Kraków: the image of the Merciful Jesus composed out of 15,000 photographs

An the image of the Merciful Jesus composed out of 15,000 photographs sent in by the faithful from the entire world was unveiled on July 22 in the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Łagiewniki. The project was coordinated by religious sisters from the Faustyna2016 team and members of the Kraków-based community Christ in the Old Town.

The project was an international collaborative effort, as photos were sent in e.g. from all the countries in South America, Hong-Kong, New Zealand, and Australia.

As Konrad Ciempka who co-organised in the project indicated, "These were passport-size photos, group pictures, vacation snapshots, family and wedding pics, and even USG images of unborn children. One could feel the ‘great mess’ in the Church that Pope Francis advocates".

Sr. Gaudia Skass from the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy explains that the initiative was launched in order to let young people express their will to imitate Christ: "We wanted each picture submitted to us to be a kind of profession of the faith, an admission: 'Yes, I want to be like You. Merciful like You’".

The project took 110 days, during which time many people were anxiously waiting to learn the location of their photo. It turned out that no one wanted to be in the background of the picture.

"We therefore decided that the photographs will only be used for the figure of Jesus. In this way we managed to symbolically demonstrate the truth that we are all the Body of Christ. He is the Head of the Body, and we are all united within it", added Sr. Gaudia.

Upon the unveiling of the image in the convent yard of the Łagiewniki Shrine, many of eyewitnesses began to look for their picture. "My photo is located in the heart of Jesus; this is so much telling. This is a clear encouragement for me to engage in self-improvement, to work on the condition of the my own heart", said Michał from Kraków.

The image of the Merciful Jesus made of photographs of the faithful will be made available online, so that each person who contributed to its creation will be able to locate themselves in the figure of Christ.

"We wanted each picture sent in to be a kind of declaration: 'Yes, I want to be like You. Merciful like You'. In this way the young people might confess that they want to be similar to Jesus", said Sr. Gaudia Skass.

She added that many people shared their excitement and expectations about which part of the figure of Christ their picture had been located and it occurred that no one want their picture to be used as an element of the backdrop. Therefore the project authors decided to use the picture solely to “paint” Christ, as Sr. Skass indicated.

Work on the image, 5.9 x 2.5 m in size, took 110 days. "People would send in all kinds of pictures – small-sized ones, group and family ones and USG printouts of their unborn children. This was a great mess which proves that we can be active in the Church", observed Konrad Ciempka, a coorganiser of the event.

After the image was unveiled, many of the people in attendance started to look for their own picture within that of the Merciful Christ. Mateusz was one of those who managed to identify it. As he admitted, "This image is very close to my heart and therefore I wanted to be part of it. My photograph is in the heart of Jesus, which encourages me to change my heart, too".

The authors hope that the image will be noticed by Pope Francis during his visit to Łagiewniki on the ocassion of the World Yough Day.

KAI

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