Feast of St. Faustina Kowalska

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Thursday, 5 October 2023 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the mission that each and every one of us have in our lives, as God’s people, as Christians, that we are all expected to be a people filled with God’s love and grace, with all of His virtues and righteousness, and hence, we should always strive to be exemplary in all of our actions, words and deeds, in our every moments in life. All of us should always strive to live our every moments with dedication and love for God, so that by our every examples and good efforts, we may indeed be the bearers of His truth, love and Good News in all things and at all opportunities.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Nehemiah, we heard of the actions of the priest and prophet Ezra who led the people in the celebration of the Lord’s festival and gathering, as Ezra and Nehemiah assembled all the people of God who have relocated back to their ancestral lands. Ezra and Nehemiah called on the people of God so that they could all be reminded of the Law of God which their ancestors and predecessors had disobeyed and failed to fulfil and obey, which led them to their downfall and destruction. That is why, the people of God were reminded of those Law and commandments, so that they would not repeat the mistakes and failures of their ancestors, as they had been shown great mercy, forgiveness and compassion from God.

Back then, most of the people were illiterate and were unable to read the Scriptures, or to comprehend the Law in words of the Torah or the scrolls of the Law. Instead, they heard and passed down those laws and commandments, traditions and practices through oral traditions and inheritance, from generation to generation. And hence, this teaching session just as what we have heard in our first reading today was truly a really important one for the people of God, as after many decades in exile and after many generations previously having neglected the Law and the commandments of God, many would have forgotten or become ignorant of what they would have to do as the followers and the people of God, whom He had chosen from among the nations.

Upon hearing the Law and the commandments of God, we heard how the people became visibly upset and sad, because they rightfully feared the retribution and punishments from the Lord for their sins and wickedness, and for having neglected the Law and the commandments of God just as their predecessors had done before them. But Ezra told the people not to despair or be sad, because they have been reminded of the Law so that ultimately, they might turn away from their past mistakes and return once again to the path of righteousness and virtue that the Lord has taught and shown to them and their ancestors. They should put their trust in the Lord, live their lives faithfully and commit themselves henceforth to the Lord and His cause.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Who sent out His disciples before Him, a total of seventy-two of them, which were among His close confidants and followers. He entrusted to them the care of His flock and also the missions which He wanted them all to carry out, as they had been sent to proclaim God’s Good News and truth among the people who have not yet known the Lord and this truth, His love, kindness and mercy. And linking to what we have discussed and learnt earlier from our first reading today, each and every one of us should keep in mind that every one of us as Christians have the same responsibilities and missions as those disciples of the Lord, in going forth and continuing the mission which God has entrusted to us, His Church.

Now, as we heard earlier on, it means that each and every one of us should always strive to live our lives faithfully and with genuine devotion, so that we may indeed be filled with God’s grace and love in all things, and that our lives may be truly exemplary and inspirational in our faith. It is by our actions and examples that we can remind one another, our fellow brothers and sisters around us, of what we need to do in remaining ever faithful and committed to God. We should not only just observe or remember His Law, commandments and teachings externally but we must also be truly genuine in loving the Lord wholeheartedly from the depth of our hearts and minds. We must be truly be faithful, so that by our examples, we may help lead others ever closer to God, His love and mercy.

Today, we celebrate the feast of a great and renowned saint who lived and worked in the previous century, who helped many of us to come to know the love and mercy of God, His compassion and kindness, in the figure and persona of the Divine Mercy of God. St. Faustina Kowalska, a religious nun who was famous for her vision of the Lord’s aspect as the Divine Mercy, through her words and writings helped the world to come to know the vastness of God’s love and merciful kindness towards each and every one of us. She had felt the calling of religious life from early on in her life, and embraced that call by becoming a religious sister, and entering a convent in Warsaw, in her native Poland.

St. Faustina Kowalska was renowned for her great piety and dedication to God, and she periodically received visions of the Divine Mercy in the convent, throughout her period of prayers and contemplation, in which the Lord continued to reveal Himself and His desire for all mankind to embrace His ever generous love and mercy. St. Faustina Kowalska faced a lot of trials and hardships in the process, as there were quite a few who were skeptical about the veracity, authenticity and orthodoxy of her visions, and she faced interdict, restrictions and questioning from the religious superiors and other leaders of the Church regarding her visions and writings. Nonetheless, St. Faustina Kowalska persevered on and continued to do what the Lord had told her to do, and eventually, many years after her passing, she was vindicated, and her vision of the Divine Mercy of God became a very popular devotion in the Church.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard and discerned on the readings from the Sacred Scriptures that we have just received, and also through the inspiring example and story of the life of St. Faustina Kowalska, let us all therefore do our part as members of God’s Church, as His beloved people and as His disciples, to proclaim Him and His truth, His love and Good News through our own exemplary lives and examples. Let us always strive to live our lives worthily of the Lord, as our holy predecessors, the saints and martyrs, and like St. Faustina Kowalska have shown us, while resisting the temptations to sin and to disobey God. May the Lord continue to help and strengthen us all in our journey of faith throughout life. Amen.

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Thursday, 5 October 2023 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Luke 10 : 1-12

At that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two other disciples, and sent them, two by two, ahead of Him, to every town and place, where He Himself was to go. And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So you must ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to His harvest.”

“Courage! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Set off without purse or bag or sandals; and do not stop at the homes of those you know. Whatever house you enter, first bless them, saying, ‘Peace to this house!’ If a friend of peace lives there, the peace shall rest upon that person. But if not, the blessing will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking at their table, for the worker deserves to be paid. Do not move from house to house.”

“When they welcome you to any town, eat what they offer you. Heal the sick who are there, and say to them : ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’ But in any town where you are not welcome, go to the marketplace and proclaim : ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off and leave with you. But know for a certainty that the kingdom of God has drawn near to you.'”

“I tell you, that on the Day of Judgment it will be better for Sodom than for this town.”

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Thursday, 5 October 2023 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 11

The Law of YHVH is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of YHVH is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of YHVH are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of YHVH are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of YHVH is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of YHVH are true, all of them just and right.

They are more precious than gold – pure gold of a jeweller; they are much sweeter than honey which drops from the honeycomb.

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Thursday, 5 October 2023 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Nehemiah 8 : 1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12

In the seventh month, all the people gathered as one man in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra to bring the book of the Law of Moses, which YHVH had given to Israel. Ezra brought the Law before the assembly, both men, women and all the children who could understand what was being read.

It was the first day of the seventh month. So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon, before the men, women and those children who could understand. All the people were eager to hear the book of the Law. Ezra, the teacher of the Law, stood on a wooden platform built for that occasion.

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was in a higher place; and when he opened it, all the people stood. Ezra praised YHVH the great God; and all the people lifted up their hands and answered, “Amen! Amen!” And they bowed their heads to the ground.

The Levites explained the Law to the people who were standing. They read from the book of the Law of God, clarifying and interpreting the meaning, so that everyone might understand what they were hearing. Then Ezra, the teacher of the Law, said to the people, “This day is dedicated to YHVH, your God, so do not be sad or weep.”

He said this because all wept when they heard the reading of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go and eat rich foods, drink sweet wine and share with him who has nothing prepared. This day is dedicated to the Lord, so do not be sad. The joy of YHVH is our strength.”

The Levites also calmed the people down, saying, “Do not weep. This day is a festival day. Do not be sad.” And the people went their way to eat, drink and share, and they had a great feast, because they had understood the words that had been proclaimed to them.

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Wednesday, 5 October 2022 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of our Christian obligations to seek the Lord and to remain faithful to Him, and to follow the good examples of faith set by the Lord Himself and His many saints. Each and every one of us are called to devote our time and attention to God, and we are all encouraged to proclaim the word of God in our lives courageously, through our words and actions, and to be genuine in our interactions with one another, so that our lives may become good examples for many others who witness our works and interact with us.

In our first reading today, as we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and faithful in Galatia, we heard the Apostle recounting his past experiences, as he grew in the faith and followed what the Lord asked him to do. We heard of the deeds of the Apostles, of St. Paul himself and his companions like St. Barnabas the Apostle and others, as well as with Cephas, that is St. Peter the Apostle, the leader of the Church and all the Apostles. St. Paul recounted his works and his interactions with the other Apostles, and how the Lord worked through their interactions, as they helped and assisted each other, and St. Paul himself reminded St. Peter in the spirit of fraternal correction, that he should not give in to those who advocated for the imposition of un-Christian rules and regulations on the Gentiles.

Back then, we have to understand that during the time of the early Church, there existed great tensions and divisions among the members of the faithful as they were still maintaining their past distinctions in terms of their race and origin, their prior identities and beliefs, their status and ideologies, among others. The Jews and the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, in particular, were often divided in their opinion and ways in the early Church, with some among the Jewish Christian converts advocating the imposition of Jewish laws and customs in their entirety on the entire body of the Christian faithful.

The Jewish people made up a significant proportion of the early Christians as the disciples of the Lord preached first to the Jews and the people in Judea and Galilee before they began their outreach to the Gentiles both in the lands of Judea and Galilee and in distant lands. The Apostles and many other disciples of the Lord were themselves Jewish, and that naturally made many of the early Christians to hold certain ideas and viewpoints, with some among them desiring to impose their will on others. The non-Jewish people however would find adopting such practices and customs to be very difficult, as many of them were difficult to enforce even among the Jews themselves, and some of those customs were also seen as abhorrent by the non-Jewish communities.

As such, St. Paul, who had often reached out to the Gentiles and worked among them, spending many years in ministering to the Gentile converts to Christianity and more, he stood by the Christian Gentiles, that the Church ought to understand their position and difficulties, and also understand better the true wishes of the Lord, Who called on everyone to follow Him, Jews and Gentiles alike. There should be no prejudice or bias in the path of following God, and all the faithful people of God should have been treated equally without certain preferences to a particular race, culture, customs and ways of living.

What is important is for all Christians to embrace the true core of our faith and belief in the Lord, that all of us ought to love the Lord our God, with all of our hearts and minds, with all of our strength and abilities, and then to love one another, our fellow brothers and sisters in the same way that we have loved the Lord and ourselves. What some of the Jewish converts back then tried to impose on the whole Church especially on the Gentile Christians were excessive and unnecessary, and could have even turned many people away from the Lord, and worsen the instances of elitism and self-righteousness among the Christian people, just as what had happened among the Pharisees and the Jewish elites.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord teaching His disciples how to pray, through the prayer that I am sure all of us know very well, that is the Lord’s Prayer or Pater Noster. As we listened to the words of this prayer that I am sure we have often prayed for, we are once again reminded of our purpose and obligation as Christians, that is as those whom God had called and chosen, and having responded to His call, each one of us have been made the children of God. And because of this, each and every one of us should do our best to live our lives in the way that the Lord had taught and shown us to do. All of us should not behave in ways that will bring disgrace and dishonour to the Name of the Lord and to His Church.

We should also deepen our relationship with the Lord through prayer, just as the Lord Himself had taught us. And praying is one of these ways, as we are reminded to keep in contact with the Lord our God. As in any relationships we have in this world, we have to maintain them through constant contact and interactions, and we cannot be close to the Lord unless we really make the conscious efforts to do so, and to bring ourselves nearer to Him, through prayers and by following His will, obeying His Law and commandments. The Lord has called us all to follow Him, and it is really up to us to renew our relationship with Him and commit ourselves to Him, through our efforts at each and every moments.

Then, we should also be inspired by the examples and good things done by our holy predecessors, just as on this day we celebrate the feast of St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish religious sister who was the visionary and the inspiration for the very popular Devotion to the Divine Mercy of God. St. Faustina Kowalska joined religious life at an early age and began receiving visions of the Lord, especially that of the suffering Jesus, calling upon the people of God to return to Him and to embrace His mercy and love. St. Faustina Kowalska recorded her experiences and mystical visions, especially when the Lord appeared to her in the now famous Divine Mercy form, with rays of red and white light emanating from His Most Sacred Heart.

St. Faustina Kowalska spent a lot of time in prayer and devoted herself in humble submission to the will of God. She also related her visions and told them to her superiors and others, as per instructed by the Lord Himself in her visions. Despite the challenges and oppositions that she encountered throughout her life, and in her work of spreading the message and truth of the Devotion to the Divine Mercy of God, St. Faustina continued to persevere nonetheless, and eventually, this Devotion gained tract and popularity among Christians worldwide, especially after her passing not long after she received those visions of the Divine Mercy. This Devotion is now among the most popular among Christians all over the world. St. Faustina Kowalska might have lived just a short life, and yet, in that short moment, she had touched the life of so many people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all emulate the good faith and examples as shown by St. Faustina Kowalska and many other saints, our holy predecessors, holy men and women of God. Let us all live up to our faith and do whatever we can to fulfil our obligation and calling as Christians, living our lives to the fullest as role models and the good examples of Christian discipleship, loving God and loving one another with all of our strength and might. Let us all inspire one another and be the good examples to help more and more people to find their way to God, to embrace the Divine Mercy and His love for us, that we may be forgiven from our multitudes of sins.

May God be with us always and may He continue to empower us all, that we may always persevere with faith. May God be glorified through our lives, our actions and deeds, and may our every interactions help to proclaim His truth and love to others, and bring more souls ever closer to God and His loving embrace. In the words of the prayers to the Divine Mercy, ‘Eternal Father, I offer You, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.’ Amen.

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Wednesday, 5 October 2022 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Holy Virgins)

Luke 11 : 1-4

At that time, Jesus was praying in a certain place; and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples.”

And Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this : Father, may Your Name be held holy, may Your kingdom come; give us, each day, the kind of bread we need, and forgive us our sins; for we also forgive all who do us wrong; and do not bring us to the test.”

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Wednesday, 5 October 2022 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Holy Virgins)

Psalm 116 : 1, 2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

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Wednesday, 5 October 2022 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Holy Virgins)

Galatians 2 : 1-2, 7-14

After fourteen years, I, again, went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and Titus came with us. Following a revelation, I went, to lay before them the Gospel that I am preaching to the pagans. I had a private meeting with the leaders – lest I should be working, or have worked, in a wrong way.

They recognised that I have been entrusted to give the Good News to the pagan nations, just as Peter has been entrusted to give it to the Jews. In the same way that God made Peter the Apostle of the Jews, He made me the Apostle of the pagans. James, Cephas and John acknowledged the graces God gave me.

Those men, who were regarded as the pillars of the Church, stretched out their hand to me and Barnabas, as a sign of fellowship; we would go to the pagans, and they, to the Jews. We should only keep in mind, the poor among them. I have taken care to do this.

When, later, Cephas, came to Antioch, I confronted him, since he deserved to be blamed. Before some of James’ people arrived, he used to eat with non-Jewish people. But when they arrived, he withdrew, and did not mingle anymore with them, for fear of the Jewish group. The rest of the Jews followed him in this pretense, and even Barnabas was part of this insincerity.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas publicly : If you, who are Jewish, agreed to live like the non-Jews, setting aside the Jewish customs, why do you, now, compel the non-Jews to live like Jews?