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WHO IS THIS SAINT FAUSTINA THAT OUR LORD ASKS TO PREPARE THE WORLD FOR HIS FINAL COMING?
Sister Faustina Kowalska is known today as the Apostle of the Divine Mercy.
She was the third of ten children born into a poor pious family in Glogowiec, Poland. When she was only seven, she already sensed in her soul the call to embrace the religious life. Sister Faustina tried hard to ignore this Divine call; however, by a vision of the suffering Christ and by the words of His approach, “How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting me off?”
Sister Faustina was born August 25, 1905 and passed on to the Lord on October 5, 1938 in Krakow, Poland. At the age of 20 years she joined a convent in Warsaw, Poland, was later transferred to Płock, and then to Vilnius where she met her confessor Father Michał Sopoćko, who supported her devotion to the Divine Mercy. Faustina and Sopoćko directed an artist to paint the first Divine Mercy image, based on Faustina's vision of Jesus. Sopoćko used the image in celebrating the first Mass on the first Sunday after Easter. Subsequently, Pope John Paul II established the Feast of Divine Mercy on that Sunday of each liturgical year.
Her entire life was spent striving for an even fuller union with God and on self sacrificing in cooperation with Jesus in the work of saving souls.
This simple uneducated but courageous woman, was consigned the great mission by Our Lord Jesus to proclaim His message of mercy, to the whole world and to prepare the world for His final coming. His message was recorded in a diary kept by Saint Faustina.
Our Lord Speaks:
“I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful heart.” (Diary 1588) “You are secretary of My mercy; I have chosen you for office in this and the next life.” (Diary 1605)... “To make known to souls the great mercy that I have for them, and to exhort them to trust in the bottomless depth of My mercy.” (Diary 1567)
Our Lord words to Saint Faustina about Divine Mercy Sunday:
“I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls; especially for poor sinners.” (Diary 699) “I am giving them the last hope of salvation. That is, recourse to My mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity.” (Diary 965)
Saint Faustina’s Vision of Hell
Sister Faustina recorded in the diary a vision of Hell: “I, Sister Faustina Kowalska, by the order of God, have 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.
Today I was led by an angel to the chasms of Hell. It is a place of great tortures; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kind of tortures I saw: The first torture that constitutes Hell is the loss of God.
The second is perpetual remorse of conscience.
The third is that one’s condition will never change.
The fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God's anger.
The fifth torture is a continual darkness and a terrible suffocation 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.
The sixth torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies; indescribable sufferings.
There are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable suffering related to the manner which it has sinned.
"No one can say there is no Hell. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity on those senses which he made use of to sin". (Diary 741)
"You will prepare the world for My Final Coming"
However much we’re wary of overly apocalyptical prophecy (and try to especially weigh those that proclaim something as dramatic as the Second Coming), there’s no doubting that one such prediction came from a recently canonized saint. That was St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Divine Mercy revelations, who was canonized in 2000.
Our Lords words regarding His second coming:
“Speak to the world about My mercy… it is a sign for the end times. After it will come the day of justice (Diary 848)…Souls perish in spite of My bitter passion…I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of Mercy. If they will not adore My Mercy, they will perish for all eternity. Secretary of My mercy, write, tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near” (Diary #965).
Keep in mind that we’re not obligated to accept them these messages; while Faustina was canonized, her prophecies have not been officially sanctioned (such messages, even from a saint, rarely are). But they are certainly worth close scrutiny, and they indicate that God is serious about purification despite those who have tended to focus only on His mercy.
Our Lord Speaks: “Write this for the many souls who are often worried to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permission or storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul. If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy.” (#1317)
Our Blessed Mothers words to Saint Faustina regarding her Sons second coming:
“Oh, how pleasing to God is the soul that follows faithfully, the inspirations of His grace! I gave the savior to the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for His Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful savior, but as a just Judge. Oh, how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while there is still time for granting mercy, if you keep silent now, you will be answering for a great number of souls on that terrible day. Fear nothing, be nothing, be faithful to the end. I sympathize with you.” (Diary # 635)
In one entry Saint Faustina said, “‘As I was praying, I heard Jesus’ words: ‘I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My Will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.(Diary 1732)’ ”The land of death from the World War's" would become the birthplace of the modern Divine Mercy devotion.
Was this a reference to John Paul II? We all know the Pope is from Poland, and he ended up having a pivotal role in the recognition of Divine Mercy — culminating with his canonization of Faustina. Even if the “spark” refers to the fall of Communism, which started in Poland, this too is inextricably linked to John Paul, who was a secret force behind Solidarity (the union that overthrew Communist rule).
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