Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

“My name is sacrifice” : The Mission of Blessed Faustina 97 some theological aspects o f Blessed Faustina’s mission, exploring her eschatological doctrine in light of the Four Last Things. Death is of great importance to Faustina. The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy is best said at the “Hour o f Mercy,” at three in the afternoon, commemorating the death of Christ which secured God’s Mercy for the world. It is the hour o f death that is o f special importance for sinners. Heaven and hell are real possibilities: thus, a “good death” is the goal, one in which one dies at peace with God, Church and neighbor. There is a death that Jesus has planned for her, one the time o f which he alone knows, and will reveal to her before her end. Jesus calls death the “final battle” (1540). He goes on: Entrust yourself completely to me at the hour o f death, and I will present you to my Father as my bride (1543). She herself spends much time visiting the dying. For the Christian soul, it is the moment o f birth, and she wants to be present at the hour o f delivery. Hence her visitations to the dying, encouraging them to trust in The Divine Mercy at the last moment (1698). What takes place there is a prayer o f intercession: placing the sufferings o f Jesus before the Father, calling down His Mercy upon the sinner, so that looking at the sinner, He not see the offending party, but the Lamb slain for the redemption o f the sinner. Judgment means the possibility o f encountering the “wrath o f God.” In justice, sin requires expiation. In line with Anselmian thinking and much Scripture, the wrath o f God requires propitiation as well. The “Hour o f Mercy” at Calvary is highlighted against a background o f the wrath o f God, the hardness o f heart that rejects His Mercy and persists in that rejection. At the hour o f judgment, a soul has nothing with which to defend itself but God’s Mercy (1075). “He who refuses to pass through the door o f my mercy must pass through the door o f my justice...” (1146). The wrath of God is a constant theme in the book. It is restrained by the love and sacrifice o f a few “chosen souls” found in religious hous­ es: they are a “defense for the world before the justice o f the Heavenly Father and a means o f obtaining mercy for the world. The love and sac­ rifice o f these souls sustain the world in existence” (367). Indeed, Faustina learned from the Lord that: “When the number o f the chosen ones is complete, the world will cease to exist” (926). Children also help