Devotion for today: Proclaim to the whole world My unfathomable mercy: continuing Poland Pilgrimage musings

Hebrews 4:16: Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Excerpt from the Diary of St. Faustina: Apostle of My mercy, proclaim to the whole world My unfathomable mercy. Do not be discouraged by the difficulties you encounter in proclaiming My mercy. These difficulties that affect you so painfully are needed for your sanctification and as evidence that this work is Mine. My daughter, be diligent in writing down every sentence I tell you concerning My mercy , because this is meant for a great number of souls who will profit from it. (Diary, Marian Press, 2012)

“On August 17, 2002, Pope John Paul II entrusted the world to The Divine Mercy when he consecrated the International Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, a suburb of Krakow, Poland.  ‘In this shrine, I wish solemnly to entrust the world to Divine Mercy” he said in his homily. “I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made 
known to all the peoples of the earth.” (ibid) This is the altar in the Shrine where Blessed John Paul II dedicated the world to the Divine Mercy. It is a beautiful chapel with the Image hanging above a tabernacle in the shape of the world, which rests at the feet of Mercy. The sculpture is of a wind-swept bush – a metaphor of man struggling with his own weakness and sinfulness; of man who can only find peace with the Merciful Jesus. (guide book description). We visited this beautiful Shrine in Poland on the second day of our pilgrimage. It sits next to the convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, the order which Sister Faustina joined in 1925 at the age of 20, and it was in this convent that she died. We stood beneath the window of the infirmary where she passed onto glory, viewed the cell where she lived in the convent, and then entered the breath-taking chapel, where the grace-filled image of Jesus the Divine Mercy, painted by  Adolf Hyla, is displayed above a small gold casket which houses St. Faustina’s remains.

 

Originally, this chapel was the only site of pilgrimage veneration, but the crowds became so large that the Shrine had to be built to accommodate the throngs of pilgrims (over 2,000,000 a year!) who come to venerate the image, kiss the relics of St. Faustina, have Mass said on the beautiful altar, and spend time in reflection in the upper church of the shrine, where a relic of Blessed John Paul can be venerated. 

It is difficult to walk in the footsteps of St. Faustina without reflecting on the impact of her life on the world today.  At this stop on the tour, where St. Faustina died, I came to realize another important message of our pilgrimage. First, John Paul II taught us to “Be Not Afraid.” Once we are not afraid, however, we must move into the next stage, which is demonstrated in Faustina’s life: “Here I am Lord, and I come to do your will.” Her yes to being Jesus’ secretary and recording His message for the generations to come, the generations that would see the horrors of World War II, the generations that would see the rise of secularism and the decline of Christianity, the generations who would “buy the lie” and live in sin, and the generations that would exist side by side in societies with people who would kill babies because it was their “right” to do so, her yes to spread the message, have the image painted and record Jesus’ words came at a great price. She was ostracized, thought mad, criticized and suffered great physical pain, yet she never wavered in her mission to be Jesus’ messenger to the poor souls who were unaware of His great love and mercy. If we want to be thrilled in the message of “Be not afraid” we must be willing to step into the “Yes” of St. Faustina. The world will not like us very much – even the Church buried the message and the image for many years - yet we must not waiver from the mission God gives to each of us.
 As we walked through the town of Glogowiec where she was born, stood in the tiny two room house where she grew up, visited the church where she was baptized and received her sacraments, and even knocked on the same door in Warsaw at the convent where she first entered her order, I could not help but be impressed with the simplicity and ordinariness of St. Faustina's life. She only worked as a gardener, a door keeper, a baker.  Such a simple life, such a simple soul, yet she served as the messenger of the greatest message of the world today: there is mercy for all sinners. We can never think we are too small or too weak or too insignificant: God tells us in the above passage that He can use those very qualities so that the world knows it is Him and not us. Be not afraid, and say yes to God. In a world filled with choice, Choose God.