This feast was recently instituted in 2000 by John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina- a humble Polish nun who the Lord chose to reveal Himself to to spread His message of mercy for the whole world. St. Faustina recieved many revelations from our Lord which she records in her diary: "The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul." I've read this twice, and would benefit from reading it twenty-thousand more times. (In other words, I recommend it!)
Unfortunately, I don't have this book with me now, but I thought this month's Magnificat piece "The Breakthrough of Mercy" by Fr. Richard Veras had some points worth retelling:
Fr. Veras points out that all of us relate to a lack of trust in Christ's mercy. Why is this? Because we are finite beings and mercy is infinite, thus it is beyond our mentality. We are quite merciless to ourselves and those around us, so we find it difficult to believe in and trust in His mercy for us. Fr. Veras reminds us of the Book of Revelation where the devil is referred to as the "accuser" who "continually accuses us of our sins, looking only at our finite actions and denying that they can be conquered by infinite love." We comply with this lie since Christ's infinite love is so far beyond our imagination- but Christ came not to condemn, but to save!
We need to experience mercy, Fr. Veras emphasizes, rather than just have the idea of it. Because of our finite mentality, we must be reminded continually of merciful love by having it breakthrough to us from others. Two primary ways are through the sacrament of confession and in true Christian friendships.
We (I) must develop a more merciful attitude toward ourselves and others, stemming from a deep awareness of the Lords merciful love for us. St. Faustina was told to always conclude her prayer (The Chaplet of Divine Mercy, now our prayer too!) with "Jesus, I trust in You!" We have to remember to trust in the Lord- that He loves us, forgives us and desires great things for us.
St. Faustina died in 1938 and so her life overlapped with JPII and he knew of her as a young priest. It is just awesome to look back at history and think about what the Lord was working in these souls and how He gave such gifts to the world through them. It is awesome too, to think about what the Lord desires to work in our souls.
The Church gives us these handy to do lists to carry this work out:
Convert the sinner
Instruct the ignorant
Counsel the doubtful
Comfort the sorrowful
Bear wrongs patiently
Forgive injuries
Pray for the living and the dead
Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Clothe the naked
Shelter the homeless
Visit the sick
Visit those in prison
Bury the dead
And finally, this prayer from the Chaplet:
"Eternal God, in whome mercy is endless, and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments, we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submitourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself."
