Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

78 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel requested. In fact, our Lord’s instructions to Bl. Faustina were both more flexible and more demanding. She was encouraged to say the Chaplet “without ceasing” (, Diary , no. 687), in other words, not once per day, but — precisely because it is an intercessory prayer — whenever and wherever intercession was needed. Our Lady o f Fatima, however, specifically asked the faithful to try to recite at least part of the Rosary each day: I am the Lady o f the Rosary. I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and to ask pardon for their sins... People must say the Rosary. Let them continue saying it every day.57 Whatever prayers and devotions one may choose in order to sanctify each day, the important thing to remember is that the Lord regards not the number or magnitude o f the devotions that we practice, but the fa ith and love with which we offer them. This alone is what brings delight to the Merciful Heart o f Jesus from acts o f piety. Moreover, such pious practices are means, not ends in themselves. They are meant to nurture and form in us, by the grace o f God, not just devotions and “devotion- alism,” but true devotion: true love for God. In other words, we are not merely to remain gazing at images o f the Merciful Heart of Jesus, or reciting prayers to Him; rather, we are invited to come to know His love for us so deeply, personally, and intimately that we enter into that Heart , as into an ocean and fountain o f mercy, a burning furnace o f love and and light. In this, the final goal, as in so many other respects, the devo­ tion to the Sacred Heart and the devotion to The Divine Mercy are in perfect accord. In closing we have only to quote the words o f Bl. Faustina and Sr. Josefa to show that these two devotions recommend the same means — complete, trustful surrender to the open Heart o f Jesus — to reach the same end, namely mystical union with that Heart as with a veritable “sea o f mercy” and “abyss of light”: Today the Lord said to me, I have opened My Heart as a liv­ ing fountain o f mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea o f mercy with great trust. Sinners Mil attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in My mercy will be filled with My divine peace at the hour o f death...