MARY QUEEN OF PEACE
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MARY QUEEN OF PEACE |
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Il figliol prodigo (song)
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 Cracow
The Divine Mercy Sanctuary
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 S. Faustina Kowalska was born on the 25th of August 1905 in Poland ( in Glogowiec) in a poor and devoted family of farmers: she was the third of ten children. Since her childhood she distinguished herself for the devotion, love for prayers, industriousness, obedience and a great sensitivity for human miseries. When she was sixteen she had to leave the family home in order to make her living and help her parents working as a servant. When she wished to be part of the religious life, her parents denied her the permission but she never gave up and on the first of August 1925 she entered "The Congregation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Nuns" in Warsaw. She spent the novitiate time in Cracow and she took her first vows before the bishop S. Rospond; after five years she took her perpetual vows: chastity, poverty and obedience. Nothing from outside could betray her so exceptional rich mystic life. She did her duties eagerly, observing all the rules of the religious life with faithfulness; she lived deep in prayers and silence and, at the same time, she was spontaneous, peaceful and full of warm and unselfish charity towards the other human beings. All her life’s goal was to achieve a much deeper union with God and she actively cooperated with Jesus for the souls’salvation. God granted her great gifts and she tried hard and fought all the time on the way for the christian perfection. The hard lifestyle together with the long and the difficult fastings weakened her body so that, as an already postulant, she had to go to Skolimov (near Varsaw) in order to better her health conditions. S. Faustina offered her life for sinners and for this reason she suffered a lot for souls’salvation. In the last few years of her life physical problems and inner sufferings increased: tuberculosis appeared, invading lungs and the digestive tract. For this reason, she was hospitalized twice for some months in Pradnik sanatorium near Cracow. She died almost as a saint on the 5th of october 1938 at the age of 33 (13 years of religious life) completely destroyed in her body but fully mature in her spirit, mystically linked to God. She was buried in the Congregation graveyard in Cracow but, during the information trial for the beatification cause, her mortal remains were transferred in the convent chapel. Jesus gave this simple and not learned ( but extremely trusting in God) religious woman a great mission: the message of the Divine Mercy to the whole world. "Today I send you –He told her- to the entire humanity with My Mercy. I do not want punish the suffering humanity but I wish to heal it and hold it to My Merciful Heart". (Diary, 1588) " You are the secretary of My Mercy: I chose you for this task in this present and in the future life". (Diary, 1605) "Let the souls know the great Mercy I have for them and urge them to be trusting in the abyss of My Mercy". ( Diary, 1567) S. Faustina’s mission consists in remembering a truth of faith: the merciful love of God for men. The Divine Mercy’s cult consists in being trusting in the endless goodness of God and in the merciful work towards the other human beings.
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...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... The sinner must not have fear to approach Me. The flames of Mercy are burning Me; I desire to pour them out upon human souls... Mankind will not have peace, until it turns with trust to My Mercy.
"Oh! What great graces I will grant to the souls who will recite this chaplet: the wounds of My Mercy will become tender for those who recite the chaplet. Write these words, My daughter, speak to the world about My Mercy. Let all humanity come to know My fathomless Mercy. This is a sign for these times, after which the day of justice will come. While there is still time, let them run towards the fountain of My Mercy, let them take advantage of the Blood and Water that flow forth for them".(Diary, 848)
"The feast of Mercy has come out of My wounds; I want it to be celebrated solemnly on the first Sunday after Easter." (Diary,699) |
Diary of S.Faustina:
A conversation between the Merciful God and a suffering soul
- Jesus: "Oh soul, I see you suffering so much, I see (hat you do not even have the strength with which to speak to Me. And so I will speak to you, oh soul. Even if you were enduring the greatest suffering, do not loose your serenity of spirit and do not allow yourself to be conquered by despondency. But tell me, My child, who dared to wound your heart? Tell me everything, tell Me everything, and be sincere in your dealings with Me. Unveil all of the wounds of your heart to Me, I will heal them and your suffering will become the fountain of your holiness". - Soul: "Lord, my suffering is so great, so varied and it lasts so long, that discomfort has taken a hold of me". - Jesus: "My child, you must not allow yourself to be discouraged. I know that you have boundless trust in Me, 1 know that you know My goodness and Mercy, and so we can speak in a more detailed manner about everything that burdens your heart". - The soul: "There are lots of different things that are burdening me, I don't know what to speak about first and how to say all of this". - Jesus: "Speak to Me in a simple manner, as a friend to a friend. Tell me now, my child, what is it that hinders you on the pathway to holiness?". - The soul: "My poor health detains me on the pathway to holiness, I am unable to fulfil my duties and here I am, I am nothing. I cannot mortify myself, do some rigorous fasting, like the saints have done, and moreover they do not believe that I am ill and moral suffering is added to my physical suffering and I am often humiliated. Jesus, how can anyone become holy in such circumstances?". - Jesus: "Jesus, it is true, all of this is suffering, but there is no other pathway that leads to heaven apart from the pathway of the cross. I myself was the first to follow it. Know that it is the shortest and the safest route". - The soul: "Lord, there is another obstacle on the road to holiness. I am persecuted for my faithfulness to You and for this reason I suffer much". - Jesus: "Know that you are not of this world, and because of this, the world hates you. First it persecuted Me. This persecution is the sign that you follow faithfully in My footsteps". - The soul: "Lord, another thing that causes me discomfort is the fact that my inner sufferings are not understood by the superiors or by the confessors. Shadows have darkened my mind, and in such conditions how am 1 supposed to go onwards? All of this somehow contributes to discouraging me and I think that the heights of sainthood are not for me". - Jesus: "So, my child, this time You have said many things to Me. I know that it is a great cause of suffering for you not to be understood and even more, not to he understood by those who we love and towards whom our sincerity is great. Suffice it to know that I understand all your pains and sufferings. I rejoice for the deep faith that you have, despite everything, in My representatives, but know that men cannot understand a soul fully, since this is beyond their possibilities. For this reason I remained on earth Myself, in order to comfort your pained heart and in order to strengthen your soul, so that you would not falter on your way. You say that great shadows darken your mind and so during such moments why do you not come to Me, I who am the light and in an instant I can pour so much light and comprehension into your soul that you will not be able to get from any book and that no confessor is capable of teaching you, or illuminating a soul in this way. Moreover, know that these shadows, about which you complain, I experienced them first in the Garden of Olives. My soul was oppressed by a mortal sadness and I am giving you a small share of those sufferings, and this is because of my special love for you and in view of the high degree of holiness I am intending for you in Heaven. A suffering soul is closest to My Heart". - The soul: "One more thing, Lord. What to do when I am scorned and rejected by people and especially by those on whom I had a right to count in times of greatest need?" - Jesus: "My child, make a resolution never to count on men. You will do many things, if you trust completely in My will and if you say: Let it be done onto Me, not according to my own will but according to Your will, oh God. Know that these words, said from the depths of my heart, lead the soul in an instant to the summits of sanctity. For such a soul I have a special delight, a soul such as this brings Me great glory and fills the heavens with the perfume of its virtues. Know also that the strength that you have, to put up with suffering, is owed to frequent Communion and so, go often to the fountain of Mercy and faithfully draw everything that you need from it". - The soul: "I give you thanks, Lord, for your inconceivable goodness, for remaining in this exile where you dwell with us, as a God of Mercy and for diffusing the splendour of your compassion and goodness all around. It is through the light of the rays of Your Mercy that I came to know how much you love me". (Diary, 1487)
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S.Faustina’s
body lives in peace in the Sanctuary’s little chapel in Cracow,
where she often went to pray. Under the image of Merciful Jesus
there is a little sarcophagus with golden writings and in front of
the altar there is a marble relicary where the saint’s relics can be
kissed.
In
the Divine Mercy’s Sanctuary (The Santo Spirito Church in Sassia- Rome)
there are three first class relics: a little one is used for the public
veneration of all believers after they said the rosary at 15.00 p.m.
every day; the big relicary of S. Faustina’s Canonization, which is
preserved in the chapel of Merciful Jesus; the big relicary by the form
of half –length with S. Faustina’s
effigy used for the Divine Mercy’s mission in Italy and abroad.
Jesus to St.
Faustina Kowalska:
