St. Faustina Kowalska was given the mission of teaching others about God’s Divine Mercy.
In my work as a counselor, I see the effects of not comprehending God’s Divine Mercy firsthand. Many of my clients are well-informed, faithful Catholics who struggle with intense perfectionism and lack of self-forgiveness. They will confide in me about their guilt over past sins (or mere scruples).
When I sometimes comment: “Sounds like you can’t forgive yourself – do you believe God has forgiven you?”, some of my clients become even more upset and tell me how they actually struggle believing that God forgives them.
As we dig deep into these clients’ experiences, we often discover that while they have been taught the teachings of the Catholic Church, they missed learning about how our tendency to sin can be an opportunity for us to trust in God’s mercy.
I get it – as a parent, we want our children to understand that sin can have both “real-world” and eternal consequences. However, the importance of avoiding sin is only part of what God wants us to teach our children.
It is also important to teach them of God’s Divine Mercy.
No matter what happens in a child’s life, you can be sure that at some point, they will make a mistake and sin (that’s why we have the sacrament of confession). When this happens, they need to be assured of God’s Divine Mercy and how quickly He forgives those who seek His Mercy!
A great way of introducing to children to the concept of trusting in God’s Divine Mercy is through one of my favorite Glory Stories about the life of St. Faustina Kowalska.
My favorite part of this Glory Story is the conversation between Faustina and her friend about the sacrament of Confession – one of the primary ways we experience God’s mercy. Faustina explains to her friend how God forgives our sins in the sacrament of Confession and that this is a way to draw closer to God – not a punishment or merely an embarrassing ritual.
This message Faustina shares with her childhood friend comes back to the surface once she is an adult and initially tries to run from God’s plan for her life. Once she returns to God’s plan for her life, she is assured of God’s mercy…and then becomes to messenger of Divine Mercy the entire world!
You can download the Glory Story of St. Faustina and listen to it for today’s feast day.
St. Faustina Kowalska, Pray for Us!
Virginia has her M.A. in Counseling and currently works as a therapist at a Catholic counseling agency, specializing in working with children (and their parents), teenage girls, and mothers. She also gets some very “hands-on” experience parenting her two young children – who have become Holy Heroes fans!
As the eldest of the “Adventure Guides,” she has played a big part in developing so many Holy Heroes products and adventures. She wrote the scripts for lots of “Adventure” videos, as well as writing and directing the first “Inside the Sacraments” video (The Holy Eucharist). She wrote Glory Stories Volume 8, “Best-loved Catholic Prayers and Prayers of the Mass,” and Volume 13, “Secrets from Heaven – The Story of the Children of Fatima” (her favorite!). Most recently, she co-created the Holy Heroes Spiritual Adoption Adventure with her former college roommate. She continues to enjoy blogging for Holy Heroes.
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