It was exactly 90 years ago today that Sister (now Saint) Faustina Kowalska saw a vision of the Lord Jesus who told her to paint an image according to the pattern she saw. She was in her cell in the house the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy had in Plock, Poland, about 90 min NW of Warsaw on the Vistula River. We visited Plock on our trip to Poland in 2016 and wrote about it at the time. The reason I remember the date – Feb 22, 1931 – is because my mother’s 10th birthday was on that day too. So Mom was born exactly 100 years ago today!
Just recently Fr. Seraphim Michalenko of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception in Stockbridge MA, passed away. It was he who successfully smuggled a copy of the manuscript of the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul, out of Communist Poland, thus enabling it to be accurately translated, published and spread across the world. Initially the Vatican banned reading of her writings for 20 years due to grammatical errors and an earlier inaccurate translation. In 1979, Pope John Paul II lifted the ban just 6 months into his papacy after having her diary thoroughly examined for its authenticity.
We have a copy of the beautiful leather bound edition that Fr. Seraphim produced. It is truly an amazing spiritual book, one that I will read again soon. Sadly, the house in which Saint Faustina baked bread, helped out in the kitchen and had this vision, was destroyed by the Nazis during WWII. The Sisters were rebuilding it when we were there. Hopefully their excited dreams have now come to fruition. Here are a few pictures from our visit to Plock in honour of this 90th anniversary.
Jezu Ufam Tobie – Jesus I Trust in You
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