National Shrine of The Divine Mercy Bulletin Sept. 19, 2021

O Mary, Immaculate Virgin, Pure crystal for my heart, You are my strength, O sturdy anchor! You are the weak heart’s shield and protection. O Mary you are pure, of purity incomparable; At once both Virgin and Mother, You are beautiful as the sun, without blemish, And your soul is beyond all comparison. Your beauty has delighted the eye of the Thrice-Holy One. He descended from heaven, leaving His eternal throne, And took Body and Blood of Virgin’s Heart. O Mother, Virgin, purest of all lilies, Your heart was Jesus’ first tabernacle on earth. Only because no humility was deeper than yours Were you raised above the choirs of Angels and above all Saints. O Mary, my sweet Mother, I give you my soul, my body and my poor heart. Be the guardian of my life, Especially at the hour of death, in the final strife. Diary 161 From the Diary of St. Faustina Blessed Oil of St. Faustina Oil Blessed in honor of St. Faustina is available at the Shrine Reception Desk. A suggested donation of $5.00 is being requested to help fund all our Shrine Ministries. To order your copy of The Diary of St. Faustina please go to divinemercygiftshop.org. or call our Gift Shop at1-888-484-1112 November 19. After Communi n today, Jesus old me h w much He desires to come to human hearts . I desire to unite Myself w h Human souls; My great delight is to unite Myself with souls. Know, My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of grac s which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize Love! They treat me as a dead object. I answered Jesus, “O Treasure of my heart, the only object of my love and entire delight of my soul, I want to adore You in my heart as You are adored on the throne of Your eternal glory. My love wants to make up to You at least in part for the coldness of so great a number of souls. Jesus, behold my heart which is for You a dwelling place to which no one else has entry. You alone repose in it as in a beautiful garden. “ Oh, how painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves to Me in Holy Communion. I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward Me. I love them tenderly and sincerely, and they distrust Me. I want to lavish My graces on them, and they do not want to accept them. They treat me as a dead object , whereas My Heart is full of love and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of My pain, imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her children, while those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No one is in a position to console her. This is but a feeble image and likeness of My love. ” Diary 1385, 1502 St. Jane Frances de Chantal In the spotlight... St. Pius of Pietrelcina - Padre Pio Feast Day: September 22nd “ [Saint Padre Pio] loved the Church. He loved the Church with all her problems, with all her difficulties, with all our sins. Because we are all sinners, we are ashamed, but the Spirit of God has called us within this Church who is holy. And he loved the holy Church and her sinful children, all of them. This was Saint Pio. ... Padre Pio immersed himself in prayer to comply ever better with the divine plans. Through the celebration of Holy Mass, which daily constituted the heart of his day and the fullness of his spirituality, he reached a high level of union with the Lord. During this period, he received special mystical gifts from above, which preceded the manifestation of the signs of the Passion of Christ in his flesh. ... This humble Capuchin friar amazed the world with his life devoted to prayer and patient listening to his brothers, on whose suffering he poured out the love of Christ as a balm. Imitating his heroic example and his virtues, may you also become instruments of God's love, of Jesus' love for the weakest. ” Excerpt taken from Our Friend Padre Pio. To read more of Pope Francis’ homily given on St. Padre Pio’s feast day go to: www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/our-friend-padre-pio