Today is the feast of St. Maria Faustina. Who is St. Maria Faustina? What is the relationship between St. Maria Faustina and the mystery of Divine Mercy? What are the Spiritual benefits of the Divine Mercy spirituality? Is Divine Mercy still relevant in our world today? How can Divine Mercy shape society?
Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament was a Polish Catholic religious sister and mystic. She was born on 25th of August 1905 at Glogowiec, Poland. Her parents were Marianna Kowalska and Stanislaus Kowalski. She died on October 5, 1938 at the age of thirty-three at Krakow, Poland. She as canonized by Pope John Paul 11, on April 30, 2000 at St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City.
Our Lord Jesus chose Sr. Maria Faustina as the Apostle and “Secretary” of His Mercy, so that she could tell the world about His great message, which Sr. Faustina recorded in a diary she titled Divine Mercy in My Soul. In the Old Covenant He said to her:
The mystery of God’s mercy is the essence of Christian theology and spirituality. God revealed Himself to the Israelites as the Merciful God. In Exodus 34:5-7 “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” Indeed, our God is a merciful God! His mercy and His love is eternal.
In Exodus 33:19 the Lord God declares, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” In confirmation our Mother Mary sang the Mercy of God, saying, “His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation… He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.” (Luke 1:51, 54 ) God’s mercy is on those who fear Him!
Mercy is among the three things God demands from us in Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This is exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ meant when he declared in Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” And in the gospel of Matthew 5:7 our Lord Jesus Christ declares, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” If you want to obtain mercy from God then you have to be merciful.
To show how important mercy is the gospel of Matthew 9:13 declares that God desires mercy more than sacrifice. “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Without mercy sacrifice means nothing to God.
James 2:13 declares “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Judgment awaits those who refuse to show mercy. Peter, the first Pope, declares, in 1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” God’s mercy is eternal. The book of Lamentation 3:22-23 declares, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” God’s mercy has no beginning or end. His mercy lasts forever and ever.
