In the calendar of the Catholic Church, the second Sunday of Easter is reserved for Divine Mercy Sunday, which honors the work of Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, a polish saint who emphasized God’s mercy during her brief but influential ministry. She wrote a series of journals that chronicle her visions of Jesus. She also commissioned the painting shown above. You will find this painting in Catholic churches everywhere.
Life as a Catholic features this sort of thing–honoring saints, imitating their words and deeds, kneeling before paintings and statues–not to worship them, but to aid our spiritual life, and to encourage us to ask for help.
At the church where I have membership, we maintain a small candle shrine with the painting. I make regular visits there and recite the simple prayer Sr. Faustina recommends: “Jesus, I trust in you.” I draw solace from the so-called Divine Mercy chaplet, which are brief prayers about mercy that replace the usual rosary prayers. I often pray the Litany of Trust , written by a contemporary religious sister, Sister Faustina Maria Pia.
When I was confirmed as a Catholic I was asked to select a saint. St. Francis of Assisi had been with me since my late teens, when I first become interested in historical Christianity. For my confirmation as a Catholic I chose St. John Henry Newman because he was a convert, a great theologian, and a humble priest. Metals of St. Francis and St. John Henry are attached to the rosary I commissioned after I joined the Church. Lately, I’ve been contemplating who to add next. I keep coming back to Sr. Faustina, who reminds us that we all need divine mercy, and that God desires to grant mercy, if we will trust him.
“Jesus, I trust in you.” The hardest part of this prayer, for me, is trusting that God wants to forgive me. The hardest part of mercy is acceptance. Forgiveness is a gift from God, one I must accept willingly. Yet, mercy is surprising, even shocking. Does God really wants to forgive me? Me and my actual sins that I alone know?
This what I have learned. Yes, God wants wants to forgive me, and my actual sins, that I alone know. Those sins that stab me with guilt at random hours. Mercy wants to forgive those sins. Mercy also wants to forgive my worst sins, especially those I feel worst about. Mercy sweeps our sins off the floor and mops up the guilt. You’d never know any sin had ever been committed from the point of view of God. We remember our dirty floors, God does not. That is the quality of mercy.
Mercy is meant to restore our relationship with God. To restore confidence and trust.
Mercy wants us to say, “Jesus, I trust in you.”
— E. D. Nelson
