Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul (Illustrated)

by Maria Faustyna Kowalska

But God arranged the circumstances in such a way that I could not get to the Mother Superior [Michael]. I stepped into the little chapel7 before going to bed, and I asked Jesus for light in this matter. But I received nothing in my soul except a strange unrest which I did not understand.

I entered the cell full of anguish and discontent; I did not know what to do with myself. I threw myself headlong on the ground and began to pray fervently that I might come to know the will of God.

It is only from my cell that God can hear the moaning of a soul. I did not know that one was not allowed to pray in the cell after nine without permission.

After a while a brightness filled my cell, and on the curtain I saw the very sorrowful Face of Jesus. There were open wounds on His Face, and large tears were falling on my bedspread. Not knowing what all this meant, I asked Jesus,“Jesus, who has hurt You so?” And Jesus said to me, It is you who will cause Me this pain if you leave this convent. It is to this place that I called you and nowhere else; and I have prepared many graces for you. I begged pardon of Jesus and immediately changed my decision.

It was at that time that I asked the Lord for whom else should I pray for. Jesus said that on the following night He would let me know for whom I should pray.

their greatest torment was longing for God. I saw Our Lady visiting the souls in Purgatory. The souls call her “The Star of the Sea.” She brings them refreshment.

my Guardian Angel beckoned me to leave. We went out of that prison of suffering.

My mercy does not want this, but justi...

Since that time, I am in closer communion with the...

Sister [Henry10] was dying.

[in spirit, after her death] and bid me to go to the Mother Directress of Novices [Sister Margaret11] and tell her to ask her confessor, Father Rospond,12 to offer one Mass for her and three ejaculatory prayers.

At first I agreed, but the next day I decided I would not go to Mother Directress, because I was not sure whether this had ha...

The following night the same thing was repeated more clearly; I had no more doubt. Still, in the morning I decided not to tell the Directress about it unless I saw her [Sister Henry] during the day. At once I ran into her in the corridor. She reproached me for not having gone immediately, and a great uneasiness filled my soul. So I went immediately to Mother Directress and told her everything that had happened to me.

At once peace reigned in my soul, and on the third day this sister came to me and said, “May God repay you.”

The day I took the [religious] habit,13 God let me understand how much I was to suffer. I clearly saw to what I was committing myself. I experienced a moment of that suffering. But then...

Toward the end of the first year of my novitiate, darkness began to cast its shadow over my soul. I felt no consolation in prayer; I had to make a great effort to meditate; fear began to sweep over me. Going deeper into myself, I could find nothing but great misery. I could also clearly see the great holiness of God. I did not dare to raise my eyes to Him, but reduced my...

But this suffering continued to grow stronger.

the picture remains in the side altar to the left of the main entrance, in the Chapel of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy at No. 3/9 Wronia Street in Cracow, and is held in reverence as the image painted under the direction of Sister Faustina Kowalska.

People from all over Poland and from abroad come to this image of the Merciful Christ to beg for needed graces.

The entire description of the vision seems to be a prediction of the difficulties which the Saint will face in her work as apostle of The Divine Mercy. It also predicts the final triumph of this work, and herself in it.

The Rev. Msgr. Dr. Michael Sopocko died on Sister Faustina’s name day, February 15, 1976, at 8 p.m.