Pillars of Fire In My Soul

the Mercy of God the Father. However, the 31st and 49th reve- lations (Diary §687 and §848) represent Jesus as the one who bestows all graces associated with this chaplet. Furthermore, He is presented as the object of the trust in Mercy which we express by reciting the chaplet. This exceptional place of Jesus within the framework of the Devotion has its doctrinal basis in the words of the Gospel: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one goes to the Father except through Me.” Since Jesus is the main object of this Devotion, it may rightly be called in a shortened form the Devotion to the Merciful Lord Jesus. However, the Mercy of God, One-in-Holy Trinity, God the Father and Jesus, is not only the proper object of this Devotion but it is also its motive. The extraordinary, truly Divine charac- teristics of this Mercy are the incentive which inclines us to the basic, most essential act of the Devotion: namely, to unshaken and unlimited trust in The Divine Mercy. For Divine Love and Mercy embrace the whole world in such a way that “everything which exists emerged from the bowels of My Mercy” (Diary §699). Not only did it emerge when it was created through an act of Divine Love, but also “everything that exists is perma- nent, is contained in the bowels of My Mercy, more deeply than an infant in the womb of its mother,” as we read in revelation 46 (Diary §1076). In interpersonal relations, we know of no more beautiful nor touching love than that of a mother for her child. The words of the Lord Jesus quoted above figuratively emphasize that the love of God toward mankind is greater and more tender than the greatest love we can experience from peo- ple; and this being so, it deserves that we take towards it the attitude of unwavering trust. Furthermore, the consequence of the greatness of Divine Mercy is His care for the affairs of all those who trust in Him. This actually is the principle of God’s Mercy. We read, for example, in revelation 35: “Whoever trusts in My Mercy will not perish, for all his con- cerns are mine” (Diary §723). In revelation 56 Jesus says: “The soul that placed its trust in my mercy is the most fortu- Essential Features of the Devotion to The Divine Mercy 99