Welcome back to our Holy Week Retreat. Today's Wednesday of Holy Week. And today, I think it makes sense for us to cast our eyes to what's going to happen tomorrow. We prepare for everything that we consider to be important in life. When we don't prepare for things, consciously or unconsciously, we are saying, "This doesn't matter. This isn't important." When we really care about something, we prepare for it, and we prepare for it diligently. John Paul II's quote today, "Tomorrow evening we will celebrate with grateful hearts the institution of the Eucharist. At the Last Supper, the Lord, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end. Precisely at the moment when Judas was preparing to betray him and night had fallen over his heart, divine mercy triumphed over hatred, life over death. Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said, 'Take this, eat; this is my body.' And he took a cup. When he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, 'Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins.' At the end of the celebration, the Church will invite us to remain in prolonged adoration of the Eucharist to meditate on this extraordinary and incomparable mystery of love."

Again, there's so much there, but was there a word or phrase or an idea that jumped out at you? John Paul II is casting our hearts, our minds, our spirits toward tomorrow evening, the institution of the Eucharist. You ask people what are the 10 greatest moments in history? I'd come up with all sorts of stuff, all sorts of stuff. But the truth is, the 10 greatest moments of history, every single one of them, took place in the life of Jesus Christ. Every single one of them. All the others we come up with are so secondary, are so peripheral to the events of Jesus' life. And tomorrow night, we get to witness, we get to experience one of the greatest moments in history, the institution of the Eucharist. In 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory, I talked about the idea of preparing for Mass, going to Mass as if it was going to be your first Mass, your last Mass, your only Mass. Let's think about that as we prepare for tomorrow night. Let's think about it. Let's prepare for it as if it was going to be our first Mass, our last Mass, our only Mass. Because when we think of it into terms like that, we prepare differently. The stakes go off the charts.

John Paul II starts out by saying, "Tomorrow evening, we will celebrate with grateful hearts." So that's the first preparation. You have a grateful heart right now. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Maybe there's something stopping your heart from being grateful. Maybe you're resentful of something. Maybe you're unforgiving of something maybe you're angry about something. Maybe you're-- whatever. What is it going to take between now and tomorrow night to get you into a place of a grateful heart? Tomorrow evening, celebrate with grateful hearts the institution of the Eucharist. John Paul II goes on to say, "Precisely at this moment when Judas was preparing to betray Jesus and night had fallen over his heart." It's a beautiful phrase, I'm telling you; he was a brilliant wordsmith. Night had fallen over Judas' heart. Where in the cycle is your heart? Is it sunrise in your heart? Or maybe night has fallen over your heart. Maybe you are angry about something or resentful about something. Maybe you've been betrayed. Maybe you're unforgiving. What is it that's causing it to be night in your heart? Maybe your heart is between day and night, half in the daytime, half in the nighttime. What's it going to take to overcome the darkness in your heart, the nighttime in your heart?

He goes on to say, "At precisely this moment where Judas is preparing to betray Jesus, divine mercy triumphed over hatred." Divine mercy triumphed over hatred, life over death. And what do we see there? We see words. We see a familiar phrase, divine mercy. But more than that, we see an antidote. We see an antidote for the darkness of our hearts. If night has fallen upon our hearts, we see an antidote for that. What is the antidote? Divine mercy triumphed over hatred. Divine mercy. So if there's something you're angry about, resentful of, unforgiving of, vengeful about, that's making it nighttime in your heart. Divine mercy wants to overcome that, specifically that. Specifically in you and for you. Divine mercy wants to overcome that.

And so today, let's invite God's divine mercy to overcome the night in our heart, the anger in our heart, the vengefulness in our heart, the anger in our heart, whatever it is that's separating us from approaching the celebration tomorrow with grateful hearts. It's brilliant. It's beautiful. And Faustina shares today-- there's one line that she heard Jesus speak to her. "Mankind shall not find peace and contentment until it turns with trust to my mercy." Are you peaceful? Are you restless? Are you peaceful? Are you anxious? Are you peaceful? Are you despairing? Are you peaceful? And then that beautiful word, contentment. Are you content? If you're not content, what are you discontent with? What is that saying to you? What is God saying to you through your discontentment? And again, these saints, not just sharing with us words, easy platitudes but antidotes to our pain, to our suffering, to our spiritual illness. And what is the antidote? We all want peace and contentment. But Jesus is saying you won't find peace and contentment until you turn to my mercy. How? With trust. So that phrase, "Jesus, I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you." We've got printed on our money in God we trust. But do we? Do we? And how is today an invitation to trust God more? And sometimes it's like, "Oh, okay, trusting God, it's a big concept." Maybe sometimes we have to break it down into little bits. And the little bit today is to trust in His mercy. He wants us to believe in His mercy. We've been journeying through that mercy. We've seen so many people witness to that mercy. We've covered so many stories of astounding mercy. Jesus wants you to be one of those stories. I want you to trust in His mercy so that you can experience His peace and His contentment. Have a great day and remember we are pilgrims of mercy.

Did you know there are 57 amazing moments of engagement during the mass? Did you know each and every one of them connects with your daily life and teaches us something about the genius of Catholicism? Did you know this year we will finish our extraordinary program about the mass so that everyone can learn about these 57 moments of engagement in the mass? If you are a Dynamic Catholic Ambassador, thank you. And this is what we are spending your money on this year. If you are not, I invite you today to become a Dynamic Catholic Ambassador, choose your welcome gift, and help us eradicate mass is boring from the Catholic vernacular. Click the button below and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

Eternal God–

–in whom mercy is endless.

And the treasury of compassion inexhaustible.

Look kindly upon us–

–and increase your mercy in us.

That in difficult moments–

–we might not despair–

–nor become despondent.

But with great confidence–

–submit ourselves to your holy will.

Which is love and mercy itself.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

See you tomorrow.

Thank you, Ambassadors.

You are changing the world.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.

Have a great day.