Born in Poland in 1905, her Baptismal name was Helen. From the age of seven, she heard The Lord calling her to a special and unique Mission. 

Although they would think much differently later in their lives, her parents were not in favor of their daughter joining a religious community. 

But The Lord was more than a little persistent. 

When she was eighteen and out with her sister at a dance, Jesus suddenly appeared to her, looking as He did during His Passion, and said: “How long will you keep putting me off.” 

Immediately, she left the dance, packed, and took a train to Warsaw. There, it was The Blessed Mother who guided her to a nearby village, and, through a priest, she found a woman who gave her a place to stay for over a year. 

In 1925 she joined The Congregation of The Sisters of Mercy and took the name, Sister Maria of The Blessed Sacrament. 

The Lord would guide Sister constantly. He told her He wanted her to keep a Diary, which she did, and which you can buy today at any Catholic bookstore. 

In The Diary of Faustina, she describes being shown Heaven and Hell, she sees The Blessed Mother, her Guardian Angel, St. Michael, and St. Therese of Lisieux, but mostly and over and over again, she hears, sees, and is directed by, Jesus. 

In 1930 she was sent to Prague after the first signs of an illness that would later be diagnosed as tuberculosis and there, Jesus appeared to her and said: “Paint an image, according to the pattern which you see with the signature, ”Jesus, I trust in You.” 

Jesus also told Sr. Faustina He wanted a Feast of Divine Mercy to be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter so that all sinners would know, they could come home. 

Three years later, the first image was painted. In 1933 she was sent to Vilnius where she met Fr. Michael Sopoko who would become her Spiritual Director and advocate. 

On Good Friday in 1935, Jesus told St. Faustina the Image of Divine Mercy should be publicly honored, and it was, on the first Sunday after Easter. 

In September of the same year, Jesus gave Sister a new prayer, The Chaplet of Mercy, and told her that when this prayer is said at the bedside of someone dying, He would defend them. 

After a lengthy struggle with her health, Sr. Faustina died on this day in 1938. 

Although the message of Divine Mercy was accepted in her lifetime and afterward, it was suppressed for quite a while, beginning in 1959. 

With the help of Fr. Sopoko, Archbishop Carol Woytila, and newly discovered documents, along with better translations of her Diary, the ban was lifted in 1978. 

She was Beatified in 1993 and Canonized in 2000 by Pope St. John Paul II. 

The Blessed Mother once told St. Faustina: “Tell souls to appeal to my Son’s Merciful Heart while it is still the time for granting Mercy.” 

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, please pray for us.