Jezu Ufam Tobie

Today is the feast day of one of my favorite saints, Sister Faustina Kowalska.  Some of you may have heard of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy or Divine Mercy Sunday, which was dictated to St. Faustina by Christ.  St. Faustina received the image of Divine Mercy and wrote an entire diary of her encounters with the Lord from 1931-1938.

Faustina was poor and uneducated.  She only had 3 years of rudimentary education.  She couldn’t read or write.  But, through the grace of God, she wrote an entire book, The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.  There are direct quotes from her visions of Divine Mercy that express God’s greatest love and mercy for us.  

“My heart overflows with great mercy for souls, especially for poor sinners…it is for them that Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy.  For them I dwell in the tabernacle as King of Mercy.”

At the time of her visions, Faustina faced intense disbelief and persecutions. No one believed Jesus would appear to an uneducated sister in Krakow, Poland.  Devotion to Divine Mercy was banned in 1957 by the Vatican.  However, Pope John Paul II, saw the promise and holiness in the life of St. Faustina.  He canonized Faustina in 2000.   And since then, Divine Mercy has become a very celebrated and well-known devotion.  Like I said, Divine Mercy Sunday is coming up.  It is a time to recognize God’s love for us that he sent his only Son to save us from our sins.

Jezu Ufam Tobie.

When I was younger, I became infatuated with the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the prayers we said before we started.  I read all about St. Faustina and Divine Mercy and went about a year where I prayed it every day.  As I got busier, the devotion fell to the wayside.  

However, when I found out I was traveling to Poland, I began to rekindle my faith in Divine Mercy and those simple words St. Faustina painted on the picture “Jezu Ufam Tobie”.  Jesus I trust in you.

The gift of Divine Mercy goes far beyond explaining to us the powerful love of God the Father and Son.  It is a springboard for us to leap off of into absolute trust.  It is a very simple prayer.  “Jesus I trust in you.”  But it can do amazing and powerful things for your life.

While I was in Poland last time, I was completely cut off from my normal modes of support (See a commentary on the difficulty of being abroad).  I went to Mass in a different language, it was really hard to find a priest who spoke enough English to hear my confession.  My uncle died suddenly, my boyfriend broke up with me.  There were SO many opportunities to completely despair.  But, when I found myself nearing that precipice, I’d head to the nearest church and just repeat over and over again in Polish Jesus I trust in you.

My faith has grown incredibly over the past few years and I find myself more comfortable with the Polish Mass and more quickly finding friends who speak English.  My apartment situation led me to many moments of desperation where I would frustratingly ask God to just SHOW ME where He wanted me to live.  In the end, I am happy, very happy, where I ended up.  It was one of those teaching moments for the virtue of patience...but trust in Him I did.

So I’d like to challenge you to begin to use St. Faustina’s simplest prayer in your own life.  “Jesus I trust in you.”  When you begin to doubt God’s providence.  Whenever you feel like you can’t make it another day.  Remind yourself, remind God.  Jesus I trust in you.

Even if you feel like you’re about to fall off a cliff, God has a plan.  He’s holding you and just making sure you trust him…a lot.  

(This is an excerpt from a talk I've given at St. Mary's University Parish's Corpus Christi meeting.)