Divine Mercy

St. Fuastina has been an inspiration to me as I work with pro-life efforts over the years.  I did not paint these saint pegs as they were part of our first doll exchange last Easter.

Here is a little information about her life.

Feast day: October 5
Birth: 1905
Death: 1938
Born Helena Kowalska in a small village of Poland
Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (care and education of troubled young women)

Many would say that she is a saint because of her message received from God about mercy.  However, it is her life of humility and service that allows us to look at her saintly life for inspiration.

In the 1930's, Sister Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world.  Her entire life, in imitation of Christ's, was to be a sacrifice - a life lived for others. At the Divine Lord's request, she willingly offered her personal sufferings in union with Him to atone for the sins of others; in her daily life she was to become a doer of mercy, bringing joy and peace to others, and by writing about God's mercy, she was to encourage others to trust in Him and thus prepare the world for His coming again.

Sister Faustina wrote and suffered in secret, with only her spiritual director and some of her superiors aware that anything special was taking place in her life. After her death from tuberculosis in 1938, even her closest associates were amazed as they began to discover what great sufferings and deep mystical experiences had been given to her.

The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received is now being spread throughout the world; her diary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the Divine Mercy.

I have prayed these simple words of mercy before abortion clinics many times.  The words bring hope at a place of despair:

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!

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 and on the whole world.

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury
of compassion --- inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with
great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will,
which is Love and Mercy itself.

To celebrate this feast day, we enjoyed a yummy (yet simple) soup for dinner.  And then I made these delicious Kolaczki for dessert.

St. Faustina, pray for us!