St. Faustina

Being an eighties baby, (as well as Polish on my mother’s side) John Paul II was THE pope for my generation. While we love and adore Benedict, the magnitude of love that JPII professed in his vocation was without a doubt one of the best examples of how to love as Christ loved. But instead of talking about the wonderful Karol Wojtyła, today I want to talk about the quiet saint through whom John Paul II brought us the wonderful Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska.

Divine Mercy Sunday is the second Sunday of Easter, a holiday the late John Paul II established in 2000 in honor of St. Faustina’s mystic visions of Christ in the 1930s in her native Poland.

Called to be a nun at an early age, Sr. Faustina was visited by Christ multiple times, asked to spread to mercy of God to the people around her. One of the visions we know quite well is the painting of our Lord with His right hand raised, a stream of blood and water coming from His heart, and the words “Jesus, I trust in You” written underneath. Sr. Faustina instructed an artist to paint for her the portrait of Christ, but I remember reading (and I can’t find the source right now) any artist’s rendition was never quite as magnificent as her vision.

From the diary of Sr. Faustina (which, in of itself is quite remarkable, considering her limited knowledge of writing due to not many years of education), we learn about the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a prayer said using Rosary beads, the words of which Christ promised will grant mercy to those at the hour of their death. According to Sr. Faustina’s diary, the Chaplet prayers are threefold: obtaining mercy, trusting in Christ’s mercy, and showing mercy to others.

Thank you to this wonderful saint for bringing us the words of God in such a beautiful prayer!

(To say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, start with the Sign of the Cross, then say the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Apostles’ Creed. On the Our Father beads of the Rosary, say the first part of the prayer. On the ten Hail Mary beads that follow, say the second part of the prayer. After five decades, say the third and fourth part of the prayer three times.)

“1. 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.

2. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

3. Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One,

4. Have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Amen.”