Year: 2024
Type: book
Abstract: The school of spirituality of mercy of the Sister Faustina Kowalska The content of this study concerns the concept of the school of spirituality of mercy as presented by Sister Faustina Kowalska. This goal was implemented in five stages, which corresponded to the essential elements of the school. And they were formed by: first of all, the founder’s personal experience of God’s mercy, then a precisely defined programme and a precisely defined goal of action, next unified means of programme development, and subsequently visible forms of impact of this spirituality of mercy on people, both in terms of quality and quantity, and finally showing the value of the school as a basis for declaring its founder a Doctor of the Church. The first stage of the study was to reveal the source of the school’s foundation. In the light of the analysis of the source material, this source turned out to be Sister Faustina’s experience of God’s mercy. She perceived this experience as God communicating himself in the specific conditions of human existence. For this reason, she perceived the experience of God’s mercy first as a grace given to her by God, and only later as her way of opening herself to this grace. Her experience of God’s mercy arose to a large extent – according to the analysis of sources – from the specific economic and social conditions of the local national situation there, as well as from her upbringing in the family, and later from her religious formation in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. The style of action of people in both of these places had a significant impact on Sister Faustina’s attitude of trust in the merciful God. The second stage of the study on the source material concerned the programme of the school of spirituality of mercy. According to Sister Faustina, this programme is God’s mercy. It was the basic doctrinal assumption appropriate for the functioning of such a school. Therefore, in her teaching, Sister Faustina pointed out the basic task of the school, which is to learn about God’s mercy and reveal it. Sister Faustina implemented this task of the school in her teaching by pointing to God’s mercy as the source of the existence of the world, and in it the most perfect being – man, and by presenting the role of Jesus Christ in revealing God’s mercy. By calling Christ Incarnate Mercy (cf. Diary 1745), she indicated that He is the efficient, exemplary and purposeful cause of human life and development. Man will fully respond to God’s mercy revealed by Christ when he trusts Him and when he shows mercy to others. The next stage of the study on the source material was devoted to the means of disseminating the spirituality of mercy. In her teaching, Sister Faustina took into account the traditional scheme of these means, i.e. prayer, asceticism and sacramental life, and expanded it with new forms. Under the influence of the revelations given to her by Christ, she emphasised a centre that is closely related to the devotion to Divine Mercy. When we use the term “centre” at this point, we mean the forms of worship of Divine Mercy indicated by Sister Faustina’s in the Diary, including the image of the Merciful Jesus, the Feast of Mercy, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Hour of Mercy. The subsequent stage of analytical reflection on the sources was related to the development of the deposit of Sister Faustina’s spiritual experience. In fact, the idea was to show the influence of the spirituality of mercy in Sister Faustina’s message on the development of attitudes between people. This impact – according to the analyses – is noticeable in both qualitative and quantitative aspects. In the first case, the spirituality of mercy according to Sister Faustina contributed to deepening awareness of the value of mercy in interpersonal relationships, an example of which was the teaching of John Paul II, included in the encyclical Dives in misericordia, in which he raised mercy to the level of a fundamental principle of social life. And in the second case, the influence of her spirituality of mercy is visible in the creation of many sanctuaries of Divine Mercy around the world, and in the awakening of people’s sensitivity to those in need, as exemplified by the charitable activities of two Congregations – the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and the Sisters of Merciful Jesus, and in the activities of Caritas Poland with its diocesan centres. The last stage of analytical reflection on the sources referred to the issue of the school of spirituality of mercy as a basis for recognising Saint Sister Faustina Kowalska as a Doctor of the Church. Analyses have shown that Sister Faustina’s teaching is characterised by the depth of the message about God’s mercy and at the same time its orthodoxy, which is the first criterion for the proclamation of a Doctor of the Church. The depth and orthodoxy of Sister Faustina’s teaching were then supported by the testimony of her heroic life, and this falls under the second criterion for the proclamation of a Doctor of the Church. And finally, Sister Faustina’s teaching is characterised by the universal reception of her message about God’s mercy and the universality of this message, which constitutes the content of the third criterion for the proclamation of a Doctor of the Church. Taken together, these criteria are sufficient to award Saint Sister Faustina Kowalska the title of a Doctor of the Church.
Author: Henryk Wejman
Institution: University of Szczecin
Language: Polish
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409550614