Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

Foreword 13 hospital chaplain and medical ethicist in the Archdiocese o f Vancouver, British Columbia, to show how the theme o f mercy toward the sick and the suffering is vital to the medical profession, and well illustrated in the Diary o f Blessed Faustina herself. In chapter seven, Dr. Mark Miravalle, STD, from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, offers some reflections on the theme of the Blessed Virgin Mary as “Mediatrix o f Mercy,” a phrase used by Pope John Paul II, but which has not before received in-depth theolog­ ical treatment. Dr. Miravalle is a leading Mariologist, also well known for his international advocacy of a new papal definition o f Mary as “Mediatrix, Advocate, and Co-Redemptrix.” Finally, in chapter eight, we print the text o f the homily prepared for the symposium by The Most Reverend Rosendo Huesca Pacheco, Archbishop of Puebla, Mexico. The Archbishop has been one of the most prominent and persistent spokesmen for the importance o f the Divine Mercy message and devotion to the future o f the Americas, and his con­ tribution to our symposium also shows how the study and spread o f this devotion continues to be nurtured and guided by the hierarchy of the Church. In this we have been especially blessed by divine providence. In short, all the offerings to this volume are united by a single theme: that in one way or another, God’s Mercy truly is “the Heart o f the Gospel,” and as such, a source of refreshment and grace for anyone who comes thirsting to this fountain o f life. We hope and pray that this book will enlighten the minds and move the hearts o f all who read it so that they might plunge ever deeper into the whole “ocean of Mercy” revealed by Christ to Blessed Faustina {Diary, 718). Rev. Seraphim Michalenko, M.I.C. Director o f the John Paul II Institute o f Divine Mercy Rector o f the National Shrine o f The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts Vice-Postulator o f the Cause for the Canonization o f Blessed Faustina Kowalska