On October 5, the Roman Catholic Church commemorates and honors the life of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a polish nun, to whom Christ appeared as the King of Divine Mercy, from 1931 until her death in 1938.
It is the day after the Memorial Feast of St. Francis
of Assisi (October 4). In fact, these memorial feast days in row, the same
Gospel Reading (Matthew 11:25-30) is read.
This Gospel Reading has two parts: the Father in
heaven reveals things in His will only to the humble (anawim) through
Christ the Son, so that they may come to know the Father through him (vv. 25-27)
and Christ’s invitation to yoke with him (vv.28-30).
Both St. Francis and St. Faustina served Christ humbly
(Acts 20:19). And they were drawn to him, upon their encounters with him,
abided in him (John 15:14), being yoked with him in his humility and gentleness
(Matthew 11:29). And things in God’s
will for us have been revealed through their respective services.
Through St. Francis’ service to repair the Church,
Christ’s poverty and love, symbolized with the Cross, have been revealed,
directed to let all creatures praise God for His goodness and glory. Then, what
service did St. Faustina performed for him and what did he reveal through her humble
service?
Thanks to St. John Paul II, who beatified and
canonized her, St. Faustina and her service to Christ, have been made known,
especially through her diary, in which she meticulously wrote what Christ
revealed to her.
The Church venerates St. Faustina for her humble
service as the Secretary of the Divine Mercy to the King of Divine Mercy, who
is Christ himself. And through her service, Christ revealed himself as the Divine
Mercy, calling us to draw ourselves to abide in his Mercy.
As St. Francis sung his praise to God, reflecting
Psalm 148, St. Faustina praised the Divine Mercy:
Be praised, merciful God, One God in the
Holy Trinity,
Unfathomable, infinite, incomprehensible,
immersing themselves in You, their minds
cannot comprehend You,
So they repeat without end their eternal:
Holy.
Be glorified, O merciful Creator of ours,
O Lord,
Omnipotent, but full of compassion,
inconceivable.
To love You is the mission of our
existence,
Singing our eternal hymn: Holy...
Be blessed, merciful God, Eternal Love.
You are above the heavens, the saphires,
the firmaments.
The host of pure spirits sings You
praises,
With its eternal hymn: Thrice Holy.
And, gazing upon You, face to face, O God,
I see that You could have called other
creatures before them (Diary 1741).
And at the beginning of her diary, St. Faustina wrote
her mission as the Secretary of the Divine Mercy to the King of the Divine
Mercy:
O Eternal Love, You command Your Sacred
Image to be painted.
And reveal to us the inconceivable fount
of mercy,
You bless whoever approaches Your rays,
And a soul all black will turn into snow.
O sweet Jesus, it is here. You established
the throne of Your mercy
To bring joy and hope to sinful man.
From Your open Heart, as from a pure
fount,
Flows comfort to a repentant heart and soul.
May praise and glory for this Image
Never cease to stream from man's soul.
May praise of God's mercy pour from every
heart,
Now, and at every hour, and forever and
ever.
O My God
When I look into the future, I am
frightened,
But why plunge into the future?
Only the present moment is precious to me,
As the future may never enter my soul at
all.
It is no longer in my power,
To change, correct or add to the past;
For neither sages nor prophets could do
that.
And so, what the past has embraced I must
entrust to God.
O present moment, you belong to me, whole
and entire.
I desire to use you as best I can.
And although I am weak and small,
You grant me the grace of your
omnipotence.
And so, trusting in Your mercy,
I walk through life like a little child,
Offering You each day this heart
Burning with love for Your greater glory.
J.M.J. [Jesus, Mary, and Joseph]
God and souls
King of Mercy, guide my soul (Diary
1-3).
Both St. Faustina and St. Francis, sharing the same
Gospel Reading (Matthew 11:25-30) for their feast days, remind us that God
reveals things in His will only to those who are humble. And they come to
Christ the Son, to yoke themselves with him and to abide in him. Thus, they seek
nothing for themselves but to serve him humbly and obediently. This is how we
come to know the Father, who has sent both the Son and the Holy Spirit.
In a way, Christ’s revelation of the Divine Mercy can
be juxtaposed to his eschatological prophetic revelation to Apostle John, as we
may draw a parallel between the Diary of St. Faustina and the Book of
Revelation (the Book of Apocalypse).
St. John was one of the apostolic servants to Christ,
kept alive (i.e. John 21:20-23) to receive his eschatological revelation and
pass it on to the Church (Revelation 1:1-3), and to care for his mother, Mary,
until her Assumption (John 19:27).
Christ chose St. Faustina to pass on his message of the Divine Mercy to the Church and the world, as he chose Apostle John to do with the eschatological prophesy. Today, we can listen to Jesus speaking of the eschatological consummation of God’s salvific and redemptive scheme in reading the Book of Revelation. We can also listen to him speaking of the salvific eschatological prophesy from a perspective of God’s mercy, as Christ the King of Mercy revealed to St. Faustina his desire for us to be saved through the Divine Mercy:
During prayer I heard these words within
me: The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water
which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life
of souls...
These two rays issued forth from the very
depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the
Cross.
These rays shield souls from the wrath of
My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand
of God shall not lay hold of him. I desire that the first Sunday after Easter
be the Feast of Mercy (Diary, 299).
O Blood and Water which gushed forth from
the Heart of Jesus as a Fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
(Diary, 309).
The words with which I entreated God are
these: 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; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us
(Diary, 475).
When I had said the prayer, in my soul I
heard these words: This prayer will serve to appease My wrath. You will recite
it for nine days, on the beads of the rosary, in the following manner: First of
all, you will say one OUR FATHER and HAIL MARY and the I BELIEVE IN GOD. Then
on the OUR FATHER beads you will say the following 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.” On
the HAIL MARY beads you will say the following words: “For the sake of His
sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.” In conclusion,
three times you will recite these words: “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy
Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
(Diary, 476).
My daughter, tell the whole world about My
inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter
for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of
My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls
who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and
receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and
punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are
opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as
scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be
able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come
forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation
to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of
Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be
solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have
peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy (Diary, 699).
My daughter, write down these words: All
those souls who will glorify My mercy and spread its worship, encouraging
others to trust in My mercy, will not experience terror at the hour of death.
My mercy will shield them in that final battle...
My daughter, encourage souls to say the
chaplet which I have given to you. It pleases Me to grant everything they ask
of Me by saying the chaplet. When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their
souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one.
Write this for the benefit of distressed
souls: when a soul sees and realizes the gravity of its sins, when the whole
abyss of the misery into which it immersed itself is displayed before its eyes,
let it not despair, but with trust let it throw itself into the arms of My
mercy, as a child into the arms of its beloved mother. These souls have a right
of priority to My compassionate Heart, they have first access to My mercy. Tell
them that no soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed or
brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust
in My goodness.
Write that when they say this chaplet in
the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person,
not as the just Judge but as the merciful Savior
(Diary, 1540-1541).
As the above excerpts from her Diary show, Christ spoke to
St. Faustina that the Divine Mercy is necessary for us to be blessed at the
heavenly wedding banquet (Revelation 19:6-9) and to enter the Kingdom (Revelation
21:1-22:5), as our names to be written in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:12-15).
To benefit from the salvific effects of the Divine Mercy, Christ calls us to
recite the Divine Mercy Chaplet and pray in front of the Image of the Divine
Mercy as to pray in front of the Cross, on which the incarnated Christ is crucified,
the blood and the water gushing out of his body on the Cross, as the shield of
the Divine Mercy from God’s wrath. Remember, the Chaplet and the Image are only
for those who truly desire to repent and seek Christ and his Divine Mercy.
Thanks to St. Faustina, we know this important
revelation of the Divine Mercy, fortifying his eschatological revelation to St.
John.
Now, how can we humbly serve Christ, the King of
Divine Mercy, being grateful to the service of St. Faustina as being the
Secretary of Divine Mercy?
First and foremost, we must be humble and obedient to
Christ, as these words of the King of Divine Mercy to his humble Secretary of
Divine Mercy remind:
Do
not value any external thing too highly, even if it were to seem very precious
to you. Let go of yourself, and abide with Me continually. Entrust everything
to Me and do nothing on your own, and you will always have great freedom of
spirit. No circumstances or events will ever be able to upset you. Set little
store on what people say. Let everyone judge you as they like. Do not make
excuses for yourself, it will do you no harm. Give away everything at the first
sign of a demand, even if they were the most necessary things. Do not ask for
anything without consulting Me. Allow them to take away even what is due you –
respect, your good name – let your spirit rise above all that. And so, set free
from everything, rest close to My Heart, not allowing your peace to be
disturbed by anything (Diary, 1685).
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