Mary was the first to experience in a unique way the mercy of God, being preserved from original sin and endowed with the fullness of grace, in order to become the Mother of the Son of God. At the moment of the Annunciation, she consented to become the Mother of God, expressing the assent she faithfully gave at that moment; later, in Bethlehem, she gave birth to the Son of God and throughout her life participated in the revelation, through the Son, of the mystery of God’s mercy, right up to the sacrifice she offered at the foot of the Cross. For this reason, Mary is she who knows most deeply the mystery of divine mercy, for she knows its cost and how great it truly is. (Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Dives in Misericordia, no. 9).

Mary is also the Mother of Mercy because she gave Jesus to the world, the incarnate revelation of God’s mercy. (Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Veritatis Splendor, no. 118).

Her motherhood, in the order of grace and in favour of all humanity, has continued without interruption throughout all ages, as the Second Vatican Council states: “taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving office, but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal love she cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led to their blessed home.” (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, no. 62).

Just as Mary’s action is hidden in brief but profound and decisive passages of the Gospels, so too in the Diary of Sister Faustina the Virgin Mary appears only on a few occasions. Nevertheless, the role of the Mother of God is the same as in the Gospels: to lead souls to the source of mercy.

After several years of study and dissemination of Divine Mercy, we can perceive that this entire work is a gift of God to humanity today, obtained through the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary: “I saw the Lord Jesus as King in great majesty, looking upon our earth with a severe gaze, but the supplication of His Mother prolonged the time of mercy” (D. 1261). Divine Mercy, this sublime divine manifestation which reveals to us the inconceivable mercy of God, which calls man to adore His mercy and to implore it for ourselves and for others, is an unmerited gift, so great that we cannot fail to perceive the fragrance of the action of the great Mediatrix of graces and Mother of Mercy.

In the quotations from the Diary, the Virgin Mary confirms Faustina’s mission and the final times: “You must speak to the world of His great mercy and prepare the world for His second coming.” (D. 635). Moreover, despite the brief references to her, the Virgin Mary is profoundly necessary in Sister Faustina’s spiritual journey: “The more I imitate the Blessed Virgin, the more deeply I come to know God.” (D. 843).

A few years before his death, Pope John Paul II publicly stated that on the day of his death he entrusted himself to the Mother of God and to Divine Mercy. Indeed, he departed to the Father on 2 April 2005 at 21:35 (Rome time); it was the first Saturday of the month (a day especially dedicated to Mary) and the First Vespers of the Feast of Divine Mercy. His life and death bore witness to a perfect unity between devotion to Divine Mercy (which he so strongly promoted) and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.