Jesus, Mercy Incarnate

Clearly, for St. Faustina, the center of her life, her first love, was the Merciful Heart of Jesus. Her devotion was to the Sacred Heart, but focused on the merciful love that flows to us from His Heart. Much like the traditional devotion to the Sacred Heart, our Lord gave to St. Faustina new forms in which His Merciful Heart was to be honored, and new vessels for a fresh outpouring of His grace: the Image of The Divine Mercy, new prayers such as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the prayers for the three o’clock Hour of Mercy, and, of course, a new feast for the universal Church (the Feast of The Divine Mercy, intended for the Sunday after Easter). In fact, all of this received the explicit endorsement and encour- agement of Pope John Paul II in his address at the tomb of Bl. Faustina in Cracow in the summer of 1997. 14 His remarks on that occasion largely echoed the words he spoke at the beatification of Sr. Faustina in Rome onApril 18, 1993: Her mission continues, and is yielding astonishing fruit. It is truly marvelous how her devotion to the merciful Jesus is spreading in our contemporary world and gaining so many human hearts! This is doubtless a sign of the times — a sign of our 20th century. The balance of this century which is now ending. ... presents a deep restlessness and fear of the future. Where, if not in the Divine Mercy, can the world find refuge and the light of hope? Believers understand that perfectly. Now, all of this leads to an obvious question: what is the proper relationship between these two devotions, these two streams of Heart-spirituality in the Church, namely, the devo- tion to the Sacred Heart and the devotion to The Divine Mercy? Are they in competition with each other for the alle- giance of the faithful? Is there room in the Church for both? Is there any need in the Church for both? On the one hand, some Catholics seem to feel that devotion to the Sacred Heart is enough; there is no need for this new devotion toTheDivineMercy, they claim, because it largely duplicates what we have already been given in the Sacred Heart tradition. At the 107 The Sacred Heart and The Divine Mercy