St. John Paul II firmly believed in the power of the Divine Mercy image and message. He did all he could during his entire priestly ministry to spread this message far and wide.
During the canonization Mass of St. Faustina, St. John Paul II pointed to the power of this message to lift-up the hearts of those suffering through an intense trial.
Sr. Faustina Kowalska wrote in her Diary: “I feel tremendous pain when I see the sufferings of my neighbors. All my neighbors’ sufferings reverberate in my own heart; I carry their anguish in my heart in such a way that it even physically destroys me. I would like all their sorrows to fall upon me, in order to relieve my neighbor” (Diary, p. 365). This is the degree of compassion to which love leads, when it takes the love of God as its measure!
It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenges of the most diverse needs and, especially, the duty to defend the dignity of every human person. Thus the message of divine mercy is also implicitly a message about the value of every human being. Each person is precious in God’s eyes; Christ gave his life for each one; to everyone the Father gives his Spirit and offers intimacy.
With this in mind, St. John Paul II believed that knowing you are loved by God and precious in his eyes can help lift the burden you may be feeling.
This consoling message is addressed above all to those who, afflicted by a particularly harsh trial or crushed by the weight of the sins they committed, have lost all confidence in life and are tempted to give in to despair.To them the gentle face of Christ is offered; those rays from his heart touch them and shine upon them, warm them, show them the way and fill them with hope. How many souls have been consoled by the prayer “Jesus, I trust in you“, which Providence intimated through Sr Faustina! This simple act of abandonment to Jesus dispels the thickest clouds and lets a ray of light penetrate every life. Jezu, ufam tobie.
This message, prayer and image of God is a beautiful one. It reminds us to place our trust in God in the midst of our suffering and to know that he is here and his “gentle face” is near to us.
God wants to be with us, in our agony.
Whenever we feel the dark clouds of despair, turn to the Divine Mercy image and pray, “Jesus, I trust in you!”
