“My divine Heart is so inflamed with love for mankind … that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its burning charity and must spread them abroad by your means.” (Christ to Saint Margaret Mary).
There is such a growing devotion to the Divine Mercy of God. In the 1930s, Saint Faustina Kowalska, who was a Polish nun and mystic, experienced visions of Christ (and angels and Saints and the Blessed Virgin). During those visions, she was able to document Christ’s desire to make known the Divine Mercy of God.
Christ called Saint Faustina the “secretary of the Divine Mercy”. Her spiritual advisors instructed her to keep a diary that would document her interactions with Christ and throughout her life.
This Saint died at the age of thirty-three form tuberculosis of the intestines, which was misdiagnosed for many years before she was actually diagnosed with her illness.
Saint Faustina’s diary was analysed after her death and after the first review of the diary, her cause for sainthood was stopped. The translation from Polish was inaccurate and the inaccuracies meant that some of the words and meanings were mis-managed and in the translation were inaccurate.
Following the unexpected death of Pope John Paul I, after only some days in the Pontificate, when Pope Saint John Paul II was elected as Pope, the Saint was the first Polish Saint. There are no coincidences, I suppose, because following his election to the Pontificate, Pope Saint John Paul II worked to have the Diaries translated accurately and – based on this interpretation – was able to reopen the cause to the Sainthood of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.
On the Sunday when he announced the Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Saint John Paul II declared the moment the highlight of his pontificate…
The Divine Mercy celebrates the DIVINE nature of Christ.
Prior to this there was a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ. In the 17th century, a French nun and mystic, Saint Margaret Mry Alacoque, was invited by Christ to rest her head against His Sacred Heart while He spoke to her of His love for humanity and His desire that she spread a devotion to His Sacred Heart.
This devotion spread through the words of Christ, which were… “My divine Heart is so inflamed with love for mankind … that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its burning charity and must spread them abroad by your means.”
This devotion celebrates the HUMAN nature of Christ.
For Christ – God the Son – has TWO natures, His Divine Nature and His Human Nature. And while we can rely on the power of His Divine Nature to achieve for us what we cannot achieve for ourselves (through the Divine Mercy), we are given the GIFT of Christ’s human nature. For in that human nature is an opportunity to replicate the great love of God for the world.
And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about God giving us TWO things to focus on. For without that, we would be lost – totally lost and without a clue…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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