26th Week, Saturday, Oct 5: Saint Faustina Kowalska
Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-16; Lk 10: 17-24
God blesses Job; God rewards Job beyond his dreams
In their book Finding God, Louis Savary and Thomas O'Connor
tell the story of a young man who had a remarkable experience of God. He knelt
down and prayed for the first time in over 20 years. In the course of the
prayer, he surrendered himself to God, totally. As he did, he suspected that
God would make his life hard and painful. But the opposite happened. God
blessed him beyond his wildest dreams. The young man wrote later:
"Since I gave up to God all ownership of my own life,
he has blessed me in a thousand ways, and opened my path in a way almost
incredible to those who do not enjoy the secret of a truly surrendered
life."
***
Have we ever experienced God's special love after
surrendering something to God? God's blessings put our wildest dreams to shame.
***
Introduction
Today, we
hear the closing words of the Book of Job. In his sufferings, he has voiced his
complaints, and his friends have tried to justify God, but Job cannot fully
understand; finally, his eyes have seen, and he accepts that God is greater and
wiser and knows best. We should understand better than Job, for we have seen
the suffering face of the crucified Christ.
***
Luke 10: 17-24
Fortunate are we!
The Seventy returned from their initial preaching and
healing ministry brimming with joy and excitement over the victories they had
accomplished in Jesus' name. However, Jesus then warns them, "I saw Satan
fall like lightning from Heaven." This statement holds deep significance
and can be interpreted in various meaningful ways.
It might signify the defeat of the forces of darkness
and evil, the overthrow of Satan's stronghold, and the establishment of God's
kingdom. It could also serve as a caution against pride. According to legend,
Satan was expelled from heaven due to pride, and Jesus may have been warning
the Seventy to guard against becoming prideful despite their successes.
Jesus advised his disciples to avoid pride and overconfidence,
reminding them that their true glory lay in having their names inscribed in heaven.
It will always be true that a person's greatest glory is not in their own
accomplishments but in what God has done for them.
Christianity does not mean knowing all the theories about
the New Testament, nor does it mean knowing all the theologies
and Christology. It does not mean knowing about Christ;
instead, it means knowing Christ, which requires
not only earthly wisdom but heavenly grace. Jesus gives a simple
formula to know God: "If you want to know what God is like, look at
me." Jesus didn't just speak about God; he embodied God's character and
nature, revealing God through his words and actions.
The concept of evolution in science suggests that human
beings have gradually evolved from lower forms of life. From a faith
perspective, we can take this a step further and view Jesus as the culmination
of this evolutionary process. In him, humanity meets
God, and he is at once the perfection of humanity and the
fulness of Godhead.
“Fortunate are we to experience what we experience in the
Church, in the Word of God and in the Sacraments!”
****
Opening
Prayer
Lord our
God, in your bewildering wisdom you let us stand at times all alone before you
with our miseries and we barely know where you are. Give us then the courage to
keep our trust in you alive, as people without pretensions, humble, without
illusions, but aware that you too have a Son, who all alone and disfigured, died
one day on the cross for us, Jesus Christ our Lord.
***
Saint Faustina Kowalska
Feast Day October 5
Helena Kowalska was the third of ten children of a peasant
family who lived in Glogowiec, Poland. She was simple, uneducated, and
attractive. As a child, she began to sense God’s call, but she was twenty before
she found it irresistible. In 1925, Helena entered the Congregation of Sisters
of Our Lady of Mercy. She took the name Faustina and was assigned to domestic
service.
On the evening of February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to St.
Faustina. He wore a white robe, and two rays, one white and one red, flowed
from his breast. In this and subsequent visions, Christ directed Faustina to
propagate devotion to the Divine Mercy. He instructed her to make a painting of
his image, promising that anyone who honored it would be saved. He also told
Faustina that he wanted the whole church to celebrate the first Sunday after
Easter as the Feast of Mercy.
Faustina’s first efforts met with ridicule, doubt, and only
lukewarm support. However, after 1933, with the aid of her spiritual director,
Father Michael Sopocko, she made good but slow progress. By 1935 thousands in
Poland were participating in the Divine Mercy movement.
The Divine Mercy meant not only receiving mercy, but also
giving it. With Faustina we can pray that we too might become merciful:
Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may
never suspect or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my
neighbors’ souls and come to their rescue. Help me, that my ears may be
merciful, so that I may give heed to my neighbors’ needs and not be indifferent
to their pains and moanings. Help me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful,
so that I should never speak negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of
comfort and forgiveness for all.
Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled
with good deeds, so that I may do only good to my neighbor and take upon myself
the more difficult and toilsome tasks. Help me, that my feet may be merciful,
so that I may hurry to assist my neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and
weariness. My true rest is in the service of my neighbor.
Faustina died of tuberculosis in 1938. After her death the Divine Mercy devotion has grown steadily. With the support of Pope John Paul II, it became popularly established throughout the entire church. Faustina, and other saints like Margaret Mary Alacoque, Joan of Arc, and even the Virgin Mary, were simple and unassuming young women. What makes them extraordinary is God’s grace. He seems to favor ordinary folks with his mercy, which is very good news.
