Have Mercy on Us and on the Whole World!
I wanted to share something I discovered when reading the traditional Good Friday “Adoration of the Cross,” which is the third of four parts of that day’s liturgy.
There is a text shortly after the beginning of the Adoration, which reads:
O holy God! O holy strong One!
O holy immortal One, have mercy upon us.
I’m sure this is very familiar to all of you, the words of the prayer at the end of the Divine Mercy Chaplet:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Assuming Saint Faustina wrote those words, we now know where she most likely got it!
Some chaplet pamphlets will include an additional prayer from Faustina’s diary, “A Prayer for Divine Mercy.” Saying it this past week, I have been continually struck by the beauty of the last sentence:
“For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart as through an open gate,
we pass through to Heaven.”
It is fitting for this to be said during Paschal Time, as the Hebraic word “pasch” means “Passover” or “passage.” This originally referred to passing over the Red Sea. The idea of passage relates to so many facets of our Faith. There is a recurring theme of death leading to new life. Even nature sings this song, as the fallen leaves fertilize the ground for the next Spring. The sacramental life is all about various passages. The Passion, Resurrection and Ascension is all a flowing passage. It is an interwoven tapestry which gives us a lifetime of meditation upon these mysteries.