WHAT IS MERCY? THE DEVOTION TO THE DIVINE MERCY
The fact that God is merciful should not surprise us. The Holy Bible has over 400 direct references to the Mercy of God. There are many more indirect references. Fifty-five of the Psalms praise God's Mercy. Belief in a Merciful God became one of the characteristics of the Jewish religion. We could almost call the Holy Bible the DIARY OF GOD'S MERCY toward mankind. Mercy presents us with a semantic problem. After all, the word mercy in contemporary English has a very restricted meaning. It is usually used to refer to an act of pardon. In the Catholic tradition of theology, however, mercy means far more than just the cancellation of punishment. Far more than that.
READ MORE
THE DEVOTION TO THE DIVINE MERCY
in the forms handed down by Sister Faustina
Theological analysis of the Diary of Sister Faustina shows that her mission was:
- To remind of the well-known truth from the Scripture about God's merciful love for every human being,
- To transmit new forms of the devotion to the Divine Mercy, to plead for the graces needed by the whole world,
- To inspire a religious renewal in the spirit of this devotion that is in the New Testament spirit of trust in God and mercy towards one's neighbors.
READ MORE
apostles of divine mercy: Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, Blessed Michael Sopoćko, Saint John Paul II
Throughout human history, whenever a crisis of a spiritual, social or political nature threatened humankind, God in His mercy raised up visionaries to help the people survive it and even profit from it. To recall just a few: Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Margaret Mary Alacoque, Bernadette of Lourdes and Thérèse of Lisieux. In the twentieth century - to counteract atheism, materialism and
communism, relativism and liberalism, God sent the Blessed Virgin Mary to three children in Fatima; and when Hitler was rising in power, Jesus Himself came to a Polish peasant girl, known in religion as Sister Faustina.
READ MORE
IN THE RAYS OF MERCY
Divine Mercy as a Way of Life
Christian Spirituality is a way of living out our faith in imitation of Christ as the highest ideal and in imitation of his Saints who incarnated the spirit of Christ in their own culture and time. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Christian spirituality in the category of Christian perfection:
CCC 2013 - "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity." All are called to holiness: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt 5:48)
In order to reach this perfection, the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ's gift, so that . . .
READ MORE