A Divine Mercy Meditation Novena – Day 9

Day 9 – The Revelation of Mercy

At last we are at the end of our novena. It is the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday! This is a special day, full of graces: 

“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 Mercy”  (Divine Mercy in My Soul #699)

Only a few days after her first vision of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina saw an image of Divine Mercy that included God the Father. This is what she saw: God the Father, surrounded in radiance, looked at the world from heaven. Directly between God the Father and his view of humanity was the image of Jesus stretched out on the Cross. Jesus was positioned in such a way that when the Father wanted to look at his creation, he had to do so through the pierced hands of Jesus. (Divine Mercy in My Soul #60)

From this image, St. Faustina understood that God the Father gazes upon the world in context of the loving sacrifice of His Son. This “window” of love is the lens through which God the Father sees everything. Jesus stands in the breach for us, raising his hands and shielding the Father’s sight from the sin of mankind. Jesus’s wounds are the ultimate filter of love and mercy.

Through her diary, St. Faustina invites us also to delve more deeply into what Divine Mercy means for us personally. Even though our sins are many, they are always seen through the saving wounds of Jesus. The arms of Jesus never grow tired. He is a faithful and merciful high priest, continually interceding for us until the end of time. The look of the Father is always and eternally a look of mercy. God the Father enters into the world and gives his grace to us through the action of his Son.

In response, an apostle of mercy must learn to look at the world through the wounds of Jesus. In this way, darkness becomes light, lost souls become saved, what is sinful becomes sanctified. No problem too hard, no mountain too high. The wounds of Jesus keep us from being angry and judgmental, since every person has been saved by the blood of Jesus and a sharer in the love of God.

PRAYER:

A Prayer for Divine Mercy

O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to Your mercy—to Your compassion, O God; Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth’s exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to You, we implore You: Anticipate us with your grace and keep on increasing Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will all through our lives and at death’s hour. Let the omnipotence of Your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies; that we may with confidence, as Your children, await Your final coming—that day known to You alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus, in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven. (Divine Mercy in My Soul #1570)