Divine Mercy, Quasimodo Low Sunday, April 12th, 2026.
St. Faustina boldly asked St. Thérèse if she would become a saint:
St. Faustina writes about the dream in her Diary, explaining how she saw St. Thérèse on the fifth day of her novena:
“On the fifth day of the novena, I dreamed of St. Thérèse… she revealed to me that she was a saint. At that moment, a great joy filled my soul, and I said to her, ‘You are a saint?’ ‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘I am a saint. Trust that this matter will be resolved in three days.’ And I said, ‘Dear sweet Therese, tell me, shall I go to heaven?’ And she answered, ‘Yes, you will go to heaven, Sister.’ ‘And will I be a saint?’ To which she replied, ‘Yes, you will be a saint.‘ ‘But, little Therese, shall I be a saint as you are, raised to the altar?’ And she answered, ‘Yes, you will be a saint just as I am, but you must trust in the Lord Jesus.'”
Announcements:
Both Richard and Steve are featured again in today’s post, and I did not even plan that!
Doc Peter, Sister Lucia Truth Substack
No news or table of contents, today.
KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS, JUDGEMENTS, CEREMONIES.
Many readers might be shocked to hear that I REJECT entirely Vatican II, the New Mass and the 2 worm ridden anti popes, Bergoglio and Prevost, and yet…and yet, still fully ACCEPT Saint Faustina and the Divine Mercy Devotion.
This is why I am a fish out of water in today’s Church crisis and climate. In one area I believe Sister Lucia was replaced with an imposter and in another area I simply don’t believe that the chair of Peter has been vacant since 1958, but I don’t believe by any stretch of the means that Pope John Paul II is a saint because the counterfeit “church” “canonized” him; I do believe he was a valid pope (a conciliar pope as Archbishop Vigano coined it).
As a trad priest once said, there is no way that the three worst popes in history are canonized saints (John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II). Again, fish out of water. It is what it is.
My guide for real and valid saints are those who lived BEFORE the New Mass and not only does that include Saint Faustina, who died in 1938, but it also includes the REAL Sister Lucia, who was murdered before the Mass changes, because she never would have stood for them. I think that much is obvious.
My second guide for valid saints who lived AFTER the Mass changed and Vatican II, is if they RESISTED those changes (like the heroic Marcel Lefebvre). These are the main reasons I totally reject John Paul II, John XXIII, Paul VI AND MOTHER TERESA, as “saints”. Mother Teresa famously said:
“I’ve always said that we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic”.
That quote is disgusting and full on embraces ecumenism. She believed there was salvation outside of the Catholic Church and to believe this is to break Catholic Dogma. To break away from Dogma is to place oneself outside of the Catholic Church. She also encouraged others to be buried in the rite of their own religion, as well as took part in other religion’s temple worship. According to the Catholic Church’s Council of Elvira, 305, AD:
“It has been decreed that those who in adult age after receiving baptism shall go into pagan temples to worship idols, which is a deadly crime and the height of wickedness, shall not be committed to communion even at death.”
Teresa partook in this temple idolatry often:
Not only was she of adult age after receiving baptism, but she was a religious. I thought the whole point of being a missionary was to spread the Gospel of Christ, make apostles of all nations and bring people to the Church Our Lord founded. If the MISSIONARIES of Charity and its founder were only encouraging people to be better muslims, jews and pagans, what on earth is their mission? You lost me.
One hindu remarked how in the 23 years he had known Mother Teresa he never saw her try to convert anyone to Catholicism. Yeah… that is NOT a compliment. And if that statement of mine bothers you, maybe we’re not part of the same Church founded by Christ and we’re not reading the same Bible. So, while idolatry is an obvious big NO NO to our faith, God’s mercy and charity are not. It’s a big YES YES.
That same trad priest I quoted above once told me that he almost always knows a good trad from a bad trad if they accept both tradition AND Divine Mercy. I never forgot that, and I have also found it to be nothing but true. This priest also rejects Bergoglio and Prevost and only celebrates the Latin Mass.
*Doc Edmund Mazza directed his students to read Mark Docherty’s article in defense of Saint Faustina you can read: Dear Tradland, you might want to think twice before trashing the Divine Mercy and I also high recommend this post by a trad priest in defense of Divine Mercy, Pro Divine Mercy From a Rad-Trad.*
There are typically two sides of the traditional “cats” who either fully accept Divine Mercy, or fully reject it. There are a few fence sitters, in between, because let’s face it, the Church has undergone so much modernism that most of us in “trad land” have developed a sort of PTSD, haven’t we? We just don’t know what or who to trust anymore since the Church has been highjacked.
Hence… “Jesus, I trust in YOU”? This is where I have actually noticed a significant pattern with trad cats and Divine Mercy. I have spoken to a few Catholics who attend solely the Latin Mass and believe Pope Benedict XVI was the last valid pope, and they have reached out to me expressing their doubts about Divine Mercy, wanting my opinion.
Some started out very devoted to it, and a few stopped doing the Divine Mercy Chaplet for a time because of the influence of other traditional Catholics, but started again after a miracle of Our Lord bringing them back to the devotion. I will share two of those stories in this post. One story was through Saint Therese and the other, through the Holy Ghost.
Have you begun to notice that I rely heavily, through Our Lady’s 7 Sorrows, on the 5 Senses of Our Lord (touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight) and the 7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost (wisdom, piety, fortitude, knowledge, counsel, fear of God and understanding)?
Not only do I rely on these gifts and senses through Mary’s Sorrows when I don’t have all the evidence on a topic, but I also rely on them when I DO. We, per the command of Our Lord and Saint Paul, MUST do this IN ALL THINGS because the Holy Ghost is the true Director of our soul and Our Lord’s used all His senses through His sacred humanity.
I truly believe we are living in lax times in the Church where we are not relying on the gifts and senses of Our Lord and the Holy Ghost through Mary, but relying rather on the AFFIRMATION of other members of flock.
In short, this is a “people pleasing” generation where the Church Militant doesn’t actually know what they do or don’t believe, but rather, just do the popular or acceptable thing in order to please their peers rather than please God.
Speaking of the Holy Ghost, I want to share Mark Docherty’s story, now, with how he was converted to Divine Mercy. Notice how he attributes it to the Paraclete. Mark is a lawyer, and has done great work on the non resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
Mark’s Story:
I’m going to tell you a quick story of how it came to win me over [Divine Mercy], and I am proposing to you a trial run with this devotion.
How did it win me over? At first, it was upon finding adherents among many holy priests I know, one after the other, many of them Trad. I resisted, being prideful and holding onto those reservations about the diary. It was a few years ago, upon learning that the FSSP actually celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday, that I realized there had to be something I was missing.
My interaction with the devotion was increasingly accompanied by an unmistakable sign of the Holy Ghost: Sneaking up and smacking me in the head. You know what I’m talking about. It just kept happening more and more, until I finally figured out what what going on. It typically takes something like the Roadrunner dropping the anvil for me to wake up and put the pieces together, which happened about a year ago.
I found myself headed towards a Midwestern city I wasn’t very familiar with, and in need of Confession. After consulting masstimes.org to see what might work, it looked as if nothing was going to fit between planes, meetings, and required drive time. Plane landed crazy early, which gave me a chance, if I hurried, at a church named for the Divine Mercy. It was on a leafy street in a suburban neighborhood, a nice old stone church. Inside, it was beautiful, not wrecked. Side devotional altar to the Divine Mercy. Lone priest in the box.
Let’s just say it was one of those eye opening, scales falling, kind of moments. Like something that, once seen, cannot be unseen.
Every generation has people pleasers, but I really do wonder why THIS particular generation of the Church is worse than anything we have ever seen. I wish I knew why exactly, but part of me believes it began in the 60s with the changes of the Mass and Vatican II because the Church was shell shocked.
I do also think it’s linked to narcissism (the whole 1 in every 6 people are narcissists) because part of the traits of this disease is that people get their “supply” from others thinking well of them. It is naturally human behavior to want to be loved by others, but the problem is the EXCESSIVE need for admiration. Many of us simply prefer ourselves, being thought well of and don’t want to rock the boat.
But the Catholic Church is a boat. An ark. The ark of salvation. And if it means saying and doing the uncomfortable for pure love of Jesus and Mary, we better get pretty comfortable with rocking that boat. I’ve reached a point in my discernment where I’m not going to do what everyone else is doing because it’s “socially acceptable”.
I’m going to keep relying on Mary through Our Lord’s 5 Senses and the 7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost and wherever that leads me, whether on the side of the majority or the minority, I want to have the courage to stick to what I believe despite the opinion of others.
We can’t live off the approval of others. That is NOT how saints are made; it’s also not how we attain heaven. And this method of discernment has led me personally to 100% accept Saint Faustina, her diary and Our Lord’s Divine Mercy message.
Steve’s story and Road back to the Divine Mercy Devotion
For years, I had been praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I have been to the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA several times over the years. When my parents passed away, I inherited their Divine Mercy framed picture. I even received a sign back in October 2019 from St. Faustina regarding my marriage (that’s a story for another day.)
Unfortunately, I gave up praying the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy for several months back in May/June of 2021, questioning its legitimacy. I came to the false conclusion based on events and comments made to me by TLM (Traditional Latin Mass) Catholics.
The events that pushed me away from the devotion is when I visited the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy July 3rd, 2020 (my 10th wedding anniversary). It was during the time of the Covid lockdowns and all the Churches were shut.
As I walked the grounds, I saw the Shrine was locked up and right in front of the Shrine is the 1st life size station of the cross, “Jesus is bound and brought before Caesar.” I passed a priest on the grounds wearing a mask and I asked him, “Father, why are you wearing that mask?” He said, “we have to be prudent.” I thought to myself, what about, “JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU.”
Another event occurred regarding a shrine employee, in his 30’s, who committed suicide in 2020. I know that the original artist of the Divine Mercy image was a Freemason and he too committed suicide.
Going into the year 2021, several of my Trad friends would downplay the DM devotion by making comments like, “the DM devotion is a watered-down devotion of the Sacred Heart Devotion.” Or, “whoever St. Faustina is seeing, it isn’t Jesus.” Or, “Our Lord would never allow St. Faustina, to receive communion in the hand, according to her writing in the diary.”
All this culminated in me to one day taking down the Divine Mercy picture off the living room wall and placing it in my bedroom closet. I removed the picture of St. Faustina off the wall and put it in my clothes drawer.
I prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet for one reason and one reason alone…for the salvation of souls.
After giving up on the devotion for around two months, I was feeling a bit uneasy about my decision in not praying the chaplet. Was what I was being told true? Was the DM devotion legitimate? If it really was legitimate, I wanted to know. First, I asked a TLM priest what he thought and he said it is a Church approved devotion.
I asked him about St. Faustina receiving communion in the hand [after receiving Holy Communion, a second Host miraculously fell into her hand] and he said, “Our Lord can do whatever HE wants”…or something to that effect. I made the comment how the Angel of Portugal gave Holy Communion to the three children of Fatima, and the Angel is NOT a priest with consecrated hands. Father said, “good point.”
It was at this point toward the end of June 2021 that I was going to Saint Therese, the Little Flower and ask her, “Is the Divine Mercy Devotion Legitimate.” That’s is, nothing more.
I started a five-day novena to Saint Therese. I started the novena on Monday, June 28th and finished it on Friday, July 2nd, 2021. The novena of five days involves praying five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys, and five Glory Be’s before 11 am. On the last day, a second set is prayed in thanksgiving.
I finished the novena. I went to the post office to retrieve my mail and I was “gobsmacked” at how fast Saint Therese answered me. She didn’t waste any time. Divine Mercy was a legitimate devotion. I received in the mail a 1st class letter from the National Shrine of Saint Therese in Liseaux, France. But the story didn’t end there.
On Friday, July 2, 2021 (First Friday), while driving through the city of Keene, NH, a large yard signed was positioned in front of the Greek Orthodox Church that read, “LOVE MERCY.”
On Saturday, July 3, 2021 (First Saturday), while making my first Saturday devotion and confession, Father Britto, the priest in the confessional, gave me for my penance, the “Divine Mercy Chaplet” to pray. He first asked me, “do you know how to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet?” I said, “yes, Father.”
Divine Mercy is legitimate and no one will ever again tell me otherwise. One blessing that did come from giving up the DM devotion for two months, I started doing the First Friday devotions to the Sacred Heart. Now I do both.
God is GOOD…thank you, St. Therese!
Christus Primus, In Omnibus
Steve B.
I actually had most of this post written up sometime before Lent, but something, rather Someone, was telling me to hold off and after what happened this morning, I now know why! I currently attend an Institute of Christ the King oratory where we have two Canons (priests) and they have a set system where one priest hears confessions while the other celebrates Mass.
I was still in line for confession with Richard (he was ahead of me) when Mass began and there was still three of us waiting for confession when Canon had to take a break and say the homily (the priests trade off homilies as well, while one celebrates Mass and the other hears confessions and gives the homily).
In his sermon he compared Saint Faustina’s vision of the Sacred Heart and the light beams of blood and water to what Sister Lucia saw just a few years prior in 1929! I was reminded of the light beams she saw that said “grace and mercy” and the chalice and host levitating in the air with the blood and water flowing out of His Heart.
All in all it was a moving homily about the “limbo of the just” and as I was sitting there, and I truly think this was a nudge from God, something was telling me to offer my confession last minute not only for Divine Mercy requirements but with a very specific intension through Saint Faustina and that it was a pleasing request.
Well, you won’t believe this, but as Canon came back to the confessional and the other lady went in, when it was Richard’s turn, he randomly looked over at me and said, “you go ahead. I’ll go next week.” I tried to protest that he could go and that we could both go, but he insisted and I saw it as God wanting me do what He asked in regard to Faustina.
I went in and as I was confessing and receiving absolution, at the same time I could hear the consecration bells ringing of the Precious Body and Blood elevated and it hit me that what a blessing on Divine Mercy Sunday that I asked Our Lord through Canon Ueda my specific request through Saint Faustina, and not only was I receiving absolution but the host and chalice were being elevated throughout the confession, just like Lucia’s vision?
It all reminded me of the image of Lucia seeing the Trinity and Mary. I realized that if Richard didn’t give me his place, it wouldn’t have happened like that. I indeed received “grace and mercy” at the same time. And as I looked up, while receiving absolution, that very image Canon described of the Trinity and Lucia was framed above him in the confessional. It all felt like a double whammy of “grace and mercy” through two sacraments at once while receiving absolution for all my sins, as promised by Our Lord who fulfill the requirements He asked through Faustina.
You see, for a couple of reasons, I have never doubted Divine Mercy or Saint Faustina, because ten plus years ago it was specifically through her and her diary that Our Lord reached out to me to drop everything and be His bride. His Sacred Humanity was so beautiful portrayed, that who in their right mind wouldn’t want to drop everything for such a divine love story?
Like Steve, there were too many jaw dropping miracles that happened for me personally that could only be attributed to the Holy Ghost orchestrating it all. The month before I left Carmel, my patron of the month was Saint Faustina and I remember when I drew the card and saw her name, the supernatural comfort I felt was sublime. I understand that many people associate Divine Mercy and Saint Faustina with John Paul II and I get why that would make them weary, but I try to gently remind people that Faustina was not only pre Vatican II, but also pre John Paul II.
I also realized that the main reason why people have issues with Divine Mercy is because it is tale as old as time: people had issues with Our Lord’s Divine Mercy 2,000 years when healed on the Sabbath, appeared to “break the norm” and show mercy to those who were… not expected to be shown mercy and as we saw over and over and over, how this drove the Pharisees absolutely bonkers.
I do not see her writings as ego driven as so many of these hypocritical Pharisee type Catholics proclaim; in fact, think of her humility. Our Lord is telling her how precious she is to Him, and He is demanding she write it down. Think of how mortifying that actually is. She was being obedient to Christ and called egotistical for doing what she was told to write… by GOD.
As typical textbook narcissists, certain Catholics show disgust for real mercy and charity, and we are seeing the same thing being repeated, today by textbook narcissistic Catholics who feel superior to other members of the flock. I was joking with Richard on the way home, today, after Mass that these are the very people who say, “why would Our Lady appear to you, and not me?” and I told him, “THAT very question is exactly why.”
When Mary’s Heart triumphs, what will be restored is charity and the law: mercy and judgement. They must be equal and must fulfill each other. There is no mercy without judgement and there is no judgement without mercy. There is not charity without the law, and there is no law without charity. Today we either see Pharisees or we see full blown hippies. But that is what happens when the balance of judgement and mercy are not equally balanced on the pendulum.
In 1240, Saint Clare of Assisi is traditionally believed to have defended her convent of San Damiano from an attacking army of Saracen mercenaries (Muslims) by holding aloft a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament (we should be doing the same thing today with today’s “perfidious jews”). Although historically, the vessel used might have been a pyx or ciborium, artistic tradition commonly portrays this miracle with her holding a monstrance.
I bring this particular instance up, because the fact that Clare did something only a priest is permitted to do, hold the monstrance and not suffer the same fate as Oza, who touched the ark and died, truly proves what Steve said: Our Lord can do whatever He wants and uses whoever He pleases. Am I by any means saying women should be allowed to now walk around with the monstrance? Of course not, and that is my point with Divine Mercy. Extraordinary times calls for extraordinary measures of grace and mercy:
Therese and Saint Faustina are connected because Therese made her famous “offering” to merciful love and shortly after felt her heart burn while making the stations of the cross, contracted tuberculosis and when she felt the blood trickling down her throat, she smiled knowing she was to die. Then shortly after her canonization, she appeared to Faustina in a dream to confirm her mission of mercy.
When Faustina was 31 years old, Our Lord told her:
Diary Entry 923 February 7, 1937 Today, the Lord said to me, I demand of you a perfect and whole-burnt offering; an offering of the will. No other sacrifice can compare with this one. I myself am directing your life and arranging things in such a way that you will be for Me a continual sacrifice and will always do My will. And for the accomplishment of this offering, you will unite yourself with Me on the Cross. I know what you can do. I myself will give you many orders directly, but I will delay the possibility of their being carried out and make it depend on others. But what the superiors will not manage to do, I myself will accomplish directly in your soul. And in the most hidden depths of your soul, a perfect holocaust will be carried out, not just for a while, but know, My daughter, that this offering will last until your death. But there is time, so that I the Lord will fulfill all your wishes. I delight in you as in a living host; let nothing terrify you; I am with you.
She died a few short years after being told this, at 33, like her Bridegroom, and indeed all her deepest desires were fulfilled. I pray she intercedes for me as well, and that my dreams are fulfilled the ways her were. In fact, when Our Lord asked King Solomon what he wanted, when he asked for wisdom, Our Lord said He was pleased that he didn’t ask for longevity. Desire for long life is in many cases tied to vanity, not always, but oftentimes it is. Our deepest desire as Catholics should be what little Francisco said before his death, “I don’t want to be anything at all. I want to die and go to heaven.”
I completely understand why parents would want to live to see their children grow up, but that is why I remind those that have chosen the path of Saint Paul, that if you choose not earthly marriage, but the marriage supper of the Lamb, we are able to give Him our full and undivided service, which means we welcome death, long for it like the great martyrs of old, because death means seeing Jesus the Bridegroom, and Mary Our Mother Face to face. With Moses, we cry, “let me see Your Face, Let me see Your glory.” And when Our Lord says we can’t behold His Face and live, those of us who truly desire death to be with Him forever reply: “don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Carmelite Sister Martyrs 