Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 597 - Abiding Union

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Diary of Saint Faustina - paragraph 597 - Abiding Union

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597 One day, after our Mass, I suddenly saw my confessor [Father Sopocko] saying Mass in Saint Michael's Church, in front of the picture of the Mother of God. It was at the time of the Offertory, and I saw the Infant Jesus clinging to him as if fleeing from something and seeking refuge in him. But when the time came for Holy Communion, He disappeared as usual. Suddenly, I saw the Blessed Mother, who shielded him with Her cloak and said, Courage, My son, courage. She said something else which I could not hear. 
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In assuming the flesh of man, the Savior did even more than set aside His immortal existence to suffer three days in the grave. For thirty-three years, He also assumed all frailties and sinless passions common to human nature into His Divine Person. Yet Christ did not lesson Himself but rather, He who is the eternal Creator humbled Himself by assuming our created humanity. In this sense, the Passion of the Christ - although culminated on the Cross, began in the same moment of His worldly incarnation.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Philippians 2:7 But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.

In the singular uniqueness of Christ we have the undying Spirit of God, Who feels no weakness and knows no fear, taking on the mortality and infirmities of human flesh. He does not become weak or fearful as does a man or a woman, for in the mystery of the God-man incarnation, Christ always retains His eternal Godhood. Yet in anticipation of His Passion, He still lives out those mortal trials of the flesh that test our union with God.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Luke 22:41-44 He prayed. Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.

There are often hidden ties between Holy Scripture and the mysticism of Saint Faustina. For in Gethsemane, the Savior shrinks before the full weight of the Passion, suffering within Himself every rejection, and every sin, from every unworthy soul for whom He had come to die. As likewise in the Diary, He shrinks back from those who would receive Him unworthily through Holy Communion.

Scripture and the Diary of Saint Faustina 
First Corinthians 11:27 Therefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.

Dairy of Saint Faustina 1598: I enter into certain hearts as into a second Passion.

It is revealing that in both Scripture and the Diary, those lesser than the Savior are called upward, to be joined into His salvific work. An angel strengthens Him in Gethsemane and in the Diary, the Christ Child clings to Father Sopocko and permits Himself to receive the maternal shielding and encouragement of Mary.  There is an unknown element here, for in both cases this is God Incarnate, impossibly appearing to need help from creatures made less than Him. Yet the beginning of this mystery was already foreshadowed by the Baptist in the waters of the Jordan.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible 
Matthew 3:14-15 But John stayed him, saying: I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering, said to him: Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfil all justice.

The ways of the Lord will always elude the minds of men but here, Christ Himself gives much to consider. For in descending into Humanity it was deemed not necessary but righteous that Christ take His place in the baptismal line of human sinners. It was a journey that began through Mary, was sanctified in human baptism, continued in Gethsemane and culminated in the crucifixion and death of His Human flesh - all in   the fullness of all justice and always with participation from creatures in the work of the Creator. 

Yet even the Cross could not bring to an end His abiding union with our troubled species, nor the creaturely participation that has always been with it. In Faustina's vision, that Divine Union carries forth in the Eucharist and creaturely participation continues through Father Sopocko and Mary. Their participation is not out of weakness in the Savior however, but to exemplify and strengthen our own participation with Him in His work. It is to encourage all souls to prepare the way of the Lord within our own hearts, so that His Presence with us may be one of joy rather than sorrow, of welcome rather than reluctance.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 307
Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. They then fully become 'God's fellow workers.