Today is the first day of the Divine Mercy Novena which can be found here.
Eternal Father,
God, You are eternal. Time is not something You exist within. There is no motion in You. You are here and now. All I know is motion and change, and so it is hard for me to wrap my mind around You; I could never do so. You have no beginning, middle or end. You are simple.
And you are Father. You are Father to the Son and, in Him, you are my Father. It is my greatest joy and deepest fulfillment to cry Abba with a full heart. At the moment of my baptism, I became immersed in Christ and adopted by You. I belong to you. I have your inheritance. I am yours.
I offer You
From this place of sonship, of child-like trust, I begin my prayer. But who am I to offer you anything? I am less than a grain of sand. You are “I AM” and I am nothing. The ashes smeared across my forehead forty days ago were a foreshadowing of what I will become. But somehow, in Christ, You invite me to offer you something. You share Christ’s priesthood with me. The sacrifice you demand is my broken heart.
The Body and Blood, Soul
It is Christ I offer, along with my broken heart, and he has a Body, Blood and a Soul. I offer you, a Living Man, a resurrected, glorified Body, Who mysteriously continues to suffer in atonement at every Mass until the end of time. I offer You the feet which were pierced and the hands that were nailed. I cling to His Body.
And Divinity
How can I offer God to God? You invite me to share in the Mass by offering my daily sufferings to make up for what lacks in the suffering of Christ. How can I, who am nothing, offer God the Son to God the Father? How can these two Persons be distinct in Your perfect unity and simplicity? And yet You, Father, have already been giving Yourself to Christ, and he has been likewise reciprocating, for all eternity, in the eternal now which is You. Thank you that I can participate in Your inner life.
Of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ,
For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. You held nothing back for us. Throughout salvation history, you gave so many second chances – prophets, covenants, the Law, kings… But in the fullness of time You send Your Son. I am so grateful…
In atonement for our sins, And those of the whole world. Amen.
Christ, You are the Victim, the Salutaris Hostia. You took our sin and filth upon Yourself. You took the just punishments we deserved. You came to save us and we crucified You. You became sin who knew no sin, that we might become Your righteousness. What an exchange – I give you sin, You give me grace.
I ask you to continue to save me, for I continue to sin. As I work out my salvation in fear and trembling, hold my hand. Thank you, that you are doing the heavy lifting.
Finally, I pray for the whole world. You have not given me faith to keep to myself. You are not calling me to comfortably settle into a holy huddle. We are Your Mystical Body. We are your hands and feet. You want to feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit prisoners, nurse the sick, correct the confused and convert the hardened sinners through us. I give You permission to use my life in any way you see fit, so that many can come to rest in Your Eternal Father.