On October 5, 1938 Sister Faustina (Helen Kowalska)
died in a convent of the
Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Cracow, Poland
More information about St. Faustina can be found by clicking here
In fulfillment of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta’s prayer (see following excerpts from the “Book of Heaven”), the following year on August 25, 1905, Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, an apostle of Divine Mercy, was born.
Book of Heaven
The Call of the Creature to the Order, the Place and the Purpose
for which He was Created by God
The Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta the Little Daughter of the Divine Will:
Volume 6 – April 16, 1904
Jesus and God the Father speak about Mercy.
Continuing in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself, and I saw a multitude of people, and in their midst one could hear noises of bombs and gun shots. People were dropping dead or wounded, and those who were left would flee up to a palace nearby; but the enemies would go up there and kill them, more surely than those who remained outside.
So I said to myself: How I (Luisa) wish I could see whether the Lord is there in the midst of these people, so as to say to Him: “Have mercy – pity on these poor people!” So I went round and round and I saw Him as a little Child; but little by
little He kept growing, until He reached the perfect age. I drew near Him and I said: “Amiable Lord, don’t You see the tragedy that is happening? You don’t want to make use of mercy anymore? Do You perhaps want to keep this attribute as useless, which has always glorified your Incarnate Divinity with so much honor, forming a special crown on Your august head, and bejeweling You with a second crown, so wanted and loved by You – which is souls?”
Now, while I was saying this, He told me: “Enough, enough, do not go any further; you want to speak of Mercy, and what about Justice – what are we going to do with It?
I have told you and I repeat to you: ‘It is necessary that Justice follow Its course’.”
So I replied: “There is no remedy – why then leave me on this earth when I can no longer placate You and suffer in the place of my neighbor? Since it is so, it is better
if You let me die.”
At that moment I saw another person behind the shoulders of blessed Jesus, and He told me, almost making a sign with His eyes: “Present yourself to My Father and see what He tells you.”
I (Luisa) presented myself (to God the Father), all trembling, and as soon as He saw me, He told me: “Why have you come to Me?”
And I (Luisa): “Adorable Goodness, infinite Mercy, knowing that You are Mercy Itself, I have come to ask for your Mercy – Mercy on your very images, Mercy on the works created by You; Mercy on nothing else but your creatures themselves.”
And He (God the Father) said to me (Luisa): “So, it is Mercy that you want. But if you want true Mercy, after Justice has poured Itself out It will produce abundant fruits of Mercy.”
Not knowing what else to say, I (Luisa) said: “Father, infinitely Holy, when servants or people in need present themselves before their masters or rich people, if these are good, even if they do not give everything that is necessary for them, they always give something. And to me, who have had the good of presenting myself before You, absolute Master, rich without limit, infinite Goodness, don’t You want to give anything of what this poor little one has asked of You? Does a master perhaps not remain more honored and content when he gives, than when he denies what is necessary to his servants?”
After a moment of silence He (God the Father) added: “For love of you, instead of doing ten, I will do five.”
Having said this, They disappeared, and in several places of the earth, especially of Europe, I saw wars, civil wars and revolutions multiply.
Volume 6 – June 20, 1904
Victim souls are the daughters of Mercy.
After I struggled very much, blessed Jesus came for just a little and told me: “My daughter, human perfidy has reached such a point as to exhaust My Mercy on its part.
But My goodness is so great as to constitute daughters of Mercy, so that on the part of creatures also, this attribute may not be exhausted. These are the victims who are in full ownership of the Divine Will, having destroyed their own. In fact, in these souls, the container given by Me in creating them is in full vigor, and since they have
received the particle of My Mercy, being daughters, they administer it to others. It is understood, however, that in order to be able to administer the particle of My Mercy to others, they themselves must be in Justice.”
And I: “Lord, who can ever be in Justice?”
And He: “One who does not commit grave sins and abstains from committing the slightest venial sins of his own will.”
A depiction of St. Faustina Kowalska and Jesus,
who entrusted His message of Divine Mercy to the Polish nun,
hangs at at the Vatican at the canonization Mass for St. Faustina, April 30, 2000
(Photo from Catholic Press Photo)