Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr. Faustina Kowalska to the whole Church as a gift of
God for our time. By divine Providence, the life of this humble daughter of
Poland was completely linked with the history of the 20th century, the century
we have just left behind. In fact, it was between the First and Second World
Wars that Christ entrusted his message of mercy to her. Those who remember, who
were witnesses and participants in the events of those years and the horrible
sufferings they caused for millions of people, know well how necessary was the
message of mercy.
…Sr. Faustina Kowalska
wrote in her Diary: "I
feel tremendous pain when I see the sufferings of my neighbors. All my
neighbors’ sufferings reverberate in my own heart; I carry their anguish in my
heart in such a way that it even physically destroys me. I would like all their
sorrows to fall upon me, in order to relieve my neighbor" (Diary, p. 365). This is the degree of
compassion to which love leads, when it takes the love of God as its measure!
It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to
face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenges of the most diverse
needs and, especially, the duty to defend the dignity of every human person.
Thus the message of divine mercy is also implicitly a message about the value of every
human being. Each person is
precious in God's eyes; Christ gave his life for each one; to everyone the
Father gives his Spirit and offers intimacy.
…Faustina, a gift of God to our time, a gift from the land of
Poland to the whole Church, obtain for us an awareness of the depth of divine
mercy; help us to have a living experience of it and to bear witness to it
among our brothers and sisters. May your message of light and hope spread
throughout the world, spurring sinners to conversion, calming rivalries and
hatred and opening individuals and nations to the practice of brotherhood.
Today, fixing our gaze with you on the face of the risen Christ, let us make
our own your prayer of trusting abandonment and say with firm hope: Christ Jesus, I trust in you! Jezu,
ufam tobie!
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