Saint Faustina's Poetry

In the Catholic world, we are in the year of Mercy. God’s mercy is evident through the bible, however, in the 1930’s sister Faustina, under the counsel of the Lord, Jesus, wrote the Divine Mercy Chaplet. At that time, Sister Faustina (now Saint Faustina Kowalska) was a young Polish woman with very little formal education. You would never know that from reading her diary, Divine Mercy of My Soul, which is packed with incredible wisdom, discernment and poetry. All things are possible when God is the directing your life.

About 12+ years ago I was introduced to Saint Faustina and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, at a presentation at my church. I felt blessed with this new knowledge of God’s mercy and the way God has reached out to the world through Saint Faustina. I purchased the diary and read about half of the diary. For whatever reason that I don’t remember, I put the book back on my bookshelf. Fast forward to 2016, the Year of Mercy. On several recent occasions, I have found myself focusing on this book which is on my bookshelf in the living room and wondering why I never finished reading the diary. Last week I looked at the book, got up, took it off the shelf and picked up where I left off 12+ years ago. I have been immersed in this reading since and feel that the Holy Spirit has been nudging me in this direction for some time now. It was during my morning prayer time, when apparently I was open minded enough to the let the Holy Spirit in and responded to God’s will. Following God’s will is a gift, as always and reading this diary is a glimpse of the mercy that God has for us, if we only listen and believe.

Below is one of the many poems that are in this diary. I especially enjoyed this poem and could relate to the feeling of being an exile in this world.

J.M.J.

With longing I gaze into the starlit sky.

Into the sapphire of fathomless firmaments.

There the pure heart leaps out into find You, O God,

And yearns to be free of the bonds of the flesh.

With great longing, I gaze upon you, my homeland,

When will this, my exile, come to an end?

O Jesus, such is the call of Your bride.
Who suffers agony in her thirst for You.

With longing, I gaze at the footprints of the saints.

Who crossed this wilderness on their way to the fatherland.

They left me the example of their virtue and their counsels.

And they say to me, “Patience, Sister, soon the fetters will break.”

But my longing soul hears not these words.

Ardently it yearns for its Lord and its God,

And it understands not human language,

Because it is enamored of Him alone.

My longing soul, wounded with love,

Forces its way through all created things

And unites itself with infinite eternity,

With the Lord whom my heart has espoused.

Allow my longing soul, O God,

To be drowned in Your Divine Three-fold Essence.
Fulfill my desires, for which I humbly bet You,

With a heart brimming with love’s fires. 

Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, Diary, Divine Mercy of My Soul, pages 468-469

God Bless

Paula