12 3 5 From the Diary of St. Faustina Diary 471, 472, 1020, 278 Prophet for Our Times 1 635 Your Neighbor My daughter, in this medi tat ion, consider the love of neighbor . Is your love for your neighbor guided by My love? Do you pray for your enemies? Do you wish wel l to those who have, in one way or ano ther , caused you sorrow or of fended you? Know that whatever good you do to any soul , I accept i t as i f you had done i t to Me. When I receive Holy Communion, I entreat and beg the Savior to heal my tongue, that I may never fail in love of neighbor. + One night, a sister who had died two months previously came to me. She was a sister of the first choir. I saw her in a terrible condition, all in flames with her face painfully distorted. This lasted only a short time, and then she disappeared. A shudder went through my soul because I did not know whether she was suffering in purgatory or in hell. Nevertheless I redoubled my prayers for her. The next night she came again, but I saw her in an even more horrible state, in the midst of flames which were even more intense, and despair was written all over her face. I was astonished to see her in a worse condition after the prayers I had offered for her, and I asked, “Haven’t my prayers helped you?” She answered that my prayers had not helped her and that nothing would help her. I said to her, “And the prayers which the whole community has offered for you, have they not been any help to you?” She said no, that these prayers had helped some other souls. I replied, “If my prayers are not helping you, Sister, please stop coming to me.” She disappeared at once. Despite this, I kept on praying. After some time she came back again to me during the night, but already her appearance had changed. There were no longer any flames, as there had been before, and her face was radiant, her eyes beaming with joy. She told me that I had a true love for my neighbor and that many other souls had profited from my prayers. She urged me not to cease praying for the souls in purgatory, and she added that she herself would not remain there much longer. How astounding are the decrees of God! 12 + Jesus came to the main entrance today, under the guise of a poor young man. This young man, emaciated, barefoot and bareheaded, and with his clothes in tatters, was frozen because the day was cold and rainy. He asked for something hot to eat. So I went to the kitchen, but found nothing there for the poor. But, after searching around for some time, I succeeded in finding some soup, which I reheated and into which I crumbled some bread, and I gave it to the poor young man, who ate it. As I was taking the bowl from him, he gave me to know that He was the Lord of heaven and earth. When I saw Him as He was, He vanished from my sight. When I went back in and reflected on what had happened at the gate, I heard these words in my soul: My daughter , the blessings of the poor who bless Me as they leave this gate have reached My ears. And your compassion, wi thin the bounds of obedience, has pleased Me, and this is why I came down f rom My throne — to taste the f rui ts of your mercy. 29
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