{"id":37126,"date":"2020-07-08T15:16:56","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T21:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=37126"},"modified":"2024-11-08T20:08:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T03:08:22","slug":"divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul – Diary of St Faustina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n
\n
\n
I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
After a couple of years, I started it again. This time, instead of reading it straight through like a novel, I just read a single entry every night before going to sleep.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
It took me a couple of years to read it this way, but by the time I finished, I had begun praying the Divine Mercy chaplet several times a week and developed a new, much deeper understanding of and reliance on the Mercy of Christ.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Reading this diary\/journal confirmed something I already had observed at other times. The people God calls for his special work and who say \u201cyes\u201d to Him are different from you and me. They are special in an extraordinary way.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They don\u2019t usually, at least in my experience, look all that special. And they aren\u2019t, again in my experience, extraordinarily gifted or talented. And none of them I\u2019ve seen are highly placed in this world. But they are as different from the rest of us as a diamond lying in a field is different from the rocks lying around it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In St Faustina\u2019s case, she was gifted, or perhaps afflicted, depending on how you view it, with an extreme mysticism. She saw Jesus and Mary, not just in a once-in-a-lifetime vision, but as part of her ordinary life. When I began reading her account of this the first time, one reason I became frustrated is that I wondered if she was simply schizophrenic rather than a great mystic. This question lingered off and on through the daily readings.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What made me decide that she was a mystic who really was privileged in an incredible way was the profundity and linear integrity of her message, coupled with the fact that what she was saying is true. The Divine Mercy is real, and the chaplet has its own special grace.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019ve come to regard the Divine Mercy chaplet as something akin to a little exorcism. It has the power to stay the hand of evil, and it is cleansing to pray.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Aside from that, there is the simple, powerful message of Divine Mercy that St Faustina gave us. It is deeper, richer and more specific than anything else I\u2019ve ever read. It goes beyond \u201cJesus forgives our sins\u201d and provides assurance that Our Lord extends His mercy to us even in the last extremity of life, in the final moments after the heart stops beating and the soul is departing, we can still cry out to Him and receive His mercy.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That message is a message of hope for people like me who know individuals who died without accepting Christ. There is hope that this person, once they saw the other side, made that last turn to Him and that I will see them again one day.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I am not recommending that you go out and buy a copy of this diary and sit down and start reading it straight through. That would be a slog and I think \u00a0the meaning might get lost in the minutiae. If you want to read it, I think it would be better to take it in small doses and give each dose time to settle. There\u2019s a lot here, but like St Faustina\u2019s relationship with Jesus, much of it is hidden in the details of dailiness.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0This is an unedited, rambling, diary of an enclosed nun who did the manual labor in her convent, cooking, scrubbing and cleaning. Along with the visions, St Faustina tells us about the daily annoyances of convent life, the hurt feelings, slights, jealousies nd misunderstandings.\u00a0I would guess that the more cultured nuns who occupied higher rungs in the convent hierarchy were not happy to know the humble kitchen nun was the one singled out by God.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But, as I said, the people God selects are quite ordinary at first glance. It\u2019s only as you spend time with them and get to know them and see them as they do what they are called to do that you realize they are in fact extraordinary people called by God for extraordinary things.\u00a0They\u2019re different from the rest of us. The difference doesn\u2019t show on the outside. But it\u2019s there, and it\u2019s powerful.<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal. After a couple of years, I started it again. This time, instead of reading it straight through like a novel, I just read a single entry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBook Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul - Diary of St Faustina<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul - Diary of St Faustina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-08T21:16:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-09T03:08:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/\",\"name\":\"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul - Diary of St Faustina\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-08T21:16:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-09T03:08:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\"},\"description\":\"I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul – Diary of St Faustina\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Public Catholic\",\"description\":\"Catholic in the Public Square\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\",\"name\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\"},\"description\":\"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul - Diary of St Faustina","description":"I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul - Diary of St Faustina","og_description":"I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/","og_site_name":"Public Catholic","article_published_time":"2020-07-08T21:16:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-09T03:08:22+00:00","author":"Rebecca Hamilton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rebecca Hamilton","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/","name":"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul - Diary of St Faustina","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-07-08T21:16:56+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-09T03:08:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d"},"description":"I bought this book several years ago and. put it aside in frustration after reading a few pages. It really is a diary, or perhaps more exactly, a journal.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2020\/07\/divine-mercy-in-my-soul-diary-of-st-faustina-kowalska\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Book Review: Divine Mercy in My Soul – Diary of St Faustina"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/","name":"Public Catholic","description":"Catholic in the Public Square","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d","name":"Rebecca Hamilton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Rebecca Hamilton"},"description":"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37126"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43432,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126\/revisions\/43432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}