Keeps Giving
I’m pretty well educated, with an Associate Degree in
Supervision, a Bachelor Degree in English, a Master Degree in Organizational
Behavior, a Master in Theological Studies, and coursework in my diaconate
formation, but I never came across it in my formal studies. The turn of the last century was also the
turn in my faith life, where I began taking my relationship with God seriously,
and beginning to notice the signs of His presence in my life, but it wasn’t
part of my initial intentional faith journey.
I didn’t learn about it from anyone else. I stumbled across it. The person I never heard about was a Polish
nun named Sr Maria Faustina. The
experience that I never had was known as Divine Mercy.
I found Faustina’s Diary in the white elephant
sale at my parish’s summer picnic. There
were three things about it that caught my attention. There was a portrait of Jesus with white and
red rays radiating from his Heart that I had never seen before and was
immediately curious about. The book was
in its original cellophane wrapper, which means whoever donated it had never
read it - I suspected that maybe the size of it had been intimidating as it was
obviously hundreds of pages long. And it
was marked for sale at $1. One dollar? I couldn’t pass it up.
Once I got it home, tore the cellophane off and turned
the first few pages, I was pulled in.
Every page is a revelation. Many
of the pages are invitations. The book
did not disappoint; it kept providing insight upon insight. He keeps on giving.
About the same time as my discovery of the Diary,
Pope John Paul II canonized Sr Faustina.
Then he declared that henceforth, the second Sunday of Easter would be
Divine Mercy Sunday. I moved from a
grateful reader to one developing a devotion.
He keeps on giving.
When, it that same timeframe my youngest son Ben fell
deep into a period of serious drug addiction that also resulted in multiple
incarcerations and unbelievable family tension, I credit the message of Divine
Mercy with helping save my relationship with Ben. There were many things done and said during
those eight years of struggle that tempted me to stop the hurt by just putting
up impenetrable walls around my heart.
But when I remembered Jesus’ promise to Faustina that “The greatest
sinner has the greatest right to my mercy” I had to keep my heart open and
vulnerable. Eventually, through hard work
by Ben, a caring and wise judge, the right counselor, and the prayers of many, and
a good friend who gave him a chance at employment, Ben worked his way back to sobriety
and turned his life around. He somehow
survived the years of abuse and the dangerous situations that his addiction
took him, and my love for him survived in trying to live the message of Divine
Mercy. He keeps on giving.
Last October Michelle and I were blessed to be able to
go on pilgrimage to Poland and Lithuania.
A big part of the pilgrimage was visiting the sites of Faustina’s life including
her birthplace, the church and baptismal font where she was baptized, her
childhood home, the convent she entered, the convent where Jesus taught her the
Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the convent where she spent the final years of her
life and where she is buried. I got to
sit right next to the original Image commissioned by Faustina in a chapel
sanctuary. I had hoped but didn’t know
if I would ever be able to visit these places in person. He keeps on giving.
Not surprising given the power of the pilgrimage, but
I was inspired to write reflections based on quotes of Jesus from the Diary
and share them at our parish Lenten Penitential Service. A week later, a second parish down in
Appleton called when their Lent speaker canceled late. That opened up a second opportunity to share
the message of Divine Mercy with others.
He keeps on giving.
Last Tuesday, during Holy Week, my wife Michelle and I
were blessed to be able to attend the Chrism Mass for the Green Bay
Diocese. The downside was from the seats
that we had I knew that the marble pillar in front of us was going to block our
view of bishop actually blessing the oils.
I knew I could play out the scene in my mind because I have witnessed it
before. Sure enough, as the oils were
brought forward the bishop “disappeared” on the other side of the pillar. But at that same time, the sun broke through what
had been a cloudy day and hit one of the stained-glass windows at just the
right angle that it “projected” a large white patch to the left side of the column
and a large patch of red on the right side of the column. I looked at all of the other columns that I
could see without completely turning around; no other column had any colors projected
onto them. There were no other colors projected
from the stained-glass window, only the white and the red. It was just like the Image. He keeps on giving.
I don’t believe in coincidence of faith. These types of signs are gift. They are signs that God is near, and that He
is at work in our lives. The oils
themselves are symbols of God’s care for us, His love for us, and His mercy on
us. It was fitting then, that God would
at that very moment of blessing the oils, also share a familiar sign of His
mercy present and working? My heart
burst open in the prayer that Jesus taught Faustina, “O Blood and Water,
which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust
in You.”
He keeps on giving.
His Peace <><
Photo by cyrus gomez on Unsplash
Comments
Post a Comment