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PDF versionOn this day: St. Faustina Kowalska
by Gerelyn Hollingsworth on Oct. 05, 2011
On this day the Catholic Church remembers St. Faustina Kowalska, 1905-1938.
"Sister Mary Faustina, an apostle of the Divine Mercy, belongs today to the group of the most popular and well-known saints of the Church. Through her the Lord Jesus communicates to the world the great message of God's mercy and reveals the pattern of Christian perfection based on trust in God and on the attitude of mercy toward one's neighbors."
--from the Biography at the Vatican web site.
But not all Catholics find St. Faustina or her private revelations helpful or credible.
"From 1931 to her death in 1938, Faustina reported a staggering range of spiritual experiences, including visions, a hidden stigmata, bilocation, the reading of human souls, prophecy, as well as mystical engagement and marriage. She also believed that Jesus, Mary and several saints, such as Teresa, delivered private revelations to her on a regular basis, which she recorded in a diary that eventually stretched over more than 600 pages. (It was later published with the title, Divine Mercy in My Soul.)"
--"Beatification Q&A #4: What’s the Divine Mercy connection?" by John Allen, NCR Today, April 28, 2011.
"Jesus spoke to her about all manner of things (once reassuring her that she would have a single room when she had to go to the hospital), but the focal point was always mercy -- God’s desire to give it, humanity’s need for it, and the methods by which it could be obtained."
--"A Saint Despite Vatican Reservations," by John Allen, NCR Online, August 30, 2002.
It is hard for some to think of Jesus or Mary making the promises, threats, and demands visionaries claim they make. It is hard to believe they provide instructions for images they want painted or medals they want struck. Their private revelations are so unlike their gospel revelations.
"I desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this Image, which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy."
--quoted in The Life of Faustina Kowalska, by Sister Sophia Michalenko, Marian Press, 1987, page 44.
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Click here for St. Faustina's Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul. There is no Look Inside feature.
Click here for Wikipedia.
It may be that the devotion to St. Faustina and to the Divine Mercy, as promulgated by Bl. John Paul II will not stand the test of time. There seem to be no new editions of the diary and no scholarly studies.
In setting a Feast of Divine
In setting a Feast of Divine Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter, John Paul II violated the legal norms for the calendar of the Catholic Church as established in the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar (1969) which forbid any feast to override a Sunday unless it has the status of a Feast of the Lord.
The Octave of Easter is significant because the paschal mystery (the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus) is the foundation of our faith. It was the intention of the Council that no devotional feast of secondary rank should usurp the Sunday, the core of the liturgical year.
I have a hard time believing
I have a hard time believing that Benedict XVI, who is frequently accused of being a conservative hardliner, and a distinguished theologian in his own right, would allow the Feast of Divine Mercy to stand if it violated norms on the basis stated above. The Feast of Divine Mercy is not a devotion to St. Faustina because Christ himself is Divine Mercy. I think such a feast on the second Sunday of Easter is appropriate and aids in understanding, perspective and in appreciating the depth of God's love for us.
Leading one to have to debate
Leading one to have to debate legalities within the Church and the ability or lack of it for a Holy Father to promulgate something that violates? or merely amends passant norms promulgated under the authority of an earlier Pope. Any Canon lawyers around?
not the only legal norms
not the only legal norms wojtyla in his insatiable egotistic arrogance violated, because he felt he could, and ratzo made it so.
Actually.the original Liturgy
Actually.the original Liturgy for the Snd Sunday of Easter had quite a few references to "mercy" in the texts,even though the Divine Mercy devotion was not known in the church at this time,1968-69, and indeed was under a cloud,when these very texts were prepared. If one looks at the short readings at Vespers and the collect of the day,notion of "mercy" is clearly cited. The preparation of these texts may have been providential and prophetic. And quite frankly, the Pope can change church law if he wishes to do so.
"And quite frankly, the Pope
"And quite frankly, the Pope can change church law if he wishes to do so."
Then I'm sure you will agree with me that despite the previous pronouncement by Pope John Paul II to the contrary, a future pope can change church law regarding the ban on ordination of women to the priesthood....
Anyone doubting why the Feast
Anyone doubting why the Feast of Mercy should be placed on the Octave of Easter, should brush up on the theolgy behind it: http://divinemercysunday.com/pdf/The%20Octave%20of%20Easter.pdf
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