The Unrepeatable Original Image of Divine Mercy
By Daniel diSilva
Not everything can be duplicated. I remember as a young boy living on the Eastside of Chicago being baffled by the idea that no two snowflakes are identical. How can this be? Just try finding two that match! Or, you may have heard of the expression attributed to Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” Still, the best example of something that cannot be duplicated is a person. Every person is an unrepeatable “original,” and each one is made in the image of God.
"God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." ~ Genesis 1: 27
Even though we are created in His image, we are still only an image of Him. Obviously. And though we are called to be exactly like Him in some ways (Matthew 5:48), we fall short, not just physically, but also in our thoughts and in our words, in what we do, and in what we have fail to do (Romans 3:23). Yet, by grace, we remain and always will be images of our Heavenly Father.
In Old Town Vilnius, in a small, renovated church which was once commandeered by occupiers, is another image of God, the Original Image of Divine Mercy. This is not just another “everyday” priceless work of art. This masterpiece was painted by the artist Professor Eugeniusz Kazimirowski under the direction of the mystic saint, Maria Faustina Kowalska, who lived in Vilnius at the time. Her story is well known because, at the insistence of her spiritual director, Blessed Fr. Michał Sopoćko, she wrote a now-famous diary about the conversations she was having with Jesus in visions. What is much less known is the Original Image of Divine Mercy, the painting that Jesus asked to be painted of Himself.
On February 22, 1931, Jesus said to Saint Faustina in one of His well-documented apparitions to her, “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You.”
She was not an artist, so it took her several years to arrange for the painting to finally be painted. When it was finished in July of 1934, she expressed her concern that the painting fell short. She asked of Jesus, “Who will paint You as beautiful as You are?” From this oft-repeated line from her diary, many have concluded that she did not like the painting and was being critical of Kazimirowski’s artistic rendering of Jesus. But it should be clear to a more careful, theological-minded reader that she was acknowledging the inimitable, unrepeatable beauty of Jesus, not the art itself.
Imagine if someone told you that no artist could capture your radiant beauty with paint and canvas. Not Michelangelo, Caravaggio, DaVinci, Rembrandt, nor any of the artists that came before them or who have painted since them; none could do justice to your beauty. That they should quit painting altogether and burn their paintbrushes in the shadow of your beauty! Better to stick to lesser subjects like the Mona Lisa or sunsets than to attempt to paint you.
Or, to update this example for our contemporary readers, how about if someone said, “No photo, no filter, no photoshopping, no AI rendering, could adequately capture your beauty!” In no way is your friend saying that these artists or these technologies are failures, but that your beauty is truly unrepeatable! So why even try?
And the Beauty of Christ is so far beyond any beauty we can see. His is a perfect beauty. It is unfathomable and inexhaustible. His is a beauty that does not fade or whither like the flowers of the field. His is a beauty that is power and truth and goodness at once.
“From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.” ~ Psalms 50:2
Jesus looks for us at the foot of the Cross. May He find us there.
In the face of such beauty, the only true way to share it with others would be to bring them to the original, which is what an artist attempts to do. An artist sees beauty and, as a way to share that beauty with others, writes poems, sings songs, draws drawings, paints paintings, sculpts sculptures, and writes books and sometimes even short articles like these. All these mediums will inevitably fall short of the original beauty because beauty is always more than what can be seen. However, despite its shortcomings, good art is always worth the art itself.
In the case of Saint Faustina, although she knew the artwork was lacking, she was being asked by Jesus to let the painting do what it was meant to do: “Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace.”
So, according to Jesus, there is a certain greatness to the painting. Consider the following which Jesus also said about the greatness of the painting.
“I promise that the soul that will venerate this image (of Divine Mercy) will not perish. I also promise victory over one's enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory.”
And…
"I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature; 'Jesus, I trust in You.’"
The greatness of the painting was more than what could be seen. Jesus Himself set it apart. But also, unlike any other work of art on the planet, Kazimirowski’s painting reveals Divine Mercy in the way that was being expressed to Saint Faustina by Jesus. We know from her diary that she was in the artist’s studio giving her own detailed description of Jesus to Kazimirowski, and that the artist tried very hard to make visible what he could not himself see.
Together they accomplished what they set out to do – paint an image according to the pattern that Saint Faustina saw. A painting that reveals for all posterity, the Divine Mercy of Jesus.
When one looks at the painting, especially for the first time, one’s eyes are drawn to the rays. Soon we find ourselves looking at the point from which the rays are emanating from the chest of Jesus – this is the focal point of the entire piece. And although some may be more drawn to the Holy Face of Christ, intuitively, we already know that the painting is meant to depict the Divine Mercy of Christ more that it is meant to be a painting of Christ. Putting aside the theological idea that Christ is Mercy itself, and that the two, Christ and Mercy, are one, here we are speaking only in terms of the art. The “center” of this painting is the rays coming forth from the Sacred Heart (not depicted) of Jesus. Clearly these rays depict Divine Mercy.
So what is this mysterious painting meant to reveal to us about Divine Mercy? Let’s look at some details found in this painting that reveal Divine Mercy in an artistic yet precise way. For the sake of this short article, we will examine only a few details from afar but later, I will let you in on how you can take a deeper dive into the study this priceless painting.
We begin at the end, which is the beginning: the rays.
Saint Faustina writes, “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls.” Her words draw a direct line from the image to the Sacraments of the Church, mainly, the Sacraments of Baptism, Penance, and Eucharist. In the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance, the soul is purified, and in the Eucharist, the soul is nourished. Together, the rays signify all the Sacraments and the graces that flow from them.
But what else? Surely Jesus didn’t leave His throne in heaven to re-state what we could read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. No, He surely didn’t. Other attributes of the painting, and in particular, of the rays themselves, will continue to reveal for us more about Divine Mercy.
For one, the rays are directed downward, just like the gaze of Christ. It must follow that those who are in need of mercy and who are going to receive this Divine Mercy are directly below Christ. At one point, Jesus even says to St. Faustina, “My gaze from this image is like My gaze from the cross.” The link between this painting and Christ upon His Cross could not be stronger.
In one apparition, Jesus says it outright, “These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him.”
From this painting we can deduce that to receive His Divine Mercy we must be at the foot of the Cross where we can dwell in the shelter of these rays of mercy. Clearly, this is where the mercy is falling. But how can we stand at the Crucifixion of our Lord if it happened 2000 years ago? Sure, we can pray before a crucifix, but “being there” requires imagination. There’s nothing wrong with that. We can actually be present at the Crucifixion on Calvary, however, when we participate in the Holy Mass, because the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in a multitude of ways that the Eucharist and the suffering Christ are the same. “The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different. And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner…” (CCC 1367) When we are at Mass, we are at the Cross with Christ, and it is precisely there and then that He gives and that we receive His Divine Mercy.
The link between the Mass and the Original Image of Divine Mercy is also cemented in the clothes Christ wears in the painting. He wears an alb and cincture (not a tunic and a sash). In 1934, when this painting was painted, these two articles of priestly vestments were exclusively worn during Mass. Today a priest will wear these vestments during the Sacrament of Reconciliation which is another sacrament of Divine Mercy. But here, the alb and cincture tell us that Jesus, as priest, is either about to pray the Mass or is praying the Mass, the greatest prayer of the Church, for during Mass the whole Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, Head and members, offers perfect worship to God the Father. There would be no other reason for Jesus – or a priest - to be wearing the alb and cincture.
Another special detail in Kazimirowski’s masterpiece also has to do with the rays. Remember that Jesus said many times in His conversations with Saint Faustina that His mercy was “unfathomable.” Saint Faustina says His mercy is “unfathomable to any mind, whether of man or angel.” Elsewhere she declares, “God’s mercy is unfathomable and inexhaustible, just as God Himself is unfathomable.”
While praying the Chaplet, another important dimension of devotion to Divine Mercy, Saint Faustina once heard these words, “Oh, what great graces I will grant to souls who say this chaplet; the very depths of My tender mercy are stirred for the sake of those who say the chaplet. Write down these words, My daughter. Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy.” There it is again.
Unfathomable
“Unfathomable” means, of course, that Divine Mercy is immeasurable. It does not mean that His Mercy is ubiquitous, or eternal, or even big, although is it that too. “Unfathomable” means that we cannot measure it. This is artistically depicted in the painting by the rays having no beginning and no end. We can say that we think we know where they start but it is not depicted. Nor do the rays terminate, but rather, they emanate right off the canvas and past the frame line. We are not shown where they end because they are not measurable to man (like the limits of space). This detail of the rays going beyond the page (like every detail in this masterpiece) reveals a very important aspect of Divine Mercy.
And one final important detail (among hundreds) contained in the Original Image of Divine Mercy which I would like to point out in this short article is the blessing (right) hand of Jesus. In one of Saint Faustina more famous passages from her diary, she describes it thus: “One hand was raised in the gesture of blessing.” Jesus is making the Sign of the Cross upon those who come to venerate the image, i.e., stand at the foot of the Cross.
At the time this painting was painted, the mid 1930’s, the Vatican was very strict about the liturgical gestures of the priest. One of those liturgical gestures is the Sign of the Cross. Priests in this time were taught that when blessing, the blessing hand is not to be raised above the shoulder. This, along with the alb and cincture, makes it unequivocally clear, and in a special way to the people of that day, that Jesus in this picture is a priest – in fact, is the High Priest.
What is spelled out in the painting is that Divine Mercy comes from the Body of Christ. And the Mystical Body of Christ is the Church. And that Divine Mercy flows from the Mystical Body of Christ through the hands of the Holy Catholic Priesthood, of which Jesus is the source. It's like an M. C. Escher drawing.
These observations can go on and on, but what should already be clear is that the Original Image of Divine Mercy, painted in 1934 in Vilnius, Lithuania, reveals the unfathomable Divine Mercy of Jesus in a way that has not and cannot be improved.
And this brings us back full circle to the beginning of this short piece and our discussion about things that are unrepeatable. Although art attempts to capture beauty and reveal it to others, it will always fall short of the original. This article is not trying to say that the Original Image of Divine Mercy cannot be copied or duplicated or even re-rendered, for it itself is an image of the Original Subject who is Jesus. And no matter how good a work of art is, or how talented the artist is, the original subject will always be the highest form of what is being depicted. Example after example makes this clear but nowhere is more clear than in this painting by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski.
To echo the question of Saint Faustina, who will paint Jesus as beautiful as he is? Wo can? We can attempt to paint Him with paint on canvas, or we can write a poem, tell a story, or compose a song. But the highest form of imitating Christ will always be to become like Him.
We can make of our own lives a work of art that reveals Christ to ourselves and others, not by our appearance but rather by who we are, in our joys and in sufferings - in, with, and through His grace. In fact, like the Original Image of Divine Mercy, we were created to be exactly this: a perfectly imperfect image of God, in His love and in His mercy. By our very existence we point to the Original: Jesus.
As promised, here are some ways you can immerse yourselves further into this fascinating subject. First, I cannot recommend anything more than making a pilgrimage to venerate the Original Image of Divine Mercy in The Shrine of Divine Mercy on Dominikonų street in beautiful Old Town Vilnius. Visit Divine Mercy Tours at www.DivineMercyTours.com and sign up for an unforgettable pilgrimage of a lifetime! Secondly, you can venerate, examine, and study the revelation of Jesus to Saint Faustina by acquiring a hi-resolution replica of Kazimowski’s original available exclusively from www.OriginalDivineMercy.com. These replicas are licensed by the Archdiocese of Vilnius, and proceeds from this site go to help the development of the Vilnius Pilgrimage Center. Thirdly, you can register for the 2024 Divine Mercy Summit, a free annual online event which takes place October 5-7, at www.DivineMercySummit.com. Several presenters will be discussing the Original Image of Divine Mercy this year. And finally, to really get into the ever-fascinating details of this mystical painting, please consider pre-ordering a copy of my new book, Masterpiece of Mercy, due out in early 2024, from www.OriginalDivineMercy.com.
Daniel diSilva is the founding president of the Original Divine Mercy Institute. He has dedicated his life to traveling the world speaking about the Original Image of Divine Mercy. You can contact him HERE.
This article first appeared in the November 2023 issue of Drougas News