The Essence

THE ESSENCE

We understand that the two essential points of the message of the Devotion to the Divine Mercy are: Trust and Mercy; our trust in Him and His mercy and our daily disposition to the Deeds of Mercy.

TRUST

For Jesus, our Lord and Savior, trust is the most important disposition we should have toward Him. If we do not trust Him how can we come to Him? Trust requires humbleness and this is very hard for many these days. Man has reached a level of self-sufficiency that makes him believe that he can do anything he pleases, when and wherever he pleases. He does not need God. As a matter of fact, God is an obstacle, an impediment to his freedom.

Man does not need God to tell him what to do and not to do. With this attitude it is not easy for man to come to the Lord. Perhaps in extreme needs, in times of crisis, when he finally realizes that he cannot physically heal himself or spiritually set himself free from bondage, he may give God a chance to act in his life.

We may think that it is too late, that man has been so bad and so evil, that God has abandoned him. On the contrary, we know for fact that God has never forgotten him; that He has been continuously knocking at the door of his heart and will continue to do it until man’s last breath of life. God will be merciful until the last moment of man’s life, but he wants man to come to Him, to his Fountain of Mercy where his sins will be washed away.

That’s why trust requires faith. We come to Him because we believe in Him. We believe He is the bread of life, that He is the food for our soul, that He can forgive our sins and gives us a new life. When man has this disposition, it means that he believes he can persevere in maintaining a life of grace, that God’s grace can help him to stay away from mortal sin and to grow in holiness toward Him.

He, who trusts in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the mercy of God the Father, comes to understand the love of God that in spite of our rejections and blasphemes, has offered his life for us so that we may have eternal life.

The greatest act of God’s Mercy has been the Passion, Sacrifice and Death on the Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He died for us on the Cross without being guilty. He died for us so that we could live. No one else could have conquered sin, death and the devil, only He the Son of God through a sorrowful and painful Passion and an excruciating Death. He who trusts in the merciful Jesus cries in remorse, sadness and love when meditating, reading or watching the Passion of the Christ.

We can understand why Jesus insists in the signature at the bottom of His feet in the painting of His image of Divine Mercy: “Jesu Ufam Tobie!” (Jesus, I trust in You!). Without trusting in Him, there is little we can achieve.

For a more in depth and still brief reflection, please refer to the Book of the Month entitled “The Message of the Divine Mercy – an Actual Grace for the Conversion and Salvation of all Souls” – February 2010

DEEDS OF MERCY

The Deeds of Mercy is the other essential point of the Message of Divine Mercy. Jesus demands from us works of mercy through our deeds, words and prayers: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36)

In St. Faustina’s Diary we read: “I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it” (Diary 742)

Let us notice the three demands that Jesus asks of her and, consequently of us: 1) the deeds of mercy must arise from our love for Him; 2) we must show mercy to our neighbors always and everywhere; 3) we cannot excuse or absolve ourselves from it.

In this same passage, the message continues: “I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first by deed; the second by word; the third by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me”

For a more in depth and still brief reflection, please refer to the Book of the Month entitled “Deeds of Mercy” – December 2010