Divine Mercy for Children

Vinny Flynn

Description

In this adaptation of his best-selling 7 Secrets of Divine Mercy, Vinny Flynn, one of the country's foremost experts on Divine Mercy, leads young people on an exploration through the "Museum of Mercy." Within the halls and rooms of this museum, they'll discover:the amazing relationship the Holy Trinity wants to have with them,the inspiring story of St. Faustina and her visions of Jesus, an explanation of powerful passages from St. Faustina's Diary,the signs and symbols hidden in the Divine Mercy Image, the special graces they can receive from meditating on Christ's passion, how and when to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena, and practical ways to live out the Divine Mercy message in their daily lives.With captivating illustrations and discussion questions for children and parents after each chapter, this upper elementary and middle school title will inspire young people to live and share the message of Divine Mercy throughout their lives!

Sujets

• Religion
• Children's

Informations

• Publié par: TAN Books
• Date de parution: 03 février 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781505116755
• Langue: English

Extrait

DIVINE MERCY
FOR CHILDREN
DIVINE MERCY
FOR CHILDREN
A Guided Tour of the Museum of Mercy Adapted from 7 Secrets of Divine Mercy
Vinny Flynn With Brian Kennelly
TAN Books Gastonia, North Carolina
Divine Mercy for Children: A Guided Tour of the Museum of Mercy © 2020 Vinny Flynn
All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible—Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.—Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.
Interior illustrations by Michael Corsini
Interior Divine Mercy Image: The Vilnius Image, courtesy of The Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA, 01263. This is the “original” version of the Divine Mercy Image, painted in 1934 by Eugene Kazimierowski under the supervision of St. Faustina and her confessor, Blessed Michael Sopocko, in Vilnius.
Copyright 2011, Marians of the Immaculate Conception. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Art prints are available through the Marians at www.DivineMercyArt.com .
Cover design by Caroline Green
Cover image: Divine Mercy by Prasad K B, and Kids at the Museum by Iconic Bestiary / Shutterstock.
ISBN: 978-1-5051-1673-1
Published in the United States by
TAN Books
PO Box 269
Gastonia, NC 28053
www.TANBooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
To our children (and Vinny’s 30 grandchildren!). May you become living images of His mercy.
Contents
Introduction: Walking through the Museum Doors
Chapter 1: The Holy Trinity
Chapter 2: A Call to Holiness
Chapter 3: God Loves Backwards
Chapter 4: St. Faustina Kowalska
Chapter 5: A Book of Secrets
Chapter 6: A Painting of Secrets
Chapter 7: The Prayers of Divine Mercy
Chapter 8: Living It Out
How to Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
How to Pray the Divine Mercy Novena
 
Introduction
Walking through the Museum Doors
Have you ever been to a museum?
If you have, you probably know how exciting it can be. Museums are usually filled with all sorts of wonders from the world or from history. Walking through a museum, you might see the skeleton of a T. rex , a spaceship that landed on the moon, or a famous painting that dates back several centuries.
This book is meant to be like walking through a museum, but not just any museum: this is the Museum of Mercy!
You might be wondering what exactly that means. Well, you’ll find out soon enough! But let’s give you a little tease of what you’ll learn and see.
* * *
Just as a science museum would teach you about science, or a history museum about history, or an art museum about art, touring the Museum of Mercy is a way for you to come to know, love, and practice the Divine Mercy message and devotion. You may already be a little familiar with Divine Mercy, or you may not have ever heard of it, but either way, you are sure to learn something new and exciting.
That’s because the halls of this museum are filled with wisdom and treasure that can one day lead you to the best halls of all: the halls of heaven!
Soon, you’ll be learning about the depths of the Holy Trinity and the love that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have for you. And you’ll come to know the humble Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, whom Jesus appeared to many times in the twentieth century. In one amazing room in the museum, we’ll take a look at some pages from Faustina’s once-secret diary where she wrote down the things Jesus told her.
Then, down the hall, we’ll travel to another room where the famous Divine Mercy Image hangs, the one you’ve probably seen many times (just look at the cover of this book!). But what if I told you there are many hidden symbols and messages found in the painting? While in this room, we’ll investigate some of them!
After that, we’ll walk into the quiet of the museum’s chapel to talk about your prayer life. Did you know that prayer is outside of time? Do you know what “outside of time” means? Well, you will! And you’ll learn some of the most powerful prayers the Church has ever given us—the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena—prayers that can change your life and the lives of those you love.
And then, as you leave the museum, we’ll give you some ways you can “take the museum with you” as you live out the Divine Mercy message in your daily life.
So, let’s get started. Come with us now as we walk through the doors of the Museum of Mercy!
 
Chapter 1
The Holy Trinity
Three Words Say It All
After entering the Museum of Mercy, everyone is filtered into an opening room. We must pass through this room first before going anywhere else in the museum. And it’s a room that gets your attention right away.
Why?
Because the doorway is a triangle rather than a rectangle (or a circle, if you’re a hobbit). Above one side of the triangle reads the word “Father.” Atop the other: “Child.” And finally, just below where you enter the room, the word “Love” is inscribed on the floor.
Before going through this strange doorway, let’s understand something you’ll need to remember throughout your tour of the museum.
God has a plan.
Maybe that’s obvious to you. Maybe you’ve been told that God watches over all of us and that he has a plan for your life. But sometimes we can hear something so often that we forget its meaning. So let’s stop for a moment. I want to make sure you understand just exactly what God’s plan is and how you fit into it.
St. John Paul II helps us bring God’s big plan down to three simple words: Father. Child. Love. The number three is important in Christianity, right? Why?
Yep, you guessed it … the Holy Trinity! The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are reflected in these three words from our beloved pope. The Trinity is a Family: God the Father, his Child Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who is the Love between them. (St. Pope John Paul II called the Holy Spirit “the Person Love.”) Everything about God’s plan can only be understood in light of this Family .
Now that we know that, let’s walk inside this first room.
The Plan of Mercy
As we’ll see later, God knew each of us before he formed us in our mother’s womb, and even before the creation of the world, he loved us so much that he wanted us to become his children—not just creatures, but children , like Jesus. In other words, he wanted us to come into his Family, the Holy Trinity.
His desire to do this springs from love. Love wants to give itself away; it wants to pour itself out. If you love your mom, you want to give her flowers on her birthday, right? This simple gesture is love pouring itself out. You are pouring a piece of yourself into that sweet-smelling gift.
God knows how wonderful his Family is, and so he wants to share it with others. That’s why he decided to create more beings to love.
Now we are finally getting to mercy ! Mercy is an unmerited gift, which just means it’s a gift we don’t deserve. God’s love for us (and our very existence) are gifts like that, because how could creatures ever deserve to be created and loved by the God of the universe? So, when God’s love flows out of the Trinity on you and me, it’s called mercy, because none of us could possibly deserve it—in the same way that you didn’t do anything before you were born to deserve the life your parents have given you.
Usually, when we hear that we “don’t deserve something,” it might make us think we did something bad. That’s not what it means here. It just means that you can’t do anything to earn God’s love (or your parent’s love). What’s great about this love is that it’s pure gift; you don’t have to do anything for it. All you have to do is be you!
So just for being you, you are invited to be a part of the greatest Family in all the world—the Holy Trinity! And this invitation comes to you through God’s mercy.
Jesus Is Your Ride to the Party
Jesus, the Second Person of this Holy Family, is pretty important for this discussion (and every discussion, for that matter!), because while mercy is our invitation to join this Family, Jesus is “the way” we join it.
Think of it like a party: you get an invitation from the person hosting it, but then you need a way to get there. God’s mercy is like the invitation to join the party—it lets you know you’re invited—and Jesus is the one who’s going to pick you up and take you there. He’s your ride.
Now here comes the cool part, a little secret that a lot of people don’t know. God’s grand plan involved sending Jesus to earth to become man, to live and teach and die on the cross, and then rise again and ascend into heaven (okay that part’s not a secret, but this next part is). Through this plan, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, God “perfectly introduced his Son’s humanity, including his body, into the Trinity” (CCC 648).
What does this mean for us? It means that everything the Father did for Jesus, he wants to do for you. You are destined by God, if you cooperate, to be introduced by the Father into the Trinity, not just your soul, but your body too. Most people walking around our cities, towns, and in the countryside sadly don’t know that they have an invitation waiting on them to be swept up into the life of the Holy Trinity. That’s why we say it’s a secret, but unlike normal secrets, we need to tell everyone!
You see, the Father didn’t just send Jesus to suffer and die for us, he also sent him to bring us back with him. Jesus is the way we receive the invitation of mercy to the party and he’s also the way we get there. When we show up with him, we are welc