What We Do

To be a Divine Will Missionary of Mercy Street Walker is to strive to do the following each day (as much as the duties of State in Life permit):

  • Attend Mass with great devotion at a Church in the midst of a city with a significant population of poor people.
  • When the Mass is ended — immediately after making your silent thanksgiving (but do not rush this thanksgiving; linger on it as long as you please, for these are the most important prayers of your day) and praying Street Walkersthe DWMoM prayer — embark upon your walk through the poorest streets of the city wearing your Divine Mercy pin and holding your Rosary beads. Your walk may be as short or as long as you like; try to at least fit one Divine Mercy Chaplet in, and the Rosary afterwards if time permits.
  •  As you walk through these destitute streets, remain as recollected as possible in prayer and adoration of our Eucharistic Lord, and simply offer eye contact to whomever accepts it. Whenever eye-contact is made, just say “God bless you,” or other words as the Holy Spirit directs. Be sure to maintain a demeanor that is open and not in the least rushed, thereby giving the impression of being open to talk with anyone who would like to talk with you; especially as you pass by groups of people.
    • But even if no conversation follows, trust that this small encounter is sufficient for God to work all of the conversion He desires through it, especially considering the intentions you offered to Him in the DWMoM prayer before your walk.
    • If conversation follows, simply offer it to Jesus and Mary, be at peace, and speak whatever words the Spirit gives you — but do more listening than speaking. Let your focus be on humbly exalting the Divine Mercy, and encouraging trust in this Mercy. The DWMoM approach is not to proselytize, moralize, or impose, but to listen and to offer a few pieces of holy inspiration. At the end of the conversation, leave the person with an evangelization card if he or she will take it.
  • If asked for money (it is important to have none on you), simply respond “I do not have any money to give you, but could I give you what I do have?” and hand him or her an evangelization card, and remain willing to engage in whatever conversation follows

It is important to be well dressed for the mission walks. This is first and foremost called for because of the respect due to Holy Mass, but it is also important so that those to whom we minister know that we take this seriously; more seriously than a job interview, which no one would go to informally. Being formally dressed also draws attention to you; which is certainly not the end we desire in itself, but it does help us to make eye contact with people on the streets, which serves as a very important connection. Formal dress is so rare on these streets that this will truly serve almost as a type of religious habit.

Miscellaneous Points:

  • A formal hat with a brim on it is very helpful. It is important to, as much as possible, remain in a state of recollection and prayer. In this regard, it is helpful to say your prayers with head tilted slightly down; this allows the brim of the hat to block most of your face from oncoming pedestrian traffic until the opportune time (several steps away from them) when you can lift your head up, make eye contact, and offer your “God bless you.”
    • This approach is also more inviting for veneration of the Divine Mercy Image you are wearing; oncoming pedestrians are much more likely to gaze upon it if doing so is less awkward; as it is when they do not have to wonder if you are watching them looking at your button
  • Ideally the Church you attend Mass in will itself be situated in, or very close to, the areas of poverty you will be walking through; this way you can embark upon your walk directly from Mass, without driving in-between distracting you from your adoration.  If this is not an option, though, simply attend Mass anywhere you can and drive to a poor area immediately after. Alternatively, simply undertake a DWMoM walk wherever the Church happens to be. Although the focus of the DWMoM Street Walkers is especially on the poor–it is certainly not exclusively there. All people need to have the Divine Mercy proclaimed to them, not only the poor. 
  • Be strategic with where you walk and spend your time. Especially good places to pass by and if possible stop at are busy bus stops; lines of people waiting outside of soup kitchens, County Social Services, Courts, and other places where the poor often gather. To get a good idea of where to do your walks, seek out the “red” zones (high crime) based upon a crime map service, such as Zillow’s. Obviously being a DWMoM is not the safest thing you can do — following God’s will never is. But that does not mean prudence is thrown out the window: be sure to only go out in broad daylight, and stay on nice open streets.  But when actually approaching a situation that tempts you to fear — such as when a formidable looking group of people are walking towards you, going in the opposite direction on the sidewalk, then you must not mistake this temptation with a call to prudence. Do not look back once you have set your hand to the plow; simply remind yourself that nothing but God’s will can happen, say “Jesus I trust in You. Thy Will be done.” And approach them as you would a small child. Smile, and say God Bless you. You will be very pleasantly surprised almost every time.
  • Women who feel called to be Divine Will Missionaries of Mercy must be particularly prudent. While going out in twos is always a great idea, it is especially important for women. If a woman wants to go out by herself any particular day on her missionary walk, then she should restrict it to only busy streets during the most safe hours of the day.

Whether due to reasons of vocation, health, location, or whatever else, most Catholics will not find it feasible to themselves be full-blown daily Divine Will Missionary of Mercy Street Walkers. But anyone can still be a Divine Will Missionary of Mercy!

The spirit of a Divine Will Missionary of Mercy can be lived by doing the following:

  • Attend Mass with great devotion (and receive the Eucharist) each day before your endeavors that bring you out into the world (or at least as many days as you can); whether those DWMoM in Spirit 1endeavors be related to work, volunteering, errands, school, or whatever else.
  • Spend at least those 15 minutes after receiving Communion (the time that we know Jesus’ true, substantial, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity remains in your body) in fervent prayer of thanksgiving and adoration, also praying the DWMoM prayer (modified however you see fit to make it fit best with the endeavors of your day)
    • Remember that engaging in conversations or worldly endeavors immediately after Mass ends is not conducive to living the DWMoM spirit! Strive with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength to appropriate the infinite graces contained in the Eucharist. DWMoM in Spirit 2
  • Wear this smaller DWMoM button as you embark from the Church and keep it on wherever you go. Although the standard DWMoM button might be a bit large for ordinary day-to-day endeavors, this smaller, square-shaped button, is perfectly reasonable to wear anywhere.
    • Any Divine Mercy Image pin with “Jesus, I Trust in You” written on it will work, but unfortunately most of them are not large enough to be realistically able to be venerated by people you meet throughout the day — but this veneration is essential to spread the Promise of Jesus to Faustina that “whosoever venerates this image shall not perish.”
  • Make sure to always have Evangelization Cards ready in an easily-accessible pocket. These can be given out or placed wherever the opportunity presents itself. Be creative!Monitor EvangelizationDon’t feel comfortable wearing a Divine Mercy button at work? Try simply taping an Evangelization Card to the bottom of your monitor, in such a place that coworkers can see it. This is highly unlikely to cause any problems, but it will be a beautiful and powerful witness. Don’t let a thousand theoretical fears prevent you from proclaiming the Divine Mercy!
  • Don’t hesitate to use your daily commute to work as a DWMoM outing! This is a wonderful opportunity to use a bumper sticker to expose many people to the Divine Mercy image as you drive, in the Divine Will, praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Rosary, for all of the intentions in the DWMoM prayer.  Here are some places to find such bumper stickers:
    • Divine Mercy Gift Shop
    • CatholicToTheMax.com
    • If you have sufficient bumper space (such as if you drive a station wagon, hatchback, van, or truck), then the best thing to do is pictured above: simply print out, laminate, and use clear packaging tape to adhere a full page printout of Divine Mercy and Our Lady of Guadalupe to your vehicle.
    • Here’s a PDF file that you can use for that. If you don’t have a good color printer or a laminator, then a good idea is to use Staples or FedEx online printing. For a couple dollars you can print out that PDF in high quality full color and have them laminate it.

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  • In choosing your day’s destinations, routes, errands, and the like, favor proximity with the lowly, the needy, the poor, and the sick. Do not allow yourself to always gravitate towards those you feel comfortable with, but towards those you recognize could most benefit from God’s grace working through you.
  • Strive as much as possible to remain in a spirit of recollection and prayer throughout your activities out in the world. This will mean turning off the radio and the Ipod, putting away the smartphone, avoiding vain and idle speech, etc. Instead, try to continually be reciting the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Chaplet of the Divine Will, or other prayers.
  • No matter what happens around you, utterly refuse to permit a spirit of impatience, agitation, fear, or anxiety enter into your soul. These will rob you of a recollected spirit and prevent you from being the channel of grace that you are asking God to make of you.
  • Commit to replace ordinary salutations with ones that can act as channels of grace. To the cashier at the store, instead of merely saying “Have a good day,” say “God bless you.” Instead of responding to the question “How are you today?” Simply with “Good, yourself?” rather try responding to it with something like “I am very blessed, how are you?” Short and easy sayings such as these can do enormous good, and sometimes lead to much more. Whether or not they do lead to more, remain confident that God can and will work through them whatever He needs to.