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Then this soul, as it were, like one intoxicated,
could not contain herself, but standing before the
face of God, exclaimed, "How great is the Eternal
Mercy with which You cover the sins of Your
creatures! I do not wonder that You say of those who
abandon mortal sin and return to You, 'I do not
remember that you have ever offended Me.' Oh,
ineffable Mercy! I do not wonder that You say this to
those who are converted, when You say of those who
persecute You, 'I wish you to pray for such, in order
that I may do them mercy.' Oh, Mercy, who proceeds
from Your Eternal Father, the Divinity who governs
with Your power the whole world, by You were we
created, in You were we re-created in the Blood of
Your Son.
'Your Mercy preserves us, Your Mercy caused Your Son
to do battle for us, hanging by His arms on the wood
of the Cross, life and death battling together; then
life confounded the death of our sin, and the death
of our sin destroyed the bodily life of the
Immaculate Lamb. Which was finally conquered? Death!
By what means? Mercy! Your Mercy gives light and
life, by which Your clemency is known in all Your
creatures, both the just and the unjust. In the
height of Heaven Your Mercy shines, that is, in Your
saints. If I turn to the earth, it abounds with Your
Mercy. In the darkness of Hell Your Mercy shines, for
the damned do not receive the pains they deserve;
with Your Mercy You temper Justice. By Mercy You have
washed us in the Blood, and by Mercy You wish to
converse with Your creatures.
'Oh, Loving Madman! was it not enough for You to
become Incarnate, that You must also die? Was not
death enough, that You must also descend into Limbo,
taking thence the holy fathers to fulfill Your Mercy
and Your Truth in them? Because Your goodness
promises a reward to them that serve You in truth,
You descended to Limbo, to withdraw from their pain
Your servants, and give them the fruit of their
labors.
'Your Mercy constrains You to give even more to man,
namely, to leave Yourself to him in food, so that we,
weak ones, should have comfort, and the ignorant
commemorating You, should not lose the memory of Your
benefits. Wherefore every day You give Yourself to
man, representing Yourself in the Sacrament of the
Altar, in the body of Your Holy Church. What has done
this? Your Mercy. Oh, Divine Mercy! My heart
suffocates in thinking of you, for on every side to
which I turn my thought, I find nothing but mercy.
'Oh, Eternal Father! Forgive my ignorance, that I
presume thus to chatter to You, but the love of Your
Mercy will be my excuse before the Face of Your
loving-kindness."
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