Red and White
I first came across the image of Divine Mercy in a church in Nebraska. It bothered me — I didn't like it and I didn't understand it. That question stayed with me for a long time. A reflection on John 19:31–37.
John 19:31–37
Phrases that spoke to me today:
• one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear
• immediately blood and water came out
• he who saw it has borne witness
• they shall look on him whom they have pierced
Applying the Word to My Life:
I first came across the image of Divine Mercy in a church in Nebraska — I couldn't tell you which one now. Christ standing with two rays of light radiating from his heart, one red, one white. Underneath: Jesus, I trust in you.
It bothered me. It looked different from everything else in the building, and the phrase didn't help. I wasn't sure what trusting Jesus had to do with anything, or why that was the message on the one painting in the sanctuary. And then I started seeing it at other churches, at different times, and the question stayed with me.
Eventually an explanation crossed my path. The two rays — the red and the white — represent the blood and the water that flowed from Christ's side when the soldier pierced him after the crucifixion. John was present. He recorded what he saw. From that wound came two streams, and the Church has understood them to point to the two sacraments at the center of the Christian life: Eucharist and Baptism.
The sacraments don't come from a system. They flow from the heart of Jesus, poured out on the cross.
The source of every baptism and every Eucharist is that wound.
That changed how I looked at the painting. The rays weren't decorative. They were pointing back to the moment a soldier opened Christ's side — and two thousand years of sacramental life began flowing out.
But the phrase took longer. As my faith grew, it started to cost something. It began to challenge the way I was living, the choices I was making. And in those moments the question under the phrase got clearer. Was I going to keep doing what I wanted and what I thought was right, or was I going to go deeper with Christ and trust where he was calling me, even when I couldn't see the end?
That is what trust in a relationship looks like. Not a feeling. A decision to follow.
The picture I didn't like and didn't understand slowly pulled me into the relationship it was pointing to all along.
This is the Sacred Heart. Not just a devotional image. A heart that gave everything — poured itself out — and now asks one thing back. Not perfection. Not a list of practices. Trust.
My Response for Today:
Today I will identify one place in my life where I am trusting myself instead of Jesus.