Their life in brief
Helena Kowalska was born in Poland in 1905 and entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925, receiving the name Sister Mary Faustina. She served in ordinary duties as a cook, gardener, and porter.
Her Diary records an intense interior life and a mission centered on trust in God’s mercy, prayer for sinners, and concrete mercy toward one’s neighbor. She died in Kraków in 1938 at thirty-three and was canonized in 2000.
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
Luke 6:36
What Faustina Kowalska teaches us
Faustina reminds us that Divine Mercy is not only consolation we receive. It becomes a way of seeing, speaking, forgiving, and acting toward every person entrusted to us.
Pause and reflect
01What sin, wound, or fear do I struggle to place within God’s mercy?
02To whom is God asking me to show patient and practical mercy?
Let us pray
Saint Faustina, apostle of Divine Mercy, help me trust the love of Jesus when I am ashamed, afraid, or discouraged. Teach me to receive forgiveness with humility and to become merciful in thought, word, and deed. Pray that my heart may repeat in every circumstance: Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.
Perform one work of mercy today, especially for someone you are tempted to overlook.