The Second Sunday of Easter season is Divine Mercy Sunday.
This is the feast day of the very mercy
that protects our souls from God’s condemnation, as Jesus said in his
revelation to St. Maria Faustyna Kowalska (St. Faustina in English), a Polish
nun, in 1931.
Though the risen Lord’s revelation to St. Faustyna occurred not
during Easter season (it was 22 February), we commemorate the Feast of Divine
Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter Season to Christ’s desire, which was
recorded by St. Faustyna.
"My daughter, tell the whole world about My
inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter
for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of
My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls
who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and
receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and
punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are
opened. …………………………It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first
Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of
My Mercy." (Diary, 699).
Easter season is also a time of revelation. The risen Lord
continues to appear and revealed himself beyond what’s described in the Gospels
ever since he appeared to the Apostles.
Because Easter season is a time of revelation, it why we continue
to read from the Book of Revelation for the Sunday Mass second reading for
another six Sundays, except for the Ascension Sunday during Year C (During Year
A, the second readings are from 1 Peter, while 1 John is used for Year B).
As the second reading of this Sunday (2nd Sunday of
Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, Year C) (Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19), the
risen Lord appeared to John. It was when John was quite old as the Book of
Revelation was written not so long before John’s death. It seems as if Jesus had kept John, so-called
“beloved disciple” (John 13:23, 20:23), to have him write about parousia (the
second coming of Christ) and what it would bring – the Judgement and the
creation of the new Eden.
In revealing himself to John, the risen Christ said, “Write on a scroll what you see…”(Revelation
1:11). Thus, John wrote the Book of Revelation.
In this Easter season of revelation, I attempt to reflect the Divine
Mercy, as described in St. Faustyna’s writing, in light of the Book of Revelation.
While he asked John to write down on a scroll what he saw in the
risen Christ’s revelation, he asked St. Faustyna to paint an image she sees. This is what St. Faustyna wrote about her
encounter with the risen Lord’s revelation.
“In
the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white
garment. One
hand
[was] raised in the gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at
the
breast.
From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were
emanating
two large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze fixed on the
Lord;
my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy. After a while, Jesus said
to me,
Paint
an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust
in
You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout
the world. I promise that the soul that
will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on
earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own
glory. “ (Diary 47-48).
What the risen Lord told St. Faustyna, and what she wrote in
her diary, indeed, is God’s salvific plan, like what he said to John to write
the Book of Revelation. Though it is to
save the faithful, the plan also comes with some frightening impression – just as
the risen Lord first frightened the Apostles (i.e. Luke 24:37).
But, to us, what frightens is the Judgement at the time of
Christ’s second coming as described in the Book of Revelation.
“Then
I watched while he broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake;
the sun turned as black as dark sackcloth and the whole moon became like blood.
The stars in the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs shaken loose from the tree in a strong
wind. Then the sky was divided like a torn scroll curling up, and every
mountain and island was moved from its place. The kings of the earth, the
nobles, the military officers, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free
person hid themselves in caves and among mountain crags. They cried out to the
mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one
who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of
their wrath has come and who can
withstand it?" (Revelation 6:12-17)
Similar to his revelation to John about the Judgement, the risen Christ
also indicated the Judgement when he revealed himself to St. Faustyna.
“You have to speak to
the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of
Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh how
terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine
wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy
while it is still the time for granting mercy.” (Diary 635).
Though there will be terrible tribulations at Judgement, chapter 7 of
Revelation reminds us that the faithful will be protected with the divine seal.
Likewise, the risen Christ also told St.
Faustyna that the Divine Mercy will protect the souls of those who are
faithful.
“The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of
souls...These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy
when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield
souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their
shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. “(Diary, 299)
Furthermore, the
risen Christ says:
"I desire that the Feast of
Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners...
I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of
My mercy. The soul that will
go to confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness
of sins and punishment; on that
day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul
fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet" (Diary, 699).
Merciful God sure do not want our souls to go through
punishment (being send to hell) at the time of the Judgement. That is why the
risen Christ continues to appear, even in the modern age, as he revealed
himself to St. Faustyna, to encourage us to seek our soul’s protection in the
Divine Mercy. The risen Lord wants us to accept the Divine Mercy, his blood and
water, to shield our souls. The protective shield of the Divine Mercy is like
the protective seal of the faithful (Revelation 7:3), which will sustain the
Judgement to be lead to springs of life-giving water (Revelation 7:17), which
means God’s grace from Christ.
After all, the wounds that Thomas had to ensure on the body
of the risen Lord is the wound, where the Divine Mercy continues to flow, like
streams, to reach out to our poor souls, in God’s salvific process.
"From all My wounds, like from streams, mercy
flows for souls, but the wound in My Heart is the fountain of unfathomable
mercy. From this fountain spring all graces for souls. The flames of compassion
burn Me. I desire greatly to pour them out upon souls" (Diary, 1190).
Perhaps, the stream-like flow of the Divine Mercy from the
wounds of the risen Christ echoes the stream of life-giving water in the New
Eden, as described in the Book of Revelation.
“Then the angel showed me the
river of life-giving water, sparkling like
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its street. On either side of the
river grew the tree of life
that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the
trees serve as medicine for the nations” (Revelation
22:1-2).
The Divine Mercy, symbolized with the read and pale (light
blue) rays out of the depth of the risen Lord’s Mercy (Diary 299), is not only
to be the protective shield of our souls but also the fountain of all graces
(Diary 1190) in God’s salvific plan.
Now, we can also appreciate this future-oriented
eschatological salvific plan with the Divine Mercy in light of some pasts events
recorded in the Old Testament.
Also as described in the Book of Revelation, Christ is the
unblemished Lamb of God, who is sacrificial and redemptive, reflecting the
Jewish tradition of the sacrifice before
the time of the Judgement. Thus, the meaning of the red ray from the Divine
Mercy image also echoes the blood of sacrificial lamb that protected the
Israelites from God’s punishment on Egyptians for Passover (i.e Exodus 12:7). While
still in Egypt, those who put the blood of sacrificial unblemished lamb let
God’s anger pass over them without any harm, for the blood meant protection. Likewise, the souls, marked by the red ray
from the image of the risen Christ that St. Faustyna saw, will be protected
from God’s anger during the Judgement.
Given the above reference to Exodus, though St. Faustyna did
not see an image of a lamb in the risen Christ’s revelation to her, the red ray,
which symbolizes the Lamb of God’s redemptive, salvific and protective blood
for us. Not to mention, the Lamb of God
(Agnus Dei) symbolized God’s love and
mercy for us. Therefore, the Divine Mercy means God’s love, which is God
Godself as God is love (1 John 4:8). That is why Blessed Pope John Paul II said
that mercy is love’s second name (Fives in Misericordia, n. 7).
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