Staring into the Abyss

It will swallow you whole. But maybe that's a good thing.

Created by Dave DuBay using https://leonardo.ai/

Atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in Beyond Good and Evil that “if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” But maybe an abyss can be a good thing. It depends on what’s in it.

An abyss is an infinite space. It will swallow you whole, and there is no escape. But what if the abyss is something you wouldn’t want to escape from, even if you could?

Thinking of an abyss this way seems counterintuitive. Yet, the word “abyss” appears again and again in St. Maria Faustina Kowalska’s diary from the 1930s, and not always in a bad way.

A mystic, St. Faustina had visions of Christ. Controversial at first due to a poor translation, St. Pope John Paul II gave the diary the Church’s approval. Fulfilling Christ’s request as recorded in Faustina’s diary, on 30 April 2000 Pope John Paul II declared that the Sunday after Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. Her diary also contains the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Writing for Missio Dei, Laura Ercolino describes how you can pray the Chaplet on your rosary.

But what’s all this stuff about a bottomless chasm? In St. Faustina’s diary, Christ often talks about “the abyss of My mercy,” which Faustina contrasts with the abyss of her misery, the abyss of hell, and her desire for an abyss of trust in Christ. If something is going to swallow us whole and not let go, the mercy of Christ and our trust and faith in Him should be it. Only the outstretched arms of Christ, she writes, can pull us from the abyss of our misery and into the abyss of His mercy (1541).

In other words, we cannot climb out of the abyss of our own misery. Instead of trying to claw our way to the top, we must stop struggling, be still, and surrender to God. But this requires humility. St. Faustina writes that, “The soul neither knows how, nor is it willing, to probe with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery” (113). We must allow ourselves to be completely transformed by Christ’s mercy (163).

Still, we resist. Jesus tells her how hurt He is “by a soul’s distrust…Even the devils glorify My Justice but do not believe in My Goodness” (300). Yet, Christ’s mercy is infinite. Our everyday lives, however, are filled with ingratitude and indifference toward Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. “This is a torture greater than My death,” Jesus tells Faustina (445—see also 1532 and 1537). Even if your “love is lukewarm…My heart cannot bear it,” He tells her. “These souls force Me to reject them” precisely because He will not force them to accept Him.

Repentance is a choice. But too often, we’re busy complaining about other people. It’s easier to point a finger than it is to look in the mirror. Jesus warns Faustina that He “can do nothing” with “souls that are continuously observing others but know nothing of what is going on within their own selves” because these “poor souls, they do not hear My word.” Because of pride and envy, they see the guilt of others but they do not see their own guilt (1717).

In contrast, Faustina reflects that, “We resemble God most when we forgive our neighbors” (1148). To be like Christ is to be merciful toward others. This is not optional. Jesus tells her that “if a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My Mercy on the day of judgment” (1317). Yet, we are afraid to approach Him because the light shows all the flaws we wish to deny. But we can’t confront these flaws if we won’t look at them.

Being merciful and forgiving toward others, knowing that that there may be no reciprocation—and that others may even try to take advantage—is a tough pill to swallow. But “there is no way to heaven except the way of the cross” (1487).

St. Faustina also warns us that time is growing short. In 1938, Jesus told her that from Poland “will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming” (1732). Karol Wojtyła was 18 years old at the time. Forty years later, he became Pope John Paul II.

Her writings contain other ominous warnings. On 17 December 1936, St. Faustina wrote, “I have suffered more today than ever before, both interiorly and exteriorly. I did not know it was possible to suffer so much in one day.” She compared that day to the Garden of Gethsemane and felt led to “offer this day for priests” (823). Controversially, some point out that the future Pope Francis was born that day—though we should be very careful about alleging a connection.

Eternity—an abyss—awaits us. And Jesus’ message communicated through St. Faustina is straightforward. We must completely surrender our will to Christ and completely trust in Him and His Divine Mercy. One key way to do this is to recognize our sinfulness so that when others transgress against us, we can let Christ’s mercy and forgiveness flow through us.

Faustina is clear that salvation is through grace, not good works: “We know that by our own power we cannot ascend to You. We implore You: anticipate us with Your grace and increase Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will throughout our life and at death's hour” (1570). But doing good is essential because we reject God’s grace when we do not let this grace flow through us.