SAINT MARIA FAUSTINA
KOWALSKA, Virgin and Secretary of
the Divine Mercy
FEAST DAY: October 5th
CANONIZED A SAINT: In 2000 by
Pope John Paul II
PATRONAGE: The Divine Mercy of
Jesus
OUTLINE OF TEACHING
Born in 1905 in a small village of Poland, Helena (Saint Faustina) Kowalska would
be the means by which the Divine Mercy of Jesus would be proclaimed to the world.
Little did anyone know that the message would be proclaimed by a young religious
woman barely able to read or write. Saint Faustina suffered greatly, both physically
as well as spiritually as she was called upon by Jesus to live the message of mercy.
She wrote nearly 700 pages in six notebooks, detailing the mystical encounters with
Jesus, by which he details his mercy for all of mankind. Through it all, she spent
thirteen years as a religious Sister, living a humble, obedient life, before tuberculosis
took her life on October 5, 1938, at the age of thirty-three. She was canonized the
first saint of the new millennium on April 30, 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
SCRIPTURE READING
A reading from the Gospel of Saint Matthew
Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice.’ I
have come to call, not the self-righteous, but sinners.
~Matthew 9: 13
PRAYER
Lord,
hear the prayers of those who call on you,
through the intercession of Saint Maria Faustina,
forgive the sins of those who confess to you,
and in your merciful love
give us your pardon and your peace.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
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SAINT MARIA FAUSTINA KOWALSKA,
Virgin and Secretary of the Divine Mercy
INTRODUCTION
In the various Twelve-step programs, based on Alcoholics Anonymous, there is
the Fifth-step, by which the person “admitted to God, to ourselves and to another
human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” The number of psychologists and
psychiatrists available in any given city is another indication of the need people have
to unburden their souls. In the Catholic Church, we have had the greatest of gifts in
the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where the penitent receives God’s mercy and
forgiveness every time their sins are humbly confessed. Jesus yearns to pour forth
his mercy upon us, which is demonstrated greatly in the life of Saint Maria Faustina
Kowalska.
EARLY LIFE
Helena (Elena) Kowalska was born on August 25, 1905 at Głogowiec a small
village in Poland to a poor peasant family. She was the third of ten children, born to
pious parents who instilled in their children a deep love for God. She was able to
attend school for only three years, as her family needed her to work in order to help
provide money. Helena was known for her deep faith, piety and love of prayer.
When she was not working (she was also known as a hard worker) she could be
found in prayer in the local parish church. When Helena was only seven years old
(two years before her first Holy Communion), she felt a deep longing to enter
religious life. Even during her teenage years, Helena fasted often, which caused her
to experience intense periods of weakness. By the time Helena was fourteen years
old, she left her family to work as a domestic servant in the nearby cities of
Aleksandrów and Łódź.
ENTERED RELIGIOUS LIFE
Early on in her young life, Helena expressed to her parents a desire to enter a
convent and spend her life as a contemplative nun. Helena’s parents were less than
pleased and refused to allow her to enter religious life. In an attempt to be obedient
to her parents, Helena initially tried to stifle her calling until she beheld a vision of
the suffering Christ. In the vision, Jesus asked Helena in regard to her refusal to
enter a convent; “How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting
me off? (Diary, 9) Helena began an intensive search for a convent that would accept
her. Initially, she was turned down by many convents due to poor health. Finally,
she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw on
August 1, 1925 at the age of nineteen. Helena recorded in her Diary; “It seemed to
me that I had stepped into the life of Paradise. A single prayer was bursting forth from
my heart, one of thanksgiving.” (Diary, 17) After a few weeks, Helena experienced a
strong temptation to leave the convent for another one, where she could spend more
time in prayer. Once again, she experienced a mystical vision of Jesus, who
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appeared to her as having a tortured and wounded face; “It is you who will cause Me
this pain if you leave this convent. It is this place that I have called you and nowhere
else, and (it is here) I have prepared many graces for you.” (Diary, 19)
SISTER MARIA FAUSTINA
Upon her entrance to the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy,
Helena received the name of Sister Maria Faustina. She spent her novitiate in
Krakow and then served in various convents in Krakow, Płock and Vilnius as a
cook, gardener and doorkeeper or porter (in the spirit of Saint Alphonsus
Rodriguez, Blessed André Bessette and Venerable Solanus Casey, all featured on the
DTS website). Sister Faustina was very devoted to the Blessed Mother as well as to
Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Sisters, with
whom Sister Faustina lived, had no reason to suspect any supernatural or mystical
experiences with the young nun, as she simply went about her business with quite
observance. Sister Faustina recorded in her Diary, “You know that from my earliest
years I have wanted to become a great saint; that is to say, I wanted to love You with a
love so great that there would be no soul who has hitherto loved You so.” (Diary,
1372)
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES
Near the end of the first year of her novitiate, Sister Faustina began to experience
many mystical experiences of Jesus. One of the things Our Lord asked of Sister
Faustina was her willingness to lay down her life in sacrifice for sinners. Upon her
agreement to Our Lord’s request, Jesus began to speak to Sister Faustina,
interiorly. Our Lord ordered Sister Faustina to write down everything that he
wished to communicate to her; “My daughter, be diligent in writing down every
sentence I tell you concerning My mercy, because this is meant for a great number of
souls who will profit from it.” (Diary, 1142). Despite being nearly illiterate, Sister
Faustina began to record the mystical experiences in a Diary in what has now been
called Divine Mercy in my Soul, which consists of six notebooks. When the six
notebooks were published in book form, the total number of pages came to 635. The
notebooks were written phonetically, without quotation marks or punctuation. In
the diary, Sister Faustina recorded the love and mercy of Jesus and how much he
wants to pour out his mercy on us, his children. When we commit sin, we should
not run away from Jesus, rather, we should run to him. Jesus told Sister Faustina;
“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) Jesus also told Sister Faustina; “You are the secretary of My
mercy; I have chosen you for that office in this and the next life…to make known to
souls the great mercy that I have for them, and to exhort them to trust in the bottomless
depth of My mercy.” (Diary 1605 and 1567)
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“JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU”
On February 22, 1931, Sister Faustina experienced a
vision of Jesus, while in her convent cell. She recorded
in her Diary, “I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white
garment. One hand was raised in the gesture of blessing,
the other was touching the garment at the breast. From
beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside from at the
breast, there were emanating two large rays, one red, the
other pale…After a while, Jesus said to me, ‘Paint an
image according to the pattern you see, with the
signature: Jesus, I trust in You.” (Diary, 47) Sister
Faustina was asked by Jesus to be a model of mercy to
others and to live the entirety of her life in imitation of
Christ’s, as a sacrifice. By 1935, Sister Faustina had
commissioned the painting of the above described
image, which showed the red and white light shining
from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
HOUR OF MERCY
In another vision, Jesus conveyed to Sister Faustina his desire for people to
observe the three o’clock hour as the “hour of mercy.” As the three o’clock hour has
traditionally been considered the hour in which Jesus died, he told Sister Faustina;
“as often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in
My mercy, adoring and glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and
particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment mercy was opened wide for every
soul.” (Diary, 1572)
DEATH OF SISTER FAUSTINA
Early on in her life as a nun, Sister Faustina contracted tuberculosis. The disease
attacked not only her lungs, but her alimentary canal (passage in the body through
which food travels) as well. Twice, Sister Faustina went away for treatment at the
hospital in Krakow. After thirteen years as a religious and thirty-three years of age,
Sister Faustina died, on October 5, 1938 from the ravages of tuberculosis. Her body
was laid to rest in the cemetery in Krakow. In 1966, during the investigative process
for her cause for canonization, her remains were transferred to the convent chapel,
where they are to this day.
POST-SCRIPT – POPE JOHN PAUL II
Initially, the six notebooks of Sister Faustina sent to Rome in 1958 were
considered heretical as they received a poor translation. From that time forward,
the Vatican had ordered the promotion of the Divine Mercy as well as the life of
Sister Faustina to be put on hold while an extensive investigation took place.
Precious little came of the investigation, until a fellow Polish citizen of Sister
Faustina was first appointed archbishop of Krakow and later elected Pope in
October of 1978, some forty-years after the death of the mystical nun. Pope John
Paul II, while still archbishop of Krakow ordered a better translation of the
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notebooks to be put together and sent on to Rome. The Vatican authorities realized
that instead of a work of heresy, they in fact had a work rich in theology in the
proclamation of God’s love and mercy. It should also be noted that Pope John Paul
II’s second papal encyclical Dives in Misericordia (On the Mercy of God) was
published on December 2, 1980; just two years after his election to the papacy. Pope
John Paul II declared Sister Faustina as Venerable on March 7, 1992; beatified her
on April 18, 1993 and Canonized her the first saint of the new millennium on April
30, 2000. It is my humble opinion that someday, possibly very soon, Saint Maria
Faustina Kowalska will be declared the fourth woman doctor of the church, along
with Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint Catherine of Sienna and Saint Therese of Lisieux.
CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which can be prayed on regular rosary beads was
dictated to Sister Faustina by Jesus over night on September 13 – 14, 1935. Our
Lord encourages the praying of the Chaplet everyday at the Hour of Mercy, if at all
possible. The following prayers are very short and easy to memorize:
1.) While holding the crucifix of the rosary, pray One Our Father, One Hail
Mary and the Apostles Creed
2.) On the Our Father beads say the following prayer: “Eternal Father, I offer
You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our
Lord Jesus Christ for our sins and those of the whole world.” (Diary, 475)
3.) On the Hail Mary beads say the following prayer: “For the sake of His
sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” (Diary, 475)
4.) Conclude by saying the following prayer three times: “Holy God, Holy
Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
(Diary, 476)
READING
A reading from the writings of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, virgin
Almost every feast of the Church gives me a deeper knowledge of God and a special
grace. That is why I prepare myself for each feast and unite myself closely with the
spirit of the Church. What a joy it is to be a faithful child of the Church! Oh, how
much I love Holy Church and all those who live in it! I look upon them as living
members of Christ, who is their Head. I burn with love with those who love; I suffer
with those who suffer. I am consumed with sorrow at the sight of those who are cold
and ungrateful; and I then try to have such a love for God that it will make amends for
those who do not love Him, those who feed their Savior with ingratitude at its worst.
O my God, I am conscious of my mission in the Holy Church. It is my constant
endeavor to plead for mercy for the world. I unite myself closely with Jesus and stand
before Him as an atoning sacrifice on behalf of the world. God will refuse me nothing
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when I entreat Him with the voice of His Son. My sacrifice is nothing in itself, but
when I join it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it becomes all-powerful and has the
power to appease divine wrath. God loves us in His Son; the painful Passion of the
Son of God constantly turns aside the wrath of God.
O God, how I desire that souls come to know You and to see that You have created
them because of Your unfathomable love. O my Creator and Lord, I feel that I am
going to remove the veil of heaven so that earth will not doubt Your goodness.
POINTS TO PONDER
1.) How God can use us, regardless of our education or lack thereof.
2.) The ways in which God conveys His mercy to us and how we can be merciful
to others and most especially, to ourselves.
3.) Jesus truly wants us to trust in him and his mercy for our lives.
SOURCES USED
1.) Divine Mercy in My Soul – Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska (Published by
the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, MA - ©1996)
2.) John Paul II – A Light for the World – Edited by Sister Mary Ann Walsh,
RSM (Published by Sheed and Ward, New York, NY - ©2003)
3.) Unpublished Source Material
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