The Pale Ray

    In the pale ray Jesus is showing us that through the sacraments of Mercy He wants to cleanse us. These two sacraments are Baptism and Reconciliation.  Baptism washes away original sin, fills us with the very Life of God though sanctifying grace. Were we to see a soul in sanctifying grace we could not contain the joy because of the beauty of such a soul. Yet because of our human nature, we fall. We sin. And so Jesus goes even farther.  On the day of His Resurrection, our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation.        He speaks of this during that first visit He made to His Apostles after His Resurrection when He said, “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19)  And then He breathed the Holy Spirit into them and said, “Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whose sins you retain, they are retained.” (Jn 20:23)   And He instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

And He tells St. Faustina on the pages of her diary, “Tell souls where they are to look for solace: that is, in the Tribunal of Mercy [the Sacrament of Reconciliation].”  (Diary - Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1448)  Here, we know the tribunal to be a seat of judgment, but Jesus calls the confessional the seat of mercy. “There the greatest miracles take place and are incessantly repeated.  To avail oneself of this miracle, it is not necessary to go on a pilgrimage or to carry out some external ceremony; it suffices to come with faith to the feet of My representative and to reveal to him one's misery, and the miracle of Divine Mercy will be fully demonstrated. Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no [hope of] restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God.  The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full.  Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God's mercy!  You will call out in vain, but it will be too late." (Diary, 1448)  
        "Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flow down upon your soul and ennobles it.  Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul.  When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you.  I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul.  Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy.  Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust.   If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity.  The torrents of grace inundate humble souls.  The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns awasy from them to humble souls." (Diary, 1602)
        Jesus tells St. Faustina, “Write: I am Thrice Holy, and I detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to My generosity toward it.  My mercy embraces and justifies it.  With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice at their return.”  (Diary, 1728)  Jesus says, “When the sinner turns to My Mercy he gives Me the greatest praise and is the glory of My Passion." (Diary, 378)  "I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy." (Diary, 1146)   Jesus is searching for all of us. If so often we need to cleanse our bodies that are perishable and will turn to dust, how much more should we take care to cleanse our souls that will never die!  How often do we cleanse our soul in confession?