St Faustina and Divine Mercy

St Faustina: Feast Day, October 5th

Faustina Kowalska, was born in 1905 to a poor family in Poland and had nine brothers and sisters. As a young girl Faustina loved Jesus and by seven years old, she was convinced that she wanted to become a nun. This meant that she would leave home and join a community to live a quiet life of work and prayer. Unfortunately, Faustina's family needed her to earn money so after she finished going to school at 16 she worked cleaning houses. It was during this time that Jesus appeared to her for the first time. Faustina was at a party with her sister. She saw a vision of Jesus and he asked her how long it would be until she gave her life to him.

She immediately applied to become a nun at lots of the convents in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, but was turned down each time. This must have been very confusing for her, she thought it was what Jesus wanted! After many knock-backs she was eventually accepted at the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Faustina was overjoyed and the fact the order had the word mercy in their title would prove very appropriate, just listen to the rest of the story!

Faustina seemed to those around her to be a very ordinary nun as she worked in the kitchens and gardens of the convent. However, in 1931, she was blessed by another vision of Jesus. She wrote in her diary:

‘In the evening, when I was alone, 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 chest. From the opening of the garment at the chest there came two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; and after a while Jesus said to me, “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the words: Jesus, I trust in You.”’

Faustina did as she was told and had a picture of Jesus painted. She started to send the image all over Poland and lots of people began to put their trust in Jesus when they saw it. It quickly gained the title Divine Mercy. It was clear that Faustina had been specially chosen by God to let the world know that Jesus always wants to show people his mercy and loving forgiveness.

Jesus continued to appear to Faustina. To spread the message of God’s mercy further, with the help of a priest called Father Sopocko, Faustina wrote down everything Jesus told her in her diary . This was amazing as she could hardly write at all! The diary was later published under the title ‘Divine Mercy in My Soul: The Diary of St. Faustina.’

Sadly, In 1938, at the age of just 33 Saint Faustina grew ill and died. However, more and more people were now seeing the beautiful image and the message of mercy was spreading fast.

The Divine Mercy image is shown for you at the bottom of this page. Your teacher can show it to you. Take some time now to gaze at the Divine Mercy image yourself. There are some very special things to notice. Firstly, Jesus’s right hand is raised in blessing. It is not a wagging or pointing finger to tell us off, instead it is fixed in this beautiful position as a reminder that Jesus is always ready to bless us with grace and love.

Secondly, notice Jesus’s left hand. He told Faustina to have the image painted to show him pulling aside his white garment to reveal his heart. From his heart comes pale and red light. This shows Jesus’s mercy flowing over us. You might know that when Jesus was hanging on the cross he was pierced with a lance. From his heart came blood and water. Jesus wants us to be washed clean in the living water of the Holy Spirit and purified by his blood. We hear every time we go to Mass, during Holy Communion, that Jesus poured out his blood for the forgiveness of sins.

If you look at Jesus’s feet you can see that one is in front of the other. This shows that he is always moving towards us and coming to meet us. Jesus always wants to be close to us.

Look into Jesus’s face in the image. Jesus said that this was how he looked down on Mary his mother and Saint John from the cross. Jesus looks down on us too and just like on the cross, he is ready to give all of his love and mercy to us.

Finally, read over the words at the bottom of the image. ‘Jesus, I Trust in You.’ This is a simple, yet powerful prayer. Jesus asks us to trust him, even when we are worried or anxious about what is happening in our lives. If we trust Jesus with all things he will draw us close to his heart and pour out his love and Divine Mercy into our lives.