SISTER FAUSTINA

 

 

 

 

 

 

SISTER MARIA FAUSTINA KOWALSKA

 

 

Her name

Is forever linked

To the annual feast

Of the DIVINE MERCY

Celebrated the 2^nd Sunday of Easter

And at the Divine Mercy prayer

Celebrated each day at 3pm

 

Born August 25th, 1905

In now west central Poland

Helena was the third of ten children

 

She worked

 

As a housekeeper

In three cities

Before joining

The congregation of The Sisters

Of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925

 

While there

She worked as a cook, a gardener, and porter

 

She had

A DEEP interior life

In addition

To serving the need of the sisters

And the local people

 

Many Catholics at that time

Had a deep fear of God

And thought

That they could not be forgiven

 

Jesus-appearing to Sister Maria Faustina

Once told her

 

“I do not

Want to punish aching mankind

But I desire to heal it

Pressing it to my merciful heart”

 

Sister Maria

Wrote in her diary

 

“Neither graces-nor revelations-nor raptures

-Nor gifts granted to a soul

Make it perfect

 

But rather

The intimate union of the soul

With God

 

These gifts

Are mercy ornaments

Of the soul

But constitute

Neither its essence nor its perfection

 

My sanctity and perfection

Consist of the close union

Of my will

With the will of God”

 

Jesus loved us so much

Had so much mercy on us

That he preferred to die for us

Than to see us spend eternity in suffering

 

“Because judgment without mercy

Will be shown to anyone

Who has not been merciful

 

Mercy triumphs over judgment!”                                                    James 2:13

 

Sister Maria Faustina

Died of tuberculosis in 1938

 

Pope John Paul II

Beatified her in 1993

And canonized her 7 years later

 

We thank Sister Faustina

For her revelations of our Lord’s mercy

For all of us

And we thank our Lord

For BEING a merciful God

 

As Psalm 136 says

“God’s LOVE (God’s mercy ) ENDURES FOREVER”

 

INDEED

 

Robert P. Wallman

11-11-12