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COME TO THE FATHER Written by Willy Effinger
How many times did you look at the image of Divine Mercy and feel His rays bathing you in mercy and love? There is another message that is hidden in this most wonderful image. As we have read in Scripture, the Lord says “Come to Me, you who are burdened and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
The Lord, as He appeared to Saint Faustina, is drawing back His garment in the area of His Heart and pointing towards It, as if to say: “Come into My Heart and I will show you the Father’s love.” Remember also what Jesus said to Philip, one of His apostles: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” In other words, he who enters into the Heart of Jesus is with the Father and he who experiences the love of the Son can also experience the Father’s love.
In order to experience the message of mercy to the fullest, we have to learn to come to our Father in Heaven – and the best way is through His beloved Son. God the Father created us in His image and likeness and He wants us to be true children of His, to radiate His mercy and His peace in our daily lives. Before we are ready to throw ourselves into the loving arms of the Father, we must first learn how to acquire true sonship or daughtership.
This is where Saint Faustina can be our guide; she can show us the way to the Father. Her secret was “love beyond” human understanding. By reading Saint Faustina’s Diary, we can easily be inundated and affected by her extreme “love beyond” for her Bridegroom. She has traced out for us the road that we have to choose in order to get to the Father. She personally became the crowning of love, much like Saint Theresa, “The Little Flower”. Saint Faustina became a living icon of mercy and she points the way not only towards the Mother of Mercy, but also to her beloved spouse Saint Joseph, whom we so often forget.
Saint Joseph can help us to understand the complexity of sonship better. As a true son of the Father, he accepted his role whole-heartedly and, with complete trust, he said yes to the message from the Angel. The moment he accepted his role in the Divine Plan, he became Foster Father of the Living Word; he became Foster Father to Mercy Incarnate, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Thus, Saint Joseph can become a role model for us – a model of total trust, of complete reliance on the Father’s love, of unconditional surrender to the Father’s will and of total acceptance of the Father’s Kingship. This is not, however, where it stops. When we have come there – to the Father’s lap, if you will – we have to then accept our sonship before He can change our hearts. In humility and trust, we need to approach and to accept! Then, we can move on to becoming living vessels of mercy.
Like Saint Joseph, we have to become “fathers of mercy”, so to speak, to our surroundings. We have to be willing to say yes to the call which we inherit with sonship and to give freely of ourselves in order to make the mercy of our Father become reality within us – and to be able to pass it on to others. If we are not willing to accept His mercy, this sonship, then we cannot become “fathers of mercy”. We certainly cannot give what we do not have! Don’t think for a moment that this is easy. I don’t think that it was easy for Saint Joseph or for Saint Faustina as they accepted the crosses in their lives, as they practised mercy, proclaimed and pleaded for God’s mercy. Knowing and believing in the truth that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One should make it easier for us to approach the Father since we have already begun to know the Son through His Divine Mercy.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)
So, all it takes is a simple fiat – just say YES. Let Saint Joseph and Saint Faustina take you by the hand and gently lead you, step by step, to the sonship / daughtership and beyond!
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