October 5 is the feast day of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, the apostle of Divine Mercy and one of the most popular and well-known saints of the Church.
Through her, the Lord Jesus communicates to
the world the great message of God's mercy and reveals the pattern of Christian
perfection based on trust in God and on the attitude of mercy toward one's
neighbors.
Sister Faustina was born on
August 25, 1905 in Glogowiec, Poland of a poor and religious family
of peasants, the third of 10 children. She was baptized with the name
Helena in the parish church of Swinice Warckie. From a very tender age she
stood out because of her love of prayer, work, obedience, and also her
sensitivity to the poor. At the age of seven she had already felt the first
stirrings of a religious vocation.
Helen made
her first Holy Communion at the age of nine, which was very profound moment in
her awareness of the presence of the Divine Guest within her soul. She attended
school for three years. After finishing school, she wanted to enter the
convent, but her parents would not give her permission. Being of age
at 16, Helen left home and went to work as a housekeeper in Aleksandrów,
Lodi, and Ostrówek in order to find the means of supporting herself and of
helping her parents.
The Lord Jesus chose Sr Maria Faustina as
the Apostle and "Secretary" of His Mercy, so that she could tell the
world about His great message, which Sr Faustina recorded in a diary she
titled Divine Mercy in My Soul. In the Old Covenant He said to
her: "I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today
I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do
not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My
Merciful Heart." (Diary, 1588)
In an extraordinary way, Sr. Maria
Faustina's work sheds light on the mystery of the Divine Mercy. It delights not
only the simple and uneducated people, but also scholars who look upon it as an
additional source of theological research. The Diary has been
translated into more than 20 languages, including, English, German, Italian,
Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish,
Castilian, Brazilian, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Ukrainian, Dutch
and Japanese.
Sister Maria Faustina, consumed by
tuberculosis and by innumerable sufferings which she accepted as a voluntary
sacrifice for sinners, died in Krakow at the age of just 33 on
October 5, 1938, with a reputation for spiritual maturity and a
mystical union with God. The reputation of the holiness of her life grew as did
the cult to the Divine Mercy and the graces she obtained from God through her intercession.
In the years 1965-67, the Investigative
Process into her life and heroic virtues was undertaken in Krakow and in the
year 1968, the Beatification Process was initiated in Rome. The latter
came to an end in December 1992.
On April 18, 1993 our Holy
Father, John Paul II raised St Faustina to the glory of the altars.
She was canonized on April 30, 2000. St. Maria Faustina's
remains rest at the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Krakow-Lagiewniki.
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