St Maria Faustina Kowalska, pray for us - 5th October

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St Maria Faustina Kowalska, pray for us - 5th October
https://saintmichaelusa.org/1005-st-faustina-kowalska/

Feast Day: October 5
Patronage: Apostles of Divine Mercy, World Youth Day (with St. John Paul II), mercy devotion
Known For: Receiving visions of Jesus emphasizing Divine Mercy
Life Highlights
Born Helena Kowalska in Głogowiec, Poland, into a poor peasant family.
Felt a strong call to religious life from a young age.
Joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925, taking the name Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Experienced mystical visions of Jesus, who entrusted her with the mission of spreading devotion to His Divine Mercy.
Divine Mercy Devotion
Jesus appeared to her, revealing the Divine Mercy image: Christ with rays of red and pale light coming from His Heart, with the words “Jesus, I trust in You.”
She kept a diary (Divine Mercy in My Soul), recording these revelations. It has become a spiritual classic.
Jesus asked her to spread devotion through:
The Divine Mercy Chaplet
The Feast of Divine Mercy (celebrated the Sunday after Easter)
Spreading the image of Divine Mercy
Trust in His mercy and showing mercy to others
Death & Canonization
Died at only 33 years old, from tuberculosis, on October 5, 1938.
Canonized in 2000 by Pope St. John Paul II, who also instituted Divine Mercy Sunday.

Saint Faustina’s name is forever linked to the annual feast of the Divine Mercy, the Divine Mercy chaplet, and the Divine Mercy prayer recited each day at 3 p.m. by many people.

Born in what is now west-central Poland, Helena Kowalska was the third of 10 children. She worked as a housekeeper in three cities before joining the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925. She worked as a cook, gardener and porter in three of their houses.

In addition to carrying out her work faithfully, generously serving the needs of the sisters and the local people, Sister Faustina also had a deep interior life. This included receiving revelations from the Lord Jesus, messages that she recorded in her diary at the request of Christ and of her confessors.

At a time when some Catholics had an image of God as such a strict judge that they might be tempted to despair about the possibility of being forgiven, Jesus chose to emphasize his mercy and forgiveness for sins acknowledged and confessed. “I do not want to punish aching mankind,” he once told Saint Faustina, “but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my merciful heart.” The two rays emanating from Christ’s heart, she said, represent the blood and water poured out after Jesus’ death.

Sister Maria Faustina died of tuberculosis in Krakow, Poland, on October 5, 1938. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1993, and canonized her seven years later.

St. Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) is known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy.