Divine Mercy

I like to listen to the Texas Nuns on the radio on Wednesdays. They mentioned choosing a saint to inspire them through the year on All Saints Day. I have played with the random saint generator on the Conversion Diary blog. I even chose a saint for the year last January. I have to say, I was a little freaked out by who I got just because she was a patron saint of widows and I am married. I haven't been all that inspired by her this year, although I have kept St. Paula of Rome in mind. St. Paula never seemed very approachable to me. After the death of her husband she abandoned her children to be raised by some relatives so that she could be a desert hermit. Yeah, I'm confused too.

So when the nuns mentioned that they will be choosing a saint on All Saints Day, I was like, "sign me up." For the past couple of years I've been a huge fan of Father Michael Gaitley's books. I checked out Consoling the Heart of Jesus from the library I used to work at on a whim, and was blown away by his gentle writing style and the way he helped me understand Jesus. Now I'm reading The 'One Thing' is Three. I think it must have been Father Gaitley that introduced me to St. Faustina and the message of Divine Mercy, a message that I most sorely need to understand.

Coming from a Pagan background and not having a relationship with Jesus all my life, I know I have a really imperfect understanding of him at times. When I read the gospels, he sometimes seems a little harsh to me. I know the problem is with my understanding. That, and I'm so unforgiving of myself sometimes that it's hard for me to understand God's forgiveness and mercy. Anyway, I'm hoping that the year with St. Faustina and Divine Mercy will help me truly understand the love of Christ.

My sudden interest in this may be an act of divine providence. The name Faustina keeps coming up in my life. I used to help this single, solitary nun, Sister Faustina at the library. The hubs and I are really good friends with a Catholic couple and when we told them I was pregnant they dubbed the baby Little Faustina. Then I recently found out that Oliver's great grandmother's name was Faustina. My eye is also always drawn to St. Faustina's diary when I go to the Catholic bookstore. Plus when I used to go to St. Joseph's church here in my town the priest is Polish and has a giant picture of Divine Mercy and JPII in the adoration chapel. And all this time I refused to have any particular interest in Saint Faustina. All I saw when I spotted Divine Mercy in My Soul was that it's about 2 inches thick!

But now I hope St. Faustina will be my companion through the year and trust that I will learn to know and love Jesus more through Divine Mercy!

Plus it just might take me a whole year to read Divine Mercy in My Soul.