Helena Kowalska25th of August 1905 in a small Polish village called Glogowiec. Her parents were Stanilaus and Marianne Kowalska. They were poor, but happy, because they were with God. At home, prayer was connected with work in harmonious way. On 1st August 1925, Helena Kowalska entered the Congregation of Our Blessed Lady of Mercy in Warsaw, at 3/9 Żytnia Street. This Congregation was founded in Poland by Teresa Potacka in 1862, for breeding the girls and women who needed deep moral change. In 1926, during the ceremony of the taking of the veil, Helena Kowalska received the name: Sister Maria Faustina, and now she is known in the whole world under this name. In 1928 she took her first vows: of chastity, poverty and obedience, which she repeated during 5 years in order to take perpetual vows in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. On one occasion, Jesus appeared to Sister Faustina. Jesus asked her to paint an Image exactly as she sees in that apparition. Sister Faustina gave advices to the painter and asked the Lord Jesus for explanations concerning meaning of some elements of the picture, which her confessor did not understand. The Lord Jesus said at this moment that His glance from this picture was like His glance from the cross, that in inscription on the picture should be: "Jesus, I trust You" and the rays: pale and red mean water and blood. These two rays explained the Lord Jesus mean blood and water. The pale ray means water, which clears souls; the red ray means blood, which is the life of souls. These two rays went out from the entrails of My mercy at that time, when My dying heart was opened by a spear on the cross. These rays protect souls from My Father's angry. Happy is the person, who will live in their shadow, because the just God's hand will not reach him. I desire that the first Sunday after the Easter, be the feast of Mercy. (Diary 299). When the painting was painted, Sister Faustina cried, because Jesus on this picture was not so beautiful as she had seen Him. But Jesus answered that not in the beauty of paint is power of this picture, but in His grace. In February 1938, several months before her death, Sister Faustina had a vision of The Blessed Virgin Mary: " In a great light, I saw the Holy Mother in white dress, with a golden belt, the stars, also golden ones were on the whole Her garment and the sleeves were covered with gold. The overcoat was sapphire, lightly flung, on the head She had flung a transparent veil, hair were flowing, beautifully arranged and a crown of gold, which had small crosses at the ends. On the left hand She held the Infant Jesus. Such Holy Mother I did not see yet. Suddenly, she looked at me graciously and said:I am the Priests? Mother
Then She laid Her child on the ground, raised her right hand to Heaven and said:
God, Bless Poland, bless the priests
And She said again to me:
Tell to the priests what you have just seen.
I Decided to say about it, at the first opportunity of seeing with a father, but I personally can not understand this vision?. (Diary 1585). On October 5, 1938, Sister Mary Faustina died of tuberculosis in Krakow at the age of 33. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on April 20, 2000. We celebrate her Feast day on October 5.
