Posted on 07/02/2016 8:36:38 AM PDT by Salvation
Q. I wanted to know if there is a connection between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Divine Mercy. The painting of the Divine Mercy reminds me a lot of the Sacred Heart, or am I off-base? Also, what is a good source to understand the Divine Mercy better?
Diane, via e-mail
A. The devotions are distinct historically but are obviously related since they point to the one and same Lord Jesus, our merciful and great High Priest. But they also have in common the desire to emphasize that, although Christ will one day judge us all, our life here now is marked by the grace and mercy that the Lord offers in great abundance to procure our repentance and salvation.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque lived from 1647-1690 and it was through her that the Church received and approved the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Some commentators have held that the devotion was a needed response to a fear of judgment that had become out of balance in that period with the love that God has for us. This imbalance may have been due partially to the rise of Jansenism, which was marked by a rigorist stance and a highly negative understanding of the dignity and freedom of the human person. The devotion to the Sacred Heart emphasized the love that the Lord had for us and summoned us to confidently approach the Lord who wants to save us.
St. Faustina Kowalska lived from 1905-1938 in Poland and it was through her that the Church received and approved the message of Divine Mercy. In a century marked by great turmoil and war, the Divine Mercy devotion was a constant reminder of the message to trust in Jesus’ endless mercy and to live life mercifully toward others.
In neither devotion is there a minimizing of the need to repent from sin. For indeed, mercy is necessary for us because we do sin, and we sin more seriously than we often admit. Neither devotion denies this and both St. Margaret Mary and St. Faustina speak vividly of what sin does and why we need mercy. So mercy presupposes sin, but extends a hand to the sinner who, if he repents, lays hold of the extended hand of Jesus and accesses mercy.
The best place to learn more about the Divine Mercy devotion is the web page of the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts (www.thedivinemercy.org). You are also encouraged to read Sister Faustina’s Diary.
Monsignor Pope Ping from OSV column
Several I have visited the Shrine in Stockbridge. It often feels like a pilgrimage, rather than just a visit.
Communal rosaries, confessions, and after the Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed, one of the Brothers leads the congregants in the Benediction of the Holy Sacrament. Beautiful.
Also, an old car (Acura?) is parked there; and the story goes,’Padre Pio appeared to a man as a hitchhiker and the driver was miraculously cured from a terminal cancer.’
I recommend a visit...
“Q. I wanted to know if there is a connection between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Divine Mercy...”
Yes. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a licit church approved devotion.
The other devotion mentioned was promoted by anti-pope anti-saint John Paul II in concert with the efforts arising out of “Vatican II” apostacy to exercise the new found freedoms to trash holy Mother Church and spit upon her true saints once again. This time by establishing a cult amongst vulnerable “faithful adherents of the Vatican II Novus church” along the lines of “new forms of worship and devotion, often enough ridiculous, usually useless immitations or corruptions of similar ones which are already legitimately established...” as presented in the linked pdf article.
https://www.novusordowatch.org/divine-mercy.pdf
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