Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

The Sacred Heart and The Divine Mercy 75 In short, there is room both for the Feast o f The Sacred Heart, and for the Feast o f The Divine Mercy in the liturgical calendar. The Feast of The Sacred Heart o f Jesus was meant to be a day o f loving reparation to His Heart, while the Feast o f Mercy is supposed to be a celebration o f all the merciful love flow ing from His Sacred Heart to us. Both feasts are needed, and Jesus Himself asked for them both. (c ) Holy Hours, First Friday Communions, Novenas, and Chaplets These various devotional acts are joined together under a single head­ ing in order to illustrate that the new devotion to the Divine Mercy fits very well with the traditional devotion to the Sacred Heart, and easily flows from it. First o f all, the Lord Jesus Himself asked St. Margaret Mary to keep a weekly Holy Hour before Him in the tabernacle. He said to her: If only (mankind) would make Me some return for My love, I should think but little o f all I have done for them and would wish, were it possible, to suffer still more. But the sole return they make for all my eagerness to do them good is to reject Me and treat Me with coldness. Do thou at least console Me by supplying for their ingratitude as far as thou art able... Every night between Thursday and Friday, in order to bear Me company in the humble prayer (in the Garden o f Olives) that I then offered to My Father in the midst o f My anguish, thou shalt arise between eleven o ’clock and midnight, and remain prostrate with Me for an hour, not only to appease the divine anger by begging mercy for sinners, but also to mitigate in some way the bitterness which I felt at that time on finding Myself abandoned by My apostles, which obliged Me to reproach them for not being able to watch one hour with Me.47 Thus, our Lord asked St. Margaret Mary to console His loving Heart by making a Holy Hour each week. But He did not proscribe any set prayers or meditations for her to make during that time. In fact, it is entirely appropriate for the devotees of His Heart to include the recita­ tion o f the Chaplet o f The Divine Mercy during their Holy Hours. The Chaplet was dictated by the Lord Jesus Himself to Bl. Faustina, and it