Life of Faustina Kowalska - Sister Sophia Michalenko C.M.G.T

Life of Faustina Kowalska (eBook)

The Authorized Biography

Sister Sophia Michalenko C.M.G.T (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
288 Seiten
Servant (Verlag)
978-1-63582-299-1 (ISBN)

The extraordinary visions of this humble Polish nun gave rise to The Divine Mercy devotion which has become increasingly popular among Catholics today. Who was Sister Faustina H. Kowalska (1905-1938)? In this authorized biography, you will encounter the young woman, born Helena, and her family, and read of many other people who influenced her spiritual formation. Sister Faustina's devotion to the Lord and her tireless efforts to promulgate the messages she received from Him and from Our Lady have borne rich fruit and continue to touch the lives of millions around the world. This biography, formerly titled Mercy My Mission, includes many excerpts from Faustina's famous Diary. Whether read alone or as a study aid to reading the diary itself, this book is an inspiring and reliable introduction to this remarkable twentieth-century saint.

The Novitate Years (1925 – 1928)

Postulancy

The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, to which Helen Kowalska was accepted, took its roots from Laval, France, where it was founded by Teresa Rondeau in 1818. The spirit of this congregation was brought to Polish soil by Ewa (Sulkowska) Countess Potocka in 1862. The chief aim of the congregation was, and still is, the imitation of Christ in His mercy toward all types of spiritual misery of humanity; the special goal, the rehabilitation of wayward women and girls; the characteristic trait, a special devotion to Mary, Mother of Mercy, patroness of the entire congregation, and to the Mercy of God, the inspiration of its apostolic work.

Until 1962, the congregation consisted of two groups of sisters—the directresses and the coadjutors. Instructing and training the women and girls in a Christian spirit was the work of the directresses. The coadjutors helped them by performing the household chores, and by their prayers, sacrifices and mortifications. Helen was accepted into this latter group.

Helen had spent only three weeks with the sisters when she experienced a strong temptation to leave the community. Her appraisal that too little time was devoted to prayer, combined with other conditions she disliked, led her to consider entering a more austere congregation. One night she resolved to tell the Mother Superior of her decision to leave, but God so arranged things that she could not get to see her.

Because the main chapel was a separate building some distance from the sisters’ residence, the Blessed Sacrament was reserved in a small room in the house where the sisters lived. They referred to this room as “the little chapel.” Before going to bed that night, Helen went to the little chapel to pray for God’s guidance and enlightenment. She received none. Instead, a strange uneasiness, which she could not understand, enveloped her. In spite of that, she made up her mind to approach Mother Superior the next morning, immediately after Mass, to tell her of her decision.

The sisters were all in their beds, the lights were out. Full of anguish and discontent, she entered the dormitory. Not knowing what to do or where to turn, she threw herself face down on the floor. She begged God to help her recognize His will. As she prayed, a brightness filled her sleeping area. On one of the curtains which served as a partition between beds in the dormitory, she saw the deeply sorrowful face of Jesus. There were open wounds on His face and large tears were falling on her white bedspread. Not knowing what all this meant, she asked the Lord, “Jesus, who has hurt You so?”

And Jesus answered, It is you who will cause Me this pain if you leave this convent. It is to this place that I called you and nowhere else; and I have prepared many graces for you (19). Deeply moved, Helen begged pardon of the Lord and resolved to remain where she was.

The next day Helen went to confession and related to the confessor all that had taken place. He told her that evidently it was God’s will that she remain in this congregation and that she had no right to even think of leaving to another. Hearing this, she felt happy and at peace about the matter.

As a postulant, Helen became acquainted with the spiritual exercises and the duties that she would be called upon to perform as a future member of the congregation. She was assigned to kitchen duty; her other task was to clean the room of Mother Jane Barkiewicz, and to take care of her during any illness. Mother Jane had, for many years, been a superior, and even vicar general, of the congregation. As directress of postulants, this elderly and experienced religious carefully observed the conduct of the newest members. Of Helen she said briefly and to the point, “Helen is an interior soul.”

Due to her inner conflicts, intense spiritual zeal and change of lifestyle, Helen’s health began to decline. The Superior, alarmed by her complete exhaustion, sent her for a rest, in the company of two other sisters, to Skolimow. It was a rented summer home for the sisters who were living in Warsaw and for the girls in their charge. Helen’s duty was to prepare the meals for the three of them.

While there, Helen asked the Lord for whom else she should pray. Jesus told her that on the following night He would let her know. It was then that Helen had the first mystical vision revealing the condition of the souls in purgatory. When she was told to write her Diary, she recorded this incident as follows:

I saw my Guardian Angel, who ordered me to follow him. In a moment I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid. The flames which were burning them did not touch me at all. My Guardian Angel did not leave me for an instant. I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in purgatory. The souls call her “The Star of the Sea.” She brings them refreshment. I wanted to talk with them some more but my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering. [I heard an interior voice] which said, My Mercy does not want this but justice demands it. Since that time, I am in closer communion with the suffering souls. (20)

Novitiate

The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy maintains a huge educational institution for wayward girls at Lagiewniki, a part of Cracow. It was founded in 1890 by the Reverend Alexander Lubomirski. The large buildings with the surrounding orchards and gardens were placed under the patronage of St. Joseph, and the sisters referred to it simply as “Joseph’s Place.” This was also the site of the novitiate in which future members of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy received thorough training in the religious life that they intended to embrace voluntarily until death.

Helen and her companion candidates completed the remaining three months of their postulancy here, and then made an eight-day retreat in preparation for entrance to the novitiate.

The ceremony of receiving the habit and the veil took place on April 30, 1926. On this occasion God revealed to Helen the extent of her future sufferings. In an instant she was given to understand to what she was committing herself. The piercing suffering of this revelation lasted but a moment. Then God filled her soul again with great consolation.

Sister Clemens Buczek, who was chosen to assist Helen at this ceremony, remembered that when she was telling her “to hurry and put on the habit,” Helen seemed to have fainted. Sister immediately ran for the smelling salts. Later, Sister Clemens admitted that she used this incident to tease Helen no end about her “loathing to leave the world.” Only after Helen’s death did she learn that this incident was more than just a fainting spell. (See 22.)

With the reception of the habit and the white veil, the sisters were given a new name to symbolize the beginning of a new life. From that moment Helen Kowalska was known as Sister Mary Faustina or, simply, as Sister Faustina. The name Faustina means the fortunate, happy or blessed one.

To this day, in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, the novitiate period lasts two years. During the first year, called canonical, the novice has the opportunity to deepen her spiritual life by meditation and other religious practices, and to study the rules of convent life, the Constitutions, as well as the meaning of the vows and the practice of the virtues, especially the virtue of humility. The novices also study the fundamentals of the faith so that they will know them well enough to impart them to others. During this time the novices may not attend school for formal study, nor may they have any excessively absorbing duty.

During the second year of novitiate, the novices may take up studies, or work under the direction of a professed sister, in addition to performing their religious and spiritual exercises. If this trial period proves satisfactory to the congregation and the novice, she will be admitted to the profession of vows, which will bind her for one year. She would renew them annually for five years before being admitted to perpetual profession.

For about two months, Sister Faustina’s directress of novices was Sister Margaret Gimbutt, an exemplary woman: meek, humble, prayerful, full of the spirit of sacrifice and self-denial. On June 20, 1926, however, she was replaced by Sister Mary Joseph Brzoza. The new directress of novices had been sent to Laval, France, to observe the formation of novices and to absorb the spirit of the congregation while there. She, too, was an exemplary directress and, providentially, a great discerner of souls. She was demanding, but also full of motherly care and goodwill toward the novices.

A few vignettes gathered from this period of Sister Faustina’s life reveal some aspects of her special character, already noticed at that early stage in her life as a religious. Sister Regina Jaworska, who lived with Sister Faustina in the novitiate for a year and a half, recalled that the sisters loved to be in her company. Jokingly, they called her their “lawyer” because she would use hand gestures to enhance her talks. God was ever the theme of her conversations. Her demeanor at prayer evoked a greater reverence for the majesty of God in the rest of the...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	12.1.2023
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
ISBN-10	1-63582-299-8 / 1635822998
ISBN-13	978-1-63582-299-1 / 9781635822991

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