GOD SHOWS US HIS MERCY, EVEN WHEN HE PUNISHES
Even God who punishes, shows us His mercy - this biblical truth, often repeated by the Fathers of the Church, is repeatedly explained in the Diary. We do not know whether its author knew the relevant biblical and patristic texts, because she does not refer to them. However, shewrites about the mercy contained in God's punishments exactly as if she were inspired by these texts. Let us recall some of the teaching that can be found in the Bible authors and the Fathers of the Church, in order to present the statements on this subject in the Diary.
“It is, in fact, a sign of great kindness - we read in the Second Book of Maccabees - to punish sinners promptly instead of letting them go for long.[…] In order that he may not have to punish us more severely later, when our sins have reached their fullness. He never withdraws his mercy from us. Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he does not abandon his own people.” (2 Mc 6:23; 15-16)
In the Book of Isaiah, on the other hand, God compares himself to a loving father who, in a sense, despite himself, “spanked” the son and cannot wait for his conversion: Where would you yet be struck, you that rebel again and again? The whole head is sick, the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot to the head there is no sound spot: Wound and welt and gaping gash, not drained, or bandaged, or eased with salve. (Is 1:5-6; cf. Am 4: 6-11).
The thought of God's punishment is a blessing for us is also explored by the Fathers of the Church. "Throwing out from paradise was a work of God's protection rather than anger," explains Saint John Chrysostom - These are the habits of our Lord that when he sends punishment, he shows us no less concern than when he gives good. After all, he punishes us on rebuke. After all, if he knew that the impunity of sin would not make us worse, he would never punish us again. However, in order to stop our rolling towards the worse and to remove the increasing perversity, he is persistent in his friendship with man and imposes a penalty.” (John Chrysostom, In Genesim 5, hom.18,3)
St. Gregory of Nyssa even presents the death penalty as God's blessing for us sinners: "Let's ask if the life giver wants something other than the greatest happiness for us. But since we have chosen evil, mixing with our nature like kind of honey seasoned with poison of lust and thus losing happiness, understood as freedom from passion, man turns to dust to cleanse himself of dirt and regain his original beauty through the resurrection. "(St. Gregory of Nyssa, Great catechist 8)
It is unlikely that Sister Faustina knew the above texts, and yet we recognize the same spirit on the pages of the Diary. “With My mercy - Jesus said to her- I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice at their return. Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart... when will it beat for Me? Write, that I am speaking to them through their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms, through the voice of the Church. And if they bring all My graces to naught, I begin to be angry with them, leaving them alone and giving them what they want.” (Diary 1728)
“I do not want to punish aching mankind - Jesus had told her before - but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force Me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy.” (Diary 1588)
Of course, God's anger and punishment consist in that, as we have just seen, that God leaves sinners to themselves and gives them what they want.
“Everything I look at - writes Faustina, as she feels it herself - speaks to me of God’s mercy. Even God’s very justice speaks to me about His fathomless mercy because justice flows from love.” (Diary 651) The eternal Father himself confirms this feeling: “When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul, and the very depths of My tender mercy are moved for the sake of the sorrowful Passion of My Son.” (Diary 811)
God, even when he sends some great punishments to sinners, loves them - according to the author of the Diary - more than a mother loves her baby:
“O my God, even in the punishments You send down upon the earth I see the abyss of Your mercy, for by punishing us here on earth You free us from eternal punishment. Rejoice, all you creatures, for you are closer to God in His infinite mercy than a baby to its mother’s heart. O God, You are compassion itself for the greatest sinners who sincerely repent. The greater the sinner, the greater his right to God’s mercy.” (Diary 423)
Only anthropomorphically can we imagine that God is now merciful, but on the day of judgment he will be just. He is invariably merciful and just; it is the sinner who, once he decides to reject God's mercy, closes himself for it ultimately and irrevocably: " But sometimes, the obduracy in souls is so great that consciously they choose hell; they [thus] make useless all the prayers that other souls offer to God for them and even the efforts of God Himself....."( Diary 1698). There is no trace in the Diary indicating that Sister Faustina knew the Mickiewicz adagium: "The Lord is looking mercifully at Satan so far / But Satan turns away so that he does not see the Lord"(Adam Mickiewicz, poem Upor) . It seems, however, that Saint Faustina would sign under it with both hands.
The poignant confessions of Sister Faustina will be recalled below, how terribly painful were her direct encounters with God's justice.
Despite this, she will write that this justice does not cause her any fear: “Love casts outfear. Since I came to love God with my whole being and with all the strength of my heart, fear has left me. Even if I were to hear the most terrifying things about God’s justice, I would not fear Him at all, because I have come to know Him well. God is love, and His Spirit is peace. I see now that my deeds which have flowed from love are more perfect than those which
I have done out of fear. I have placed my trust in God and fear nothing. I have given myself over to His holy will; let Him do with me as He wishes, and I will still love Him.” (Diary 589)
Until Tomorrow
fr. george