By Lucia

“You will not be alone, because I am with you always and everywhere.  Near to My Heart, fear nothing.  I Myself am the cause of your departure.  Know that My eyes follow every move of your heart with great attention.  I am bringing you into seclusion so that I Myself may form your heart according to My future plans” (Jesus to St. Faustina, 797)

April 27, 2014- One of the most difficult days of my life, and yet, a very important day for the Church- Divine Mercy Sunday when St. John Paul II, the “Divine Mercy Pope”, was canonized. This was the day that I came home from the convent, and yet as I reflect on it more and more, I see it as a reflection of God’s Mercy and love to me.

Mercy, we hear it so often at Mass and in Scripture.  It is one of the greatest attributes of God, and yet, how many of us plunge into the depths of what it means? The Latin, Misericordia, comes from “miserere”, which means “misery”, and “cor”, which means “heart”.  So, this word literally means the act of a heart entering into another’s misery. So Divine Mercy is the message that not only does God enter into our misery with us, but that He comes and brings an even greater good out of every evil and suffering.

Coming up on the two year anniversary of my leaving, God blessed me with the beautiful grace to go on pilgrimage to the country that radiates God’s Mercy.  He truly took me on a journey to experience the reality of this heart reaching out to me in my misery, especially in the experience my coming home from the convent.  How?  Redemptive Suffering. The people of Poland have experienced so much suffering, from the destruction of cities like Warsaw during World War II, to the incomprehensible terrors that resulted in concentration camps like Auschwitz.  And yet, while these people have been through evils unimaginable, they have a heart for the Lord and hope unlike any other I have experienced.

This really blew me away… How can people who have experienced such immense suffering live like this? How can they have joy and hope, when everything they loved seemed to be taken away from them? How can they rejoice in Christ when they clearly came face to face with their own weaknesses and lived through so much fear?

In my own pain coming home from the convent, I have found that it has brought me face to face with fear and my own weakness. I have often given into discouragement, thinking that I can only love God once I move past the “ups and downs” of grieving the convent.  But the people of Poland really helped me to see things in a new way through the lens of God’s Mercy.

As I progressed through my pilgrimage, the answer to my questions became clear to me. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Maximilian Kolbe, Faustina, John Paul II…These people were not immune to fear or death…Actually they were steeped in it. But what made these people saints they were meant to be?

They encountered the immense power of Divine Mercy.  They experienced evil, came face to face with fear and suffering, and yes, knew ever deeper of their helplessness amidst such evil.  But they made a choice- they chose to use it as an opportunity to cling to Christ and to take part in His suffering with Him.  They saw their crosses in life through a twofold lens- that God was with them in their cross, and that they could unite their cross for another. They made the decision to allow the merciful Christ to be with them in their own pain, to receive His love gushing forth from his heart, and to be one with Him on the cross.  And not only did they live out their suffering with Christ, but they had faith in God in whom they trusted would keep His promises.  They had the hope in the reality that the resurrection comes after the cross, and that Christ not only brings good out of evil, but an even greater good!
The image of Divine Mercy shows this reality well. In this image, Jesus is appearing after He rose from the dead, and yet, He bears his wounds…the wounds of His Love. His wounds are glorified, and radiate the depths of God’s Mercy to us.  It is Jesus saying to me and to you, “I love you this much.  I am here with you and will lead you through this.”

And perhaps what is most important is the words at the bottom. “Jesus, I trust in You.”  Yes, these words seem to reflect the attitude and call that Christ presents to us in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.  Jesus is asking us to trust Him, amidst worries, struggles, and even joys! When coming face to face with our weakness in our own specific journeys coming home from the convent, He wants us to trust in His goodness and in the reality that the resurrection comes after the cross. Just like Himself, He wants our wounds to be glorified- we need only to entrust them to Him!