Blessed are the merciful.
Poland, specifically Krakow, is the land of Divine Mercy. It is the city whereinwhich Saint Faustina visited with Jesus face-to-face and he gave her his message of unending mercy. Through those visits we have a diary written by her with the accounts of the encounters, as well as the icon of Divine Mercy and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy (prayed using the beads of a Rosary). If you have never heard of St. Faustina, seen the image of Divine Mercy, or prayed the Chaplet I highly encourage it. While St. Pope John Paul II never met St. Faustina their paths had to have crossed at some point being that they both prayed in the same places at the same time. Nevertheless their importance in the spiritual life is forever intertwined, not only because of their homeland, but because of their significance for the third millenium. Pope John Paul is now known as the Pope of Divine Mercy because he believed that Jesus Christ's mercy is what would be most needed for the third millenium, especially after the despair of the 20th century. He divinely knew that if human beings are to ever flourish on this earth again they will do so only through the mercy of Jesus Christ. Sister Faustina was the bearer of the message, JPII was the hearld of that message. Faustina was the first Saint Cannonized after the turn of the millenium because of the unique and powerful message of mercy which she shared with the world.
While Faustina barely experienced the horrors of Nazi faschism, John Paul lived through not only the horror of the Third Reich but also that of socialism through the Communist Soviet Union. It was as if God put Faustina here and appeared to her with a message tailor made to the horror human beings were just begining to afflict on one another. Then God put John Paul in position to use his gifts to proclaim the message to the world.
Poland is indeed the land of Divine Mercy. World Youth Day 2016 was intentionally placed right in the middle of the Year of Mercy so as to share the message with the whole world!
Eternal Father, we offer you the body, blood, soul, and divinity of your dealy beloved Son our Lord, Jesus Christ, in attonment for our sins and those of the whole world. For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
We will be bringing the message back with us in much more articulate and thoughtful ways, but for now the above is a good beginning!
Peace,
Zach