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Chaplet of
Divine Mercy 1.
Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles
Creed. 2. Then on the Our
Father Beads say the following: 3. On the 10 Hail
Mary Beads say the following: (Repeat step 2
and 3 for all five decades). 4. Conclude with (three
times): Promote The Divine Mercy image of Jesus while
driving to work! To purchase Divine Mercy magnets and bumper stickers, click here!
*used with permission by the
Marians. |
A 'Bumper' Crop of Faith Suddenly Gets Sticky
By Mark
Endres
Outside the Catechism and Holy Bible, St. Faustina's Diary
is the greatest book I've ever read. This book – written in the 1930s by
a young Polish nun who had extraordinary visions of Jesus, who spoke of His
abundant, unlimited mercy available to even the greatest sinners - has brought
me to deeper understanding of my faith.
Like many, I grew up in a large Catholic family. But after leaving home as a
young adult, my devotion to God was pretty much confined to going to church on
Sundays and saying a few Hail Mary's before I fell asleep.
But after reading the Diary, I could no longer be a
"cafeteria" Catholic. I am still a sinner, as we all are, but the Diary
has made me face the truth. Sin is always offensive to God, and cannot be
rationalized away. The 10 Commandments are just that —
10 commandments, not 10 "suggestions."
As the Bible says, we are not capable of understanding God's laws based on our
limited, brief human existence. That would be a terrible mistake based in
pride. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths
straight" (Prov 3:5-6).
Trust in the Merciful Lord is the very heart of the Divine Mercy message.
That's why I have been inspired to spread this message to others. This is my
story:
One day, I looked in my mailbox, and I found a copy of Marian Helper
magazine. One of the articles was about a man who had recently put up Divine
Mercy billboards — that is to say,
billboards that prominently display the image of Jesus as The Divine Mercy,
with the words "Jesus, I trust in You!" I
had seen a large Divine Mercy billboard while driving across
Why? Because Jesus commands it. Jesus said to St. Faustina: "I desire that the image be publicly
honored" (Diary, 414).
Jesus said: "By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls"
(Diary, 742).
Because of the financial cost involved, billboards were out of the question. So
I started putting up Divine Mercy posters at our local university campus. Since
there are many flyers on street corners that advertise sex-crazed movies, bars,
and bands, I thought a Divine Mercy poster in their midst could save a few
souls. So each Tuesday morning at 6 a.m., I put up several Divine Mercy posters
on my way to work.
Eventually, I began to notice bumper stickers on the back of cars — religious ones, political ones, sentimental
ones. On any given day, almost 25 percent of the cars I saw on the way to work
had a bumper sticker. It occurred to me that with bumper stickers, I could
"publicly" help carry out the request of Jesus. Best of all, I didn't
need thousands of dollars to do so.
I contacted the Marians of the Immaculate Conception and was able to acquire a
licensing contract for the "Hyla" version
of The Divine Mercy image. But as I researched printing, graphics, paper
quality, and selling on the Internet, the project began to take up more time
than I had expected. Between family, work, church, and other daily
responsibilities, I was getting burnt out by the whole thing. I finally told
the Lord "I quit."
I simply was no longer able to discern if this project was my will, or His.
At that point, I remembered the words of Our Lady to St. Faustina:
"You have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the
world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as merciful Savior, but
as a just Judge ... speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the
time for granting mercy ... be faithful to the end. I sympathize with you"
(Diary, 635).
My conscious nagged me. In prayer, I told Jesus that if He really wanted me to
continue, I would need a "sign."
So several weeks later, while driving to work, I saw a generic
"Jesus" bumper sticker ahead of me. Of course, I was curious to read
it, but it contained a lot of words, and I was not able to read all of it.
However, what I could see shocked me —
actually, it scared me. The bumper sticker contained these words: "If you
refuse to help Jesus by not placing a bumper sticker on your car, you will be
accountable to many lost souls on judgment day...."
So God had answered my prayers, as usual, when it really mattered. And He did
not mince words. As the saying goes, "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut
once in a while."
This was similar to an experience I had a couple years ago. I'm a big fan of
the late Fr. Solanus Casey, and I often pray for his
intercession. He was a "simplex" priest. He was known for his
humility, holiness, and physical healing abilities. Several years ago, while
asking Fr. Solanus for his intercession, I saw a
license plate in front of me that said "simplex." So after that day,
I no longer doubted the ability of God to communicate overtly with us, even
through a license plate.
Within a day of the bumper sticker incident, I contacted my friend Ron Wolf, a
talented graphic artist, who designed the bumper stickers for me — in English and in Spanish. My brother-in-law,
John Murphy, a printer, offered his expertise in printing the stickers.
With their help, I was able to put together and order several thousand Divine
Mercy bumper stickers. They are on my website at www.divinemercydevotion.com.
They have been purchased by individuals, conferences and churches all over the
world, even though I have done little advertising. We also have license plate
holders that say "Jesus, I Trust in You."
Can one bumper sticker really make a difference? Does Jesus work miracles or
answer a prayer through a bumper sticker? I can tell you, unequivocally,
"Yes!"
Several weeks ago, I received a very happy e-mail from two nice ladies who had
been working on an upcoming Divine Mercy conference in
She was able to get out of her car and knock on the person's window to get our
web address. How miraculous! With less than three days before the Divine Mercy
conference, we were able to send several hundred bumper stickers to them in
time for their conference.
God answered their prayers. Jesus performs many miracles. Sometimes, they're
even "awesome," as Mother Angelica says.
Jesus told St. Faustina: "Do whatever is
within your power to spread devotion to My mercy
..." (Diary, 1074).
I believe that Jesus is true to His word. His mercy comes in many forms. A
bumper sticker can make a person's day and lift their spirits. It may even help
a person decide not to have an abortion, divorce their spouse, or commit
adultery. God's mercy is always perfect, in His time, in His way. What's nice
about The Divine Mercy image is that it's "universal" to all
Christians and to all people of good will.
In one year's time, I estimate my little Saturn will introduce the Divine Mercy
image to at least 1,500 new people, based on my daily driving. One thousand
bumper stickers could easily be seen by almost 2 million people in a year's
time. One lady recently got so excited when she saw my bumper sticker, she
started honking her horn and waving at me. I must have made her day.
It is very gratifying for me to see the words "Jesus, I Trust in You"
while driving in the
Our goal is not to sell bumper stickers or license plate holders simply for the
sake of selling a product. I've been asked about making other "Jesus"
stickers, etc., and have said no. Our little apostolate is only about promoting
Divine Mercy. As Jesus tells St. Faustina, there is a
great urgency for mankind to turn back to God and ask for His mercy and grace.
He says time is running out.
"Speak to the world about My mercy," Jesus told St. Faustina (Diary, 848). "... It is a sign of
the end times. After it will come the Day of Justice."
Can we change the world with our little bumper stickers, the "mini
billboards"? I don't know. But as Mother Angelica says, we sometimes have
to do the ridiculous for God to perform the miraculous.
Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:
He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great. (Lk 6:46-49)
Mark Endres lives in Madison, Wis.
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