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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:
The spiritual struggle
My daughter, I want to teach you about spiritual warfare. Never trust in yourself, but abandon yourself totally to My will. In desolation, darkness and various doubts, have recourse to Me and to your spiritual director. He will always answer you in My name. Do not bargain with any temptation; lock yourself immediately in My Heart and, at the first opportunity, reveal the temptation to the confessor. Put your self-love in the last place, so that it does not taint your deeds. Bear with yourself with great patience. Do not neglect interior mortifications. Always justify to yourself the opinions of your superiors and of your confessor. Shun backbiting like a plague. Let all act as they like; you are to act as I want you to. Observe the rule as faithfully as you can. If someone causes you trouble, think what good you can do for the person who caused you to suffer. Do not pour out your feelings. Be silent when you are rebuked. Do not ask everyone’s opinion, but only the opinion of your confessor; be as frank and simple as a child with him. Do not become discouraged by ingratitude. Do not examine with curiosity the roads down which I lead you. When boredom and discouragement beat against your heart, run away from yourself and hide in My heart. Do not fear struggle; courage itself often intimidates temptations, and they dare not attack us. Always fight with the deep conviction that I am with you. Do not be guided by feeling, because it is not always under your control; but all merit lies in the will. Always depend upon your superiors, even in the smallest things. I will not delude you with prospects of peace and consolations; on the contrary, prepare for great battles. Know that you are now on a great stage where all heaven and earth are watching you. Fight like a knight, so that I can reward you. Do not be unduly fearful, because you are not alone. (Diary, 1760)
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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:
