Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

122 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel tied in perfectly with what our Lord answered Bl. Faustina. Our Lord said, “And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often do not know about it themselves.” And here Fr. Mathis emphasizes: “The present study’s published in the hope, therefore, that it will prove o f great value to all who are interested in learning, and instructing others in, the meaning of Christianity as this is expressed in its primary and basic idiom (that is, in the liturgy).” The Feast of The Divine Mercy is certainly a liturgical matter, and it has much to do with the fact that Our Lord wants it to be celebrated on what is the Octave Day o f Easter. Most o f the clergy have absolutely no notion of what an Octave of a feast is. I could not have found a more direct confirmation that I was on the right track. I deem it an obligation at this point to quote a paragraph that I came upon in the monumental work o f the renowned Benedictine, Fr. Cyprian Vagaggini, entitled: Theological Dimensions o f The Liturgy. What he states in this paragraph supplies us with the fundamental bedrock for the understanding of the essence o f our topic. In the chapter entitled: The General Background o f the Liturgy: Revelation A s Sacred Histoiy (p. 15, 16), he writes: The liturgy, in fact, is nothing but a certain way in which Christ, in the present intermediate time which extends from Pentecost to the parousia, in this eschatological time already going on, communicates the fulness o f His divine life to souls, repro­ duces His mystery in them, draws them into His mystery. Going back to the text found under the theme of “Liturgy” in The Dictionary o f Catholic Theology, the author states there: The Roman liturgy and the liturgies approved by Rome also have a very special value, and the same goes for the liturgies which, over the long centuries, belonged to the Orthodox Churches (Column 789). Now, the liturgy of the Byzantine branch o f the Eastern Church, both Catholic and Orthodox, especially on the occasion of the greater feasts of Our Lord, untiringly calls this mystery, which Christ, by way o f the liturgy, reproduces in souls, draws souls into it, and communicates to souls the fulness of His divine life, His Great Mercy!