MARIAN HELPER • SUMMER 2024 • MARIAN.ORG 23 What can the Divine Mercy Image teach us during this National Eucharistic Revival? I’m tempted to call it kind of the cheat sheet. It’s even more than a cheat sheet. It’s a full outline to a renewed appreciation of the Eucharist! You see, everything in the Divine Mercy devotions — Feast, Image, Novena, Chaplet, Hour (FINCH) — centers on the Eucharist. ey all draw their grace from the Eucharist — as do the other Sacraments of course — but especially the Divine Mercy Image. We’re supposed to be gazing on the Image to convert our hearts, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, looking on Christ to convert our hearts (see 2715, 2724). Pope St. John Paul II is saying, “Contemplate the face of Jesus” (Novo Millenio Ineunte). We’re contemplating it there in the Image. at’s supposed to lead us to realize that that’s what we should be doing with the Eucharist. We are contemplating the Face of Jesus in the Eucharist and we’re doing it with Our Lady, whom St. John Paul calls the Woman of the Eucharist. We ask Our Lady to help us in the Eucharist to contemplate who’s really there. Is it rather like looking into a mirror? Exactly. is is the God of Mercy in person. is is Divine Mercy in person. And just as Fr. Kosicki used to say, we’re not supposed to just hang that Image on the wall; we’re supposed to become it. We’re supposed to look at that Image enough so that it’s like we’re looking in the mirror. When I look in the mirror, do I see a hand raised in blessing? Do I see another hand inviting people into my heart? Am I pouring love, mercy, and forgiveness upon all the people who are coming to me? So we’re supposed to look at the Image so that we can conform ourselves to it, become like God, which is the same thing that the Eucharist is for. We’re not supposed to just consume the Eucharist. We’re supposed to allow it to become us, and us to become Eucharistic in our lives. Eucharistic spirituality: Become what you eat, and enter into communion. Saint Faustina put it beautifully, saying the Lord was alive in her heart between the physical acts of communion. Is that really the point for all of us? Absolutely. She talks about the indwelling: “Once a er Holy Communion, I heard these words: You are Our dwelling place.” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 451). Note that: You are Our dwelling place. And she continues: “At that moment, I felt in my soul the presence of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” My soul is in communion with these three. Recall the verse from John 14:23: “ ose who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” at’s the indwelling of God. So we see St. Faustina sharing that she’s experiencing this presence of the Trinity. And then we have in Scripture St. John telling us, “ is is real. Christ told us that the Trinity makes its dwelling in us.” at is one of the great strengths of your book, Mercy’s Gaze: You allow Scripture and the Diary to shed light on each other, to unpack each other. I loved doing this, going through and selecting certain Scriptures and selecting certain passages from the Diary to bring out what seemed to be the strongest themes in both. And then to see how closely the Scriptures and the Diary are in presenting the same message, the same — if you will, the same Revelation from the Lord. e Holy Spirit never contradicts Himself. at’s not surprising, but it’s certainly edifying to see that, especially useful for people who are wondering, “Well, who is this? Who is this Polish nun? How does she know all this stu ? And where is this stu coming from? How do I know this is real?” You nd it all in Scripture. ere’s nothing new here. It’s just a di erent focus. It’s a concentration. As kids, we used to take a magnifying glass and shine it on a certain point on a leaf with the sun focused so it gets more intense, and actually start a re with it. Well, that, to me, is what God’s trying to do. He started to set our hearts on re. “Let’s take the Gospel message. Now, let’s focus it all so you can see it through the lens of mercy. You understand what My plan really is. Here now, let Me take hold of you and set you on re.” To order Mercy’s Gaze (Product code B62-GAZE), visit ShopMercy.org or call 1-800-462-7426. “We’re supposed to look at the Divine Mercy Image so that we can conform ourselves to it, become like God, which is the same thing that the Eucharist is for. We’re not supposed to just consume the Eucharist. We’re supposed to allow it to become us, and us to become Eucharistic in our lives.”
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