The Last Act of God's Unfathomable Mercy
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Comparing The Divine Mercy
to the Sacred Heart devotion


Why God has two "Mercy" devotions.
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Illumination of Conscience - Warning, St Michael Prayer Origin, Chaplet Chastisement Avert, 3rd Secret Verification, Satan's 100 yr. Power, Recognizing Evil Deception

The Divine Mercy and the Sacred Heart devotions were made by God to co-exist. Each devotion was intended for a different audience and a different time period in history. The Divine Mercy is not fully appreciated until you apply it to the "end-times" situation that is fast approaching.

First of all, God's plan will always prevail. Only the things that God allows will happen, especially when it involves graces, heaven and salvation. If something in the Church history has happened, it is part of God's plan for some purpose. The Divine Mercy devotion was approved by the Catholic Church by the efforts of a pope that is now incorrupt. This is the first sign that it is NOT a false devotion.

If you believe that the Divine Mercy devotion is false or unnecessary, then you are saying that God allowed it to be approved as false for some reason. If you say it has evil intent, then you are saying that God allowed the evil intent for some reason. What reason? There is no reason for God to allow it as false, but there is great reason for the devil to want people to believe it as false. The opponents say the devotion takes away from the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and is unnecessary. This implies that most everything about the Divine Mercy devotion should be covered by the Sacred Heart devotion. The 450 page diary of St Faustina vs. 3-4 letters by Margaret Mary. Opponents also claim that more graces are likely granted to a soul doing the Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion, which is likely true since that devotion is 3-5 times more difficult and time consuming. Nobody is stopping anyone from doing the Sacred Heart devotion for more graces. The validity of the Divine Mercy prayers were never in question, thus, graces for the Divine Mercy devotion will be awarded as Jesus sees fit, and because it is easier, it will likely be done more often.

If the devil is doing something here to try to steal souls from God, what would it be? The answer is always, evil deception. The deception is to get people to believe that the Divine Mercy devotion is false, thus, preventing thousands of sinners and hardened sinners (now and during the end-times) who could easily follow the simpler Divine Mercy requirements to possibly be saved, especially after the prophesized Illumination of Conscience - Warning and Miracle, when many sinners will be converted. We know that evil deceives with lies. The lie is that the Divine Mercy devotion is false. If the devil gets people to believe it, to prevent the spread of the devotion to those who need it, he has deceived them from many graces. Read further to see more differences.

There are two very distinct differences between these two devotions. The first difference is the intended timeframe of use and the second is the target audience. The Sacred Heart of Jesus didn't specify a specific timeframe of use. It is just as valid now as it was in the 17th century for those who wish to use it. However, one part of the Sacred Heart devotion worked better in the past than it does today. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was displayed in the home to help keep families praying nightly together and to grow their spiritually. In other words, to keep families together, targeted to mostly devout praying Catholics. In today's world, most families can't even eat together, let alone pray together. They are completely fractured and broken far beyond needing prayers to help hold them together, we need the "Illumination of Conscience - Warning" from God to knock some sense into all of us and show us how we have failed so we can amend our lives. The Divine Mercy devotion was written specifically for the "End-Times" and mainly for sinners, when the Warning will knock everyone (all people of the world) to their knees. Do you think non-Catholics and hardened sinners are going to make nine consecutive confessions with holy communion (in the state of grace) on the first Fridays of the month? It isn't going to happen that fast. Repentant sinners need a simple devotion that they can understand and complete with ease. God knew this and had to start the ball rolling back in the 1930's to get it to this point by now.

The Divine Mercy devotion, including the full diary of St. Faustina, is 200 times more detailed in size and scope than the Sacred Heart of Jesus. So how could the Sacred Heart devotion cover all the aspects of the Divine Mercy? Jesus specified everything about the Divine Mercy Image, from the stance, the feet position, the hand positions, the merciful gaze, the rays, the garment color, the title and wording was all specified. The Sacred Heart image was never described to Margaret Mary. It evolved over time by other people with different ideas. Opponents of the Divine Mercy say that the Divine Mercy Image is "creepy looking" and not as natural looking as the Sacred Heart. I agree. The church approved versions of the Divine Mercy Image are really, really poor. St. Faustina cried at seeing the original paintings. I feel that this was God's intent to have it watered down, so to speak, until now. The images you find today are vivid and inviting, just when they are needed most to attract people's attention in today's graphical computer age and for the "End-Times."

The prayers for each devotion are detailed very differently. Margaret Mary was not given any specific prayers but to pray a holy hour, in adoration, with exposition of the Blessed Sacrement, or at home in a quiet place TO the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart is more of a prayer intercessor than a dedicated set of prayers. Sacred Heart prayers have been written over the years by Saints, Priests, and a few Popes, to fill the need for specific prayers. The Divine Mercy prayers come directly from Jesus and God the Father word for word, the Chaplet and Novena nine-day opening prayers. These prayers are worded and aimed at apeasing the wrath of God during the "End-Times".

Because the Divine Mercy devotion is mostly about the prayers from Jesus, and the Sacred Heart devotion is about the intercessor aspect, they are best used together to involk the greatest mercy possible. It is best to pray the Chaplet or Novena in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immucaulate Heart of Mary, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in virtue of His most sorrowful passion, in Reparation for the offences against the Immuculate Heart of Mary. It's not one devotion vs. another, it is the best aspects of each devotion put together. The Sacred Heart prayers, written later, with these intensions/intercessor aspects, are still a very good option also, but of course, the greatest prayer against evil is the Holy Rosary, said daily, prayed with the above intension/intercessors.

For futher evaluation on your own see:


About the Divine Mercy Image, Chaplet, Novena and the 12 promises.

St Faustina Diary html page:
Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, "Divine Mercy in My Soul"
©1987, Congregation of Marians of the
Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA 01263.

PDF download (441 pages)        
Right click to save link as PDF

https://corjesusacratissimum.org/introduction-devotion-to-sacred-heart-of-jesus/



Detailed Comparison. Red parts are Divine Mercy devotion comparison and comments.

Some sites on the internet will claim that the Divine Mercy Devotion is a false devotion for various reasons.

In 1959, the church rejected the Divine Mercy devotion as being an "unnecessary" devotion due to the similar, long standing devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Both devotions are said to invoke the mercy of Jesus.

What are the actual differences between these two devotions? Just how similar are they?

The Sacred Heart of Jesus:

This devotion dates back to the 17th century in France when St Margaret Mary received many visions occurring between 1673 to 1675. The parts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion are as follows:


1) The Holy Hour of Reparation:

The original requirement was for a holy hour of prayer on Thursday night between 11:00 pm and midnight for the reparation of sinners and the bitternes of Christ against the apostles who abondoned Him in the Garden of Gethsemane on Thursday night.

Later the church choose to relaxed the rule to any time during the week because they claimed the rigorous time requirement was likely only for a true saint.

The Divine Mercy devotion does not suggest or require a Holy Hour of Reparation, just a sincere and humble recognition of sins and repentance (confession). To me this shows a clear difference in who these devotions are aimed at. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is more for Catholics that are familiar and comfortable with praying and doing adoration. The Divine Mercy devotion is for anyone but especially for fallen away Catholics, sinners and hardened sinners who are in most need of God's mercy during the end-times when there is no time left to do formal adoration. The church itself during the end-times may not be accessable acording to Marian propheses. This is a big difference between the two devotions.


2) The First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

Going to mass and recieving holy communion on 9 concecutive first Fridays of the month, in a state of grace (recieving confession and absolution) will then be granted the promise: "They will not die in My disfavour nor without receiving the sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their secure refuge in their last moments."


Again, this is for Catholics that are comfortable with repeatedly going to confession, not the sinners of today. The Divine Mercy devotion promises #11. "I desire that the Feast of Mercy.be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter..The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion (in a state of grace on this day) shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment." (Diary, 699)


3) The Annual Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

Therefore, I ask of you that the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special Feast to honor My Heart.


As stated above the Divine Mercy devotion is on the Sunday after Easter.

4) Exposition of the Image of the Sacred Heart:

Among these is the great emphasis placed on exhibiting the Heart of Jesus through imagery and statues.

The Image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
For example, we find these words in a letter Margaret Mary wrote on 24th August 1685, regarding the exposition of images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

He takes great pleasure in being honored by His creatures. He . . . seemed to promise . . . "that all those who are devoted to this Sacred Heart will never perish and that, since He is the source of all blessings, He will shower them in abundance on every place where an image of this loving heart shall be exposed to be loved and honored [Emphasis mine].

By this means He will reunite broken families and assist and protect those in any necessity. He will spread the soothing unction of His ardent charity on every religious community in which this divine image is honored. He will turn aside the blows of the just wrath of God by restoring them to His grace when through sin they have fallen from it.

Similarly, we find that she writes of the desire of Our Lord:

He wants you to have shields made with the image of His Sacred Heart, so that all those who wish to pay homage to Him can place it in their homes and also to make smaller ones for people to carry with them [Emphasis mine].

Let us listen also to her words from another letter:

He has given me to understand that His Sacred Heart is the Holy of Holies, the very sanctuary of love. He wishes that It be now recognized as the Mediator between God and men. He is all-powerful to bring them peace, turning aside the just punishments our sins have drawn upon us and obtaining mercy for us.


The original Sacred Heart images are not of Jesus with a merciful gesture and a Sacred Heart, but of His Sacred Heart only. The word mercy is only used in the very last line of the secondary letter. The main emphasis is "blessings" and "His charity" and turning aside the wrath of God by "His grace". God is giving these "blessings and graces" for the proper dedication to the devotion, the same as He gives "blessings and graces" to the proper dedication to the Rosary. Very little is said about Mercy and nothing about Mercy for sinners. How can this be the same as Divine Mercy ?


5) Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the Home:

Also, the purpose if the image is about the importance of bringing devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, from a purely Ecclesiastical devotion, into the family home. In other words, through the establishing of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the head of the household for family prayer and spiritual growth.

The Image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - The Image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Later images were made showing Jesus and His Sacred Heart centered on His chest with his hands showing His wounds. This image shows no connection to the wound of Christ's side where the blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a source of mercy for us. Some images don't show any piercing of the Sacred Heart. Others have arrows to show the piercing implication.

Mercy implies that God gives us more than we deseve because He loves thoes who ask for mercy and turn from sin with humility and sincere repentance. The main message of Divine Mercy is seeking, asking for and praying specifically for God's Mercy to be granted graces that we don't necessarly deserve.


Last Update  Oct 7, 2021