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Sister Faustina Kowalska and Her Diary

07 sierpnia 2002 | 17:59 | Ⓒ Ⓟ

She is the first native Polish woman pronounced a saint. In her Diary she wrote down the message of the Divine Mercy which was unveiled to her in the course of numerous revelations of Lord Jesus.
She showed in her writings an extremely simple, universal and profoundly evangelical pattern of Christian perfection, resting on an attitude of trust to God and mercy to our neighbours.
Sister Faustina (Helena) Kowalska (1905-1938)
She is the first native Polish woman pronounced a saint. In her Diary she wrote down the message of the Divine Mercy which was unveiled to her in the course of numerous revelations of Lord Jesus.
Helena Kowalska was born into a farmer’s family from Głogowiec on August 25, 1905 as a third child in a family of 10. She attended school for nearly three years and then, in her early teens, left the family home to support herself and her parents while working as a domestic help to rich families in Aleksandrów, Łódź, and Ostrówek. She was a servant at the age of 16. In 1925, following many years of search, in spite of the disapproval of the parents and a lack of a dowry, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw. She worked in a few of the Congregation’s convents, the longest time in Cracow, Płock, and Vilnius. Her duties included those of a cook, gardener and porter.
With the exception of her superiors and confessors, no one realised the unique character of her experiences. Those, however, who were initiated by herself into her visions, were not favourably disposed. She would frequently hear from her spiritual directors: “Get it out of your head, Sister, that Lord Jesus should be so intimate with you, so miserable and imperfect. Lord Jesus is only close to the souls of saints.” Also Fr. Michał Sopoćko, who would later on spread the message of the Divine Mercy and who founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Merciful Jesus, initially tried to resign from the duty of
Sr. Faustina’s confessor and even had her take psychiatric tests.
In the last years of her life Sr. Faustina suffered tremendously from tuberculosis. She died in the odour of sanctity on October 5, 1938 at the age of 33. Her body was laid in a grave in the convent cemetery in Cracow-Łagiewniki. During the information process, in 1966 the relics of Sr. Faustina were laid under the floor of the chapel on the right side, and before the beatification were moved to a reliquary and placed on the altar under the image of the Merciful Jesus.
On April 18, 1993 Sr. Faustina was beatified, and on April 30, 2000 pronounced a saint.

*The Diary*
This is the only mystical text written down in Polish. The most significant truth and novelty of the message spread by Sr. Faustina was the definition of mercy as God’s greatest attribute: “God is Love, and Mercy is His action; in Love He is conceived, in Mercy he reveals Himself.”
The Diary, which belongs to the so-called marriage mysticism of which the works of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila are classical examples, was written within the last four years of Sr. Faustina’s life. She claimed that she had written down what she had experienced on the demand of Lord Jesus. Such was also the order of her confessor, Fr. Michał Sopoćko. The accounts of the mystical experiences were made in the intervals between hard physical work and other occupations, in spite of a lack of education and a severe illness of Sr. Faustina. The Diary is composed of 6 parts hand-written by Sr. Faustina and a book titled „My Preparation for the Holy Communion.”
In 1959 the Holy See banned the circulation of the Diary. As it turned out, the reason was a faulty translation of Sr. Faustina’s text. The nun who re-wrote the manuscripts, among others, missed out some sentences and did not highlight the words of Lord Jesus, which gave the impression that Faustina wanted worship for herself. After doubts were dispelled and a new edition of the Diary prepared, in 1978 Pope John Paul II lifted the ban imposed on the book. The first critical edition of the Diary, a faithful copy of the original, was published in 1981. Since the mid-1980s the Diary has been re-edited in Poland on a yearly basis. It has also been translated into many languages, recently also into Arabic.

*Revelations*
During the revelations Jesus entrusted Sr. Faustina with the mission of reminding the world of the truth inscribed in the Old Testament about the merciful love of God towards each and every person, of transmitting new ways of devotion to the Divine Mercy and finally of kindling apostolate of the Divine Mercy. The task of this apostolic movement is the pursuit of Christian perfection through trust and mercy, preaching with words and one’s life the mystery of the Divine Mercy and entreating for it for the whole world. All this is described by Sr. Faustina in her Diary.
In the work she wrote that Christ had appeared to her a few years prior to her entry into the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925. The first revelation took place during a ball when, as she says, Jesus admonished her for disregarding her vocation to religious life. Revelations were a part of Sr. Faustina’s life till the very end. They occurred in the peace and quiet of her cell, in chapel, in the garden, at work and during prayer. She also had the gift of contemplation, hidden stigmata, the gift of prophecy, and the reading of human souls.
According to the Diary, it was not until 1931 that Lord Jesus began to point to the nun the five ways in which people could entreat for salvation for themselves and the entire world. These were: a special prayer, referred to as “chaplet to Divine Mercy,” a prayer before the image “Jesus, I trust in You,” a prayer at the hour of Christ’s death on the Cross (3 p.m.), known as the Hour of Mercy, observance of the Feast of Mercy, and finally the propagation of the Divine Mercy devotion.
Each of the visions took place at a different place and time within a number of years. If Sr. Faustina was reluctant to fulfil the will of Christ, He would urge her to do so in the subsequent revelations, while she was praying, working or having a rest. Lord Jesus addressed to her the following call: „I send you to the entire humanity with my mercy. You are a secretary of my mercy; I have selected you for this office in this and in the future life so that you will make souls aware of my boundless mercy for them and encourage them to trust in the depth of my mercy.” A note from 1931 reads as follows: „In the evening I saw the Lord Jesus dressed in a white robe. One hand was raised for a blessing and the other touched the robe on the chest. There were two great rays emanating from the cut of the robe on the chest; one of the rays was red, the other pale. After a moment Jesus said to me: 'Paint an image modelled on the drawing you see, signed with the words I want this image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, which is to be the Feast of the Divine Mercy’.” The painting was painted by Adolf Hyła in 1943, supervised by Sr. Faustina.

*The Chaplet to Divine Mercy*
Each day this prayer joins millions of people throughout the world. Every day at 3 p.m., at the hour of Lord Jesus’ death, the faithful repeat the words written in the Diary: “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.” They also recite the words: “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” The prayer, spoken on the beads of the rosary, concludes with an invocation recited three times: “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world…” According to the text of Sr. Faustina, Lord Jesus promised that, provided it is in accordance with His will, He will grant graces to those who recite this prayer: “Souls who will recite this prayer will be enveloped by my mercy in life, and especially at the hour of death.”
Of special significance is the hour of reciting the prayer: „Whenever you hear the clock strike three p.m., get immersed in my mercy, glorifying and praising it: call upon its omnipotence for the whole world, and especially for the souls of poor sinners, since at this moment it is widely opened for all souls.” The Diary also mentions one other special promise made by Christ: “I protect the souls that spread the devotion to my mercy throughout their lives, as a mother protects her child, and at the hour of their death I will not be a Judge to them but a merciful Saviour.”
The chaplet to Divine Mercy has been translated into virtually all languages of the world, including African dialects.

*Devotion to the Divine Mercy*
Devotion to the Divine Mercy started to spread shortly after the death of Sr. Faustina, especially in the difficult years of World War II. Polish soldiers spread the message about the Divine Mercy throughout the world. They sewed small medals with the Merciful Jesus into their caps; these medals were made specifically for them in Vilnius. Thanks to the Poles from General Anders’ army, set up in 1941 in the Soviet Union, the devotion to Divine Mercy reached Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, and from there spread to Africa and Italy.
In 1943 a confessor of Sr. Faustina from Cracow, Fr. J. Andrasz, a Jesuit, blessed the image painted by Adolf Hyła, modelled on the vision of Sr. Faustina. The painting was offered to the convent chapel as a votive gift for the deliverance of a family during wartime. Fr. Andrasz also initiated a solemn service to the Divine Mercy. The chapel, which until then was used mainly by the Sisters and their students, became a place of public worship. Already the following year Fr. Andrasz blessed another painting of the Divine Mercy painted by A. Hyła, which was fitted into the niche in the aisle altar. The image soon became known for the miracles and graces.

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