My Encounter with Divine Mercy

Josephine Lomasney
Feb 22, 2016
3 min read

Way back in the spring of 2010 I was

preparing for my Confirmation. I still had not chosen a Confirmation saint when an ad appeared in the bulletin right after Easter~ a nearby parish was going to be having a special presentation on the Divine Mercy, and after that they would be reciting the Divine Mercy Chaplet. My mom and I decided to go, though I had never really heard of Divine Mercy, let alone St. Faustina before.

As my fingers moved along my Rosary beads as I said the Divine Mercy Chaplet for the first time, what I was reciting began to speak to my heart, and I opened my eyes and saw Jesus on the crucifix before me:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and the Blood, Soul and Divinity, of Your dearly Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

The definition of mercy, according to the Oxford dictionary, is “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm”. This definition reminds me closely of the first lines of Laura Story’s song, “Mighty to Save”; it goes like this: “Everyone needs compassion, love that’s never failing, let mercy fall on me; everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior, the hope of nations.”

Jesus, in His Divine Mercy, is our loving and kind Savior. As a child, I had always thought of Jesus as my Friend; I sat with Him at lunch, and talked with Him, and I pretended I was holding His Hand as I walked through the school hallways. When I was first introduced to the Divine Mercy Chaplet, I began to realize that Jesus was much more than my friend; He was my Savior.

John 15:13~ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

It was at this time that I truly began to start to understand how much Jesus loved me and everyone in the world; it was at this point that I started to fall in love with Him and the world. So, obviously, I had to find out more about the saint who Jesus chose to reveal His Divine Mercy to, and I ended up choosing her, or she chose me, as my Confirmation saint. Saint Faustina Kowalska.

Saint Faustina, whose baptismal name was Helena, first experienced the call to religious life when she was seven years old~ however her parents did not approve of this, so she put this call, this vocation, from her mind. Again she asked her parents if she could enter the convent when she was 18, and again they refused. It wasn’t until Jesus came to her and asked her how long He must wait for her~ immediately she took her things and left for Warsaw where Jesus told her she would enter a convent. Throughout her life in the convent Jesus revealed to her His Divine Mercy, His love for all, His desire that we trust in Him and in His mercy.

One of the quotes that I love from the Diary of Saint Faustina (Divine Mercy in my Soul)

is: “Souls who spread the honor of My mercy [Jesus is speaking] I shield through their entire life as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior.” (Diary, 1075)

All we have to do is to entrust ourselves to Christ, to dive headfirst into the ocean of His Love and His Mercy! In coming to know Saint Faustina and Christ’s message of Divine Mercy which He entrusted to her, I have come to know Jesus as both my Friend and my Savior, Someone who is compassionate, kind, forgiving, and altogether merciful.

Helpful Links:

-How to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet: http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm

-Background Info on the Divine Mercy and Saint Fasutina: http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/mercy/backgr.htm

-And I highly recommend reading, The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul

+Pax vobiscum