Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

94 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel ences, the “passive nights.” Offering herself up voluntarily for sin­ ners, she accepted numerous forms of suffering, submitting entire­ ly to the will o f God, so that in this way she could help souls in danger of forfeit o f salvation, and participate more fully in Christ’s work of salvation.28 Throughout her many trials and sufferings, then, exterior or interior, she turned to her Lord, with whom she entered a spousal relation which led to a high degree o f identification. If much o f her own suffering came from misunderstanding by others, most often it was interior. Though she was in close contact with her superiors, the sisters with whom she lived had little if any idea o f her special gifts, such that most were surprised to hear o f Jesus’ revelations to Faustina after her death.29The “invisible stigmata” which she bore served as a sort o f symbol for all her interior sufferings, and the misun­ derstanding they provoked. Her identification with Christ continued to experiences of the “dark night”: experiences o f abandonment by Him (1496) and o f “nothingness:” “nothingness: that is the reality. O Jesus, save me!” (1558). She received her great mission while already having advanced tuber­ culosis, a disease from which she suffered terribly30 and which finally caused her death - yet it was a sickness which was diagnosed late, a form of tuberculosis which was difficult to diagnose, and from which she long suffered while others thought she was hysterical - crazy or lazy. Her sufferings were physical, but also, even primarily, mental and spiritual - “many o f her physical sufferings had their source in various kinds o f mystical experiences.”31 Faustina: The Objective Task Much is said about the “Divine Mercy,” an ocean o f forgiveness invit­ ing sinners. It is the “Mercy of God” revealed in Christ, calling all to repentance. Yet what is generally forgotten is that this Mercy is to be preached as beginning with the expiatory suffering of His Son: “God loves us in his Son; the painful Passion o f the Son o f God constantly turns aside the wrath of God” (482). Scripture abundantly points to this mystery: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness o f sins” (Heb. 9:22). That is, the Passion of Jesus, the wounds from which the