My Patron Saint

My patron saint is Saint Maria Faustina Kowalksa. She was a Polish mystic who died in 1938 at the age of 32. I have to confess that my original decision to choose her was because she was Polish, not because of what kind of person she was or what she did. As I learned about her, though, I came to love her and realize she was perfect for me. She was a very devout young woman, spending hours deep in prayer even in her childhood. She had visions of Jesus during the last years of her life. In her visions, Jesus gave her the Divine Mercy Chaplet, one of the very first Catholic prayers I learned and one that brings me great comfort. The heart of the prayer is this: "For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on me and on the whole world." I love this prayer. I love to kneel before God and ask for His mercy. When I have a bad day, this prayer reminds me that God is always there - waiting with open arms and with boundless amounts of love and mercy. One time, and my friend Tiffani loves this story, I was very zealously praying this prayer and quite inadvertantly blurted out "Have mercy on me and on the whole damn world!" At first I was mortified. I had just said the "D-word" to God Almighty! But then I started laughing and almost drove off the rode because I was laughing so hard. Somehow, I think I amused God that day. Anyway, Maria Faustina was very humble. I often think of her because she was among the "very least" of the sisters in her convent. Of very frail health due to frequent bouts of tuberculosis, she was given the lowest jobs. She had to garden. She had to clean the kitchen. She had to serve the other sisters. Many of them didn't like her. She came from a very impoverished family and could not read or write very well, and they thought she was ignorant. Yet, she always took leftovers from the kitchen and went to the convent gates to feed the poor. She bore all of her sufferings in silence. She humbly accepted her circumstances and did not complain. Nobody except the priest she confessed to knew of her visions, and nobody would know of them if that priest had not commanded her to keep a diary. As it was, she said nothing about them to anybody except this priest, and it wasn't until after her death that people realized what an extraordinary young woman she really was. There is a very famous Catholic painting, one that is in nearly every Catholic church you will go in. It is called "The Divine Mercy" and it comes from several of Maria Faustina's visions where Jesus commanded this specific painting to be done. In it, Jesus stands with one hand raised in a blessing, and the other touching his breast, from which come twin rays symbolizing the red blood that he shed for us and the clear rays of water, symbolizing baptism. He has a very kind expression on His face, but one that also is stern. Underneath are the words "Jesus, I trust in You!" It is a beautiful picture. I keep it by my bed so I can see it every day and remember that no matter what my sins are, Jesus still wants me to come to Him. I love it. Anyway, this is my patron saint, a humble Polish girl who reminded the world of the need to repent and of the mercy of God.