Reflections on Divine Mercy

by Sr. Faustina

Today, in preparation for writing this article, I prayed to open St. Faustina's Diary to something in which I could easily find meaning and I landed at [699], which seems appropriate since tomorrow is the Feast of Divine Mercy, which Jesus introduces to her here. Quoting Isaiah 1:18, He says no soul should fear to draw near to him, that even as its sins be as scarlet, His mercy is so great that any soul who is obedient and contrite will find "mercy throughout eternity" and shall "obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment."

On one occasion, I heard these words: My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy.  I desire the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners.  On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My Mercy.  The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened.  Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy.  Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. [699]

In the same section of her Diary, St. Faustina, who was sick for most of her life in the convent, talks to the reader about her struggles with pain and suffering, her fear to suffer, but complete trust in Christ and desire to unite herself to him in her sufferings. Her pain is so great in [696] that she is unable to pray beyond uniting herself to the will of God, yet she says later, "Quickly, however, my trust in the infinite mercy of God was awakened in all its force, and everything else had to give way before it, like a shadow retreating before the sun's rays" [697]. In her discipline of spiritual life and complete trust in Christ, she was able to see providence in her pain. God, Who is all good and all merciful, would not allow her to suffer to no purpose, and therefore, her pain must be seen as an opportunity.

Why are these passages about pain and the revelation of the Feast of Divine Mercy next to each other in her journals (in this case from the year 1936, when she first becomes seriously ill)? I wonder if perhaps St. Faustina first had to begin the hardest part of her spiritual journey before being prepared to hear about the Feast of Divine Mercy, or perhaps, the reader needs to be reminded of pain unto death before coming to the Feast, with its promise of special mercy and forgiveness for those to visit Confession and receive Holy Communion on that day. Probably nothing motivates us more to examination of and contrition for our sins than the expectation of our own death, as for most, nothing but fear of death in mortal sin is more frightening than confronting and, critically, confessing the things we know we've done wrong. Dante, in Inferno, says that "death is hardly worse" (Canto 1: 7) than the fear he experiences in the "wilderness, savage, brute, harsh and wild" (5) of Hell as he begins his long examination of the sin he has found himself lost in. "I do not know, I cannot rightly say / how I first came to here - so full of sleep, that moment, abandoning the true way on" (11-12).

The Feast of Divine Mercy is a special invitation to examine our sins in contrition and bring them before the Lord, Who promises to "pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My Mercy." In our fear, we can trust in Jesus and be assured of His mercy and love for us.  In Dives in Misericordia, St. Pope John Paul II says, "Mercy...has the interior form of the love that in the New Testament is called agape. This love is able to reach down to every prodigal son, to every human misery, and above all to every form of moral misery, to sin. When this happens, the person who is the object of mercy does not feel humiliated, but rather found again and 'restored to value.'" God, in his mercy and love for us, will not humiliate us as we confess our sins, but rather raise us up with His forgiveness and restore our dignity, our humanity.

However, as we are reminded when contemplating Is. 1:18, which also appears in Jesus's request for the Feast of Divine Mercy, we should not be half-hearted in our contrition.

Wash yourselves clean!
     Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
Cease doing evil;
     Learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
     Hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow.
Come now, let us set things right,
     Says the LORD:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
     They may become white as snow;
Though they be red like crimson,
     They may become white as wool.
If you are willing and obey,
     You shall eat the good things of the land;
But if you refuse and resist,
     You shall be eaten by the sword:
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken!

- Is. 1:16-18

Mercy is given in love, but we must also cease to do evil and willingly obey the word of the Lord. St. Faustina herself touches this as she observes a bit after the revelation of the Feast of her meditation practice, "The topic of my particular examen is my union with the Merciful Christ.  This practice gives me unusual strength; my heart is always united with the One it desires, and its actions are regulated by mercy, which flows from love" [703]. The soul's greatest desire is to be united to God and this striving to be united to God will naturally help us also unite our actions to His will.