Let’s begin with Saint Faustina and her role in God’s plan to speak about Divine Mercy.
St Mary Faustina Kowalska was born on 25 August 1905 in, Poland, to a poor, religious family of peasants, the third of 10 children. At the age of 16 she left home and went to work as a housekeeper in order to support herself and to help her parents. Called during a vision of the suffering Christ, on 1 August 1925, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and took the name Sister Mary Faustina.
The Lord Jesus chose Sister Mary Faustina as the apostle and "secretary" of his mercy, so that she could tell the world about his great message.
"In the Old Covenant", he said to her, "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" (Diary 1588).
“In the beginning…”(Genesis 1:1) we read about God’s glorious creation and man’s inglorious sin, in that the serpent tempts, Adam fails and Eve succumbs, then both of them are fearful, causing them to run and hide.
The Old Testament is a record of a long and arduous journey where God continually taught the Israelites about who He was ….not someone to run from out of fear, but run to with contrite hearts to receive his mercy. He was the bridegroom untiringly chasing his bride.
“For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.” Joel 2:13b
In the New Testament, God’s revelation of his love and mercy become “enfleshed” in Jesus Christ. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5
He no longer wants to show them mercy and love, but BECOME mercy and love.
God is infinitely merciful; He burns with love for us and deserves all of our trust.
Remember, God can’t force us to love and trust…this requires our free will.
“No soul that has called upon my mercy has been disappointed” (from the Dairy of St. Faustina
A little more about St. Faustina: At an early age, she had already felt the first stirrings of a religious vocation. She lived in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy for 13 years, where she worked as a cook, gardener and porter. Although her life was apparently insignificant and monotonous, she hid within herself an extraordinary union with God.
Through her dairy, we are reminded of God’s infinite love for us. He came as a baby so that we would not be afraid, the gospels say that the people flocked to him, and he died on the cross for us.
So we ask: Who is afraid of a baby? Who is afraid of a truly good Man? Who is afraid of the greatest act of love?
“At the appointed time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6
Mercy is “love’s second name” Pope Saint John Paul II
One mission God gave St. Faustina was to remind the world of the truth of our faith revealed in the Holy Scripture about the merciful love of God towards every human being.
Jesus told her: “Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight me.”
St. Paul says in Romans 5:20, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
Why now? God sometimes appears to mystics because he has a prophetic message for a particular time in history or to remind us of something that has been forgotten.
He wants to remind us of the heart of Sacred Scripture….his Mercy for us…even while we were still struggling with sin he willingly gave himself up for us; to pay for our sins on the cross
“Therefore [Jesus] is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he forever lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25
Another mission God gave St. Faustina was to seek God's mercy for the whole world and particularly for sinners. To do this, He gave her the practice of new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy, such as: the veneration of the image of the Divine Mercy with the inscription: "Jesus, I trust in you", the feast of the Divine Mercy celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, and the chaplet to the Divine Mercy and prayer at the Hour of Mercy (3 p.m.).
“Divine Mercy is not a secondary devotion, but an integral dimension of Christian faith and prayer.” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
We will begin to unpack the Divine Mercy Chaplet in the next installment.
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a kind of extension of the prayer of the Mass.
We use rosary beads to pray the chaplet and on the large bead we say: “Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The moment when Father Ron takes the Eucharist, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, in his hands and exclaims…”through him, and with him and in him…O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is your forever and Ever! Amen!!” –this is an awesome super charged moment of prayer! We are kneeling before our Almighty, All Merciful God …truly physically present with us at that moment.
The chaplet is an extension of this precise moment. It is an ECHO of the Mass.
It is an intercessory prayer that extends the Eucharistic offering of Jesus Christ.
In 1 John 2:1, we hear, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
Let’s continue with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy: we said that it is an extension of the moment in the Mass when Jesus truly becomes present on the altar.
On the small rosary beads we pray, “For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
The chaplet is not a substitute for mass, but more like an ECHO that does not die away…we become and participate in a part of the liturgy that never ceases on earth.
Out of love for Jesus, our Savior, therefore, we pray to the Father that all that Jesus suffered for us might not be wasted, but might bring about our salvation.
Notice that the Chaplet is not a self-centered prayer. It does not say "have mercy on me," but instead says "have mercy on us" and "on the whole world.“
Saying the Chaplet, therefore, is not just an exercise of personal piety: rightly understood, it is in itself a work of mercy!
“My daughter, encourage souls to say the Chaplet… unceasingly” (From the Diary of St. Faustina)
The last two weeks have been about the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We now know that it is an intercessory prayer that extends the Eucharistic offering of Jesus Christ and that we are praying to the Father that all Jesus suffered for us might not be wasted, but might bring about our salvation.
What we receive is the outpouring of all the graces needed for true repentance and conversion, even for a hardened sinner who cannot or will not pray for himself and this gives us a good hope!
At the end of the chaplet we pray a very old prayer that can be traced back to 400 A.D., "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.“
It is the Greek phrase, Trisagion, which translates as "Thrice Holy.“
The Chaplet ends precisely where our merciful Savior wants to bring each and every one of us: into the embrace of the Blessed Trinity.
“Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:9)
The Lord asked St. Faustina to have a likeness of himself painted and it took a polish artist twelve tries before Faustina accepted it as satisfactory.
“I am offering people a vessel…” (Diary)
Pope Saint John Paul II said, “Look at image and hear what Faustina heard, ”Fear nothing, I am with you always” and if you respond with “Jesus I trust in you” you will find comfort in all you anxieties and fears.”
1 john 4:18…”there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear”
The painting has two rays that come from the heart of Jesus. The red ray symbolizes His Blood and is the sign of the Eucharist. The white ray is water and represents the sacrament of baptism. Baptism, Jesus told Faustina is the “water which makes souls righteous”
The blood and water is the fountain from which in our heart of hearts, we all long to drink!
This summarizes the whole sacramental life of the church!
More about the image of the Divine Mercy:
Jesus said about the painting, "I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature:
Jesus, I trust in You."
Trust is the means…the conduit through which we receive the graces the Lord so longs to give.
“The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive” (Diary 1578)
Unfortunately, in our relationship with God, distrust often comes more easily than trust….remember what we talked about back in week 2 about Adam and Eve.
The image is meant to heal wounds in our hearts. Jesus meant for us to spend time in looking at it and contemplating his mercy and love for us.
“O, Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us, I trust in You!” (Diary 84)
More about the painting’s symbolism next week…
Let’s look at the symbolism in the Image of the Divine Mercy:
The hands of Jesus: one directs us to the flow of graces, and the right hand is not raised high as in an aggressive motion, but kept near the heart, which communicates deep gentleness. It helps us to focus on the warmth and embrace of His most sacred heart. It encourages us to dwell there a while.
The gaze of our Lord is not directly at the viewer. They look downward, deeply humble…non-threatening gesture. He doesn’t want us to run and hide (as in the Garden of Eden).His gaze is one of great love and humility and gentleness.
Jesus says, “My gaze from this image is like My gaze from the cross.” (Diary326)
Jesus is “stepping gently” toward the viewer, it is full of grace and mercy, and prevents us from running away from Jesus and announces his coming again.
Jesus wants us to gaze on this image and contemplate his incredible love for each of us and how he desires for us to know him personally, to come to him in prayer and the sacraments, and trust him.
Trust in the mercy of God…this gets us to the heart of the message of Divine Mercy!
God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.
“When a soul approaches Me with trust, I fill it with such an abundance of graces, that it cannot contain them…but radiates them to other souls!” (Diary 1074)
How to live out the message of Divine Mercy? Remember your “A-B-C’s”
A-Ask for Mercy “Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight me.”
B- Be Merciful Mercy has two movements….heart and arms.
C- Completely Trust
Pope Saint John Paul II said, “Look at the image and hear what Faustina heard, ‘Fear nothing, I am with you always’ and if you respond with “Jesus I trust in you” you will find comfort in all your anxieties and fears.
”There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18b