St. Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who died on October 5,1938 at only 33 years of age. She had lived a very simple life proclaiming an extremely simple message: the Heart of Jesus is overflowing with divine mercy towards sinners and wants all to come to him with trust-filled love. This invitation is powerfully expressed in the classic painting of the Risen Christ, which an artist executed under the guidance of Sr. Faustina herself who, on February 22, 1931 had seen Him with red and pale rays of light emanating from His chest.Those rays of light recalled the blood and water that flowed down from the pierced heart of Christ on the cross and symbolized the inexhaustible richness of his merciful love made present and available to all through the Sacraments.
Jesus himself had instructed Sr. Faustina to have the sentence "JESUS I TRUST IN YOU" written at the bottom of that painting. this sentence expresses the response of humble faith on the part of the sinner to the endless mercy with which God views mankind and constantly brings about the salvation of the world.
This is the mercy that brought God's son to become a human being and to give his life on the cross for all sinners. This is also the same mercy that led the Risen Christ to go in search of His disciples the very day He rose from death, to reassure them of His forgiving love. No revenge for having been deserted by them right when he needed their allegiance most, but only the gifts of His peace and comforting presence. No bitterness against the doubting Thomas who persisted in rejecting the witness of his companions, but only patient understanding for his weakness and a tender desire to arouse in him faith in the Resurrection.
"My Lord and my God!" exclaimed the bewildered apostle as he felt himself inundated by the love of the Man-God who had only words of mercy and forgiveness for him.
"Jesus, remember me when you enter into your reign!" had been the earnest plea of the man being executed with Him on calvary as he viewed his life as a total failure and Jesus' mercy as his only hope. And he was not disappointed.
"Jesus have mercy on me, I trust in You!" is the expression of complete self surrender which all of us should address to our Savior as we realize our unworthiness and our need to be forgiven. What can save us from the devastating consequences of our sins is only God's merciful love.
And this is what we implore, in all humility and confidence, not only on the Second Sunday of Easter, but throughout our lives, until our last moments. Like the repentant thief dying on a cross, side by side with the Innocent Victim, we place all out trust in Jesus, the King of Divine Mercy.
The Divine Mercy Novena
Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday. He gave St. Faustina an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena, saving for the last day the most difficult intention of all, the lukewarm and indifferent of whom He said:
"These souls cause Me more suffering than any others; it was from such souls that My soul felt the most revulsion in the Garden of Olives. It was on their account that I said: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by.' The last hope of salvation for them is to flee to My Mercy."
In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her:
"On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."
How to Recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades. The Chaplet is preceded by two opening prayers from the Diary of Saint Faustina and followed by a closing prayer.
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