spirituality

FILIPINO APOSTLE of the Divine Mercy
The Second Coming of Jesus is not an event to be feared, but a mystery to be anticipated in faith and hope because this is the final accomplishment of God’s plan for humankind. It is the time of our salvation.

A remarkable phenomenon of our time is the swift dissemination of the devotion to Jesus the Divine Mercy. God himself raises up apostles in some parts of the world, tasking them to spread this fitting worship. Among the chosen apostles is Brother Stanley Villavicencio, a married man from Mambaling, Cebu City. People call him now Bro. Stanley.

A brief look at the past

As many have already known, the story of the Divine Mercy devotion started with God’s call of Sr. Faustina Kowalska, a simple nun, from the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland. Sr. Faustina lived a holy and difficult life, having to suffer poor health, dryness of spirit, temptations, misinterpretations of her intentions, harsh treatment, humiliations and the lack of recognition in everything in her community. All such sufferings were meritorious as she offered them in union with the sufferings of Jesus.

Sr. Faustina receive from Jesus the mission to proclaim to the world that the devotion to the Divine Mercy is a sign for the End Times, that His Second Coming is imminent and people must approach Him as a merciful Savior if they want to avoid meeting Him as a Judge.

In one of their conversations, Jesus said, “Speak about mercy to the world; let all mankind recognize my unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the End Times. After it, the Day of Justice will come…Before I come as a Just Judge, I first open wide the doors of my mercy. He who refuse to pass through the doors of my mercy will have to pass through the doors of my Justice.” (1146)

Jesus appeared to Sr. Faustina with one arm raised in blessing and the other pointing to His Heart. Two rays emanate from Jesus’ Heart: the pale rays stand for water which makes the soul righteous and the red rays stand for the blood which is the life of the soul. Jesus told Sr. Faustina that these rays shield souls from the just wrath of the Father.

In another conversation, Jesus prophesied about the extraordinary "spark" that will rise up from Poland: "I have a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to my will, I will exalt her in might and holiness; for from her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for my final coming" (93).

Although the Church has not made any pronouncement, many people believe that this prophecy was fulfilled in Pope John Paul II, who in his pontificate had done much writing, preaching and witnessing to bring the world back to God.

After the death of Sr. Faustina in 1938, Divine Mercy devotion spread out rapidly, becoming a solace especially during the second world war, but shortly after, it was banned for twenty years by the Church for inadequate translation of the reports from the Polish language.

When Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was archbishop of Krakow, Poland, he intervened and the ban was lifted. Six months after this, he was elected as Pope. He then facilitated the work for the beatification of Sr. Faustina and finally canonized her on April 30, 2000, the year of the Jubilee of Mercy. As desired by Jesus himself, the celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy is on Sunday after Easter.

The Call of Stanley

Stanley was an employee of the AVSECOM (Aviation Security Command) in Mactan and a devout believer of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. In March 2, 1993, God called him to be a disciple in a very unique way. In the morning he was found trembling and vomiting blood forcefully. He was rushed to the hospital but the doctors who attended to him could do nothing. Eventually the doctors advised to remove all the life saving apparatuses attached to his body. The family however refused to heed the advice of the doctors considering that he belonged to a family of doctors and nurses.

While his body was lying at the ICU of the hospital, His soul was led to a light and he discovered he was in front of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here Jesus showed him the movie of his life on a giant screen from childhood up to the present. He said "Whenever I do good, it just goes on normally, but I noticed that everytime I commit a sin, it goes into a slow motion. However, when I commit a mortal sin, the pictures would stop and become enlarged right before my eyes that even if I close my eyes I could still see them. The movie was repeated three times. Jesus said "You go back now because you have still so many things to do. You have still so many things to finish. If I have a message for you I will just appear to you in your dreams."

When Stanley woke up, he felt that he was physically strong. He got up and took off all the gadgets attached to his body. The nurse who saw everything was so shocked that she ran away. When she returned, the doctors and technicians came running with her. They subjected him to a battery of tests the results of which turned out that he was not sick afterall. The doctors said 'there is nothing else that we can do because you are well. Have a mass offered for thanksgiving." His wife nurse who had been with him all throughout was dumbfounded. Many who knew about his previous condition were shocked. He went home driving his own car, beside his wife who was still in disbelief.

The Church started to investigate on this phenomenon. Their discovery led to the endorsement of Archbishop of Cebu, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

Brother Stanley's mission

Stanley's mission is a continuation of that of St. Faustina's. He is now tasked to go around the world to spread God's unfathomable mercy not only to the Catholics bus also to other denominations as well because Jesus told him "God's mercy is for everybody, regardless of faith, regardless of religion. He was also asked by Jesus to teach the world to trust in His mercy. Jesus told him, "Your faith is not enough if you don't trust because sins of distrust hurt me most."

Words of Jesus

One of the most timely messages Jesus told Bro. Stanley is "Now is the time of mercy. Now is the time for us to reconcile with the Lord. Now is the time for us to reconcile with our family. Now is the time for us to reconcile with everybody. Not tomorrow because Jesus said:Tomorrow never comes because when tomorrow comes, that is today. So why wait for tomorrow. We have to be ready now."

Jesus also sent important messages for the priests. He said "Please multiply your prayers for my beloved priests because they are my precious jewels although some of them cause my heart to bleed. But still I will bless them abundantly, in time and in eternity much more if they stay longer at the confessional because Jesus said "It is at the confessional that mercy flows greater than all the sins committed by any living creature." Here we realize how important the sacrament of confession is.

Other miracles

Stanley recalls that in one of his rounds in Europe, someone attempted to poison him. After his testimony a certain lady offered him a jug of coffee but when Stanley held it , the bottom of the jug gave way , spilling the coffee on the floor. A pet cat, belonging to another lady immediately jumped down and licked the coffee, but it suddenly trembled and died. The lady who offered the coffee cried but denied it came from her. She said it was just handed to her. The culprit was never discovered but it was clearly evident that the Lord was protecting Br. Stanley.

Feast of Divine Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday)

Jesus told Sr. Faustina " I desire that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, especially for poor sinners... The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the Divine floodgates through which grace flow are open..."

On April 30, 2000, Blessed Faustina Kowalska was canonized by Pope John Paul II in Rome on Divine Mercy Sunday during the Great Jubilee Year 2000. And the Pope states during his Canonization homily: "The Second Sunday of Easter from now on throughout the Church will be called Divine Mercy Sunday."

Novena to Jesus the Divine Mercy starts on Good Friday and ends on Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday.

Intimacy with Jesus

In an interview lately, Stanley said that Jesus had already appeared to him 32 times through his dreams. He speaks to Stanley in English and sometimes in Visayan. His love radiates on the person of Stanley as he speaks. Jesus converse with Stanley in a very tender manner. He is always respectful, using even the word "please" when requesting for something. He shows appreciation for all that Stanley is doing for him. Jesus would often say "Thank you... I love you my son."