Commentary on Todays Gospel - St. Faustina Kowalska

Commentary of the day - Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), Religious Sister
Diary, para. 1306

"My friend, move up to a higher position"

O humility, lovely flower, I see how few souls possess you. Is it because you are so beautiful and at the same time so difficult to attain? Oh yes, it is both the one and the other. Even God takes pleasure in her.

The floodgates of heaven are open to the humble soul and a sea of graces flows down on her. O how beautiful is a humble soul! From her heart, as from a censer, rises a varied and most pleasing fragrance, which breaks through the skies and reaches God himself, filling his most Sacred Heart with joy.

God refuses nothing to such a soul; she is all-powerful and influences the destiny of the whole world. God raises such a soul up to his very throne, and the more she humbles herself, the more God stoops down to her, pursuing her with his graces and accompanying her at every moment with his omnipotence. Such a soul is most deeply united to God.   O humility, strike deep roots in my whole being. O Virgin most pure, but also most humble, help me to attain deep humility. Now I understand why there are so few saints; it is because so few souls are deeply humble.

The Power of Praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Saint Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in the village of Glogowiec west of Lodz, Poland, on August 25, 1905. In 1935, St. Faustina received a vision of an angel sent by God to chastise a certain city. She began to pray for mercy, but her prayers were powerless. Suddenly she saw the Holy Trinity and felt the power of Jesus’ grace within her. At the same time she found herself pleading with God for mercy with words
she heard interiorly:

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; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us. (Diary, 475)

As she continued saying this inspired prayer, the angel became helpless and could not carry out the deserved punishment (see 474). The next day, as she was entering the chapel, she again heard this interior voice, instructing her how to recite the prayer that our Lord later called "the Chaplet." This time, after "have mercy on us" were added the words "and on the whole world" (476). From then on, she recited this form of prayer almost constantly, offering it especially for the dying.

The following morning, Sister Faustina heard these interior words: "Every time you enter the chapel, start reciting the prayer which I taught you yesterday" (476).

Redemptive Suffering

If suffering is the greatest form of love, then meditation on Our Lord's passion is the greatest form of meditation. As Jesus told Saint Faustina once; "There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood; the contemplation of My painful wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy." A soul that always has Our Lord's Passion and Our Lady's agony on the forefront of its mind will make rapid progress in the spiritual life, for it is through the passion of Our Lord that God's love for man is revealed in its highest form. We read similar sentiments in a vision given to Saint Faustina, during a time when she had great dryness of prayer;

Diary, October 11, 1933 : "Jesus was suddenly standing before me, stripped of His clothes, His body completely covered with wounds, His eyes flooded with tears and blood, His face disfigured and covered with spittle. The Lord then said to me, "The bride must resemble her Betrothed." I understood these words to the very depth. There is no room for doubt here. My likeness to Jesus must be through suffering and humility. "See what love of human souls has done to Me. My daughter, in your heart I find everything that so great a number of souls refuses Me. Your heart is My repose. I often wait with great graces until towards the end of prayer."

Padre Pio, Secrets of a Soul: "When Jesus wants me to understand that He loves me, He allows me to savor the wounds, the thorns, the agonies of His passion...When He wants to delight me, He fills my heart with that spirit which is all fire; He speaks to me of His delights. But when He wants to be delighted, He speaks to me of His sorrows, He invites me -- with a voice full of both supplication and authority -- to affix my body [to the cross] in order to alleviate His suffering. Who can resist Him? I realize how much my miseries have caused Him to suffer, how much I have offended Him. I desire no other than Jesus alone, I want nothing more than His pains (because this is what Jesus wishes).

Let me say--since no one can hear me--I am disposed to remain forever deprived of the sweetness Jesus allows me to feel. I am ready to suffer Jesus hiding His beautiful eyes from me, so long as He does not hide His love from me, because then I would die. But I do not feel I can be deprived of suffering--for this I lack strength. [...] Perhaps I have not yet expressed myself clearly with regards to the secret of this suffering. Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, wants all Christians to imitate Him; He has offered this chalice to me yet again, and I have accepted it. That is why He does not spare me. My humble sufferings are worth nothing, but Jesus delights in them because He loved [suffering] on earth...Now shouldn't this alone be enough to humiliate me, to make me seek to be hidden from the eyes of men, since I was made worthy of suffering with Jesus and as Jesus? Ah, my father! I feel too keenly my ingratitude toward God's majesty."

From http://www.religious-vocation.com/redemptive_suffering.html

St Maria Faustina Kowalska - Saint of the Divine Mercy; The Devotion for our Times

5th October, the Feast Day of St. Faustina Kowalska secretary of Jesus Divine Mercy.  Born Helena Kowalska on August 25th  1905 in Glogowiec, Poland. –  At the age of 33, Sister Faustina died in Krakow of tuberculosis. She went home to the Lord on October 5, 1938. In 1968, the process of beatification was started in Rome. On April 13, 1993, after completion of the beatification process, Pope John Paul II declared that Sister Faustina would be known as Blessed Faustina.

It was just seven years later — on April 30, 2000 — that Sister Faustina was elevated to the title of Saint Faustina. The declaration of her sainthood was scheduled on a Sunday of particular importance to Sister Faustina. April 30th was the Sunday after Easter which was also the Sunday Sister Faustina said Jesus would like dedicated to his Divine Mercy.  St. Faustina wrote about her spiritual experiences and her conversations with Jesus in her Diary. 


"I am to write down the encounters of my soul with You, O God, at the moments of Your special visitations. I am to write about You, O Incomprehensible in mercy towards my poor soul. Your holy will is the life of my soul. I have received this order through him who is for me Your representative here on earth, who interprets Your holy Will to me. Jesus, You see how difficult it is for me to write, how unable I am to put down clearly what I experience in my soul. O God, can a pen write down that for which many a time there are no words? But You give the order to write, O God; that is enough for me." (Diary, 6).


"[April] 26. On Friday, when I was at Ostra Brama to attend the ceremony during which the image was displayed, I heard a sermon given by my confessor [Father Sopocko]. This sermon about Divine Mercy was the first of the things that Jesus had asked for so very long ago. When he began to speak about the great mercy of the Lord, the image came alive and the rays pierced the hearts of the people gathered there, but not all to the same degree. Some received more, some less. Great joy filled my soul to see the grace of God.

Then I heard the words, You are a witness of My mercy. You shall stand before My throne forever as a living witness to My mercy." (Diary, 417)

Jesus makes great promises to those who spread this devotion and trust in Him...

"But God has promised a great grace especially to you and to all those... who will proclaim My great mercy. I shall protect them Myself at the hour of death, as My own glory. And even if the sins of soul are as dark as night, when the sinner turns to My mercy he gives Me the greatest praise and is the glory of My Passion. When a soul praises My goodness, Satan trembles before it and flees to the very bottom of hell." (Diary, 378)

"Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield through their entire lives as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior. At that last hour, a soul has nothing with which to defend itself except My mercy. Happy is the soul that during its lifetime immersed itself in the Fountain of Mercy, because justice will have no hold on it. " (Diary, 1075)

" The Lord said to me, My daughter, do not tire of proclaiming My mercy. In this way you will refresh this Heart of Mine, which burns with a flame of pity for sinners. Tell My priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak." (Diary, 1521)

Jesus also warns those who do not recognise the Message of Divine Mercy which is His work to save souls from eternal damnation.  Let us pray to St. Faustina that all Priests will become more open to this work of Mercy of Jesus and establish the Feast Day properly in their Churches for the next Divine Mercy Sunday May 1st 2011 and that His Image of Divine Mercy be placed in a prominent place in our Churches and be properly venerated so that all souls may have access to it.  We must never undermine the importance of this great devotion to save souls and to free souls from their suffering in purgatory. 

When once I asked the Lord Jesus how He could tolerate so many sins and crimes and not punish them, the Lord answered me, I have eternity for punishing [these], and so I am prolonging the time of Mercy for the sake of [sinners]. But woe to them if they do not recognize this time of My visitation. My daughter, secretary of My Mercy, your duty is not only to write about and proclaim My Mercy, but also to beg for this grace for them, so that they too may glorify My Mercy. 

The Souls in Purgatory

Purgatory is not a walk in the park, it is a place of great suffering as we know from many of the Saints of the Church who have seen it or have had souls from Purgatory visiting them.  They are in great need of our Prayers and most especially we should have Masses said for them.
Here below is an excerpt from St. Faustina's diary on her experience of Purgatory...

Diary No. 20 - Vision of Purgatory

"One day I asked the Lord, ‘Lord, who else should I pray for?’ Jesus said that on the following night He would let me know for whom I should always pray for.


The following night, I saw my Guardian Angel who asked me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call her ‘The Star of the Sea.’ She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more, but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of the prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice] which said, My mercy does not want this, but justice demands it. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls."

Diary No. 58

"One night, a sister who had died two months previously came to me. She was a sister of the first choir. I saw her in a terrible condition, all in flames with her face painfully distorted. This lasted only a short time, and then she disappeared. A shudder went through my soul because I did not know whether she was suffering in purgatory or in hell. Nevertheless, I redoubled my prayers for her. The next night she came again, but I saw her in an even more horrible state, in the midst of flames which were even more intense, and despair was written all over her face. I was astonished to see her in a worse condition after the prayers I had offered for her, and I asked, ‘Haven’t my prayers helped you?’ She answered that my prayers had not helped her and that nothing would help her. I said to her, ‘And the prayers which the whole community has offered for you, have they not been any help to you?’ She said no, that these prayers have helped some other souls. I replied, ‘If my prayers are not helping you, Sister, please stop coming to me.’ She disappeared at once. Despite this, I kept on praying.


"After some time she came back again to me during the night, but already her appearance had changed. There were no longer any flames, as there had been before, and her face was radiant, her eyes beaming with joy. She told me that I had a true love for my neighbor and that many other souls had profited from my prayers. She urged me not to cease praying for the souls in purgatory, and she added that she herself would not remain there much longer. How astounding are the decrees of God!"

And from a sermon by the Cure of Ars on Purgatory...
 
Saint Peter Damien tells that his sister remained several years in Purgatory because she had listened to an evil song with some little pleasure. It is told that two religious promised each other that the first to die would come to tell the survivor in what state he was. God permitted the one who died first to appear to his friend. He told him that he was remaining fifteen years in Purgatory for having liked to have his own way too much. And as his friend was complimenting him on remaining there for so short a time, the dead man replied: "I would have much preferred to be flayed alive for ten thousand years continuously, for that suffering could not even be compared with what I am suffering in the flames." A priest told one of his friends that God had condemned him to remain in Purgatory for several months for having held back the execution of a will designed for the doing of good works. Alas, my dear brethren, how many among those who hear me have a similar fault with which to reproach themselves?
 
Prayer of St. Gertrude -  Eternal Father, I offer you the Most Precious Blood of your Divine Son Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for those in my own home and in my own family.  Amen

Short video on the life of Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko.

Called to be Children of Light

As Christians we are called to follow Christ and the Gospel.  To put our faith, our hope and our trust in Jesus who is all powerful.  In some circles there is a strange fascination with praying against evil spirits, binding evil spirits and deliverance prayers.   But I have never read anything in the Saints writings about deliverance ministries or about binding evil spirits except of course in relation to the ministry of exorcism which is for Priests alone.  St. Jean Vianney and St. Padre Pio for instance endured many direct attacks from the evil one.  But they simply concentrated their lives on Christ, the celebration of the Holy Sacraments, and praying to Our Lady and the Saints.  The evil one hated them because they were saving many souls through their lives of prayer and sanctity.

Jesus, Mary, the Saints and the Angels will protect us and fight for us on our behalf when we turn to them in prayer.  We have the Sacraments of Confession and the Holy Eucharist, the Rosary and Sacramentals (holy water, scapulars, relics etc).  We have great treasures in our Church.  I think we have to be very careful and wary of praying directly against evil spirits and using deliverance prayers.  This should be left to a Priest who is trained in this area if someone needs help.    When we think of the Saints such as St. Jean Vianney, St. Padre Pio, St. Faustina, St. Therese, St. John of the Cross and so many more, none of them mention deliverance ministries or how to bind evil spirits.   Their lives were centred on Christ and the Gospel, and that is all they needed.  The Holy Mass, regular Confession, Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary, devotion to Our Lady, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Prayers to St. Michael and the Angels, living a life of honesty and simplicity, doing the works of mercy, reading the Bible and the lives of the Saints and staying away from sin - these are our remedies against evil...

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Priest & Servant of Jesus Divine Mercy

Bl. Fr. Michael Sopocko was the primary Spiritual Director and Confessor of St. Faustina.  If it was not for Fr. Sopocko, the Divine Mercy diary would never have come about as it was under his instructions that St. Faustina began writing her conversations with Jesus and the details of her own spiritual life.  It was Jesus who chose Bl. Fr. Sopocko for this mission and said of him "This is the visible help for you on earth. He will help you to carry out My will on earth" (Diary, 53). and also "He is a priest after My own Heart.  Through him it pleases Me to proclaim the worship of My mercy" (Diary, 1256).

Fr. Sopocko was born in Nowosady in present day Lithuania on November 1st in 1888 of a very poor and hardworking family.  He was raised in this deeply religious family where daily family prayer and frequent attendance at services in the parish church 18 kilometers away was normal practice. 

Michael entered the Seminary in 1910 and was ordained a Priest at the age of 25 on June 15, 1914.   His first appointment was at the parish of Taboryszki near Vilnius. In the summer of 1915, the German-Russian front passed through Taboryszki. Father Sopocko consoled those who were injured by the passing army.  In 1919 Fr. Sopocko signed up as a military chaplain during the War, serving soldiers on the front line, celebrating Mass and hearing Confessions for the soldiers as well as caring for the wounded.  In Oct 1919, he registered to study at the University Warsaw studying moral theology, law and philosophy.

Later he was requested by the Bishop of Vilnius to return to Vilnius where he continued his learning by distance. He received a doctorate in 1926 and was later appointed as Spiritual Director to the Seminary and head of the Pastoral Theology Department at Vilnius University. Father Sopocko would be stationed in Vilnius in one capacity or another for many years, and in one of those years — 1933 — a particular sister would be transferred to the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Vilnius and become his penitent. This would result in a new mission that would not only affect Fr. Sopocko but eventually the whole world.

Jesus to St. Faustina "His thought is closely united with Mine, so be at peace about what concerns My work. I will not let him make a mistake, and you should do nothing without his permission" (Diary, 1408)

The painting of the Image (of Merciful Jesus) and the exposition of the Image for public honor, making the Chaplet to the Divine Mercy widely known, undertaking preliminary efforts to establish the Feast of the Divine Mercy and the founding of the new Congregation all took place in Vilnius thanks to Father Michael Sopocko. From that time the collaborative efforts, brought to fruition at the cost of prayer and suffering, now radiate to embrace the whole world.

 

Father Sopocko writes in his diary: "There are the truths which are known and often heard and spoken but not understandable. It was like that with me, concerning the truth of Divine Mercy. So many times I mentioned this truth in my sermons and thought about it during the retreats. I repeated it in church prayers - especially in Psalms - but I didn’t understand the meaning of this truth, and I didn’t get to the core of its essence, that it is the highest attribute of God’s external activity. It was only this simple nun, S. Faustina from the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (Magdalens), who, by telling me this truth in simple terms and often repeating it, stimulated me to examine, study and think about this truth.

(...) in the beginning I didn’t know what the problem was; I listened, distrusted, thought, studied and sought advice from others - but only several years after did I understand the greatness and importance of this work. Only then was i convinced about the effectiveness of this old, but hugely neglected life-giving devotion, and the neccesity for its renewal in or times. (...) Trust in God’s Mercy, and the spreading of devotion to His mercy among others will be the general principle of the rest of my life. With the help of His immeasurable mercy I will devote of all thoughts, words and deeds to it, without a shadow of myself".  

  Jesus to St. Faustina - "As a result of his efforts, "A new light will shine in the Church of God for the consolation of souls"

(Diary, 1390).

St. Faustina writes ..."I was talking with my spiritual director, I had an interior vision, of his soul in great suffering, in such agony that God touches very few souls with such fire. The suffering arises from this work. There will come a time when this work, which God is demanding so very much, will be as though utterly undone. And then God will act with great power, which will give evidence of its authenticity. It will be a new splendor for the Church, although it has been dormant in it from long ago. Diary 378

   

 

Fr. Sopocko would also found the new community that was requested by Jesus to St. Faustina now known as the Sisters of Merciful Jesus.  On February 3, 1942, the first meeting of the six candidates of the newly founded congregation took place in Fr. Sopocko’s apartment. Similar meetings were few. Unfortunately on March 3, 1942, Germans organized a raid and arrested almost all the priests. Father Michael Sopocko was searched for by the Gestapo for helping Jews, but he escaped from Vilnius. He was able to get to the Ursulane sisters’ convent in Czarny Bor, 4 km away from Vilnius, where he spent 2 1/2 years working as a carpenter. He communicated with the six sisters through letters. Every now and then one of the six would visit him. Father Sopocko came back to Vilnius on August 19, 1944. In November, Faustina Osinska together with her friends, asked him to accept their vows. In connection with this on November 9, 1944, he started to give to the first six a retreat. This retreat was to be an immediate preparation for the ceremony of the vows, which were planned for November 16.

 "After the retreat, at the appointed day, on early and dark morning, for the curfew was still obligatory, from different parts of the city, six girls came from the Zarzecze suburb, to the chapel of Carmelite Sisters’. There in a "catacomb" atmosphere after Holy Mass at five o’clock they took their simple private vows of loyal service to the Most Merciful Savior and His Merciful Mother. It is impossible to describe with words the joyful atmosphere that prevailed among the "newly vowed" of Christ. A simple meal was prepared at the convent gate by hospitable Sister Carmelites. How happy they were in spite of different kinds of lacking, they were so rich in spite of poverty showing itself from everywhere, they were brave and full of trust in spite of the dangers lying in wait from everywhere" (Michael Sopocko, memoirs).

Fr. Sopocko also wrote  "I congratulate you, dear Sisters. This is a special grace of Divine Mercy that has revealed itself in your vocation. Chosen ones of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pillars of the future convent, confidantes of God’s mysteries, most desired and prayed for, for the past five years in each daily Holy Mass" (Letter to the Sisters from Czarny Bor).

Referenced from: http://www.faustina-message.com/

  Bl. Fr. Michael Sopocko died on 15th February 1975 in Poleska Street in Bialystok.  And 33 years later, Fr. Sopocko was proclaimed Blessed by the Church and was beatified in Bialystok on 28th September 2008. 

Words from Bl. Michael Sopocko..

Priest and Servant of Jesus Divine Mercy

The motto ‘Jesus, I trust you!’ warms up what was cold, softens what was hard, revives what was withered, lights what was going out and instead of hatred that divides all people today it unites individuals, families, societies, nations and countries with an embrace of real brotherly love of God and neighbour."

"The message of the Gospel does not depend on proclaiming that sinners should become good, but rather that God is good for sinners"

Visions and Visionaries

We have very many approved apparitions and mystics in the Church.  Though the Church does not require us to believe in private revelation.   But God does intervene directly sometimes to alert mankind to come back to Him.  

Mary, the Mother of God appeared in Lourdes, France to St. Bernadette in 1858  and in 1917 in Fatima, Portugal to three young children to ask everyone to turn back to God and to prayer. 

The Lord Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque between 1673-75 and so began the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Then in the 1930's Jesus appeared  to a Polish nun St. Maria Faustina Kowalska to make known His great Mercy for souls and to have her spread devotion to His Divine Mercy.  We also had St. Pio of Pietrelcina who suffered the stigmata and who put himself completely under the authority of the Church.  These are just some of the approved private revelations and mystics in the Church.

And of course with every genuine visionary there will be many false ones. St. John of the Cross wrote of the dangers of seeking to have visions or special gifts  "... the devil causes many to believe in vain visions and false prophecies; and strives to make them presume that God and the saints are speaking with them; and they often trust their own fancy. And the devil is also accustomed, in this state, to fill them with presumption and pride, so that they become attracted by vanity and arrogance, and allow themselves to be seen engaging in outward acts which appear holy, such as raptures and other manifestations. Thus they become bold with God, and lose holy fear, which is the key and the custodian of all the virtues; and in some of these souls so many are the falsehoods and deceits which tend to multiply, and so inveterate do they grow, that it is very doubtful if such souls will return to the pure road of virtue and true spirituality."


Most of the above approved visionaries were poor, uneducated, and also suffered greatly because of the mission that God had given to them.   They did not become Saints because they had witnessed apparitions or that they had extraordinary gifts, but because they lived lives of heroic virtue and holiness.  They also submitted themselves completely to the authority of the Church and were totally obedient to their superiors.  When 'visionaries' start giving out publicly about the Church authorities or are openly disobedient to the requests of the Parish Priest or local Bishop, they are not genuine.  St. Pio was silenced for eleven years by the Church and he obeyed.  And of course this showed that he was a man of genuine holiness. 

The following is an excerpt from St. Fausintas Diary on the importance of obedience to the authorities in the Church....

'Jesus told me, Go to Mother Superior and ask her to let you wear a hair shirt for seven days, and once each night you are to get up and come to the chapel. I said yes, but I found a certain difficulty in actually going to the Superior. In the evening Jesus asked me, How long will you put it off? I made up my mind to tell Mother Superior the very next time I would see her.

The next day before noon I saw Mother Superior going to the refectory and, since the kitchen, refectory and Sister Aloysia's little room are all close to each other, I asked Mother Superior to come into Sister Aloysia's room and told her of the wish of the Lord Jesus.

At that, Mother answered, "I will not permit you to wear any hair shirt. Absolutely not! If the Lord Jesus were to give you the strength of a colossus, I would then permit those mortifications."

I apologized for taking up Mother's time and left the room. At that very moment I saw Jesus standing at the kitchen door, and I said to Him, "You commanded me to ask for these mortifications, but Mother Superior will not permit them." Jesus said, I was here during your conversation with the Superior and know everything. I don't demand mortification from you, but obedience. By obedience you give great glory to Me and gain merit for yourself.


Also St. Faustina wrote  "Satan can even clothe himself in a cloak of humility, but he does not know how to wear the cloak of obedience." (Diary, par. 939).

St Margaret Mary Alacoque was told by Our Lord: "Listen, My daughter, and do not lightly believe and trust every spirit, for Satan is angry and will try to deceive you. So do nothing without the approval of those who guide you. Being thus under the authority of obedience, his efforts against you will be in vain, for he has no power over the obedient" [Autobiography].

Our Lady and St. Faustina

Our Lady also spoke to St. Faustina and was constantly consoling and encouraging her in the mission that she had which was to spread the message of Divine Mercy to the world.

On March 25th 1936 Our Lady appeared to St. Faustina and spoke to her the following words with regard to preparing the world for the second coming of Jesus. 

"Oh, how pleasing to God is the soul that follows faithfully the inspirations of His grace ! I gave the Saviour to the world, as for you, you have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy."  (Diary 635).

(Diary 449)  Then I saw the Blessed Virgin unspeakably beautiful. She came down from the altar to my kneeler, held me close to herself and said to me, "I am Mother to you all, thanks to the unfathomable mercy of God. Most pleasing to me is that soul which faithfully carries out the will of God". She gave me to understand that I had faithfully fulfilled the will of God and had thus found favour in His eyes. “Be courageous. Do not fear apparent obstacles, but fix your gaze upon the Passion of My Son, and in this way you will be victorious”. 

St Faustina's Diary 1585 - ' I saw the Mother of God clothed in a white gown, girt about with a golden cincture; and there were tiny stars, also of gold, over the whole garment, and chevron-shaped sleeves lined with gold. Her cloak was sky-blue, lightly thrown over the shoulders. A transparently veil was delicately drawn over her head, while her flowing hair was set off beautifully by a golden crown which terminated in little crosses. On Her left arm She held the Child Jesus. A blessed Mother of this type I had not yet seen. Then she looked at me kindly and said:

I am the Mother of God of Priests. At that, She lowered Jesus from Her arm to the ground, raised Her right hand heavenward and said: O God, bless Poland, bless Priests. Then She addressed me once again: Tell the priests what you have seen.

Prayer of St. Faustina to Our Lady

O Mary, my Mother and my Lady, I offer you my soul, my body, my life and my death and all that will come after it. I place everything in your hands, O my Mother, cover my soul with your virginal mantle and grant me the grace of purity of heart, soul and body. Defend me with your power against all enemies and especially against those who hide their malice behind the mask of virtue. Fortify my soul that pain may not break it. Mother of grace, teach me to live by God’s power.

O Mary, a terrible sword has pierced your holy soul. Except for God, no one knows of your suffering. Your soul does not break, it is brave, because it is with Jesus. Sweet Mother, unite my soul to Jesus, because it is only then that I will be able to endure all trials and tribulations and only in union with Jesus will my little sacrifices be pleasing to God. Sweetest Mother, continue to teach me about the interior life. May the sword of suffering never break me. O pure Virgin, pour courage into my heart and guard it. Amen.

Let down by those in the Church

People will always let us down.  We see this especially in the Church, because we are all sinners.  Perhaps we have high expectations of others because we expect people in the Church to be Christian towards us always.  Unfortunately this doesnt always happen.  As we know very well.  It is more often the case that the people that hurt us the most are those that are in the Church.   What can we do in this situation. 

We have to remember that it is only Christ we can depend on ultimately.  Jesus will never abandon us or hurt us when others do.  Many of the Saints were harshly treated within their own communities such as St. Francis, St Bernadette, St. John of the Cross, and St. Faustina just to name but a few. 
But when we look at Christ, He too was humiliated and painfully hurt by those around Him.  He was crushed by suffering because of jealousy and pure hatred from some members of His own community and ultimately betrayed by one of His disciples.  But He accepted all of this for us, for our sins.  So perhaps for those who feel abandoned, who feel lost, who feel let down by those in the Church, remember Christ on the Cross because He too felt the same.  It doesnt mean that we have to accept sin, no, but we must rise above it and yes we are called to love one another, but to do this we have to continually turn to Jesus.  We cannot always expect that love we give to others to be returned.  But, God calls us to love anyway.  It is a hard task but we are called to rely on Jesus and to trust Him alone.  He took up the way of suffering by taking up the Cross, so to follow Him, so must we.   It is not the Catholic Church in itself that lets us down, it is its members, we all let each other down. 

Lord have mercy on us for we have sinned. 

The Divine Mercy

The Image of Divine Mercy is an Image of great grace. It is not just a picture. Jesus appeared to the Polish nun, St. Faustina on Feb 22nd 1931 and asked her to have the Image painted as He appeared to her. The Rays of Mercy that flow from His heart signify the Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for making the souls righteous and the red ray stands for the blood which is the life of souls. The following in italics are the words of Jesus to St. Faustina..

Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world. (Diary 47)

I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory. (Diary 48)

I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature" :    Jesus, I trust in You." (Diary 327)