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Leaves of Gold

Before this Rosary, I went to the Lord Jesus asking Him what was on His Heart for the group. He said, "Tell them, My Heart waits. My Heart waits."

"I have done all for you. Given all for you. Now all that is left is your response. My Heart waits." (This was right after Christmas and all of us have been busy with 'many things' as Our Lord once told Martha.) He continued,

"When you come home from work in the evening, I am waiting. While you watch the television, I am waiting. While you talk with friends on the phone and go shopping, I am waiting. While you read the paper and fall asleep, I am waiting. My Heart waits patiently for just a glance from you in My direction."

Later, during the Rosary, a brilliant heavenly light appeared in the room illuminating everything. The rays of light were iridescent white intermingled with gold, and in the midst of this glory stood Our Lady of Fatima smiling at me. I shifted my gaze to her Immaculate Heart. It transformed as perfect red roses of every imaginable hue multiplied and poured forth forming a continuous cascade. They bloomed spontaneously, giving off an intoxicating sweetness.

Suddenly at the end of this fragrant stream emerged the Word of God, the Sacred Scriptures, on fire with golden light. Then Our Lady spoke to me, holding the opened Bible in her hands,

"This is the sweetness of God."

And I was given to understand that many sweet and precious words are spoken to us through Jesus in His Word. I remembered back upon the time when I was still in darkness and had picked up a Bible to read. To me it was just a book and made little sense. But the day after my conversion, it came alive, my heart was stopped in its tracks by the beauty of just one sentence.

Then the Blessed Mother gathered a section of pages in her fingers and fanned them. They appeared as multitudes of golden leaves shimmering like "pure gold, transparent as glass." She began to speak,

"These are the promises of God to His people and they are precious, precious, precious."

After this, Scriptures turned into a sword of lightening which she extended towards me on her opened palms. "This is God's healing instrument." she said. Also implied was that it had the power to heal and the power to slay, both the evil of self will and those angels of darkness who work against God's plans. As it is written in Scripture,

"For indeed, the Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart."

WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE TO BE

How are we to respond to these beautiful teachings given to us by Our Lady and Our Lord. First of all, Jesus is waiting for us. He is asking us to give up the many activities that fill our lives and take away from Him. He is asking us to cut the frills out of our schedules, to be less curious about worldly things, TV and news, to be less fascinated with shopping malls and acquiring of worldly goods that can be stolen by thieves, eaten by moths but will surely go up in flames in the end To be less involved in long conversations that can become gossip sessions and lengthen our time in Purgatory, not to mention the offense done to Our Lord and His Mother, when we forget charity.

All of us hunger for happiness, peace and pleasure, but as many times as we have drunk our fill of the worldly things, we know by experience that what was sweet when we began to take it in very soon turns bitter and flat the next day. All things of this world and the pleasure they bring fade away. But the Word of the Lord and His sweetness will endure forever.

When the party's over, everyone has gone home and you're left alone, very much alone, hurting, confused and needy, no trinket, no food or drink, not even the person closest to you can take away the emptiness inside. This is when you are ready to receive the sweetness of God. This is when His Word spoken becomes as a spreading perfume that anoints, calms and heals our interior woundedness. This is the sweetness of God.

In this beautiful imagery of 'leaves of gold', Our Lady speaks of God's promises to us. What king or queen would leave their crown lying out in a common place where it could be stolen? No, when it is not being worn, it is stored secure under lock, key and royal guard. How much more should we protect these promises in the sanctuary of our hearts. And this is Our Lady's exhortation to us, for it it written, "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." She treasured these words for they are the Words of Eternal Life.

We have all heard the story of the old miser who kept a treasure hidden away. He frequently locked the doors, pulled the shades and got his treasure out, looking over each golden coin very carefully, stacking, counting and recounting, his store of treasure. How much more should we, entrusted with the precious promises of God, remove the phone, lock the doors, go into our prayer closets and tuck away with Jesus and His Word, pondering in our hearts the infinite heavenly treasures He has laid aside for us, and all those who love Him. How much more should we desire to ponder and feed on the Word of God?

And finally, Our Lady presents the Scriptures to us as a sword. A Sword of Life, an unchanging reality in a world of ideas and morals that are like pockets of quick sand, lying hidden in the shifting seas of secular humanism and paganism. The sweetness and promises of Jesus are like the anesthetic that prepares us for surgery, the Scriptures, like the scalpel that removes the cancer.

The Holy Spirit is the consummate surgeon who remains with us forever. He is there in the recovery room, putting all the right pieces back together again and bringing in all the ones that were missing. He is the One who lifts us up out of our wheelchairs and begins the therapy whereby we recover our ability to walk in the power of God with a new and purified heart, into a fresh new life.

But none of these graces will be of any avail to you or me unless we respond, by putting into practice what we have been shown. How sad it will be on that day, when the Throne of Judgment is before us and it is our turn to make an accounting of the many graces and lights we were granted, if we do not respond to this request of Our Lady and Our Lord to come to Him now and be refreshed, cleansed and empowered.

How beautiful the rewards and blessings for those who do respond, laying aside their worldly pursuits and devoting more time to their Savior, to His sweetness, His promises, His surgery and reordering of their lives.

Let us reflect on these words, "My just one shall live by faith and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him." for We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life."

The Mother of Mercy Image
It's History and Origin

During Advent of 1994, Our Lady began a special manifestation of her presence during a Rosary group meeting in the Jacksonville, Florida area. Present at these Rosaries were many very devout and faithful Filipinos who worked in the medical community. She initially appeared as Our Lady of Fatima, but after several manifestations during the following weeks she began to display the Divine Mercy Rays emanating from her heart.

She announced at a subsequent meeting, "I am your Mother of Mercy." She then began to reveal, the details of her heart; three white roses with a golden crucifix superimposed, from which the Divine Mercy Rays emanate. She has said that the white roses are symbolic of the Most Holy Trinity dwelling in her heart, the source of all holiness. The image of Our Crucified Savior appears in gold emanating the Divine Mercy Rays, Our Lord Jesus' suffering being the source and wellspring of mercy shed for us.

Her arms are opened as in Our Lady of grace welcoming yet with a beckoning expression on her face almost sad, with the hint of tears. She looks at us so tenderly because she so profoundly sympathizes with our difficult and tortuous times. She is also deeply distressed for fallen mankind and their indifference towards the mercies shed for them through her Son. She pines for those chosen souls also who do not avail themselves of the graces available to them.

She is extending a pleading invitation of Mercy for all. She promises to help all, even the most desperate cases if only they will put their trust in her, the Mediatrix of Mercy.

The color of her dress is Royal Blue. It is the color of the Bride of Christ in the sense that it represents the royal espousal garment of the King of Heaven. Regarding this color there is a Franciscan tradition that predates it: the story goes somewhat this way. In a vision, from the early days of St. Francis (1200),a brother saw a red ladder being extended to Heaven. At the top was Christ, at the bottom were the Franciscan brothers trying to ascend, one after another they reached a few rungs successfully then fell to the ground. This red ladder was symbolic for penance.

After these miserable failures, St. Francis appeared at the top of the ladder with Our Lord and said, "Look over there brothers for the white ladder, you will enter Heaven easily on that one." So the brothers went over to the white ladder that had descended from Heaven and saw the Blessed Virgin Mary at the top. She invited them to climb the ladder which they did with much ease, entering Heaven quickly. End of the Franciscan story.

This past year a Franciscan brother received in prayer a vision of a spiraling royal blue staircase into Heaven. At the top of this staircase was our Beloved Savior and spouse, Jesus Christ. He spoke saying,

"This is the royal road of My Beloved, My Bride, My Spouse, it is the intimate way to My Heart and to Paradise."

This also has been one of the main teachings of Our Mother of Mercy, to cultivate a love relationship with the Savior as portrayed in the intimate Song of Solomon Scriptures. This relationship cannot be conjured up, it is an invitation from Him, but we can certainly dispose our hearts to receive it through prayer, desire, and amendment of life.

In summary, this image is the counterpart to an image done of Our Lord, the Divine Heart. In this image Our Lord combines the imagery of the Sacred Heart with a hint of the Divine Mercy Rays. This image unites the Orthodox tradition of devotion to the Divine Heart of God with the the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was given with the mandate to pray for unity between the two churches. In this Image Our Lord is wearing a royal blue espousal tunic with a white wrap draped around His Body. Many of the messages given with this image are apocalyptic and looking at the image of the Divine Heart, it appears that He is coming, almost stepping out of the picture. Its origin is an explanation for another time.

The Mother of Mercy
Promises and Devotion

"I am your Mother of Mercy. As my Son has wished to make my Immaculate Heart known, in union with His Most Sacred Heart now in these last days are the mysteries of me, your Holy Mother, about to be revealed. For God has kept His sublime secrets hidden and veiled from mankind.

"His Eternal Wisdom is kept safe beneath the covering of humility and simplicity. The greatness of His goodness is always clothed in the little, the poor, and those things of no account which the foolishness of man overlooks.

"Such have I been, your Mother. And yet to such great heights has the Benevolent Godhead raised me. It is through this vessel that the Divine Mercy has chosen to come to you. For this reason, and to complete the mystery of this Fountain of Grace, the Heart of Christ Himself, my Son, has requested that I be known as Your Mother of Mercy.

"Under this title I come to you as your tender Mother, and most loving vessel of His Divine Mercy. Let this be known, that whoever approaches the Tribunal of Mercy, through my Merciful Heart, shall obtain:

" All graces and merits needed in this life and at the hour of death,

" They shall not stumble or fall through error of faith, nor be misled into false doctrine or teaching.

"They shall obtain the grace of a happy death, and will not die without the sacraments of the church.

"They shall have my veil for covering, and my mantle for protection during time of trial, persecution, suffering, and temptation.

"They shall not be left unaided, but will have the peaceful assurance of my very real presence, and that of my Son Jesus with them all the days of their life.

"They shall obtain remission of all their sins, venial and mortal, and shall be expiated of all satisfaction due to the lesser offenses.

"They shall continue under the effects and benefits of this Divine Mercy even after their death, and be granted speedily the satisfaction due their serious sins, thus entering Paradise more quickly.

"They shall merit manifold graces for unrepentant sinners, and be a source of comfort and indulgences for the soul in Purgatory.

"I, your Merciful Mother, bless and thank you. Be immersed always in these rays of Merciful Light streaming forth from the Divine Heart of Jesus, through the Heart of your Mother."

My blessing is upon this chaplet and all that pray it. I will move in their lives in a special way, in a sanctifying way. Those things in their lives which have hindered them I will break."

"Know that their intercession through this chaplet carries with it My promise to increase in their lives sanctifying grace, to bring them to holiness and purity of life and intention. I am extremely pleased with this chaplet. Extremely pleased. Go out and teach this devotion to the whole world, and I will be with you. Expect a miracle."

At this point the Divine Mercy Chaplet concluded and the Mother of Mercy Chaplet (three minutes of intercession and reparation for the world) began. Suddenly in the midst of the room I saw a great light and a huge heart into which people were walking as if on an escalator. But rather than escalators they were ascending and being drawn by the Divine Mercy rays emanating from the Heart which I recognized as the Heart of Jesus.

At the same time a felt a profound sweetness wash over my soul and I saw Blessed Faustina in her black habit standing before me smiling. She was radiant and I experienced so much sweetness from her being. She said, simply, "Thank you."

She came and stood beside me and redirected my focus to the wonderful spectacle of souls reaching salvation, the safe haven of Our Lord's Heart, riding the escalator of Divine Mercy.



Whenever you pray this chaplet,
let it become a gentle rhythm within your being,
at the same time lift up to
the Heart of Our Merciful Father,
the souls that come to mind,
emersing them in God's Mercy.

This devotion was given,
simply,
to be prayed simply.

It stands upon the foundation
of the Divine Mercy Chaplet
and the Holy Rosary.

It is meant to steep
our hearts
is quiet supplication.



Right click (Control + click on a Mac) on this graphic to download it to your computer. Printed out this prayer card fits on an 8.5" x 11" page for your convenience.

My Blessing is Upon This Chaplet
and All Who Pray It

This night we prayed the Mother of Mercy Chaplet for the first time, introducing it to the Rosary group. Preceding it we prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet. During it, the Lord appeared, saying,

"I come to you in thanksgiving. My blessings are upon all those assembled here. My blessing is upon this chaplet and all that pray it. I will move in their lives in a special way, in a sanctifying way. Those things in their lives which have hindered them I will break."

"Know that their intercession through this chaplet carries with it My promise to increase in their lives sanctifying grace, to bring them to holiness and purity of life and intention. I am extremely pleased with this chaplet. Go out and teach this devotion to the whole world, and I will be with you. "

At this point the Divine Mercy Chaplet concluded and the Mother of Mercy Chaplet (three minutes of intercession and reparation for the world) began. In the midst of the room I saw a great light and a huge heart into which people were walking as if on an escalator. But rather than escalators they were ascending and being drawn by the Divine Mercy rays emanating from the Heart of Jesus.

At the same time I felt a great happiness and saw Blessed Faustina smiling in her black habit. She was radiating so much sweetness. She said, "Thank you." Together we watched the wonderful spectacle of souls reaching salvation, the safe haven of Our Lord's Heart, riding the escalator of Divine Mercy.

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