St. Faustina

[datritle]

I am having trouble with diaries of St. Faustina. How in the world can we believe that the things she wrote were truly from Jesus? And the Chaplet of D.M. … “He” said if we say it only once, he will stand between God and that person and act as Savior, not just Judge. What about having to actually live your faith? this sounds like protestantism…just say this and you’re good to go! no work involved! HELP!?

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Firstly, you are not required to believe in her private revelations, or those of any other mystic. You are only required to believe that she is a Saint (with all that entails).

Secondly, I don’t think your conclusion necessarily follows from the Diary. She might be talking about the grace of final perseverance, which would entail living the Christian life with all it requires.

 

[datritle]

Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you … Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death … When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my Father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge but as the Merciful Savior … Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy … Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.

 

[Ophelia23]

Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you … Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death … When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my Father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge but as the Merciful Savior … Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy … Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.

I don’t see what about this is troubling to you.

To genuinely recite this chaplet–key word is genuinely–then one’s heart is penitent with remorse and is asking for forgiveness in exchange for the body, blood, soul and Divinity of Christ. Christ himself tells us that all laborers in the field will receive the same compensation, whether they have been there since daybreak (lifelong) or for the final hour (deathbed). One can’t make any conversion of heart on their deathbed unless it is genuine. Christ isn’t telling us that only saying the words will bring us ever lasting life; He is telling us that genuine conversion of heart expressed through the recitation of the chaplet will. You will find through reading the rest of the Diary that Christ expresses time and time again how deep His sadness is for us, and how painfully He longs for us to turn to Him. Even in the passage you highlight, He states "I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy." When taken as a whole, the Diary is very clear that this is not a magic charm but an outward sign of a penitent and desiring heart.

 

[datritle]

My problem comes from the fact that Jesus supposedly came to her and told her these things, she says. If this is true, WONDERFUL!, if not, she is crazy.

 

[Ophelia23]

My problem comes from the fact that Jesus supposedly came to her and told her these things, she says. If this is true, WONDERFUL!, if not, she is crazy.

But that is why you aren’t required to believe in it. You simply need to believe that she is reputable insomuch as she has been accepted and canonized by the One True Church.

 

[datritle]

But that is why you aren’t required to believe in it. You simply need to believe that she is reputable insomuch as she has been accepted and canonized by the One True Church.

ARGH. okay…

 

[in_servitude]

ARGH. okay…

Would you feel better if you found something in the diary that gave some kind of indication that what she wrote was from a divine source?

Keep in mind that St. Faustina was not exactly a theological scholar. She couldn’t write hardly at all. She formed her words by sound, and when people picked it up the first time (no one knew she was writing this while she was alive), they couldn’t understand it. It took a number of experts working together to decipher what the writings were saying. And, since she came up with such profound thoughts is remarkable.

How many entries have you read so far?

 

[AlanFromWichita]

If it’s any consolation, her description of visions that were quoted by CAF posters about Purgatory left me in the cold. It was definitely not the same Purgatory I got to taste, so I suppose Her Mileage Varies. I figure visions are just that, visions. They may or may not have any basis in reality. Just based on her vision, I gathered she was pretty hung up on worldly measures of power, authority, and goodness. But then again, it was obviously what the Lord wanted her to see at the time. The problem I have is some people read this stuff and take it as Gospel Truth. It seems like the more negative and fearful the visions are, the more people buy into them and instead of bringing them the peace of Christ, they can actually bring additional fear into their lives.

Alan

 

[ajecphotos]

Reading St Faustinas diary myself. It is very inspirational and mind boggling too. It is amazing what Jesus says to her. I love the Chaplet and what it means. Her diary has meant a lot to me and i would love to believe that Jesus indeed has spoken to her as she writes. I have no reason to doubt her.

All i know is that she has brought many people to Our Lord. She has opened the gates of purgatory for us to pray for them through Our Dear Lords eternal divine mercy.

God Bless you St Faustina

 

[TomD123]

Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you … Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death **This applies to any prayer really, when one prays sincerely they can obtain final perseverence…actually thats the only way to obtain final persaverence. ** … When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between my Father and the dying person, not as the Just Judge but as the Merciful Savior Its a fancy way of saying that praying the chaplet in the presence of the dying can obtain mercy for them…is that a problem? … Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy. What a great promise! Even hardened sinners receive grace…but that doesn’t mean a hardened sinner is necessarily saved by reciting the chaplet once I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy … Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.

I don’t see the problem with this…? Plus the Church says there is nothing contrary to the faith found in the diaries so I’ll go with that judgment.

More specifically I have some comments above in your quote in bold.

 

[datritle]

Would you feel better if you found something in the diary that gave some kind of indication that what she wrote was from a divine source?

Keep in mind that St. Faustina was not exactly a theological scholar. She couldn’t write hardly at all. She formed her words by sound, and when people picked it up the first time (no one knew she was writing this while she was alive), they couldn’t understand it. It took a number of experts working together to decipher what the writings were saying. And, since she came up with such profound thoughts is remarkable.

How many entries have you read so far?

i’ve just read here and there, not reading from “cover to cover” if you will. i thank you , and all of you for your answers. i am feeling a little more comfortable.

 

[in_servitude]

i’ve just read here and there, not reading from “cover to cover” if you will. i thank you , and all of you for your answers. i am feeling a little more comfortable.

St. Faustina linked to Fatima Miracle

While I was reading the diary myself from cover-to-cover - I noticed what appears to be a little known correlation between St. Faustina and Fatima. That gave me some additional comfort that St. Faustina was on the up-and-up. (And, I’ve received tremendous graces in following the devotion to the Divine Mercy.)

 

[brumano]

My problem comes from the fact that Jesus supposedly came to her and told her these things, she says. If this is true, WONDERFUL!, if not, she is crazy.

Fair enough, believe that it did come from Him, trust in His Mercy and ask; the promise was that you will receive whatever you ask, if it is compattible with His will. Thousands have already done this and the thousands of graces received are already well testified to. What have you got to lose?

 

[brumano]

My problem comes from the fact that Jesus supposedly came to her and told her these things, she says. If this is true, WONDERFUL!, if not, she is crazy.

Remember too, the beauty of the image is not in the color or the stroke of the brush, but in the graces that will given through it.

 

[ajecphotos]

Gods Mercy is Divine and Eternal. We should pray to free those that are wrapped up in sin, both living and dead. St Faustina has brought Our Lords words to us and we have a choice as to if we pray or not for sinners everywhere.

My soul has been opened to Our Lords request through St Faustina and i will do everything to carry out his wishes. I strongly believe that St Faustina was given these instructions from Jesus for us to help those souls who need our prayers.

God Bless St Faustina

 

[vames]

St. Faustina linked to Fatima Miracle

While I was reading the diary myself from cover-to-cover - I noticed what appears to be a little known correlation between St. Faustina and Fatima. That gave me some additional comfort that St. Faustina was on the up-and-up. (And, I’ve received tremendous graces in following the devotion to the Divine Mercy.)

So in 1938 God gave a sign (aurora borealis over Europe) about His intentions to start the WWII in order to destroy Poland… and what was the reason?

The Divine Mercy website, quoted in that thread, says that St Faustyna’s confessor (Fr. Sopocko) “later discovered that, between the First and Second World Wars, the city of Warsaw, which as the capital of Poland, was also one of the great capitals of abortion in the world! While Sister Faustina lived and prayed, that city was spared. But hardly a year after her death, Poland was invaded, and by the time the war was over, Warsaw was almost completely destroyed [much like Sodom and Gomorrah!]”

Did anyone bother to check the facts?

“Until 1932, abortion was banned in Poland without exceptions. In that year, the new Penal Code legalized abortion only when there were medical reasons and, for the first time in Europe, when the pregnancy resulted from a criminal act.[2] Except during the German occupation during the Second World War, this law was in effect from 1932 to 1956. In 1956 the Sejm legalized abortion in cases where the woman was experiencing “difficult living conditions”. The interpretation of the change in the law varied from a restrictive interpretation, in the late 1950s, to one in where abortion was allowed on request, in the 1960s and 1970s.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Poland

“It should be underlined that in Poland abortion was legalized for the first time by the Nazi invaders in 1942. Nazi regulations (Verordnung vom 09.03.1942) permitted Polish women to have abortion on demand, while for German women it was strictly forbidden even under the death penalty. After the World War II abortion was delegalized according to the Polish pre-war law.”
prolife.com.pl/upload/how_the_low_protects_life.pdf

There were illegal (back-alley) abortions in Poland, like in all the countries where abortion was illegal before WWII. And Polish women who had illegal abortions went to the hospital to be treated for infections and complications; it’s only natural that Warsaw, being the capital of the country, had more hospitals than other Polish cities. But how does this make Warsaw “one of the great capitals of abortion in the world”? Then what about Moscow, where abortion on demand was completely legal between 1920 and 1936? And how could anyone justify the whole WWII and THESE horrors simply as being a divine punishment for poor Poland, a country where abortion on demand was illegal?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_atrocities_in_Poland#Warsaw_Uprising_atrocities

 

[in_servitude]

So in 1938 God gave a sign (aurora borealis over Europe) about His intentions to start the WWII in order to destroy Poland… and what was the reason?

The Divine Mercy website, quoted in that thread, says that St Faustyna’s confessor (Fr. Sopocko) “later discovered that, between the First and Second World Wars, the city of Warsaw, which as the capital of Poland, was also one of the great capitals of abortion in the world! While Sister Faustina lived and prayed, that city was spared. But hardly a year after her death, Poland was invaded, and by the time the war was over, Warsaw was almost completely destroyed [much like Sodom and Gomorrah!]”

Did anyone bother to check the facts?

“Until 1932, abortion was banned in Poland without exceptions. In that year, the new Penal Code legalized abortion only when there were medical reasons and, for the first time in Europe, when the pregnancy resulted from a criminal act.[2] Except during the German occupation during the Second World War, this law was in effect from 1932 to 1956. In 1956 the Sejm legalized abortion in cases where the woman was experiencing “difficult living conditions”. The interpretation of the change in the law varied from a restrictive interpretation, in the late 1950s, to one in where abortion was allowed on request, in the 1960s and 1970s.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Poland

“It should be underlined that in Poland abortion was legalized for the first time by the Nazi invaders in 1942. Nazi regulations (Verordnung vom 09.03.1942) permitted Polish women to have abortion on demand, while for German women it was strictly forbidden even under the death penalty. After the World War II abortion was delegalized according to the Polish pre-war law.”
prolife.com.pl/upload/how_the_low_protects_life.pdf

There were illegal (back-alley) abortions in Poland, like in all the countries where abortion was illegal before WWII. And Polish women who had illegal abortions went to the hospital to be treated for infections and complications; it’s only natural that Warsaw, being the capital of the country, had more hospitals than other Polish cities. But how does this make Warsaw “one of the great capitals of abortion in the world”? Then what about Moscow, where abortion on demand was completely legal between 1920 and 1936? And how could anyone justify the whole WWII and THESE horrors simply as being a divine punishment for poor Poland, a country where abortion on demand was illegal?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_atrocities_in_Poland#Warsaw_Uprising_atrocities

Thanks for pulling these facts to forefront.

Now, the complaint you’re bringing to the 1533 entry - is it what others have inferred it might mean? Or, is it what St. Faustina wrote directly in her diary?

My point in pulling the part of the diary to light was to say that there is reason to suspect that St. Faustina was truly divinely inspired.

 

[brumano]

I am having trouble with diaries of St. Faustina. How in the world can we believe that the things she wrote were truly from Jesus? And the Chaplet of D.M. … “He” said if we say it only once, he will stand between God and that person and act as Savior, not just Judge. What about having to actually live your faith? this sounds like protestantism…just say this and you’re good to go! no work involved! HELP!?

One problem that you might be having is the same that others have when reading this book, which is for the most part, a diary. It’s hard but the reader has to keep being reminded that the Lord Jesus spoke to her personally; that is in way that was understandable to her on many levels.

We have much more reason to believe that what she wrote was truly from Jesus than not to, much much more, and one of those ominous reasons are that everything she attributed to the Lord Jesus is not only supported by scripture but it actually details a mystery that is formulated in Genesis (supplemented with Jn.1 ch.1vss1-5) and is completed in Revellation (…Behold, I make all things new again) and this is the great mystery of God’s Mercy that even the church would not; until recently, begin to fully admit and to bring forth to the world. The designs of the Divine Mercy had to come from the Merciful Lord Himself to His chosen messengers because the church being made up of men was not fully capable of distributing it’s own riches of Mercy to the satisfaction of the Lord Who is Mercy and Goodness itself. This is very easy to verify, anyone can see it; Divine Mercy was always sleeping in the church but it was never really brought out; up until now, and that just happens, not accidentally that we are now at an end point in human history when mankind understands that it has no alternative but place itself at the Mercy of God. St. Mary Faustina herself asked the Lord about some of these things; she said, there is already a feast of mercy…and there was and it was all but unknown and it was disregarded among all the other feasts. The more you look into her writings the more you come away convinced that they are from the Merciful Lord. The fact that nothing in all those pages of diary are contrary to scripture or sacred doctrine is a tremendous proof, that church has not only confirmed, but proclaimed! It is a Solemn Feast of the Universal Church; which is proof upon proof because as was noted in the diary there would be a time when everything about the work would appear to have come to nothing, that time was well docuemented and it’s revival has been nothing short of miraculous. Who can deny that?

There are proofs and proofs and more proofs. The enemy hates and fears this power more than anything that is well known, and for the first time in centuries this enemy is slowly being brought to a stop in his dominance of the world. and the world is starting to turn back the tide against evil by turning to God’s Mercy. The evil one has no weapon against God’s Mercy! more and more people are starting to realize this and the stories of victory over sin are more and more every year.

Lastly, I would point out is the tremendous unifying potential that the Divine Mercy Graces hold for the world; this is what transcends all, the healing of Mercy that unites all souls in the person of the Merciful Lord Jesus, the mystical merciful body of christ is one and as proof fullfills the great prayer of the lord for unity when it finally comes about.

 

[vames]

Thanks for pulling these facts to forefront.

Now, the complaint you’re bringing to the 1533 entry - is it what others have inferred it might mean? Or, is it what St. Faustina wrote directly in her diary?

My point in pulling the part of the diary to light was to say that there is reason to suspect that St. Faustina was truly divinely inspired.

I don’t bring any complaint to the 1533 entry - my complaint is about this article, which distorts the facts so as to draw an impossible parallel between Poland and the USA. St Faustyna mentions killing of the unborn only once in her diary (entry 1276) and without any connection to her great fear mentioned in 1533. All the rest are speculations of Fr. Michael Sopocko, Fr. Seraphim Michalenko and the American author of the article published on the Divine Mercy website.

I can only guess that there have been discussions in Catholic circles (including in St Faustyna’s convent) about the 1932 penal code which decriminalized abortion only in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother’s life. Not to mention the huge dispute about abortion in Poland by 1995, when Fr Michalenko wrote his own article. But they are really reaching if they try to imply that God started WWII just to punish Poland for the abortions done there in the '30s and that the war didn’t start earlier only because St Faustyna was still alive and prayed for her country (St Faustyna died in 1938).

Poland already had A LOT of saints and consecrated persons praying for their country (see entry 689). And in the 30’s, after the complete liberalization of abortions in Russia in 1920, other European countries introduced penal codes which decriminalized abortion only in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother’s life - Switzerland, Latvia, Iceland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden. To single out Poland is without logic.

Moreover:

1732 As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words: I bear a special love for Poland, and if she will be obedient to My will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming.

Unsurprisingly, at Fatima, Our Lady didn’t mention anything about WWII as a punishment for the abortions done in Poland.