Saint Faustina and God's Divine Mercy by Ann Walker

There are many different materials that can be found which inspire us to learn more about God's Divine Mercy. Through her diary, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska relayed many important messages that revealed God's intentions. Let's explore this further.

It can be said that Saint Faustina had a view of Jesus as a Divine Guest within her soul. That's an awesome way to think about what happens to each of us when we receive the Eucharist! Jesus is the most important guest that can make our souls come alive. We need to do whatever we can to keep ourselves prepared for this special guest.

The other day, I was speaking with someone who was questioning what life was all about and the reason why my friend was here, on this earth. I recited the following from The Baltimore Catechism, "God made us to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in Heaven." Since we love Him so much, we serve Him when we try to please Him. 

We please God when we look at ourselves as purposeful and specially-designed beings created by Him. When we try to act in kind, loving, and helpful ways, we become ever so hospitable to this special guest! God will never force Himself on us. What can we do today to better prepare for Him? We have free-will and can make the choice to love God. In order to show love, we can learn to be more understanding of our own human nature and accepting of our own flaws while pursuing positive changes that honor God. God seeks a contrite heart. When our world seems topsy-turvy and needs to be turned around, God wants us to come to Him for help. He wants to immerse us in the ocean of His mercy!

Jesus appeared to his faithful servant, Saint Faustina. Amongst the messages, she answered His call to promote God's Divine Mercy. We follow in her footsteps when we pray The Divine Mercy Chaplet.

We begin with the Sign of the Cross. When we recite the Lord's Prayer, we are reminded to be more accepting of the flaws of others. If we could always see others in the way that God sees them, then we might be nicer to others. They, too, are parts of God's wonderful creation! If others aren't nice to us, then we might be tempted to respond in the same way--by not being very kind in return. However, is that what God asks of us? We should strive to look past others' faults, even if we have to struggle to do so. 

We know that when we forgive those who have trespassed against us, God can see that we are trying to do our best in the situations as they are presented to us. God has so much mercy to give us. He wants to forgive us, and when He sees that we are trying to amend our behaviors and forgive others, those positive actions make it easier for God to forgive us of the times when we have trespassed against others. We can show God that we are making every effort to try to do whatever we can to make things better.

When we pray The Hail Mary, we want Mary to pray for us sinners. By asking for Mary's help, God shows mercy on us because He loves when we acknowledge the Mother of His only Son, Our Lord Jesus. Mary loves us as a caring mother would, and she can lead us towards the light of God's love. It is so bright! 

When we pray The Apostles Creed, we are grounding ourselves to the teachings of the Apostles. We have a strong faith in how things should be, and we are sharing our faith. We know that God is with us. We trust that our faith is sustaining us. Oh, the mercies that God has in store for us when we believe!

As part of the Chaplet, we pray a special sequence of prayers. Each prayer means so much. We say, "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." We also pray, "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."  At the end of our prayers, we begin our closing with, "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

Jesus also asked Saint Faustina to promote The Divine Mercy Novena--which is leading more souls into Heaven! Saint Faustina's quest to spread the revelations of the Divine Mercy of Jesus has given many people hope. 

In preparation for the Feast Day of Divine Mercy, Jesus requested nine days of prayer. Each day, He wants us to pray for different groups of souls. As mentioned in her diary, Saint Faustina shared with us that Jesus asks the following:

On the First Day: "Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy...."

On the Second Day: "Today bring to Me the souls of priests and religious, and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy...."

On the Third Day: "Today bring to Me all devout and faithful souls, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy...."

On the Fourth Day: "Today bring to Me those who do not believe in God and those who do not yet know Me...."

On the Fifth Day: "Today bring to Me the souls of those who have separated themselves from the Church...."

On the Sixth Day: "Today bring to Me the meek and humble souls and the souls of little children, and immerse them in My mercy...."

On the Seventh Day: "Today bring to Me the souls who especially venerate and glorify My Mercy, and immerse them in My mercy...."

On the Eighth Day: "Today bring to Me the souls who are detained in Purgatory, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy...."

On the Ninth Day: "Today bring to Me souls who have become lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy...."

It is disheartening when we think about the number of people there are in the world who don't yet know about Jesus...as well as those who know of Him but choose to not believe. We need to pray for them! When we look around and see some negative things happening around us, we may wonder what will happen to all of us? We need to focus on Jesus and place our trust in Him. Through the Divine Mercy of Jesus--no matter what happens--we can attain what God has promised us. We just need to be open to God's gifts and willingly accept what God asks of us.

Sometimes, we may think that the little things we do won't have much of an impact. Unlike the visions that Saint Faustina had, we might not have a big revelation ourselves; but even if we answer "small" calls to action, we can feel God's love when we make good choices. We can influence those around us by the way we live our lives. Let us be a shining light towards others!

Check out our website at Gospa Missions Amazing Grace Books & Gifts to explore our Divine Mercy items! The more we immerse ourselves in learning more about God's Divine Mercy, we naturally want to repeat over and over again,

"Jesus, I trust in You!"

Amen!

- By Ann Walker