Wednesday, June 5, 2013

From the Heart of St. Faustina

Over the next few days, I'd like to look at several 'cloistered hearts' who have gone before us.  While these holy ones may never have thought of their hearts as 'cloistered,' indeed that was the reality.

I will be looking primarily at men and women determined by the Church to be saints, or at least ones recognized as on the steady path to sainthood.

After all, look at where their paths have led.

'I find pleasure, not in large buildings and magnificent structures,' said Jesus to St. Faustina Kowalska, 'but in a pure and humble heart.'  (Diary #532)

'In the dwelling of my heart is that wilderness to which no creature has access.  There, You alone are King.'  (St. Faustina, Diary #725)

'My heart is a permanent dwelling place for Jesus.  No one but Jesus has access to it.' (St. Faustina, Diary #193)

'Nothing terrifies me, even if the whole world should turn against me.  All adversaries touch only the surface, but they have no entry to the depths, because God, who strengthens me, who fills me, dwells there.'  (St. Faustina, Diary #480)

'Nothing disturbs my union with the Lord, neither conversation with others nor any duties; even if I am to go about settling very important matters, this does not disturb me.  My spirit is with God, and my interior being is filled with God, so I do not look for Him outside myself.  He, the Lord, penetrates my soul just as a ray from the sun penetrates clear glass.  When I was enclosed in my mother's womb, I was not so closely united with her as I am with my God.  There, it was an unawareness; but here it is the fullness of reality and the consciousness of union.'  (St. Faustina, Diary #883)

'My daughter, I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today.'  (Jesus to St. Faustina, #866 )


All quotes above are from Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Faustina Kowalska, Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, 1996.  Click this link for more information. 

Painting: Adolf Kaufmann, 1904, detail, in US public domain 
Photo of St. Faustina in public domain

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