Holy Women's History Month: Saint Faustina

It seemed like the thing a good Catholic would do, and I was nothing if not a new, enthusiastic, join-everything-do-all-the-things Catholic. 

Eucharistic Adoration. 

An hour! In silence! In the church! 

Wait. What?!? 

Over the course of my early years in Adoration, I learned to sit in the silence. I learned to have a conversation of sorts with God. I learned to accept the discomfort and peace and weirdness of it all. 

And I read. Boy, did I read. (Though not nearly as much as I thought I would.) 

One of the books I discovered during Adoration was Divine Mercy in My Soul, the diary of Maria Faustina Kowalska, who would, in 2000, be canonized. 

The red tome was tucked among the small collection of books the Adoration organizers had put in the back of the church. My husband — who was then just a guy I was dating and probably going to marry — started reading it during his Adoration hour. 

He who does NOT read for fun reads Faustina’s diary cover to cover. All five million pages of it. 

And … he casually mentioned that I should check it out. 

Prefer to Listen—Audio version available!

Third Grade and a Doctorate in Mercy 

Faustina wasn’t a saint when I got to know her through my weekly dipping into her diary. What I couldn’t wrap my head around was that someone with such a deep relationship and understanding of God might not be someone I would have willingly hung out with. What could I possibly have in common with her? 

Faustina, you see, had a third-grade education. Her diary, as it was originally found, was so full of errors that the Church grown-ups blew it off.  

“Come back when you have something serious,” I imagine them saying. “This person can’t spell anything and did you see the state of her handwriting?” 

Proof that I’m not the only hypocrite who hasn’t read enough of Jesus’ works to interiorize the real message. 

It was during Adoration that Faustina felt the call to religious life, and she entered the convent in Warsaw at age 18 — just hopped on a train and went 85 miles away to a convent. 

Faustina’s poor health kicked in early in her religious life. In fact, so did her visions of Jesus and Mary. 

Her assignment? “Paint an image according to the pattern you see,” Jesus told her.  

Never mind the fact that she didn’t know how to paint. When Jesus shows up and asks you to commission some art, you find a way. 

And Faustina found a way. It took a while … and more than one version. 

But that wasn’t all … her diary came about because her confessor advised her to keep track of her visions and interactions. 

And — get this — the devil showed up and successfully tricked her (by acting like a saint) to destroy it. So she had to rewrite it all. 

Through it all, Faustina was laser-focused on sharing Jesus’ message of Divine Mercy. 

Chaplet Adventures 

We have Faustina to thank for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. You use your rosary beads and zip around it in a series of prayers that takes, if you’re slow, seven minutes.  

It packs a punch. 

“But what do you meditate on when you’re praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet?” I asked my husband at one point, trying to reconcile the speedy feel of the Chaplet with my experience of the Mysteries of the Rosary. 

He didn’t say “DUH!” (and that’s just one of the many reasons why he’s a keeper), but he did give me a Look. “God’s MERCY, Sarah. God’s MERCY.” 

Which I’ve always found easier said than done. Mercy sounds nice and it even looks good on paper. But in reality, mercy is hard. 

I didn’t realize just how hard until I had kids. Not only do I find myself looking over my past with a different eye, knowing I need to give mercy in various ways and to many people, but I have also had the humbling understanding that I’m going to be on the receiving end of a lot more mercy before I’m through. 

Mercy really is a message for our time, but I can speak most from my own experience of brokenness and pain. In the shards that have torn through me, it has been the mercy of others, and especially of God, that has saved me from … I don’t even know. I don’t think I want to know. 

What a gift we have in the Divine Mercy message and in Saint Faustina’s writings. 

Only God could set things up so perfectly, with such unlikely people. It’s proof that there’s hope for all of us! 

During Women's History Month, Catholic Mom writers are celebrating the women who have inspired their faith journeys — whether canonized saints, saints in progress, or beloved women from Scripture. Through personal reflections and heartfelt stories, they share how these holy women have touched their lives, offering wisdom, strength, and a deeper connection to God. Join us as we honor the spiritual legacy of these remarkable women and the lasting impact they continue to have on our hearts and souls.

Copyright 2025 Sarah A. Reinhard
Images: Holy Cross Family Ministries