ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER
Saints celebrated on the 5th of October
SAINT FAUSTINA KOWALSKA, VIRGIN
Saint Faustina, Helena Kowalska, was born on August 25, 1905, in the village of Glogowiec, in Lodz County, Poland. At age 14, without completing elementary school, she went to work, first in Aleksandrow, Lodz, and then in Lodz itself. By the time she was 15 she had made known to her parents her desire to enter the convent.
NOVITIATE
On August 1, 1925, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. She went through her postulancy in Warsaw, and then was sent to the novitiate house in Cracow, where during her investiture she was given the name Sister Mary Faustina and was incorporated into the novitiate.
After a two year novitiate, she made her first profession of vows on April 30, 1928. Next, as a temporarily professed sister, she worked in various houses of the Congregation: in Warsaw, in Vilius, in Kiekrz near Poznan, in Plock, in Biala near Plock, in Warsaw and in Cracow.
PERPETUAL VOWS
On May 1, 1933, she took her perpetual vows and went to the convent in Vilius where she received the chaplet, wrote the Diary, had the Image painted and proclaimed the message of Divine Mercy. After only a few weeks of convent life her health began to deteriorate. In August 1934, she suffered a violent attack of asthma for the first time.
Although the doctors did not state it, in all likelihood it was tuberculosis. It subsequently progressed to such an extent that in 1936, and again in 1937, she spent several months in a sanatorium. In 1938 she spent the last five months of her life in hospital. She was brought back to the convent in Cracow where she died on October 5th.
"IT IS GOD'S WILL THAT EVERYTHING BE GIVEN TO SOULS"
Sister Faustina herself stated that she desired by this writing to fulfil the express command of the Lord Jesus and the order of her confessor, Rev. M. Sopocko in Vilnius. She also acknowledged that she desired through this Diary to inform people of the goodness and grace of God. She also noted frequently that she wrote it with the express permission of her Superiors, which constituted for her the confirmation of God’s will.
The Diary, in her opinion, was not intended to be read by the general public during her lifetime. For this reason she kept it a secret from her fellow sisters, of which we have factual evidence in the breaks found in several places and in the incomplete sentences in general.
HER DIARY
She wrote a note on her Diary, which said, ‘Jesus. No one is permitted to read these notebooks and the notes contained therein – Father Sopocko must first check them. It is God’s will that everything be given to souls for their consolation.’ From the above words one can gather that the Servant of God expected the Diary to be printed eventually ‘for the consolation of souls,’ but desired that it take place only after her death. Fr Sopocko explains the reason for the writing of the Diary in another way. He points out that the number of spiritual experiences of the Servant of God was too great to be discussed in the confessional, without having third parties notice it.
HER ADORATION AND LONGING FOR GOD
Furthermore, as a seminary professor, he had no time for long confessions of this type. He therefore told her to write down everything that she considered to be the will of God and to give it to him periodically for his discernment.
On many pages we find her poetry, where she tried to express her feelings toward God. These verses are personal expressions of love and longing for God. She expresses in them her adoration and love, as well as her desire for full union with her Creator.
(By Fr Igor, Brothers of Merciful Jesus. This article was published in “Divine Mercy Newsletter” Vol. 61, 2011)
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