The Two Apostles of Divine Mercy

During his Wednesday audience, The Holy Father urged the Polish pilgrims to pray for the beatification of John Paul II. A hat tip to De Civitate Dei for this article.

"All of his teachings and the example of his life remain important and contemporary for us," Benedict said in Polish, during his weekly Wednesday general audience. Many Poles in the crowd in St. Peter's Square waved red and white Polish flags." Read more here.

Another Polish Saint whose feast day we celebrate today is Saint Faustina Maria Kawolska. I would have missed honoring her today if not for my sister who was watching EWTN today.

In 2000 Pope John Paul instituted a new feast, the Feast of Divine Mercy which may be celebrated today, the Second Sunday of Easter. It arises out of a series of apparitions which a Polish nun, Sr Faustina, received. Sr Faustina was born in Poland in 1905. When she was twenty years old she entered the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy where she lived for the next thirteen years until her death on October 5th 1938. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993 and canonised in 2000.

When canonising her the Pope said, “Today my joy is truly great in presenting the life and witness of Sr Faustina 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 this message of mercy.”

In April 1978 the Holy See in Rome permitted spread of this devotion. This does not mean that you are required to believe in the apparitions or practice this devotion but you are free to do so and free to spread the devotion since the Church has found nothing in it contrary to our faith. The one primarily responsible for the Holy See approving the authenticity of the apparitions was Karol Wojtyla, then Archbishop of Cracow, later that year elevated as Pope. In 1981 Pope John Paul said his destined role was to bring the era of Divine Mercy into the world.

“Right from the beginning of my ministry in St Peter’s See in Rome I consider this message my special task. Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man, the Church and the world.” (Bible Prayer Homily Resources)

During the jubilee year 2000, he also said that "The mission of Sister Mary Faustina consists in 3 tasks:

– reminding the world of the truth of our faith revealed in the Holy Scripture about the merciful love of God toward every human being.

– Entreating God's mercy for the whole world and particularly for sinners, among others through the practice of new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy presented by the Lord Jesus, such as: the veneration of the image of the Divine Mercy with the inscription: Jesus, I Trust in You, the feast of the Divine Mercy celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, chaplet to the Divine Mercy and prayer at the Hour of Mercy (3 p.m.). The Lord Jesus attached great promises to the above forms of devotion, provided one entrusted one's life to God and practiced active love of one's neighbor.

– The third task in Sr. Mary Faustina's mission consists in initiating the apostolic movement of the Divine Mercy which undertakes the task of proclaiming and entreating God's mercy for the world and strives for Christian perfection, following the precepts laid down by the Blessed Sr. Mary Faustina. The precepts in question require the faithful to display an attitude of child-like trust in God which expresses itself in fulfilling His will, as well as in the attitude of mercy toward one's neighbors. Today, this movement within the Church involves millions of people throughout the world; it comprises religious congregations, lay institutes, religious, brotherhoods, associations, various communities of apostles of the Divine Mercy, as well as individual people who take up the tasks which the Lord Jesus communicated to them through Sr. Mary Faustina. Read the rest here.

Another must read is his homily during the solemn Mass of her canonization.