...and I have a greater appreciation for her. I found the whole, lumbering thing to be a most touching revelation of her intimate relationship of love with Christ, which she would not have ever revealed except out of respect for her spiritual director, Father Michael Sopocko. It is interesting to discover the great affection for her that Christ showed when He called her the Secretary of His divine Mercy. She was asked by Him to put the experiences of those last four years down in writing for the benefit of the rest of us. The contents seem to be repetitive, because the themes of redemptive suffering, utter humility before God and trust in the Goodness of God recur several times, amid descriptions of life in the Mercy convents between which Sister moved.
Reading this six-book diary requires some application, and I consider it a spark of genius on the part of Sister's spiritual director, the Blessed Father Sopocko, to have her underline the precise words of Christ in the diary; this does have the effect of drawing the reader through what is, in the end, a 700-page dialogue between Christ and Sister Faustyna. The original, underlined words are reproduced in bold text in the standard versions of the diary. Sister's spiritual formation is mostly Jesuit, for that Order provided the Sisters with pastoral care, at least in those days, and there is much reference to Saint Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises. It is rather difficult, but I think this is a good meditative read for all Catholics, and it needn't be read from cover to cover, as I have done. It is all quite solid and the picture of Christ that emerges is not the kindly, doe-eyed one of recent decades, but the fiery One of the Gospels.
Here is one of the last communications from Christ, towards the end of the diary. It is a nice summary of what divine Mercy is:
"I am Thrice Holy, and I detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to My generosity towards it. My mercy embraces and justifies it. With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice at their return.
"Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My merciful Heart, they will fall into My just Hands. Tell sinners that I am always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their heart... when will it beat for Me? ...I am speaking to them through their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings, through thunderstorms, through the voice of the Church. And if they bring all My graces to naught, I begin to be angry with them, leaving them alone and giving them what they want."
- Divine Mercy in my soul, #1728 in the standard text
God doesn't send people to hell. They choose it, through the way they live their lives. What He wants to see is contrition of heart and a firm desire to sin no more and His generosity abounds. This is nothing new; it's the theme of the Old Testament and the New, and it is sung by the Saints. But it's always nice to be reminded. Saint Maria Faustyna, do continue to pray for us.
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