Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

96 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel The case is similar with the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy: it is prayed to shield from Divine Wrath. Faustina experienced that the Chaplet had power even to change weather (1128)! Along with the Chaplet is the Novena o f The Divine Mercy, devotions which she was commissioned by Christ to introduce to the Church’s life. These devotions are the main “objective” elements of her mission. Faustina: The Personal Mission If her person was part o f the mission as well, if who she was and how she was in the world were part o f that which God wanted the world to see o f His Mercy, then we must turn to her inner life, where sacrifice and suffering are really the first “means” of propagating the message of the Divine Mercy. More intimately, part o f her mission was work o f atone­ ment especially directed toward “chosen souls,” those who can grieve Christ especially. It is noteworthy that in Faustina’s experience, human sinfulness grieves God: in conformity with Biblical tradition, God is revealed as having emotions. Jesus suffers great pain when souls do not want to accept his mercy (1074). In one o f the most powerful passages in the Diary, Jesus tells Faustina that she will “prepare the world for my final coming” (429). Underlying her “objective” mission there is the personal witness o f one who has joined the work o f Christ in redeeming the world by suffering, and by bringing in “great numbers o f sacrificial souls” in the apostolate of Mercy.34 Faustina: An Eschatological Mission If Mercy is the great message, one must ask: as opposed to what? The answer, o f course, is judgment. The wrath of God is that which the sin­ ner naturally fears, a fear which the revelation o f the Divine Mercy is meant to allay. Terror before the justice o f God can, it seems, only hard­ en sinners in their rebellion: the hope is that a ray o f Mercy will pene­ trate the shadows of sinfulness and invite the sinner to repentance in the loving arms o f an all merciful God. Jesus himself says to Faustina: “Even the devils glorify my Justice but they do not believe in my goodness” (300). Indeed, Faustina writes that “Satan hates mercy more than anything else. It is his greatest torment” (764). In this second section of our paper, we hope to look more deeply at