Upon her entrance to the Congregation Helen received the name Sister Mary Faustina. Her novitiate she spent in Cracow, and there, in the presence of Bishop Stanislaus Rospond, she pronounced her first religious vows, and five years later, she made her perpetual profession
of the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. She was assigned to work in a number of the Congregation’s houses, but for a longer period in those of Cracow, Plock and Vilnius, fulfilling
the duties of cook, gardener and doorkeeper.
To all external appearances nothing betrayed her extraordinarily rich mystical life. She zealously went about her duties, she faithfully observed all the religious rules, she was recollected and kept silent, all the while being natural, cheerful, full of kindness and of unselfish love of neighbor.

The austere lifestyle and exhausting fasts that she imposed upon herself even before joining
the Congregation, weakened her organism to such an extent that already during her postulantship it became necessary to send her to Skolimow near Warsaw to restore her to health.
Towards the end of her first year of novitiate she was visited by unusually painful mystical experiences of the so-called dark night, and later by the spiritual and moral sufferings related
to the accomplishment of the mission she was receiving from Christ the Lord.

Faustina laid down her life in sacrifice for sinners and on this account she also sustained diverse sufferings, in order by means of them to the aid their souls. During the last years of her life inner sufferings of the so-called passive night of the soul and bodily diseases grew in intensity.
The spreading tuberculosis attacked her lungs and alimentary canal. For this reason twice
she underwent several months’ treatment in the hospital on Pradnik Street in Cracow.
Physically ravaged, but fully mature spiritually, she died in the opinion of sanctity, mystically united with God, on October 5, 1938, hardly 33 years old, having been a religious for 13 years. Her mortal remains were laid to rest in the common tomb in the convent’s cemetery in Lagiewniki in Cracow. In 1966, during the informative process towards Sister Faustina’s beatification, her body was transferred to the convent chapel" (text cf. with the footnotes of the Saint Faustina’s DIARY).

She knocked on many a convent door, but nowhere was she accepted. Finally on August 1, 1925, Helen crossed the threshold of the cloister in the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy on Zytnia Street in Warsaw and she was accepted. In her DIARY she confessed,

"It seemed to me that I had stepped into the life of Paradise. A single prayer was bursting forth from my heart, one of thanksgiving" (Diary, 17).

Life of sister Faustina

SAINT SISTER MARIA FAUSTINA KOWALSKA
(1905-1938)



Glogowiec - a place of birth of st Faustina.



Saint Faustina in the family circle (1935).
"Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, known today the world over as, "The Apostle of The Divine
Mercy," she was the third of ten children born into a poor and pious peasant family in Glogowiec,
a village in the heart of Poland.
At her baptism in the nearby Parish Church of Swinice Warckie, she was given the name,
"Helena". From childhood she distinguished herself by her piety, love of prayer, industriousness and obedience as well as by her great sensitivity to human misery. She had hardly three years
of schooling, and at the age of sixteen she left the family hearth to help her parents by earning
her own livelihood serving as a domestic in the nearby cities of Aleksandrow and Lodz.
When she was only seven, Helen already sensed in her soul the call to embrace the religious life. When later she made her desire known to her parents, they categorically did not acquiesce
in her entering a convent. Because of this situation Helen strove to stifle this divine call within her.
After the years she remembers about it in her DIARY:

"Once I was at a dance with one of my sisters and while everybody was having a good time, my soul was experiencing deep torments. As I began to dance, I suddenly saw Jesus at my side, Jesus racked with pain, stripped of his clothing, all covered with wounds, who spoke these words to me, "How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting Me off?" At that moment the charming music stopped, and the company I was with vanished from my sight; there remained Jesus and I. I took a seat by my dear sister, pretending to have a headache in order to cover up what took place in my soul. After a while I slipped out unnoticed, leaving my sister and all my companions behind and made my way to the Cathedral of Saint Stanislaus Kostka (Lodz). It was almost twilight; there were only a few people in the cathedral. Paying no attention to what was happening around me, I fell prostrate before the Blessed Sacrament and begged the Lord to be good enough to give me to understand what I should do next.
Then I heard these words, "Go at once to Warsaw (Poland), you will enter a convent there." I rose from prayer, came home, and took care of things that needed to be settled. As best I could, I confided to my sister what took place within my soul. I told her to say good-by to our parents, and thus, in my one dress, with no other belongings, I arrived in Warsaw (Diary, 9-10).

Prayer for Mercy for the Dying

O merciful Jesus, lover of souls, I beseech You, by the agony of Your Most Sacred Heart and by the sorrows of Your Immaculate Mother, wash clean in Your Blood the sinners of the whole world who are now in their final agony, but especially those on their way to etarnal damnation and who are to die this day. Heart of Jesus who suffered death's agony, I beg You have mercy on these poor souls. Amen

Prayer for Mercy for the Souls in Purgatory Eternal Father, I offer You the most precious blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, for those in my own home and within my own family. Amen

3 O'CLOCK PRAYERS

Three O'Clock Prayer to the Divine Mercy

You expired, O Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You. Amen

Prayer to the Divine Mercy

O Lord, behold here before You a soul who exists in this world in order to allow You to exercise Your admirable MERCY and manifest it before heaven and earth. Others may glorify You through their faithfulness and perseverance, thus making evident the power of Your grace. How sweet and generous You are to those who are faithful to You!

Nevertheless, I will glorify You by acquainting others of Your goodness to sinners and by reminding them that Your MERCY is above all malice, that nothing can exhaust it, and that no relapse, no matter how shameful or criminal, should allow the sinner to despair of forgiveness.

I have offended You grievously, O Beloved Redeemer, but it would be still worse if I were to offend You by thinking that You were lacking in goodness to forgive me. I would rather He deprive me of everything else than the TRUST I have in Your Mercy.

Should I fall a hundred times or should my crimes be a hundred times worse that they actually are, I would continue to trust in Your MERCY. Amen

The Divine Mercy Prayers

The Miracle Prayer

Lord Jesus, I come before You just as I am. I am sorry for all my sins. I repent of my sins, please forgive me. In Your name, I forgive all others for what they have done against me. I renounce Satan, the evil spirits and all their works. I give You my entire self, Lord Jesus, now and forever. I invite You into my life Jesus. I accept You as my Lord, God and Saviour. Heal me, change me, strengthen me in body, soul and spirit. Come Lord Jesus, cover me with Your Precious Blood and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I love You Lord Jesus. I Praise You Jesus. I Thank You Jesus. I shall follow You every day of my life. Amen. Mary my Mother, Queen of Peace, all the Angels and Saints, please help me. Amen.