Fr. Kaz: You know Faustina changed the painting at least ten times. She would go to see the painter who was frustrated there with her. There were some comic lines in the movie about the painter’s frustration. But the fact is she changed it and ultimately looked what happened: it is perfectly congruent with the Shroud of Turin.

I think that the movie and the purpose is both to come to know Faustina come to know her witness come to know her true love and mercy and to allow people no matter where they are in their lives to welcome it, to be challenged by it. You know there is too much today in the secular world of God being ripped from people’s hearts by powerful institutions — media, educational systems. So, there is the supernatural dimension of our lives that is being removed and here I think Michael’s purpose is to bring forth a quality production that is Catholic and sort of evangelistic to bring forth the message of the gospel into the hearts of the people.

RJC: The movie begins with a unique statement for a Catholic movie. It really kind of shocked me. “. . . that the people who formed the Church too often have distorted the teachings of Jesus and deformed his image.”

That really struck me. So, it is trying to say how you really understand Jesus is not really how Jesus wants you to understand him.

Fr. Kaz: I think the movie takes us right to the very beginning what happened in the Garden of Eden[1] and how the evil one led us astray, promising us that we would be like God. He placed this distrust in our hearts so we would distrust God. He placed this mistrust in us. Immediately we begin to see the true image of God is almost being taken away for us by the evil one and through subsequent history. We know that history includes the reality of forgetting God and moving away from him.

We see why that the Lord in his love and mercy brings us right back. He wants us to come to know him. We have Abraham and Isaac and all the prophets and ultimately the fullness of truth comes through Jesus. I think that in this case Pope John Paul II articulated the message so well. I think that he was influenced by Pope Paul VI. We don’t know who God is unless we see the Lord Jesus manifest the Father and we know the true mercy of God through Jesus through his life and death and resurrection. The second aspect is that we do not know who we are unless we look at Christ. I think that is probably what the movie tries to do is to introduce us right into the heart of the gospel itself. Pope Benedict says that the Divine Mercy message is not a secondary devotion but is the heart of the gospel.

RJC: I am currently reading Cardinal Robert Sarah’s new book, The Day is Far Spent, and he says that priests and bishops have basically stopped praying that is where the crisis comes from. He is calling us to more holiness and he is calling to prayer. He says that our biggest problem is basically getting lost in issues and political movements as opposed to seeking holiness.

When I saw the movie, I just got this strong reflection that I think the Lord is calling us back to that mission of preaching mercy and I cannot say I learned a lot of the message growing up.

Fr. Kaz: In the 1970’s there was a great emphasis on justice and this is where the difficulty came with Liberation Theology because of the emphasis on Justice.

John Paul II said that the pursuit of justice without the element of mercy will never bring us to justice. True justice is when you pursue justice and enrich it with mercy because you know the human condition. We cannot find true justice because of our sinful condition. We will never be able to break forth into the true dimension of justice. I think what happens is you see these movements you think bring us to paradise whether through a communist system or ideologies or something that we are going to bring this incredible element of paradise on this earth. It is not possible but only through prayer and through union with God through profound union with him.

Look what happens to Faustina when she enters this communion with God. She had no education and she would have been a failure. Two and a half years of education and you say you want to go out in life like that? But look what God does.

Same thing with Fr. Sopocko, he had a doctoral degree in Sacred Theology and he had a degree in education and all kinds of programs and training and you know what he said? “I did not realize how important this message of mercy is in scripture. I had to go back and read it because of her,” because when he was reading the diary, he was trying to read it and he said “I discovered literally this incredible dimension of Biblical knowledge of God and his mercy; yet, I had my doctoral degree.” So, he himself admits to the fact that he did not have this understanding that she had.

RJC: Something that I never heard before that God has two doors: judgement and mercy and the whole thing is to call everyone through the door of mercy so they do not have to go through the door of judgment. I never heard that before and that was powerful and I think that was the message for today.

Fr. Kaz: And Jesus uses the exact words in the diary and you see Pope Francis highlighted them. He says that time is short. If you do not want to go through the doors of mercy then you have to go through the doors of judgement, there is no choice.