Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

108 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel us. She experienced the “dark night of the soul” which offered her an accelerated course in spiritual growth. It should be noted that at least on one occasion she was rescued from despair by holy obedience (24). Part of her experience was that o f spiritual battle, darkness, and, as noted, the diabolical. Ironically, this heightened experience may have been ren­ dered possible for her because, as we have seen, she herself, though not without sin, had been told by Christ that she had never offended him by mortal sin. Thus, her offering was again closer to Christ’s, since the suf­ ferings which she experienced were not earned by her: of course, she was unaware o f this at the time o f her agony. Though buffeted by vari­ ous spirits, she was yet shielded by the hand o f God. As Balthasar writes, “no one is more protected by God than the one who is led through this night o f the Cross.”81As Faustina wrote: “I do not fear the blows, blows of divine justice, because I am united with Jesus” (309). Faustina’s description o f hell is o f a piece with traditional Catholic images: torture, loss o f God, remorse with no hope o f change, fire that penetrates yet does not destroy, despair, darkness, stink, the company of Satan, hatred of God, vile words, curses, blasphemies, torments o f the senses. O f hell she wrote: I, Sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its exis­ tence... What I have written is but a pale shadow o f the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most o f the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell (741). Although hell is so vividly experienced by her, she yet concludes that “only that soul who wants it will be damned, for God condemns no one” (1452). Heaven Given the importance of suffering in her work, it will come as no sur­ prise that purgatory looms large in her experience. One of her earliest visions in religious life was a vision o f purgatory, in which she heard Jesus tell her: “My mercy does not want this but justice demands it” (20). The vision is o f a “misty place full o f fire in which there was a great crowd o f suffering souls” all praying fervently, “but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid.” In light o f this vision of what she called a “prison o f suffering,” she entered into “closer com­