 14510022 © 2026 Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. Evangelization and Hope in the Face of Adversity By Bryan Thatcher, MD Note: The wife and late husband discussed in this article remain anonymous at the wife’s request. To request images for your parish, email her at [email protected].
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