The Divine Mercy

The following is written by Sister Faustina of the Sisters of Life. This can be found in the April 2025 version of Magnificat

Coming through the locked doors of the upper room where his disciples were gathered on the evening of Easter Sunday, Jesus says, Peace be with you. The apostles were weighed down with the shame of abandoning him in his Passion and death. Yet as Jesus said these words, he pointed to his wounds, now radiant with light. It was a newness of life that was victorious over all sin and death…. Jesus was keenly aware of the sufferings he had just undergone, and of the fears that gripped the apostles. He wanted for them the same glory the
Father had manifested in him through those very pains. Expressing the word of peace a second time, he stresses that he truly harbors no ill will against the apostles, or any of us. In this moment of forgiveness and restoration, Jesus chooses not only to bring healing to the apostles’ burdened hearts but to share with them the authority to do likewise. As Jesus stood among his apostles that night, he stands among us now….

The full story of our past is only revealed when imbued with his mercy, and this is what makes the very things that are most difficult in our history have tremendous value. Jesus is the living embodiment of this: coming before the apostles, his resurrected body brightly bore the scars of his death. He shows us that the way to new life is through trusting his unconditional and victorious love—both in the forgiveness of our sins and in allowing us to see our past in the perspective of his eternal plan. Everything we’ve experienced, seen in the light of God’s mercy, can truly make us rejoice in the glory of God. Earlier in his ministry, Jesus referred to this as he quoted the psalms: The very stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone (Mt 21:42; Ps 118:22). We see Jesus as that stone, rejected and killed by his people, but now he is the firm foundation upon which our entire lives are securely built