People who have received God’s mercy are called to spread their devotion by sharing their experiences of His merciful love.
This was the central message of Fr. Lucas Inoc, spiritual director of the Divine Mercy Philippines Archdiocese of Cebu (DMPAC), during the Eucharistic celebration that marked the opening of the 28th Divine Mercy National Convention in Cebu City.
Organized by the Cebu-based Divine Mercy Crusaders, the two-day convention (May 24–25, 2025) carried the theme “Divine Mercy: The Last and Only Hope of Salvation.”
Speaking before some 2,000 devotees from various parts of the Visayas and Mindanao, Fr. Inoc shared his deeply personal testimony of experiencing years of extreme depression that left him emotionally and physically exhausted.
He said he suffered fatigue and endured a spiritual struggle he described as a “darkness of the senses.”
He likened this inner suffering to the experience of “the dark night of the soul”—a” phrase coined by St. John of the Cross to describe the feeling of being lost, alone, and seemingly abandoned by God.
“In my extreme feeling of the darkness of the senses, I entered the adoration chapel. I didn’t genuflect nor make the sign of the cross. I approached the Blessed Sacrament, and deep inside my heart, I told God, ‘Lord, I am very tired, and I am here not to ask for any special favor because I am a sinner. I ask You to forgive my sins and to have mercy on me, a sinner.’ And then I left,” he recounted.
“After that, I felt a lightness in my heart.”
“We are all sinners. We who have received the gift of God’s mercy should share it with others,” Fr. Inoc exhorted.
Expounding on the convention’s theme, Fr. Inoc reflected on the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and love.
“We cannot please God without faith. The object of our faith is truth—the truth of our God.”
“The object of our hope is eternal salvation, and the object of love is good—or God Himself, because He is the ultimate Good.”
Fr. Inoc lamented that many people reject the Divine Mercy devotion due to a lack of knowledge and understanding, including some family members of devotees and even clergy.
“Sadly, some priests don’t believe in the devotion because they lack understanding and knowledge about it,” he said.
He shared his efforts to reach out to seminarians at the major seminary of the Cebu Archdiocese to teach them about the Divine Mercy devotion. “Little by little, they have grown devoted to Divine Mercy.”
“Now, they pray together before the Divine Mercy image, and I’m hopeful that the next generation of priests from the major seminary will be priests of mercy,” Fr. Inoc added.
He concluded with a passionate call: “It is incumbent on all of us to educate our people about this devotion to save souls.”
“He who saves souls saves his own,” Fr. Inoc stressed.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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