Episode Transcript  

One

Who is St. Faustyna 

Today is the Feast of St. Faustyna Kowalska, a saint I call a close friend. Born in 1905, Faustyna felt the call to religious life as a child, yet she later admitted, “I was not always obedient to the call of grace,” and lamented that no one helped her understand God’s voice. At seventeen, she asked her parents’ permission to enter a convent, but they refused. For a time, she turned toward worldly distractions, though her heart found no peace there.

Then, at eighteen, while at a dance in Łódź, she suddenly saw Jesus beside her, stripped, wounded, and filled with sorrow. He asked, “How long shall I put up with you, and how long will you keep putting Me off?” In that moment, the music and company vanished, leaving only her and Christ. I often think: Jesus could say the same to me, “Michael, how long will you keep putting Me off?”

Faustyna slipped away from the dance, went straight to the cathedral, and prostrated before the Blessed Sacrament. There she heard, “Go at once to Warsaw; you will enter a convent there.” With only one dress and no plan but to trust, she boarded a train. Overcome with fear, she prayed, “Mary, lead me, guide me.” And she did, leading Faustyna to the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, where Jesus would unfold to her the great mission of Divine Mercy.

From 1925 until her death in 1938, she lived what looked like an ordinary life of a nun as a cook, gardener, and door-keeper. Except for this, Jesus, Mary, her Guardian Angel, St. Michael, and many saints and souls in purgatory, as well as demons, visited and spoke with Faustyna on a continual basis. 

Two

Her mission 

Jesus gave Faustyna the mission of telling the whole world about His infinite Goodness and encouraging them to trust in His Mercy before the Day of Justice arrives. The Day of Justice doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the world; it could mean the end of this age, but it certainly means the Day of Justice, otherwise known as our particular judgment that we will face at our death.

Jesus said to Faustyna, “I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful Heart…Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy.” (Diary, 1588). 

To accomplish this mission, Jesus commanded Faustyna to keep a diary of all their conversations, calling her the secretary of his Mercy. 

At one point, Faustyna threw the Diary in the fireplace and burned it because she feared she was being deceived by the devil. But Jesus ordered her to rewrite it. He would at times read the notebooks and then say, “You have not written everything in the notebook about My goodness towards humankind; I desire that you omit nothing.” (459) 

The Diary reveals a deep personal friendship between Jesus and Faustyna. As I read the Diary, I too was drawn into a deep friendship with Christ. If you read the Diary prayerfully, I’m sure the same will happen to you.

Three

Image of Divine Mercy

On February 22nd, 1931, Jesus appeared to Faustyna. She writes, :In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in the gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were emanating two large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze fixed on the Lord: my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy. After a while, Jesus said to me, Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature, ‘Jesus I trust in You.’” 47

Her confessor told Faustyna to ask Jesus the meaning of the two rays in the image. Then, during prayer, she heard these words within her, “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The white ray stands for the Water, which makes souls righteous (Baptism and Confession, which cleanse the soul). The red ray stands for the Blood, which is the life of souls (The Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist).

I encourage you to place the Image of Divine Mercy in a prominent or central place in your home and let the red and white rays remind you of your need for Mercy by means of the Eucharist and Confession.

Four

Chaplet of Mercy

On Friday, September 13th, 1935, Jesus revealed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy to St. Faustyna. In her Diary, she writes, “I saw an Angel, the executor of divine wrath.  He was clothed in a dazzling robe, his face gloriously bright, a cloud beneath his feet. From the cloud, bolts of thunder and flashes of lightning were springing into his hands; and from his hand they were going forth, and only then were they striking the earth. When I saw this sign of divine wrath which was about to strike the earth…I began to implore the Angel to hold off for a few moments, and the world would do penance. But my plea was a mere nothing in the face of the divine anger.  Just then…I was instantly snatched up before the Throne of God...I found myself pleading with God for the world…”

God then revealed the Divine Mercy Chaplet to Faustyna (476), which she immediately began to pray with powerful effects. She relates, “As I was praying in this manner, I saw the Angel’s helplessness:  he could not carry out the just punishment which was rightly due for sins.  Never before had I prayed with such inner power as I did then.”

Five

Going Deeper in Prayer 

Jesus also taught Faustyna how to go deeper in prayer. First, he said to her, “Talk to me simply as a friend to a friend.” 1487

Then He taught her the value of reflection, “When you reflect upon what I tell you in the depths of your heart, you profit more than if you had read many books.  Oh, if souls would only want to listen to My voice when I am speaking in the depths of their hearts, they would reach the peak of holiness in a short time.” 584 But if we want to hear Jesus, then we need silence. Jesus said to Faustyna, “Strive for a life of recollection so that you can hear my voice, which is so soft that only recollected souls can hear it…” 1779

Recollection is the habit of remaining inwardly attentive to God’s presence and His quiet inspirations, even in the midst of work or leisure. Now consider the modern habit of constantly turning to the phone, news feeds, social media, TikTok, and sports updates. Each notification pulls the soul outward, scattering attention into fragments. The intellect learns to skim and jump rather than dwell. The emotions are provoked: outrage, amusement, envy, lust, until they live in constant agitation. The will, weakened by habit, craves stimulation and loses the strength to choose God. In such a state, true recollection becomes nearly impossible.

The smartphone is not evil, but constant attachment to it is slavery. Faustyna would urge us to break free. Detach, cut the cord that makes you restless without it. Discipline, deny yourself unnecessary use, so the senses are not scattered. Recollect, turn that hunger for stimulation into hunger for God. If you do not, your soul will remain dispersed, tied down like a bird that cannot fly. Only detachment and recollection make real prayer, and real freedom, possible.

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