You have heard that it was said: “The Divine Mercy chaplet is all fake sweetness and quite demonically an insult to Divine Justice.” I’ve heard priests say horrible things about that video above, starting them off on how heretical the Divine Mercy is. It’s like their faces change and demons appear so bitter hateful are they. They’ll do anything to make sure that Divine Mercy devotions on the Sunday after Easter do NOT take place. Confessions? “Pfft!” they say.
And here I recite this chaplet thrice daily. I call it the Divine Justice chaplet. Then it’s said that I’m just a contrarian.
But – hey! – this is important enough for all the big name icons of orthodoxy to attack, so it’s best we take a look:
- The Sign of the Cross: This is the summary of the entire Athanasian Creed, so ‘in-your-face’ in Trinitarian orthodoxy that it is commonly used in major exorcisms. We are marked with the Sign of the Son of Man, recalling the facts of sin, of redemption, of forgiveness from sin, of salvation. We recall that we are pick up and carry the cross daily, that instrument of torture and death. The demons shriek against the Sign of the Cross. Is this fake sweetness, an insult to Divine Justice?
- The Pater Noster: Jesus taught us this seven-fold prayer. In it’s fifth petition we self-condemn ourselves to hell if we do not fulfill justice. It concludes with a deprecatory exorcism against the Evil One. The demons shriek against it. Is this fake sweetness, an insult to Divine Justice?
- The Ave Maria: The first half of the prayer is lifted from the Gospel of Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The second half has us beseech as little children of the Holy Family the maternal solicitude of Mary, the very Mother of God, now and at the hour of our death, when the demons come to attack us, when we need the graced gift of final perseverance. Look at that: the just effect of original sin to which we submit so a to be on our way to heaven, the hope for which is necessary, a matter of justice. The Ave Maria acts like an exorcism and is very much recommended during an exorcism. The demons shriek against it. Is this fake sweetness, an insult to Divine Justice?
- The Creed: In these days of attack against doctrine, to recite any of the ancient creeds with an active statement of faith – “I believe” – is a matter of justice if we are going to ask for mercy, and is, therefore, an affront to Satan and makes the demons shriek against it. Is this fake sweetness, an insult to Divine Justice?
- The Mercy ‘decade’ prayer: “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity or your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” This prayer clearly unites one with the Most Blessed Sacrament at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, voicing an appreciation for the ‘atonement for our sins and those of the whole world,’ and thus is an affirmation of belief in Transubstantiation in an age when even majorities of Catholic parishes no longer believe that there is a Sacrifice of the Mass nor believe that anything special happens on the Altar. Making a statement of belief in the Most Blessed Sacrament against an unbelieving hierarch, against unbelieving parishioners, while declaring that mercy is founded on God’s justice in Christ Jesus our Lord is a witness worthy of the great martyrs, and makes the demons shriek in terror. Is this fake sweetness, an insult to Divine Justice?
- The Mercy prayer: “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” “For the sake of…” is all about justice, so much so that the mercy only comes about as founded on this justice. Aquinas agrees in his Commentary on the Sentences, noting that mercy is a potential part of the virtue of justice. Such in-your-face clarity about the place of mercy depending entirely upon justice makes the demons shriek. Is this fake sweetness, an insult to Divine Justice?
- The Trisagion: “(1) Holy God, (2) Holy Mighty One, (3) Holy Immortal One – have mercy on us and on the whole world.” This is a direct reference to the ultra ancient prayer used in the Eastern Churches and is antiphonally repeated during the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday during the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified in the West. In the midst of all hell broken out on Calvary, the demons shriek in horror when Christ’s faithful cry out that God is Holy, that Holy God is Mighty, that Holy God is Immortal while He reigns supreme on the Cross. Is this, I ask you, fake sweetness, an insult to Divine Justice?
There simply is no prayer offered by the faithful that drips with the Blood of Christ more than the Divine Mercy Chaplet, no prayer which better expresses that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to take our place, the Innocent for the guilty, taking on the death we deserve because of sin, so that He might have the right IN HIS OWN JUSTICE to have mercy on us.
The Divine Mercy chaplet is an antidote to the poison imbibed by those who insist upon mercy without justice so that they might mock God, neighbor and themselves, remaining in their sin. Justice demands repentance from sin, a firm purpose of amendment of live from sin, with that justice opening the path to the fruitful reception of mercy. Is that fake sweetness, and insult to Divine Justice?
And now it’s time to blow up the whole “it’s too sweet” idiocy. Try this: Be John, standing next to Immaculate Mary below the Cross, the Precious Blood showering down upon you. Now… Listen… Do you hear her? It’s our Immaculate Mother praying for us to the Father as she watches her Divine Son being tortured to death in front of her: “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” Such a warrior in maternal solicitude for us against the demons broken out on Calvary! Now, go ahead, I dare the blasphemers, tell her that’s she’s just too sweet in her honoring of the Divine Justice – “for the sake of…” – and I think you’ll find yourselves rightfully smacked down by John protecting the honor of dearest Mary. Go ahead. Get up again. He’ll smack you down hard. Don’t get up. Stay on your knees. Figure it out. Mercy is founded on justice. Forget cynicism. Thank Jesus humbly. Humbly thank Mary for praying for you. Thank John for smacking you down.
Now you’re on your way to heaven, and that’s very sweet indeed. It’s all good.
I’m gonna stay with Mary and John before Jesus’ wounds this Lent. Would you join me there, below the cross, this Lent?
By the way, some literary notes:
- Mercy = misericordia = a heart of misery. Get that.
- The misery is that of another you’ve taken into your own heart and then fulfilled the need as if it were your own.
- A word for mercy used exclusively for Jesus in the Gospels means to have His own Heart sacrificed for us.
All too sweet, right? I think those who reject mercy founded on justice are just a bunch of politically correct cowards and that they had better repent of their hypocritical cynicism that turns people away from receiving mercy founded on the justice of the wounds. I mean, just think how demonic that is: taking away the key of knowledge, the very Sacred Heart of our Lord. We pray for ourselves, unworthy that we are, for the blasphemers of Divine Mercy founded on Divine Justice, and for the whole world.
For the sake of His sorrowful passion…
Oh you who pass by the way, is there any sorrow like my sorrow?
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 