20 Marian Helper • Summer 2023 • Marian.org The greatest saints of the Church have always turned to the compassionate Heart of our spiritual mother for help and solace on the road to Heaven. For example, several times the Blessed Virgin spoke about her maternal tenderness to the great Apostle of Divine Mercy, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska. As recorded in her Diary, Mary told her, “Know, my daughter, that although I was raised to the dignity of Mother of God, seven swords of pain pierced my heart” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 786). On another occasion, Our Lady said to her, “I know how much you suffer, but do not be afraid. I share with you your suffering, and I shall always do so” (Diary, 25). Throughout Faustina’s life, Mary taught her that she is our true mother who understands our joys, sorrows, and needs better than anyone. Complete trust in Mary As a result, St. Faustina placed her complete trust in Mary right from the start, a childlike trust that knew no bounds. In the early pages of her Diary, for example, Faustina consecrated her whole being to Mary, entrusting her life to Mary with these words: O Mary, my Mother and my Lady, I offer you my soul, my body, my life and my death, and all that will follow it. I place everything in your hands (Diary, 79). Later, when she went to the Shrine of Mary in Czestochowa in Poland to pray there before the great icon of Our Lady, St. Faustina wrote: The Mother of God told me many things. I entrusted my perpetual vows to her. I felt that I was her child and that she was my Mother. She did not refuse any of my requests (260). Toward the end of St. Faustina’s life, Mary again encouraged her to place complete childlike trust in her by speaking to Faustina these tender words: “My daughter, at God’s command I am to be, in a special and exclusive way your Mother; but I desire that you, too, in a special way, be my child” (Diary, 1414). Our Lady and St. Faustina Mother of Merciful Love: By Dr. Robert Stackpole
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