Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

“My name is sacrifice” : The Mission of Blessed Faustina 89 o f millions o f Catholics globally. The image which Jesus told her to have painted o f Him - two rays emerging from His heart, one red, the other white; one hand raised in blessing, the other pointing to His heart - is venerated in Catholic churches throughout the world. Yet this Polish nun o f the first third o f the twentieth century, increasingly well known to pious souls throughout the world, is virtually unknown in the theo­ logical world. She certainly was no theologian, and so this is not sur­ prising. Yet she commends herself to our attention as a profound mys­ tic, rooted in a childlike stance in the things o f God. In light o f the need for a Passiology, her mysticism of the Passion further commends Faustina to our study. In this paper I hope to introduce Faustina Kowalska to theological reflection, allowing her to illustrate enfleshed realities o f a higher order. Perhaps the Christian theologian is called to be a “holy fool” in the eyes o f the world. He must put all the intellectual resources at his command to the service of a message given to shepherds and fishermen, some­ times indeed kept alive by these “little ones.” Faustina is one such “sim­ ple” soul who yet was blessed with overwhelming mystical graces. I propose to highlight some elements o f her work to help theology realize Balthasar’s great vision o f reuniting theology and holiness. The Source of Mercy Faustina’s name has become identified with the divine attribute of “Mercy.” Any work on Faustina’s theological mission would have to center on this attribute. At her beatification, Pope John II declared: “God chose her to remind people of the great divine mystery o f Mercy.” 10 Mindful o f the virtues seen in particular saints, she herself prayed: “O my Jesus, each o f your saints reflects one o f your virtues; I desire to reflect your compassionate heart, full of mercy; I want to glorify it ... Glorifying your mercy is the exclusive task o f my life.” 1 Yet unlike Elizabeth who took for a name “laudem g l o r i a e Faustina did not become “laudem misericordiae .” A publication o f her Order, treating o f her role as a saint, a model given by Christ, suggests that that “model may be summed up in the short formula ‘trust in God and be good to other people.’” 12Trust is the human response to God’s Mercy. Indeed, trust is a keystone o f Faustina’s spirituality, where growing awareness of one’s own misery is outpaced only by trust in God’s Mercy: “The graces o f my mercy are drawn by means o f one vessel