Jesus, I trust in You!!!
Ninety years ago, in Poland, Jesus revealed himself to a young polish nun, Sister Faustina Kowalska. Jesus personally asked her to tell people about God’s Mercy, and about God’s unconditional love for us. Jesus taught her a beautiful prayer – The Divine Mercy Chaplet. He asked for the special feast of The Divine Mercy –the feast that we celebrate this weekend, He asked her to write a diary of His appearances to her, and finally Jesus had a desire to paint a very special image – the Divine Mercy Image!!!
Saint Faustina for us is like the Apostles to Thomas, the story from today’s Gospel. They saw Jesus and told him about it. St. Faustina saw Jesus and she told us about it. So, what is the message that Jesus gave to Sister Faustina? What is so important that Jesus asked a 30 year old woman to share His message with the whole world?
In February 1931 Sister Faustina saw Jesus dressed in a white garment. He held one hand raised in blessing and the other hand touching his garment at the breast as you see on a front cover of the bulletin. From that point in his garment two rays of light were shining, one red and the other white with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You.
In Faustina’s diary we read:
Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel and then throughout the world.
Look at Jesus in the image!
Look at his eyes. Those eyes do not judge. Those eyes are looking for good in other people. Those eyes are looking for those whom they can help.
Look at his hands. In this picture, Jesus is doing a blessing. Jesus’ hands were always ready to help. When Jesus was a young boy, he helped his father Joseph, who was a carpenter. When he grew up, Jesus healed the sick, and blessed the children. Jesus used his hands when he was breaking the bread and when he was sharing bread and wine with his apostles during the last supper.
Look at his heart. With His left hand, Jesus shows us his heart. Jesus’ heart is full of love for each and every one of us. If we are lost, if we are away from God, if we don’t think enough about him, He loves us anyway and always waits for us. This heart is loving, forgiving, and merciful.
Look at his legs. What do you think: Is Jesus in this picture standing or walking? Of course he’s walking. God is always taking the first step to us. Everything begins with God. Our good desires, our good deeds, they always begin with God and with His grace. We can only give response to God. What will be your response today? How would you like to be like Jesus?
A few years ago on The Divine Mercy Feast, Pope Francis said:
following Jesus means learning to come out of ourselves to go to meet others, to go towards the outskirts of existence, to be the first to take a step towards our brothers and sisters, especially those who are most distant, those who are forgotten, those who are in most need of understanding, comfort and help. There is such a great need to bring the living presence of Jesus, merciful and full of love!
Dear Jesus, help us as a parish community and as individuals to be merciful like you are. May our eyes see only good, may our hands be helpful, may our legs lead us where somebody needs help, and may our hearts be loving.
Jesus, I trust in you.
P.S. Please come and join us as we glorify and praise God for his Mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday: individual confession at 2 pm, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Divine Mercy Chaplet, a talk, and adoration at 3 pm. St. Faustina Kowalska pray for us!
Hopefully your Easter was Happy and Blessed! There are no words how grateful I am. For another opportunity to commemorate Jesus’ death and resurrection. For all the preparation, for the parish staff, for the music, for the help of ushers and altar servers, and for each and every one of you who attended our celebrations and visited our church. I pray that the blessing and grace that we have received from the Resurrected Lord will help us to remember that He lives in us and that He wants to live through us. Never forget to proclaim that His tomb is empty, that your Redeemer is alive, and that He is Risen. Believe in Him, because He believes in you!!!
Special thanks for our Easter GIFT! Just before Easter, as you already realized, we installed in the sanctuary a new 8’x5” crucifix. It was a perfect moment to do so, it was truly God’s moment. That crucifix helped us to celebrate the whole Triduum and, I truly believe it will help us to be drawn into prayer more deeply every time we come to church. When you look at that crucifix, please remember: how much God loves us, and that in His wounds rests our life!!!
May God bless all of you who anonymously donated money to buy and install this crucifix. And a special thanks to Jim Biddinger and his crew who spent many long days and made this beautiful a cross. The corpus we bought from “FUCHS”. And everything was installed on Holy Wednesday by Kevin Paterson. On behalf of the whole parish community and myself, I am deeply grateful and humbled for that gift!
May Jesus reign in our church and in our hearts!!!
Fr. Tom