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IN my last article, I defined mercy as – sending a loving reaction to any given human situation.
Well to follow on from that then the definition of ‘Divine Mercy’ should be very easy.
It is God sending a loving reaction to any given human situation.
I suppose it would be fair to say that a prerequisite of this is that one believes in God and that can lead us down all sorts of rabbit holes.
I must say to this end, that I believe that everyone has access to God and I am also very comfortable when one describes God as a Higher Power.
To help here, I think it is good to reflect on what Jesus said to Doubting Thomas. He said; “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Especially here I believe that the word ‘see’ can have other connotations. For instance – I see what you mean can also be paraphrased as – I understand what you mean.
So the above quote from Jesus now read; “Blessed are those who have not understood, and yet have believed”.
True faith is believing without trying to understand, as God’s love for us is unlimited and the human mind cannot and never will never understand the concept of unlimited.
Simply put, it is beyond human imagination.
So using the term God or believing in the guidance of a higher power will work fine here as long as we know that we have some sort of connection.
So Divine Mercy is God sending His unlimited love to any given human situation.
How powerful is that I ask you? We as humans will often have great difficulty in showing mercy on many occasions and situations in the world today.
So even if we have great difficulty as humans we must always remember that we can pray for God to intervene and to show His mercy.
That prayer for divine mercy is very important and is accessible to any person.
In the Catholic Church they have dedicated a specific Sunday especially for divine mercy.
It is the first Sunday after Easter Sunday which in turn is the 8th day. Is it a coincidence I wonder that that is the very day that Jesus appeared to Doubting Thomas.
This day also has a very close connection to Pope John Paul as he canonised a Polish nun St Faustina on the 30th of April 2000 in Rome.
St Faustina is also closely associated with the image of divine mercy. This is an iconic image of Jesus where red and blue light emanate from the heart of Jesus and is available to see in almost every Catholic Church.
One can also pray the divine chaplet whilst asking God to intercede with His love.
At the heart of the Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Kraków-Łagiewniki stands the chapel where the miraculous image of Merciful Jesus and the tomb of St. Faustina are to be found.
Next week I am going to write about — the meaning of the word ‘religion’
