St. Faustina and the Devine Term Paper

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..the devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God, What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell." "There are special Tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned." And also "There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me." (Sister Faustina's Vision of Hell) The devoted Sister Faustina also said, "Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like...how terribly souls suffer there!" (Sister Faustina's Vision of Hell)

It was after Sister Faustina's death when she was thirty three that the others around her started to realize the depth and the intensity of the numerous revelations that Jesus Christ had seen fit to give her, and the manner in which the humble sister followed God's Command to be 'merciful even as your Heavenly Father is merciful', as well as the way in which the Sister followed the adage, that she must act in such a way that all those who touched her would go away with joy and peace in their hearts amazed those around her. The message of mercy that Sister Faustina received from Jesus Christ is now widely acknowledged, and the messages of peace and joy found in her Diary are being spread throughout the world even today. (Catholic Online, Sister Faustina)

It was in the year 1935 that Sister Faustina received a Holy Vision, of an Angel that had been sent by God, with the purpose of chastising a particular city. When she saw the vision, the young sister felt great fear, and started to pray for mercy and forgiveness, but as it turned out, her prayers were actually powerless, because they could not prevent Jesus Christ from communicating with her. It was during this Holy Vision of the Divine Mercy that Sister Faustina saw the Holy Trinity, and son afterwards, felt the power and presence of Jesus Christ and His grace within her. At the same time, she felt herself praying, albeit within herself, for mercy; she offered her body and her soul to atone for the various sins of those around her, and asked for mercy for herself and for the entire world too. (Divine Mercy, Mercy Prayers)

Sister Faustina continued to pray in this manner, and soon enough, the Angel became completely helpless, and felt that the punishment to be meted out could not in fact be carried out, as referred to in her Diary, 474 and 475. The very next day, she was about to enter the Chapel, and it was at this time that she heard the same interior voice that she had hear the previous day, and this voice was instructing Sister Faustina to recite the prayer generally referred to as the 'Chaplet'. Sister Faustina obeyed, and she started to recite the Chaplet almost continuously, from then onward, and most especially when she was in the presence of the dying. Soon thereafter, Sister Faustina had other revelations, in which Jesus Christ exhorted this pure individual to recite the Chaplet not only for herself, but also for the entire world. (Divine Mercy, Mercy Prayers)

However, it must be remembered that Sister Faustina started to have visions and revelations much before 1935, and as a matter of fact, it was in the year 1931 that she had a stunning vision of Jesus Christ in her cell in her convent at Poland. In this vision, Jesus Christ reportedly gave Sister Faustina a series of instructions about the Chaplet, as mentioned earlier, and also about the other Revelations and Devotions that would successfully be able to invoke the Divine Mercy of God and conversion for sinners. (Katherine, 63)

In Sister Faustina's own words, she describes the vision that came to her, in 1931, in her diary.

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"In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing; the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, "paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the Inscription: Jesus, I trust in You." (Apparitions of Jesus and Mary: Devotion to the Divine Mercy)

As mentioned earlier, the two rays pouring forth form Jesus Christ's heart were to be colored red and pale, and while the red ray would represent Our Lord's blood, the pale ray would represent the water, which would make souls self-righteous. Jesus Christ also told this simple and devout lady that these to rays would issue from the very depths of his agonized soul, and would show his tender mercy, at a time when his heart had in fact been gravely pierced with a lance on the Cross, during the process of Crucifixion. He also stated that "Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter," of the two rays "for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him." (Apparitions of Jesus and Mary: Devotion to the Divine Mercy)

In order to further demonstrate the fact that all was indeed forgiven, Jesus Christ told Sister Faustina that a solemn 'Feast of the Divine Mercy' must be celebrated thenceforth throughout the entire Church. During these celebrations, he told Sister Faustina; he wanted this image that he had created for her during her vision, to be solemnly blessed, on the very First Sunday after Easter. This would also mean that from then onwards, Sunday would remain the Feast of Mercy. It would be on this important day that the floodgates of mercy would be opened up in the heart of Jesus Christ. Whoever chose to go for Confessional or for Holy Communion on that particular Sunday would receive complete forgiveness and mercy from sin and punishment. He also stated that man would not be able to enjoy complete peace, until and unless to His Mercy. (Apparitions of Jesus and Mary: Devotion to the Divine Mercy)

Jesus Christ also promised Sister Faustina that the soul that would venerate this image of him with two rays pouring forth from his heart would not perish, and that he would be able to pledge victory over enemies, and most especially at the hour of their death, if the image were to be cherished and venerated. What Jesus Christ was actually offering to his beloved people was a sort of vessel, which they were to make full use of, and utilize to gain graces at the fountain of mercy. The vessel in this case was the image inscribed with the signature as described to Sister Faustina, 'Jesus, I trust in you'. Jesus Christ thereafter revealed to Sister Faustina that he wanted this image of him venerated, first in the Chapel, and then throughout the world. In fact, there is a story that, after the original image had been painted, at the request of Sister Faustina's confessor, it had been hung in the corridor, rather than in the Church, and Jesus Christ appeared in a vision to the simple lady and told her that she was to tell the confessor that the image must be put on view in the Church, and not within the small enclosure of the convent that it was in at that particular time. (Veneration of the Sacred Image)

The reason given was that Jesus Christ would be granting many graces to his devotees, through this image of himself, and therefore, the more number of people had access to it, and saw it, the more graces that he would be able to offer them. It must be noted that numerous versions of this image have been painted through the years, but the fact still remains that the Lord felt that the painting as such was not important in itself; and when Sister Faustina was given the task of commissioning a painter to paint the image of Jesus Christ as it was revealed to her, she reportedly wept, saying that no one would be able to "paint You….....

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