Pillars of Fire In My Soul

tinuing attachment to their sins. As a result, while their sins are forgiven, there remains the temporal punishment due to sin (see Catechism 1472-1473). Of course, this temporal punishment can be completely taken away through a plenary indulgence, granted by the Church, through the devout performance of cer- tain designated good works (such as the recitation of prayers, giving of alms, visiting a shrine, etc.) — but, again, if these works are not undertaken with pure love of God, then the indul- gence is only partial, not plenary. The complete remission of sins and punishment, ex opere operato , is ordinarily only available to the soul at baptism. What Jesus Christ has promised to the world, through St. Faustina, is that this complete renewal of this same baptismal grace — the complete remission of sins and punishment — is also available to the faithful through the recep- tion in a state of grace of Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday. In other words, one could argue that what makes Mercy Sunday so extraordinary is not just the eminence of the graces offered, but also, uniquely, the lesser requirement for receiving them: the reception of Holy Communion by a heart filled only with trust in Divine Mercy. This “trust,” it might be said, is not yet an act of perfect love of God, not yet perfect contrition. For trust in God involves merely a cleaving to God because of His promised benefits. As such, it is, merely, a precondition for the formation, by divine grace, of perfect love in the soul: the pure, selfless love of God for His own sake. Trust is the open- ing of the soul by faith, hope, humility, and repentance, to receive all the most eminent graces — and especially the gift of perfect charity — from the Heart of the Savior. Fr. Rozycki describes trust in this way: This same attitude of life is described by St. Paul and by the whole of Christian theology as hope, the divine virtue of hope which springs from a living faith in the infinity of God’s love and goodness towards us. It is indis- solubly tied to humility, that is the sincere and deep con- 132 Pillars of Fire in My Soul