Channels of Mercy: Divine Mercy in Poetry

By Maureen McHeffey

God is mercy itself! Maureen McHeffey takes us on an artful and delightful journey with a passage from Sacred Scripture on one end and a quote from St. Faustina's Diary on the other. Each poem is situated in between as a beautiful lyric that carries us progressively deeper into the well of God's mercy. Read on. You will be richly rewarded!

--Monsignor Joseph Chapel

Adjunct Professor of Moral Theology, Seton Hall University

Drawing on Scripture and the Diary of St. Faustina, these inspiring poems lead us on a quiet path where we may be drawn into grateful prayer, as we meditate on God's merciful and lavish love for us.

--Dianne M. Traflet, JD, STD

Associate Dean, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology

Author, St. Edith Stein: A Spiritual Portrait

Like swine over a cliffside

Towards their own death they run

In a stampede to their mortality

In this rat race of mankind

Towards pride

Towards pleasure

Towards never enough

As the devil stands by

And delights in his works.

And the Lord looks on

And He calls them and calls them

But so few turn their heads

So very few leave the herd.

But those who do find peace

They find healing and comfort

The weary find rest

Under His watchful Eye

--an excerpt taken from "The Herd"

Channels of Mercy: Divine Mercy in Poetry is the author's debut collection of poetry written about God's gift of Divine Mercy, the many ways in which He desires to give us His mercy, and the opposition we face to receive His mercy. Each poem is paired with scripture and quotes from the Diary of St. Faustina so as to provide an illustrative glimpse into the mystery of Divine Mercy. A portion of all proceeds from the sale of this book will be given to Catholic-based charities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638742913

Book preview

cover.jpg

Channels

of

Mercy

Divine Mercy in Poetry

Maureen McHeffey

Foreword by

Fr. Michael Plona

ISBN 978-1-63874-290-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63874-296-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63874-291-3 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Maureen McHeffey

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Foreword

I first encountered the author as I was going about my duties as a parish priest. Since that ordinary meeting, I have watched God take her on the adventure of her life. This story could be a book on its own. Through her circumstances, the author has come to a personal awareness of how God’s love meets us in our misery. The intersection of human misery and God’s love is Divine Mercy.

In the pages that follow are excerpts of prayerfully written poetry that touch on the different elements and dimensions of Divine Mercy. Some readers may be acquainted with the great apostle of Divine Mercy, St. Faustina Kowalska. St. Faustina as a mystic experienced God in every aspect of her life, and through unique graces, God used her to bring the focus of the Church and the world on His mercy. God did this at precisely a time when human misery was overwhelming, in the early part of the twentieth century in between two world wars, and He did this in a place that was at the epicenter of so much suffering, Poland. This message of mercy was in a sense God’s antidote to the nihilism that human suffering can lead to when it is experienced without faith and confidence in God. It was for this reason that Jesus declared to St. Faustina that, "Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy" (Diary of St. Faustina 699). These are words that aching humanity needs to hear again today.

The poetry in this book points to this reality, the intensity of God’s mercy in an unbelieving world filled with wounded people. It is reminiscent of the Divine Mercy image made known throughout the world through the same St. Faustina. In that image, Jesus appears luminous amidst a pitch-black background. The Divine Mercy image manifests the reality that Christ is the light that shines in the darkness, which the darkness cannot overcome (cf. John 1:5). In a dark world that is confused and in which many people are lost, Christ still stands as the light, which enlightens humanity and which the reality of evil and misery cannot overwhelm.

This dark time in which we live is the time of mercy—this intersection of darkness and light, misery and love, sin and grace. God has risen up for our times St. Faustina and Pope St.