Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

36 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel nation of two words, kata (2596), and phileo (5368). Kata used as a pre­ fix to a word frequently denotes intensity or feverishness, which again gives credence to the emotional nuances of the father’s actions.39 “He showered kisses on h im ” would be a good idiomatic translation. Jesus is giving us His personal comment about His Father’s mercy, compassion and love for us. Since Jesus says to Philip in the final dis­ course in the Gospel of John: Jesus said to him, Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, “Show us the Father”? (John 14:9) Let me say that Jesus confirms this in many Diary entries. But I will use Diary, entry no. 1076: Write this: Everything that exists is enclosed in the bowels o f My Mercy, more deeply than an infant in its mother’s womb. How painfully distrust o f My goodness wounds Me! Sins o f distrust wound Me most painfully.40 We begin to see that there is greater depth to St. Luke as the Gospel o f Mercy than appears at the surface o f most translations. My puipose in presenting this study is to challenge us to realize that God fee ls and has strong, very strong emotions about His children. I believe a continued study of the Gospel o f Luke as the Gospel o f Mercy will help all o f us to become more aware o f God’s deep emotional love for us. Once we realize that in our hearts, instead o f our heads, we in turn might be moved in our bowels to respond in a deep emotional love for our Father. What do we do now? Where do we go from here? Do we continue this study? I believe the first step in answering these rhetorical questions is to be found in one o f the earliest entries in Sr. Faustina’s Diary, entry no. 9 . 1 offer it as a prayerful consideration for you and for me: Once I was at a dance [probably in Lodz] with one o f my sis­ ters. While everybody was having a good time, my soul was expe­ riencing deep torments. As I began to dance, I suddenly saw Jesus at my side, Jesus racked with pain, stripped of His clothing, all covered with wounds, who spoke these words to me: How long