Feast of Saint Faustina Kowalska

Good morning. In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. This prayer, the Our Father, serves as a wonderfully effective source of direction for married couples. The prayer begins with glorifying God “He said to them, When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come.” It has been my observation as a marital counselor and within my own marriage that a marriage which is Christ centered cannot go wrong. If couples get up daily and direct their efforts at glorifying God in all that they do they will find much joy together. The next part of the prayer recalls our need as a married couple to look to Divine Providence, to trust that God will provide. “Give us each day our daily bread.” In all marriages there are ups and downs, certainly my own marriage has presented various challenges but through it all God has been there with us and we have come to know of His goodness throughout our marriage. Often times couples forget that it is more important that we live a good life versus living well. It is so easy to allow ourselves to be misdirected by human desires of living well versus living a good life guided by love. Next we are reminded to forgive, and it is fitting that today we commemorate the life of Saint Faustina Kowalska. We are reminded that God wants us to receive His mercy and let that mercy and forgiveness flow through our own lives to others. He wants us to extend to others the same love and forgiveness that He offers to us. He says: “and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us.” This forgiveness begins with trust in each other, the same type of trust we place in God. We say today, and each day: “Christ Jesus, I trust in you!” And lastly Jesus reminds us that it is with God’s grace and love that we can successfully stand-up to the temptations of this life. “And do not subject us to the final test.” We are reminded in these words today, and in the words of Saint Faustina, that with the grace and love of God we can change small things into great things and that it is in His love and the sharing of His love and mercy with each other that we truly find joy and meaning. “Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions.” May we live daily this divine mercy and love in our marriage and bear witness to it with everyone we encounter. Christ Jesus, I trust in you! Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Saint Faustina Kowalska.

"And you, Faustina, a gift of God to our time, a gift from the land of Poland to the whole Church, obtain for us an awareness of the depth of divine mercy; help us to have a living experience of it and to bear witness to it among our brothers and sisters. May your message of light and hope spread throughout the world, spurring sinners to conversion, calming rivalries and hatred and opening individuals and nations to the practice of brotherhood. Today, fixing our gaze with you on the face of the risen Christ, let us make our own your prayer of trusting abandonment and say with firm hope: Christ Jesus, I trust in you! Jezu, ufam tobie! ~From the Mass for the canonization of Saint Faustina Kowalska, Sunday, April 30, 2000.