"In prayer you shall perceive ... the way out of every situation that has no exit." 
                                                                                                           - Medjugorje March 28, 1985

"Do novenas of fasting and renunciation so that satan be far from you and grace be around you"                                                                                                             -  Medjugorje July 25, 2005

We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Easter and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus and that you have savored the Easter Octave and its culinary and spiritual feasts during this wonderful time of year.

As we renew our commitment to weekly fasting that first century Christians wrote all believers are obligated to follow, here are some thoughts from Patrice, one of our colleagues and a principal of St Joseph Partners who many of you know as clients of our firm.  

Thank you for fasting with us today – You will be glad you made the effort for all of eternity….

As we are still basking in the joy of Divine Mercy Sunday, let us reflect on the magnitude of this great gift.

What is Divine Mercy:

 In short, Divine Mercy is God’s love reaching out to meet our needs and overcome all of our miseries, without any merit or deserving on our part.  The Bible and the teachings of the Church assure us of this.

Divine Mercy is a theme throughout the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for mercy is Hesed, which means” steadfast love, covenant love.”  A person with this attribute is someone that you can always count on and who never lets you down.  When the word Hesed is used of the Lord it is always in connection with the covenant that God established with Israel.  It is a love that gives, more powerful than betrayal and with grace stronger than sin.

A second Hebrew word for mercy in the Old Testament is Rachamin, which refers to a tender and compassionate love. A love that springs from pity.

Rachamin moves one to action.  These two forms of mercy complement each other.

Hesed- steadfast, dependable and righteous.

Rachamin-tender, responsive, compassionate.

(In my perception these two forms of mercy seem to reflect the mercy of God the Father intertwined with God the Son.)

In the New Testament, the Greek word for Eleos is translated to mercy.  The root meaning is “ oil that is poured out”.  Loving kindness or tender compassion.  Thus, we pray, Kyrie Eleison.  We are praying that the merciful love of God will be poured out upon us like holy oil from above.

In Latin, the word Misericordia is the primary word for mercy.  It means to have a heart filled with pity to the extent of having pain in your heart for someone else’s pain.  I believe Jesus took our pains to the cross with him in the ultimate act of mercy, to lay down one’s life for that of another.

St. Thomas Aquinas suggested that Divine Mercy is the form that God’s eternal love takes when he reaches out to us in the midst of our need and brokenness.

St. Catherine of Sienna stated: “Your mercy is life giving, it is the light through which both the upright and sinners discover your goodness.”

St. Faustina was commissioned by our Lord to spread the message of Divine Mercy to the world.  In her DIARY, she shares the journey she had in being obedient to Jesus’ desire.  We are blessed by her vigilance in being a missionary for this message as we now have the grace of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the special graces that stream from Divine Mercy Sunday.

We can help spark the world with the message of God’s mercy by sharing it joyfully and humbly with all of those  that we encounter.  We simply need to have love for each other, compassion, tenderness and forgiveness.

Some of my personal experiences with God’s mercy have been the restoration of my son from the depths of drug addiction and the healing of physical blindness, in my right eye. 

Blinded on Easter Sunday and could see the tabernacle from the back of the church on Divine Mercy Sunday.  One week in darkness and then the mercy of God restored my sight.

Also, the peace I feel with forgiving those who hurt me just as I am quite sure that God has forgiven me for hurting Him.

Go into the world spread the compassion of mercy,  forgive each other and give thanks to God for such a grace as Divine Mercy.

JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!

Why We Fast – Our Core Fasting Intentions

1) We add the new fasting intention of taking back the church from evil. We submit the three-step process to achieve this victory is 1-Repent, 2-Prayer & Fasting and, 3-Imitate our Savior by throwing the evil leadership from the church. We will seek to emulate the Savior in our effort to End The USCCB, an organization that has been devastating to the church.  (“You shall know the spirit by the fruits” - Matt. 7:16)

2) For the Holy Spirit to reign down upon America, renewing our land as the Christian, capitalist meritocracy we were founded to be.

3) For the protection of our police, firefighters, military and their families from harm and that the Lord bless their courageous generosity on our behalf.

4) For the protection of the families who fast with us, and for God’s blessings of abundance upon them and that true to His word, we will be able to witness that He prospered us in famine.

Would you like to learn more about fasting?

We maintain a repository of ideas and information we have learned over the last decade while fasting weekly for America. From scientific studies on the benefits of fasting, to the differences between intermittent dieting vs intermittent fasting, to scriptural references regarding the power of fasting to the history of first century Christians who stated believers are obligated to fast weekly, we hope you will find numerous insights with our free resource located here.

Together let us also implore Heaven while fasting for intentions you have highlighted:

4) For all patriots who put themselves on the front lines in combatting evil and for all of the warriors who are stepping up around the nation to fight for the gospel – May The Father cover them in the blood of our savior,  protect them and their families from evil and bring victory to their endeavors.

5) For priests, ministers and all who aspire to lead others to the Lord, that the Holy Spirit will reign down upon them as at Pentecost filling them to overflowing. 

6) For the Americans jailed after January 6th who were admitted to the Capitol building by the police, and who were not found to have destroyed any property at the capitol yet who have been held captive ever since on our own soil - That God's Spirit will move quickly to bring justice back to this land and free them.

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