Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Vinny Flynn via phone on January 23rd, 2026. Some of the questions/answers have been rearranged, edited, and paraphrased to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
Your new book, A Year with Divine Mercy, brings together reflections from popes, saints, Scripture, and scholars into a daily devotional. Can you share what inspired you to structure this particular work as a year-long journey?
We kind of inherited the framework because TAN already had a series A Year with the Popes, A Year with Mary, A Year with the Angels. The framework is set-up where it’s not dated (Jan. 1, Jan. 2, etc) because we don’t want people to feel pressured to start at the beginning of the year. This book is not an academic exercise but more of a personal retreat to help them apply Divine Mercy in their own life.
What do you hope readers’ relationship with God’s mercy will grow through it?
I hope that people will be able to apply Divine Mercy in your life, and encounter Jesus Christ who is the Divine Mercy. It’s a personal encounter with Mercy. We choose readings intentionally to help people understand that Divine Mercy is a way of life.
One of our readings explains that mercy is not just a concept, nor just God’s love. In the Trinity God’s Love is not mercy, it’s love. It’s a perfect love. But perfect love longs to give of itself. You and I exist because we want more family to love. When God’s love goes out to mere creatures. Mercy is when God’s love comes out to his creatures as a gift. Saint John Paul II says that mercy seeks to restore.
God sees our misery and confusion and He is compelled to give Himself to us to restore what’s been lost. Basically the whole purpose of the readings is to open up people to God’s Mercy. God wants us to be like Him, filled with his love and to be with Him forever.
After decades of writing and teaching on Divine Mercy, what do you think people most misunderstand about mercy today?
One of the things we misunderstand about Our Lord is that we have to earn His love. His mercy is a pure gift. In spite of our sin and wretchness, God is loving us. Our sin doesn’t make Him mad at us, it makes Him sad. Christ wants to bring us joy.
We just have to receive God’s mercy and the best way is to trust in Him. We see this especially in Saint Maria Faustina. Also, Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity tells us to let ourselves be loved (by God). We are called to believe in God and that He longs to be with us.
In a world that often feels fragmented and anxious, how do you think a daily rhythm of prayer and reflection (like the one your book offers) can help cultivate inner peace and trust in God’s compassion?
There’s so many different writers and scriptures we frame in the book to help make it more striking. Beautiful paintings are framed in a way to capture our attention. When we read the readings in a spirit of prayer, they are framed in a way to focus our attention and reorient us to God.
For example, in one reading we have a letter from Saint Francis de Sales where he talks about God being an architect of Mercy and orchestrating all things for our good (even the evil things).
Throughout your decades of ministry — including your early involvement in the Divine Mercy message and your work on St. Faustina’s diary — what personal moments or encounters have most shaped your conviction about the healing power of mercy?
Well that’s really hard to say, it’s really become a way of life. I encountered Divine Mercy in my teens, at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy, before the ban on the Divine Mercy. In 1959-1978 the Vatican placed a ban on it being publicly taught as a devotion. During that period the Vatican was examining her writings. During this same time, they also opened up the case for her canonization.
Privately, during the years of the ban, I was still practicing this devotion. In the 1980s, I became the managing editor, with the Association of Marian Helpers, and worked on the English translation of Saint Maria Faustina’s Diary. Eventually, I became the executive editor. I had also established for a time the Divine Mercy International at the Shrine. During the 1980s and 1990s I was starting to write my books: Seven Secrets of the Eucharist and Seven Secrets of Confession.
In 2003 my family’s ministry was officially incorporated as Mercy Song. It started with CDs and moved into publishing books. Most of my books were self-published and some in conjunction with Ignatius Press, Marian Helpers, and now with TAN.
Was there a particular saint, pope, or scripture passage in this book that surprised you or impacted you personally while compiling it?
They all impacted me. But there were a couple that stood out. Saint Catherine of Siena (Day 35) mentioned that God’s love compelled Him to create us. Pope Benedict XVI (Day 82) had a writing about the Good Samaritan. He uses the language of the Good Samaritan and is compelled to do something. Our misery draws God’s mercy so He is compelled to do something, to restore us.
There’s a lot of repetition in this book. The whole concept that repeats itself is the two Great Commandments. Love God. And love your neighbor. God’s Mercy is supposed to be passed on to others. For me that’s the great theme of these readings. God’s love is always there, it’s unconditional. God is calling us to be merciful as He is merciful. We are called to pass on God’s love.
For someone feeling overwhelmed, wounded, or distant from God, what is one simple way to begin living a life rooted in mercy?
My spiritual director, the late Father George Kosicki, spoke of the ABCs of mercy. Ask. Be merciful. And C is the main way of drawing God’s mercy. Completely trust in God’s mercy. If we focus on these three things we will receive God’s mercy. God wants us to receive His mercy and to radiate that mercy to those we meet.
Where can my readers find more of your work?
About Vinny
Vinny Flynn, “the man who sings the Divine Mercy Chaplet on EWTN,” is a father of seven and co-author, with daughter Erin, of the new release, A Year with Divine Mercy, from TAN Books. One of the original editors of the English edition of St. Faustina’s Diary, Vinny is the best-selling author of several books, including, 7 Secrets of the Eucharist and 7 Secrets of Divine Mercy.
