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TEEN SOUL POWER
What Jesus Really Looks Like:
Divine Mercy and Saint Faustina Kowalska
Divine Mercy and Saint Faustina Kowalska
When Jesus asked that a painting of His image be made,
Sr. Faustina commissioned the paining in 1934....
of all paintings, statues and drawings of Jesus
this remains the closest, yet, to Jesus as He actually appears.
Sr. Faustina commissioned the paining in 1934....
of all paintings, statues and drawings of Jesus
this remains the closest, yet, to Jesus as He actually appears.
Sister Faustina Kowalska was a young, uneducated nun who entered into the convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland during the 1930s. She came from a poor family that struggled during the years of World War I. She was born August 5th, 1905, in Glogoweic, Poland, born as Helena Kowalska she was the third of 10 children. She worked as a housekeeper in three cities before joining the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925.
Sister Faustina was a very devoted nun to Our Lord, Jesus. As a nun she prayed and fasted almost continuously morning, noon and night, and yearned to live in total communion with Jesus. In 1924, Faustina experienced her first vision of Jesus. While at a dance with her sister, Natalia, Faustina saw a suffering Jesus, and then she went to a Cathedral. According to Faustina, Jesus instructed her to leave for Warsaw immediately and join a convent. On April 30, 1926, at 20-years-old, she finally received her habit and took the religious name of Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament and in 1928, she took her first religious vows as a nun. On February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to Sister Faustina. He presented himself as the "King of Divine Mercy" wearing a white garment with red and pale rays coming from his heart. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world. He brought her a wonderful message of Mercy for all mankind. Saint Faustina wrote in her diary under this date: "In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'" |
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Some time later, Our Lord again spoke to her:
"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 depths of My most tender Mercy at that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross....Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him." Jesus said to Sr. Faustina: “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.” Sr. Faustina also said that during that same message Jesus explained he wanted the Divine Mercy image to be "Solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be known as the Feast of Mercy." The Image of Jesus Sr. Faustina, not knowing how to paint, in 1934 commissioned the first painting of the image of Jesus, created by Eugene Kazimierowski. When the painting was finished, Sr. Faustina cried, because in this picture Jesus was not as beautiful as she had seen him. Jesus answered her that not in the beauty of paint is the power of this picture, but in His Grace. (Editor's Note: Sr. Faustina said that of all the paintings and images of Jesus, this is the closest, yet, of Jesus as He really appears. Of course this image of Jesus is presented as a human work, and as such fully lacks the strength and power, the authority, the fullness of the Love of Jesus, the depth of His Mercy, and the totality of His power. While this is the closest representation to what Jesus really looks like, in effect, no human representation could ever begin to capture His Glory, Power and Holiness.) |
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All of her visits with Jesus continued to reveal one main element - that the depth of His Love and Mercy for man was immeasurable, and that He wished for all to know Him and accept His Mercy. In September 1935, Faustina wrote about her vision of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, used to obtain mercy, trust in Christ's mercy and to show mercy to others.
During the following year, Sr. Faustina attempted to set up a new congregation for Divine Mercy, but was reminded that she was perpetually vowed to her current order and sent back to Warsaw. She reported Jesus said to her, "My Daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My Divine Mercy, I will make up for what you lack." Sr. Faustina was transferred to Vilnius, where she met Father Michael Sopocko, the appointed confessor to the nuns. During her first confession with Fr. Sopocko, Sr. Faustina told him about her conversations with Jesus and his plan for her. Father Sopocko encouraged her to start keeping a diary and to record all of her conversations with Jesus. According to Sr. Faustina's diary, on Good Friday, April 19, 1935, Jesus told her he wanted the Divine Mercy image publicly honored. On April 26, 1935, Father Sopocko delivered the very first sermon on Divine Mercy. In September 1935, Faustina wrote about her vision of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, used to obtain mercy, trust in Christ's mercy and to show mercy to others. |
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Jesus appeared to Sr. Faustina many times, and showed her and explained to her many things - many mysteries, “Jesus, You have allowed me to know and understand in what a soul’s greatness consists: not in great deeds but in great love. Love has its worth, and it confers greatness on all our deeds. Although our actions are small and ordinary in themselves, because of love they become great and powerful before God”. The Chasms of Hell: Sr. Faustina was taken by an angel to visit the chasms of Hell. "I visited the Abysses of Hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence...the devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God, What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell." She said there were seven types of tortures she saw, including "…a fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God's anger." There are special Tortures destined for particular souls…. And there are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned. She said there was a continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own. They suffer the constant company of Satan. They suffer the permanent separation from God. They suffer horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. She said she would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported her. Sister Faustina said, "Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like...how terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O My Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend you by the least sin." The Diary of Sister Faustina was written in the form of a journal and records the last four years of her life. It reveals the depths of her spiritual life and the high degree of her love for, and, her soul’s union with God. The Lord gave her supernatural graces - gifts of the Holy Spirit - the gift of contemplation, a deep knowledge of the mystery of the Mercy of God, visions, revelations, a hidden stigmata, the gift of prophecy and of reading human souls. Canonization: Sr. Faustina Kowalska was beatified on April 18, 1993. On Mercy Sunday, April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized her a saint as ‘the great Apostle of Divine Mercy.’ In doing so, he also approved the Divine Mercy message and devotion by declaring the Second Sunday of Easter as “Divine Mercy Sunday” for the universal Church. There, he declared: “It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church, will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.’ In his homily, Pope John Paul II repeated three times that Saint Faustina is “God’s gift to our time.” She made the message of Divine Mercy the “bridge to the third millennium.” He then said, “By this act of canonization of Saint Faustina, I intend today to pass this message on to the third millennium. I pass it on to all people, so that they will learn to know ever better the true face of God and the true face of their neighbor. In fact, love of God and love of one’s neighbor are inseparable.” |
The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy
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The History of the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy In 1935, St. Faustina received a vision of an angel sent by God to chastise a certain city. She began to pray for mercy, but her prayers were powerless. Suddenly she saw the Holy Trinity and felt the power of Jesus’ grace within her. At the same time she found herself pleading with God for mercy with words she heard interiorly: "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; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us." As she continued saying this inspired prayer, the angel became helpless and could not carry out the deserved punishment. The next day, as she was entering the chapel, she again heard this interior voice, instructing her how to recite the prayer that our Lord later called "the Chaplet." This time, after "have mercy on us" were added the words "and on the whole world". From then on, she recited this form of prayer almost constantly, offering it especially for the dying. In subsequent revelations, the Lord made it clear that the Chaplet was not just for her, but for the whole world. He also attached extraordinary promises to its recitation. "Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you…. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death…. 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…. Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this Chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy…. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy…. Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will." Prayed on ordinary rosary beads, The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy is an intercessory prayer that may be said at any time, but our Lord specifically told St. Faustina to recite it during the nine days before the Feast of Mercy (the first Sunday after Easter). He then added: "By this Novena, [of 9 Chaplets] I will grant every possible grace to souls." It is likewise appropriate to pray the Chaplet during the "Hour of Great Mercy" — three o'clock each afternoon (recalling the time of Christ’s death on the cross). In His revelations to St. Faustina, Our Lord asked for a special remembrance of His Passion at that hour. |
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How to Recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy |
The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary rosary beads of five decades.
1. Make the "Sign of the Cross" and say: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 2. Say the "Our Father" Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen. 3. Say the "Hail Mary" Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen. 4. Say the "Apostle's Creed" I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. 5. Say the "Eternal Father" 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. 6. On the Ten Small Beads of Each Decade, say: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. 7. Repeat for the remaining decades: Saying the "Eternal Father" (#5) on the "Our Father" bead and then 10 "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion" (#6) on the following "Hail Mary" beads. 8. Conclude with "Holy God" (Repeat three times): Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. |
For More Information, the Diary of Divine Mercy by Saint Faustina Kowalska, is available on Amazon, or through bookstores everywhere. |
