Saint Faustina: Feast Day Oct. 5th
Saint Faustina is one of my favorite saints. Her burning love for Christ, her devotion of offering up everything she did for the conversion of sinners or people she encountered needing prayers, and her true childlike humility before the Lord are just some of the saintly qualities of hers that I admire.
Make no mistake about it, Saint Faustina is the Apostle of Divine Mercy! I don’t know if you’ve ever read Saint Faustina’s Diary, but if you haven’t, you definitely should! Her writings are filled with beautiful words from Jesus about his offering of mercy to those who gaze upon and venerate his Divine Mercy image, which he instructed Saint Faustina to have painted.
Since early spring 2019, my family and I have grown in our love for Jesus’ message of Divine Mercy. In 2019 we attended a special Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter) Mass with confession, adoration, and reception of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus told Saint Faustina that his mercy and graces flow upon those who go to confession and receive Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday, and they will receive remission of their sins and pardoning from punishment. If you’ve never gone to confession and attended Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, please don’t miss receiving his beautiful gift.
In the spring of 2019, my family also purchased a Divine Mercy image and had it blessed by our parish priest. We then formally enthroned it in our home on The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity which also happened to by Father’s Day that year. This year, 2020, on Divine Mercy Sunday we re-enthroned it together as a family. We now as a family try to pray at or close after 3:00pm (the hour of Divine Mercy) in front of our Divine Mercy paining. We pray the following prayer using the words under the paining and from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy Jesus taught Saint Faustina: “Jesus, I trust in you. Eternal Father, I offer you the body, blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” Jesus’ Divine Mercy is a beautiful gift, and I believe it has helped grow and nurture my family’s faith in many ways. If you’re interested in learning more about Divine Mercy, I highly recommend reading Saint Faustina’s Diary or writings about Divine Mercy from Saint Pope John Paul II. Here also is further reading about the promises Christ makes for those who venerate and spread his message of Divine Mercy as well as an article about Saint Faustina and her feast day.
Celebrating Saint Faustina Through Food:
Since Saint Faustina was from Poland, and going along with the theme: “Make no mistake, Saint Faustina is the Apostle of Divine Mercy, we made Polish Mistakes for dinner. You can also make mint meringues, which are similar to “Divinities” but have less sugar, and call them “Divine Mercy Meringues.”
Craft and Prayer Time:
Say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy together as a family. You can also listen to the beautiful song version of the chaplet below and sing together along with it.
For a craft, draw and color a decade of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy on a large sheet of paper or poster board. Hang the chaplet your family makes together in a prominent place in your home to remind you to say the chaplet together as a family.
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