Day 9: Lukewarm souls

On the ninth and last day of the Divine Mercy Novena, the Lord turns to the souls He has reserved for the close: the lukewarm. They are the souls baptized into the Lord, called by His grace, but living a half-life of indifferent religion: Mass attended without devotion, prayer recited without attention, the faith treated as an inheritance that no longer requires interior commitment. The Lord speaks of them with a particular sorrow because their condition is in some ways more grave than that of the open sinner.

The Lord's words to Saint Faustina

"Today bring to Me souls who have become lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to flee to My mercy." (Diary 1228)

The Lord's words echo the Apocalypse of Saint John: "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16). The lukewarm soul is the soul that has neutralized the very meaning of the Gospel by treating it as one option among others, neither rejecting it nor embracing it, neither fighting against grace nor cooperating with it.

Today's prayer (from Diary 1229)

Most Compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Offer it today for the lukewarm: for the cradle Catholic who has stopped going to confession, for the spouse who comes to Mass on Christmas and Easter only, for the friend who calls himself "spiritual but not religious," for the relative who keeps the cultural Catholicism but has lost the supernatural one, and (with honesty) for any element of lukewarmness in your own soul.

Reflection

The novena ends, by the Lord's own design, with the most challenging group of souls. The lukewarm are challenging because their condition does not even register as a problem to themselves. They are not in active rebellion. They are not seeking. They have settled. The Lord's instruction is that these souls' last hope is to flee to My mercy, but mercy presupposes the recognition that one is in need of it, and the lukewarm soul has stopped recognizing its need.

The Catholic remedy for lukewarmness has always been the same: the recovery of the proper objects of attention. The lukewarm soul has forgotten the four last things (death, judgment, heaven, hell). It has forgotten the Cross. It has forgotten that the Mass is not a social ceremony but the unbloody re-presentation of Calvary. It has forgotten that the Eucharist it receives is the actual Body and Blood of Christ. The Lord's mercy through this novena is, in part, the gift of restoring this attention.

Today's prayer is also the proper close of the entire nine days. We have prayed for all mankind, for priests and religious, for the faithful, for those who do not know Christ, for separated brethren, for the meek and humble, for those who venerate mercy, for the souls in Purgatory, and now for the lukewarm. The whole human family is, by Day 9, gathered into the fount of mercy.

Conclusion of the novena

If you have prayed faithfully through these nine days, the Lord has heard you. Whatever the visible state of your particular intention, you have stood as an intercessor for the entire range of human spiritual conditions, and the merits of the Lord's Passion have been offered for them through your hands.

If you are praying this novena in preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter), the great feast itself follows tomorrow. Make a good confession in the days surrounding the feast, receive Holy Communion on the feast itself, pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and receive the plenary indulgence attached to the feast under the usual conditions.

For Saint Faustina's life, see Saint Faustina Kowalska. For Pope Saint John Paul II, who instituted Divine Mercy Sunday in the universal Roman Calendar, see Saint John Paul II. For other novenas in the Catholic tradition, see the novenas hub.

The Lord's last word to Saint Faustina at the close of the novena: "Through this novena I will grant every possible grace to souls" (Diary 796). Trust Him.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Jesus, I trust in You.