Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

72 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel lift yourself to Me” (Diary, entry no. 1485). Here what Christ calls us to do, above all, is simply to receive His grace trustfully: “Jesus I trust in You.” It is no wonder that the Image is such a powerful one in the new evangelization, for it is a little summary o f the basic gospel message: God’s gracious offer to us o f free, unconditional, merciful love, through Jesus Christ. On one occasion, Bl. Faustina had a vision of the Heart o f Jesus which confirmed for her the role o f His Heart as the source of mercy: After the renewal of vows (in the year 1932) and Holy Communion, I suddenly saw the Lord Jesus, who said to me with great kindness, “My daughter, look at My Merciful Heart.” As I fixed my gaze on the Most Sacred Heart, the same rays of light, as are represented in the image as blood and water, came from it, and I understood how great is the Lord’s mercy.38 Again, the enthronement o f the Image o f The Divine Mercy is also an enthronement o f the Sacred Heart, but that Heart seen under a differ­ ent aspect. The focus is on the merciful love that flow s to us from His Heart, for in that image, what stands out most distinctly are the red and pale rays that shine out from His breast. These rays represent the heal­ ing and sanctifying graces, especially o f Baptism and the Eucharist, that flow from the Sacred Heart of Jesus toward us. This makes the Mercy image especially suitable for the desperate needs o f so many families in our time, families all too often broken and wounded by evil: apostasy, adultery, divorce and division, contraception, fornication, greed, shallow consumerist materialism, and murder o f the unborn. These assaults of evil, often promoted by modem culture, are simply overwhelming many Catholic families. The rays of the Mercy image show us the healing, sanctifying graces that our Savior is longing to pour into every human heart, if only we will receive them with tmst: My mercy is greater than your sins and those o f the entire world... I let My Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source o f mercy for you. Come then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain.39 (b) The Liturgical Feasts It was Jesus Christ Himself who requested, through St. Margaret Mary, the establishment of the annual Feast of the Sacred Heart. In His