Love and Mercy

I took my 12 year old daughter. We both learned so much. We really enjoyed it!

The Father and the Son are the Parents of the Holy Spirit, if many churches are correct. If many churches are correct, the Trinity is a Family-- two Parents and a Progeny, similar to a human family.(Humans are made in the "likeness" and "image" of God according to Genesis 1:26) In the book of Job, which is in the Bible, God is compared to a father and a mother with a womb "From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?"-Job 38:29. Because we can think of God as like a mother (Isaiah 42:14, Isaiah 66:13, Matthew 23:37, Catechism of the Catholic Church 2nd edition paragraph 239), all three roles(Father,Mother,Progeny) in a basic human family are filled in the Trinity. Saying that the Father and the Son are the Parents of the Holy Spirit is another way of saying "the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son" which has been official Catholic teaching for centuries. The Church teaches that the Son is begotten by the Father. If this is correct, the Father is the Father(Parent) of the Son. The Church teaches that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. If this is correct, the Father and the Son are Parents of the Holy Spirit. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (second edition) paragraph 246 says that the Holy Spirit's "nature and subsistence" is "at once...from the Father and the Son."If the Church calls Mary mother(parent) of God even if Mary isn't the first source of Christ's humanity(God is the first source), then the Son can also be called a Parent of God (the Holy Spirit). If the Church is correct, the Father is the principle-Parent and the Son is the begotten-Parent. The scriptures are vague if the Holy Spirit is the Second or Third Person of the Trinity, whichever of these is true, the First and the Second may be the Parents of the Third. Parent definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary: One that begets or brings forth offspring. Principle means base/foundation/first-source/first-origin/root-cause.

When I first heard about this documentary movie and watched it for the first time, I felt a deep loving connection with God and his son Jesus Christ. And realizing that the Divine Mercy novena and chaplet means a lot to me. When the time is right for the devotion, I prepare myself by praying the novena and at 3:00 pm, the divine mercy chaplet begins. I've done this devotion by myself and with a prayer group. My older brother Jason is a Catholic Christian but he's not practicing. However, I have him on my divine mercy prayer list.

This is quite a good film describing the life and work of Helena Kowalska, who entered a convent as Sister Maria Faustyna and experienced divine visions of Jesus Christ expressing emphasis on His ability to accord Divine Mercy to believers, even in the most extreme circumstances, and asked her to commission a portrait of Him in which such merciful attributes literally emanate from him in the form of rays of forgiveness. Sister Faustyna was ultimately canonized and is now a Saint of the Catholic Church. The story is initially presented in "docudrama" style, with actors portraying the principal participants (Christ Himself, Saint Faustyna, Father Michal Sopocko, her confessor who encouraged her to write a diary of her experienced and ultimately helped commission the portrait, and other participants. The second part of the film is devoted to interviews with various spokespersons explaining in further detail the concept of Divine Mercy.

The film itself is quite good: the production values are excellent and the actors do a good job (with special mention to the actress portraying Saint Faustyna).

However, the film clearly speaks the strongest to those viewers already convinced of the truth of Saint Faustyna's visions and the concept of Divine Mercy. A significant portion of the film is given over to pseudo "scientific" proof of the visions, including a somewhat ludicrous sequence in which it is "proven" that the head of Christ as portrayed in the painting corresponds to the image of the Shroud of Turin, thereby demonstrating without doubt the veracity of her visions. There are many possible explanations for this (after all, the popular image we all have of Christ is fairly universal).

It seems to me that the film would have been better off either simply expounding further on the concept of Divine Mercy itself or taking a different approach to convincing those unaccepting of its virtues, e.g. by showing how appealing a concept of univeral forgiveness is, rather than trying -- and in my view failing -- to provide a "scientific" basis for it.

In short, if you are Catholic and especially if you find the concept of Divine Mercy to be particularly comforting, you will probably find the film to be an uplifting and emotional experience. If you are not, then I do not think this will be the film that convinces you.

I read the book of saint Faustina and this movie is a great complement of the book. This is truly guidance for life and I would like my kids see this movie.