January 1, 1937

Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been reading St. Faustina's diary every morning while eating breakfast. Yesterday, quite serendipitously (for those of you who believe in serendipity), I found myself at January 1, 1937, and a list of General Exercises that she had set herself for the year, the above quote being one of them.

I've written here several times about being the doorkeeper of the parish where I work. This prayer strikes me as a good one to hang in a prominent place in my office. When I first started working at the church, it was pretty easy to keep in mind that every time I open the door, the person on the other side was Jesus, and that they ought to meet Jesus when I opened the door. I still pray on my way to the door, but as in all efforts to grow in holiness, what I could do enthusiastically at the beginning, has now become routine and all too often my first thought when the doorbell rings (Twice! Why do people ring the bell twice before you can even stand up?) is exasperation that someone is interrupting whatever I happen to be doing at the moment. And I'm afraid that I am attached to an inappropriate desire to shoot the telephone.

Perhaps the hardest promise in this exercise is to "...be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness." I more or less know that a certain percentage of the people that come to the door for help are lying to me in some way, and I really hate lying. But to worry about that is a distraction. A person who makes their way through life by lying to other people is likely even more in need of coming face to face with Jesus than someone who comes telling the truth.

So, knowing full well that a great deal of this exercise will be beyond my ability to put into practice, I think I will adopt it as a guide and a prayer for the coming year. It's amazing sometimes how the repetition of a prayer, even when it becomes rote, invokes hidden graces in our lives that produce surprising fruit somewhere down the road.

I think this one exercise will exercise me enough, but in case you are looking for a greater challenge, her entire list is below.

O Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart beats, as many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand times do I want to glorify Your mercy.

I want to be completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living reflection, O Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of Your unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor.

Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors' souls and come to their rescue.

Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors' needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings.

Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for all.

Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more difficult and toilsome tasks.

Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor.

Help me, O Lord, that my hart may be merciful so that I myself may feel all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.

You Yourself command me to exercise the three degrees of mercy. The first: the act of mercy, of whatever kind. The second: the word of mercy – if I cannot carry out a work of mercy, I will assist by my words. The third: prayer – if I cannot show mercy by deeds or words, I can always do so by prayer. My prayer reaches out even there where I cannot reach out physically. O my Jesus, transform me into Yourself, for you can do all things

When we read the lives of saints get a glimpse into the way they thought, it's often daunting, a prayer like the one above is a fearsome thing, so I was happy to come across a resolution that St. Faustina makes in another place--I must keep silence outside the time of recreation, and avoid jokes and witty words that make others laugh and break silence. What I love about this is that's it's exactly the problem that I would have in a cloister. I have no problem with keeping silence, I really crave silence most of the time, but I would be very hard-pressed to pass up an opportunity to make people laugh.

And by the way, there is a list of Pope Francis's suggested New Year's Resolutions here. When you compare the two lists, I think you will see that they amount to pretty much the same thing.

AMDG