Doors of Mercy

Jeffrey Kirby, Brian Kennelly

Description

We are living in an extraordinary time: A Time of Mercy. But what is mercy? What does it mean to be living in a Time of Mercy? How can we receive God's Mercy? And how should we respond? In Doors of Mercy, authors Fr. Jeffrey Kirby and Brian Kennelly answer these important questions. They act as your tour guides on a whirlwind tour of salvation history, from Adam and Eve to the coming of the Savior, and into the present day with the beautiful story of St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy message and devotion. You'll discover the intricate stitching of a divine rescue plan that would not be stopped by anything. Across countless generations the Lord's mercy acted as the lifeblood of this rescue plan, so that neither our own weakness, nor the devil himself, could thwart it. He would deliver us a Savior and a King of Mercy no matter what it took, one who would bring His Kingdom to the ends of the earth, and who would smash the very gates of hell. You'll discover: -How the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden affects our relationships with each other, with God, and with the world around us -Why God chose a rainbow as the sign of the covenant with Noah -The purpose behind Abram's name being changed to Abraham -How the plagues in the time of Moses were not random but had symbolic meaning -How David's Kingdom serves as a template, or blueprint, for the Church -The hidden meaning behind some of Jesus's well known parables and why the Eucharist is the sign of the new and eternal covenant -How the Church and her saints have spread mercy throughout the centuries, with short biographies of Sts. Vincent, Camillus, Margaret Mary, Maria Goretti and more -The history behind St. Faustina's visions of Jesus and the spreading of the Divine Mercy message and devotion -How you can continue Christ's mission of mercy in your own life...

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Old Testament
• Judaism
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: St. Benedict Press LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781618907677
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Crucifixion , Albrecht Altdorfer
DOORS

 
 OF 
MERCY
A Journey Through Salvation History
Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, STL with Brian Kennelly
Doors of Mercy: A Journey Through Salvation History © 2016 Saint Benedict Press.
All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in articles and critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, printed or electronic, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Chris Pelicano Book design by David Ferris
ISBN: 978-1-61890-763-9
Cataloging-in-Publication data on file with the Library of Congress
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Published by Saint Benedict Press, LLC PO Box 410487 Charlotte, NC 28241 www.SaintBenedictPress.com
To my parents, Alan and Frances, and my siblings, A.J. and Melanie. Father Kirby
To Alton Faires. May you forever rest in peace, Granddad. Brian Kennelly

Virgin and Child , William-Adolphe Bouguereau, (1825-1905), Art Gallery of South Australia / Bridgeman Images
A Note from the Publisher
This book is derived from the groundbreaking 8-part program, Doors of Mercy: Exploring God’s Covenant with You , hosted by Fr. Jeffrey Kirby and released by Saint Benedict Press in January of 2016. At the time of this publication (March 2016), tens of thousands of people have already begun this profound and engaging program in parishes and homes all across the country.
The book follows a similar template to the program, but expounds upon many of the stories and lessons, giving an even richer study of the material. Additionally, a chapter has been added about the life of the Church throughout the centuries, and her saints who have spread God’s mercy to the ends of the earth. Anyone who has already participated in the program will find more to learn, consider, and meditate upon by reading the book. Those who read the book first and would like the chance to bring the program to their parish, please visit www.mercystudy.com to learn more or contact Saint Benedict Press at the contact information below.
Saint Benedict Press 13315 Carowinds Blvd Suite Q Charlotte, NC 28273 1-800-437-5876

Resurrection of Christ , Fresco in the Cathedral, Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Italy by Raffaellino del Colle, (16th century)
Contents
Introduction
Adam & Eve:
The Garden, the Fall, and the Promise
Noah:
The Flood and the Restoration
Abraham:
The Faith of the Great Patriarch
Moses:
The Exodus
David:
The Dynasty
The Prophets:
A Call to Renewal
Jesus:
The Promised Savior
The Church:
Her Mercy and Her Saints
St. Faustina:
The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion
Supplemental Material
A Guide to the Covenants
The Message of Divine Mercy
The Devotion to the Divine Mercy
How to Recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
How to Pray the Divine Mercy Novena

The Creation of the World , Eustache Le Sueur (1617-55) Musee des Beaux-Arts, Tourcoing, France / Bridgeman Images
Introduction
W hen Maria Faustina Kowalska was nineteen years old she attended a dance with her sister. While there, she had a vision of the suffering Jesus.
He asked her, “How long must I wait for you and how long will you keep putting me off?”
Faustina immediately left the dance and ran to a nearby church. She prostrated herself before the Lord, asking for direction. He spoke again, saying, “Go to Warsaw and enter a convent there.” Faustina obeyed the calling and departed for Warsaw that night, boarding a train for the eighty-five-mile journey.
In the years that followed, she rarely left the convent that she entered, and yet she changed the world. Jesus said to her:
In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My People. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. ( Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul , 1588)
We must ask ourselves how long will we keep Him waiting, how long will we put Him off? Do we not also want to change the world? Do we not also want to carry His mercy to the ends of the earth?
Before we answer that call, we must understand what mercy is. We must understand God’s beautiful story of mercy.
* * *
Mercy. How deeply we need it. Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer we ask for it—“forgive us our trespasses.” Only a moment later we promise to extend mercy to others, to all “who trespass against us.”
Without mercy, our homes—and our hearts—quickly become cold, dark places. But mercy brings peace and solace and mends wounded or broken relationships. It opens a door back to friendship with our family, our friends, and with God.
God’s mercy is closer than we can imagine. It’s as close as prayer, as close as the sacraments. Baptism cleanses us of sin and makes us children of God; the Holy Eucharist nourishes and restores our souls; and Reconciliation ensures His mercy is as close as the confessional door.
The Bible speaks of God’s mercy and loving kindness to all who call upon Him. As we’ll see, the Bible itself is the story of God extending mercy, to Adam and Noah, to Abraham and Moses, to David and Israel, to all His people.
But what is God’s mercy?
Simply put, God’s mercy is the overflowing of His loving kindness, beyond anything we deserve. It is His love bending down to meet our needs and ease our suffering. Above all, it is the forgiveness of sin. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that “forgiving men, taking pity on them, is a greater work than the creation of the world.”
St. Thomas Aquinas made an interesting distinction between two types of mercy: affective and effective . Affective mercy, the great theologian says, is more like pity; it’s feeling sorry for someone but essentially doing nothing about it. Conversely, effective mercy is something we actively do. It’s taking steps to relieve the miseries of our neighbor. This is the kind of mercy we are called to show in response to what God has done for us.
You might think that because God is omnipotent , or all-powerful, extending this mercy was a simple task. It wasn’t. It required a plan, a rescue plan , if you will. One set in motion at the very dawn of creation, and one that has unfolded over countless generations and thousands of years. As we’ll come to see, this story of salvation was a drama in every sense of the word.
In the coming pages, we’ll explore the drama of this rescue plan in depth, and show you how God’s mercy was the lifeblood, the fuel, of the plan. We’ll examine the intricate stitching of a divine tapestry that would not be torn apart by any manmade force. Across thousands of years, nothing would stand in the way of God’s plan—not the sins of our first parents, not the Israelites’ lack of faith, not vengeful pharaohs, not foreign invaders, not wars, not even the disobedience and sins of some of the most well-known figures of the Old Testament, including Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David.
We’ll discover how God’s mercy would not allow our weakness, or the devil himself, to thwart His plan of salvation. He would deliver us a Savior and a King of Mercy no matter what it took. This Savior would smash the very gates of hell; this King would bring His Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
Ultimately, we’ll discover that in Christ we have even more than a King of Mercy. We have, as Pope St. John Paul II tells us in his encyclical, Dives in Misericordia , mercy itself:
Christ confers a definitive meaning on the whole of the Old Testament tradition about God’s mercy. Not only does He speak of it and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables, but above all He Himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He Himself, in a sense, is mercy. To the person who sees it in Him—and finds it in Him—God becomes ‘visible’ in a particular way as the Father who is rich in mercy.
Join me now as we prepare to walk through the first Door of Mercy—one that the Father opened in response to the disaster that struck at the very dawn of creation.

Christ the Consolator , Bloch

Hands of God and Adam , detail from The Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Ceiling, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)
CH APT ER
1
Adam & Eve
The Garden, the Fall, and the Promise

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them .
Genesis 1:27
 

In the first chapters of Genesis we read about the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden. It was in the moments following this catastrophic fall from grace that God laid the groundwork for His rescue plan. He promised a Savior who would one day come to make right the error of our first parents—Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, would come to secure our salvation. Since Jesus Christ is mercy, the rescue plan begins with Him. Every facet of the plan that would unfold across the generations would be tied to the fulfillment of God’s promise to send us our Savior and King.
 

Creation: An Act of Love
B efore God created the world, He wasn’t lonely. While this is a simple statement, it has profound implications. It points to God’s eternal existence as a community of persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s important for us to understand that God, in His innermost essence, is not solitude, but like a family.
When we realize that God had no need for our existence we see how much He loves us. He had no need to create us, and yet He did. St. Faustina, whom we will meet later in this book, expresses this well. Faustina wrote in her now famous diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul , “O God, who are happiness in Your very self, and have no need of creatures to make You happy, because of Yourself You are the fullness of love; yet, o