Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

John Paul II: The Mercy Pope 55 [in Poland] (emphasis added). • Chaplet o f The Divine Mercy: “I pray unceasingly that God will have mercy on us and on the whole world” (Chaplet). Challenge to the Sisters o f Our Lady o f Mercy: “Accept the responsibility of your extraordinary vocation! The people of today need your proclamation of Divine Mercy, your works of mercy, and your prayer for mercy.” • Prayerfo r all: “May the Divine Mercy transform hearts. ... we all need it so much: as the third millennium approaches.” “I cordially bless all those devoted to the Divine Mercy.” Justice Meets the Mercy of Peace “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; Righteousness and peace will kiss each other. ” (Psalm. 85) John Paul II as the Mercy Pope brings together justice and the mercy o f peace so that God’s Mercy, which is the source o f all blessing would transform our justice and judgments into the righteousness of God. The “mystery o f mercy” transforms the “uneasiness [the lack o f peace] o f so many people o f our time” (Dives in Misericordia, no. 12) into forgive­ ness that restores the dignity of the person (no. 14). Mercy and justice meet together like the open right and left hand joined together in a gesture o f prayer. This prayer o f mercy and justice, in an embrace o f transforming love, is a prayer that makes “that love to be present in our modern world and be more powerful than evil: more powerful than sin and death” (no. 15). In John Paul II, the Mercy Pope, mercy and justice have kissed and have become the image o f his Pontificate. Summary John Paul II teaches that Mercy is the mission o f Christ and His Church, and is at the heart of the Gospel. But, he also gives the living example of mercy by forgiveness. He expresses the need for the sons and daughters o f the Church to ask forgiveness o f those they have injured and for division and scandals they have caused. He challenges all o f us to personally experience God’s Mercy and so be enabled to be merciful and break the spiral o f violence in the world by the “miracle of forgiveness.”