I'd known about the Divine Mercy Chaplet for a while now... and most especially after Bro. Stanley Villavicencio's visit but I never really put it into practice until recently.
A month ago, an old friend (a member of the local Divine Mercy Apostolate) sent a strange sms. Without any preliminaries whatsoever, she asked me to please do a 9-day Divine Mercy novena at 3 a.m. and the 3 o'clock prayer & chaplet if possible. She urged me to get my whole family (also my sister-in-law's family) to do it. She specified praying for the breaking of ancestral bondage, conversion of family members, spiritual and physical healing of every member of our families.
My reaction was 'Wow.' It seemed a bit strong. I looked around me.. things seemed okay at home. Well, one family member was facing a bit of a hard time at work and in her personal life.
So, at first, I didn't start straightaway. A day later, I began. I already had this Virtual Chaplet tool on my notebook so it wasn't a difficult thing to do. Then when I mentioned this to my relative, she told me that she had issues with God & religion. I also felt as if she had a spirit of failure hanging onto her life. Nothing in her life seemed to be working or improving. So I recommended that she go for confession. But she didn't look enthusiastic.
By the third day of my novena (this relative didn't know I was doing it), she suddenly mentioned that she wanted to go for confession. Oh joy! I was so happy! So far she hasn't gone yet but at least the thought had come to her.
Strangely on the ninth day of my novena, I woke up around midnight and couldn't go to sleep. So I read a book until 3 a.m. When I realised the time, I remembered how The Lord Jesus promised St Faustina Kowalska regarding the time 3 o'clock : "In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world – mercy triumphed over justice" (Diary, 1572)
I thought that there was a reason I couldn't sleep till 3 a.m. for I didn't have the intention to stay awake till then. And so I finished my novena at 3 a.m. on the ninth day.
By then, I had gotten used to the chaplet. It is remarkably soothing and comforting to recite. The Divine Mercy Chaplet audio I had is also very beautiful to listen to. The very next day, some trouble resurfaced in that relative's life. So I decided to do another novena. I am now in the fifth day of that second novena and I am beginning to truly believe that there is a unseen struggle going on in that relative's life. Yesterday, I made the resolution to take her for confession at 3pm. But just as she walked in through the gates at 2.50p.m., a headache I'd been nursing spiked so badly I could barely walk. I took a pill and went to sleep. By the time I awoke at 6p.m., the time for confession was past.
I will continue saying this chaplet for her sake until she goes for confession. I truly believe that confession is exorcism of the soul. May God grant my wish.
Latest Update :
Today is 10 Feb 2011. I finished the second novena..at EXACTLY 3pm. And this wasn't by design. So that makes the second novena that finished at that special hour. Coincidence? Well, I stopped believing in coincidences about two years ago. AND today is also the day I got some insight into the possible source of this relative's problems.
So I am starting another novena. I will do this until she is back on her feet. They say that persistence gets prayers answered :)
I'm getting questions answered too... as I move from novena to novena.
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