Subject: Fast Friday - First Friday Fast for USA

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Prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord Jesus.

Dear Awesome Fasting Team Member,


This past weekend we entered into the season of Advent, making today the First Friday of the new liturgical year, and thus our first Fast Friday of the year.


The purple candles of our Advent wreaths remind us that we are to enter into the new liturgical year in a spirit of prayer and penance. Since most of the world is totally unaware of this practice, we trust our response to this practice is most pleasing to the Lord and increasingly efficacious.


Take a few moments to gaze upon the Advent wreath pictured here and immerse yourself in the serenity of it. I hope it draws you in as it has me, contemplating the wonder of what truly should be the center of our world.

The candles seem to represent our arms surrounding the Holy Family, embracing them with our love and prayers, our sacrifices, and our hope. I sense how our fasting amplifies each of these gifts and how precious they are to the Lord.


As the flame melts the wax of the candles, fasting melts the hardness of hearts and warms the coldness of the world. In silent recollection we drawer ever nearer to the coming of the Lord as St. Faustina says:

Advent is approaching. I want to prepare my heart for the coming of the Lord Jesus by silence and recollection of spirit, uniting myself with the Most Holy Mother and faithfully imitating Her virtue of silence, by which She found pleasure in the eyes of God Himself. I trust that, by Her side, I will persevere in this resolution (Dairy, 1398).

 

On a personal note:

Perhaps I am drawn so deeply into the Advent wreath scene since we have literally spent the last six weeks around the bedside of my dying mother. She is a wisp of a thing that is now down to less than 60 pounds. Her vitals have changed within the last 24 hours which seems to indicate we may have just a few more hours with her.


Mom would be 83 years old on December 17th. She raised six children and has 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandbabies. She prayed the rosary daily and helped us in our ministry office for several years. Everyone who ever spoke to her or knew her would say, "She is such a nice lady." Please say a prayer for Camille Sarna today and for my father Bob and for all our DMFA team members who have lost a loved one this year.


With much thanks - Joan

 
 

Thank you for all you do to live and spread The Divine Mercy message and devotion.

God bless you and may God bless America because of you!

 

Dave and Joan Maroney

Directors, Mother of Mercy Messengers

An apostolate of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Celebrating 20 years dedicated to helping others learn about, live, and spread the Divine Mercy message and devotion. Thanks be to God!

Praying for our Country as St. Faustina Prayed for Hers


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Why Divine Mercy for America?
Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) did her best to do as the Lord commanded, keeping a diary during the last four years of her life. Several times she recorded that Jesus requested prayers and entreaties for her country. Read more.

Mother of Mercy Messengers is a proud member of CEMA.

 
Divine Mercy for America, PO Box 1361, Medina, TX 78055, United States

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