Jesus, Mercy Incarnate

For this reason, I have come to believe that there is no better way to approach the mysteries of Jesus Christ than with the help of the saints and doctors of the Church. These are people who not only knew about our Lord, to the best of their ability, but also knew Him personally , through prayer, the sacraments, and their daily struggle to follow Him. The attempt to understand Christ based primarily upon modern historical-rational analysis of the Bible, and the use of the modern social sciences, will not get us very far. “Without me,” Jesus said, “you can do nothing” (Jn.15:5). But the attempt to try to under- stand the person and work of Christ solely through a blend of piety and personal scriptural meditation is also too narrow. We can only understand the truth about Christ when we are “in Christ,” which means being in and with His Body, the Church: “The ground and pillar of the truth” (I Tim.3:15). It is from within the Church’s life and tradition that our eyes are opened and able to see Jesus more clearly. In particular, this means we need the guidance of the saints — the “best friends” of Jesus and the most loyal sons and daugh- ters of His Church — to help us understand as fully as we can our Savior’s love for us, and the Way to which He calls us. This book can be read on two levels. First, the text of the essays can be read on their own, as a source of meditations on devotion to Jesus Christ. Secondly, since these meditations inevitably give rise to further questions, and touch upon some of the most controver- sial topics in Christology, I have provided a number of extended footnotes which may be of help to students of Theology. My thanks go especially to Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, M.I.C., the Director of the John Paul II Institute, for his guidance with this project, and to my wife Katherine for patiently accomplishing all the computer work needed to produce the final manuscript. Finally, I would ask any reader who finds this book helpful to remember my family and the Institute in their prayers, so that all of us may come to love and trust the Merciful Heart of Jesus more and more, after the example of St. Faustina, our patron and heavenly friend in Christ. 15 Introduction