Fr. Tyler Mentzer, MIC

Postulant Director, Local Prefect of Students
National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, Stockbridge, Massachusetts

First Vows: 8/15/2016
Final Vows: 8/16/2020
Priestly Ordination: 10/2/2021

Previous assignments and dates:
St. Mary’s Parish, Plano, Illinois: November – December 2021
The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, Stockbridge, Massachusetts: January – March 2022
Marian House of Studies, Washington, DC: April – June 2022
Marian General House, Rome, Italy: July – December 2022
Marian House of Studies, Washington, DC: January 2023 – July 2025 

Do you have a devotion to a particular Saint(s)?
I have a great love for little St. Thérèse of Lisieux and her way of humble confidence and childlike trust in God, and a devotion to St. Tarcisius and to St. Philomena who were young martyrs for Christ.

But my far and away favorite is Mary, the Mother of God. Ever since I made my Marian Consecration to the Blessed Mother in August 2012 just before I entered the seminary, she has completely captivated my heart. As the one who is closest to Jesus, who knows Him the best, and who is the first and most perfect disciple, she has taught me how to love God, to draw closer to Him, and she has helped me in so many ways to break the power of sin in my life and live for God alone. Yes, Mary is the great love of my heart, and her motherly love and immaculate beauty always lead me closer to God. 

Do you have a favorite story from your ministry?
The Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confession are two of the most amazingly powerful and impactful elements of my priestly ministry, and it has been the joy of my heart as a priest to celebrate these two Sacraments. 

I remember celebrating one of the first Masses of my priesthood in my family home with just my parents and I. I remember the awe and wonder of recognizing that, through my unworthy and simple, humble prayers, the Lord of the Universe had just come down and made Himself present in our family living room. Similarly, I remember the first time that I placed Jesus in the Eucharist in the monstrance for Eucharistic Adoration, with the extraordinarily humbling awareness that, through me, and my very simple and humble priestly words and actions, others are able to adore the Lord of the Universe, and the Lord permitted me to make Him present. 

The Sacrament of Confession has also been extremely powerful because it is a very sacred thing to be present to another who is bearing the depths of their soul to you, and sharing things with you that sometimes they haven’t told to anyone else, and you get to walk with them and to love them, to have compassion upon them and to forgive them in the Name of Christ.

I remember one of my first Divine Mercy Sundays as a priest, and I recalled the Lord’s extraordinary promise that He made to St. Faustina, telling her that the soul that goes to Holy Communion and Confession, and trusts in the Lord’s promise He made to St. Faustina, then that soul would receive complete remission of sins and also of temporal punishment due to sin. It was amazing to think that the Lord was inviting me as a priest to hear peoples’ Confessions, to forgive them of their sins, and in this way actually take an active part in beautifying the Bride of Christ, the Church, by sanctifying her and making her spotless through the Sacrament of Confession and the Holy Eucharist.  

Favorite quote(s) from the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska?

[Jesus says to St. Faustina,] The flames of mercy are burning Me — clamoring to be spent; I want to keep pouring them out upon souls; souls just don’t want to believe in My goodness. (Diary, 177) 

In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy. (Diary, 1588) 

Favorite prayer to Our Lady?
My favorite prayer to Our Lady is the Holy Rosary. Ever since I made my Marian Consecration to the Blessed Mother in August 2012, I have prayed the Rosary daily, and this prayer has profoundly transformed my heart and has firmly fixed my interior gaze upon God in and through the Virgin Mother Mary. I have experienced that when I really pray the Rosary from my heart, taking my time and contemplating the mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary, that both of them enter my heart, and I enter theirs, and there is a real communion of life and love that touches me, changes me, transforms me from within.

The Holy Rosary of the Blessed Mother is such a simple and humble prayer. It is my favorite prayer, next to the Holy Mass.

More on Fr. Tyler:
Meet Fr. Tyler, Newly Ordained Marian Priest
Congratulations, Fr. Tyler, MIC! 
'Humbled and Overjoyed' 
From Brother to Deacon to Priest 
Marian Ordination, Vows in August 
Divine Mercy Plus videos