Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

70 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel command,” and called his mission the “work o f social salvation.”31 As a result, the enthronement movement spread rapidly throughout the world. Fr. Mateo described it as follows in his principal work, Jesus, King o f Love: What is the work o f enthronement? It can be defined as the official and social acknowledgment o f the sovereignty o f the Heart of Jesus over the Christian family, an acknowledgment made tan­ gible and permanent by the solemn installation of the picture of the Divine Heart in a place o f honor, and by an act o f consecration... The family is the source o f life, the child’s first school. If the source o f national life is poisoned, the nation will perish. What we long to do is to plant faith deep in families, and love for the Sacred Heart. If Jesus Christ is in the roots, the whole tree will be Jesus Christ.32 However, there is also a movement now for the solemn enthronement o f the Image of The Divine Mercy in every home. It has its roots in Christ’s words to Bl. Faustina, “I am King o f Mercy,”33 and in her own poem about the Image, in which she wrote: “O sweet Jesus, it is here that You established the throne of Your mercy”34Although Jesus never explicitly asked for acts o f ’’consecration” to His Merciful Heart, it seems to be implied in the complete act o f “trust” called for by the sig­ nature on the Image — “Jesus, I trust in You” — and Pope John Paul II himself “entrusted” his entire Petrine ministry to the merciful Christ before the same Image. This enthronement movement has received ecclesiastical approval from several sources, and the aims of this move­ ment are quite similar to those o f the enthronement movement o f the Sacred Heart: Enthronement (of the Image of Mercy) provides a special wel­ come for Jesus to come into our hearts and homes to claim them for Himself. He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When the grace o f God reigns in the members o f a family, the presence o f the Holy Spirit increases the divine life in them, immersing them in the sacraments of His mercy.36 The questions naturally arise: are these two enthronement move­ ments in competition ? Is there any need in the Church for both? Should the new movement simply replace the old?