The monthly formation meetings of the Faustinum community will be held in Borši (Streda nad Bodrogom parish) in Slovakia on Monday and Tuesday (June 19-20). The program includes conferences on the theme of God’s mercy in the Bible and St. Faustina’s Diary, will be delivered by Sr. M. Hedvig Uličná of the Košice community of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in Slovakia.
On August 1th, in the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki, postulant will receive new names and costumes of novices (black dress and a white veil) after a first, ten-month period of religious life. They will begin another two year’s term of novitiate, after which they will be able to make their first religious vows. The ceremony of investiture takes place within enclosure, but a Mass for the intention of the sister who begin their novitiate will be celebrated in the chapel of the miracle-famous Divine Mercy image and the tomb of St. Faustina, at 11:00.
On July 7, the 11th International Walking Pilgrimage will set off from Hidasnemeti (Hungary) across Slovakia to the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki. During the nine days, the pilgrims will make their way along a 275 km route through Kosice, Radatice, Pečowská Nová Ves, Plavnica, Piwniczna Zdrój, Gostwica, Tymbark and Brzączowice. The pilgrimage will reach Krakow on July 15. At 3 pm, prayer at the Hour of Mercy and Chaplet of Divine Mercy will be recited in the chapel of the convent before the miracle-famous image of Merciful Jesus and the tomb of St. Faustina.
The liturgical calendar includes compulsory commemoration of St. Mary Magdalene, who is the patroness of good change, on 22 of July. Since the beginning, this Saint is the patron of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy, especially of the girls and women in need of moral regeneration, the education of whom is the main task of the sisters. Images and statues of Mary Magdalene are found in many convents of the Congregation. In the convent chapel of the miracle-famous image of Merciful Jesus and the tomb of St. Faustina at the Shrine in Krakow-Lagiewniki, her the statue is located in the main altar which is dedicated to the patron saint of the Congregation – Our Lady of Mercy.
The Sisters from the community of our Congregation in Washington, D.C., organize the next “Evening with Merciful Jesus” on July 22nd at the John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. The honorable guest this month will be Sr. Mary Claire from the community of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Lakeville. Her presentation will be titled Heart to Heart with Merciful Jesus.
You can also join the event online atwww.jp2shrine.org/youtube. The lecture will be followed by Adoration of the Lord Jesus and a meet-up with refreshments.
“Evenings with Merciful Jesus” are organized for young people who want to follow St. Faustina and St. John Paul II to discover the new quality of life in friendship with the merciful Lord Jesus.
On June 22, at 7 p.m., a monthly meeting of young faithful, the traditional Łagiewnki 22, will take place at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki, at the grace-famous image of Merciful Jesus and the tomb of St. Faustina. The evening meetings provide space to worship Divine Mercy during which the participants give thanks for the received blessings and entrust all their personal intentions and all matters of the Church and the world to the Lord Jesus.
On June 10, Sr. Donata of the Washington, D.C., community of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy will lead a day of recollection at the National Center for Padre Pio, in Barto, Pennsylvania. The theme for reflection and prayer will be the devotion to the Divine Mercy in the forms handed down by St. Faustina, especially its essence, that is, the attitude of trusting God to do His will.
The Sisters from the community of our Congregation in Washington, D.C., organize the next “Evening with Merciful Jesus” on June 22nd at the John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. The honorable guest this month will be Fr. Patrick Fiorillo, chaplain of the Harvard Catholic Centre and vicar of the parish of St. Paul at Harvard Square in Boston; member of the Vatican III jazz band which is made up of priests only. In his presentation, Fr. Patrick will speak about human sin and evil versus God’s unfailing love that restores man’s dignity as a child of God.
You can also join the event online atwww.jp2shrine.org/youtube. The lecture will be followed by Adoration of the Lord Jesus and a meet-up with refreshments.
“Evenings with Merciful Jesus” are organized for young people who want to follow St. Faustina and St. John Paul II to discover the new quality of life in friendship with the merciful Lord Jesus.
On Friday 23 June at 3.20 pm monthly Holy Mass will be celebrated for the Faustinum Divine Mercy Apostles Association in Slovakia. It will be celebrated at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Košice’s KVP area by Fr. Radoslav Gönci. Regular monthly Masses for the intentions of the Faustinum in Slovakia have been celebrated since 2006.
After the service, a formation meetup will be called for the local community of the Faustinum, which will be hosted by Fr. Tomáš Svat and Sr. M. Antoniana Štullerová of the Košice community of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy.
Until 23 June you can register for the three day Divine Mercy Retreat: “Brought to a new birth through Divine Mercy”, which will be held from the 25th to 27th of August at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Kraków Łagiewniki. It will be led by Fr Jason Jones, Rector of the Diocesan Shrine of Divine Mercy in Wales, and sr. Maria Vianneya Dąbrowska from the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.
For more information and the registartion form, visit: www.faustinum.pl/eng
On 8 June, Thursday, the Church is celebrating the feast of Feast of Corpus Christi (Corpus Domini). Holy Mass at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki will be celebrated according to the Sunday schedule. Before noon, the procession of Corpus Christi will set out from the Wawel Hill to the Market Square in Krakow, and in the afternoon, other processions will take place in individual parishes. In the parish church in Łagiewniki, the Eucharistic procession to four altars will begin with Mass at 5:00 pm. The faithful will proceed along the street Siostry Faustyny in the direction of the Shrine of the Divine Mercy. At the basilica, the procession will conclude with a thankful Te Deum and a solemn blessing of the Holy Sacrament. Divine Mercy Mass for the intercession of St. Faustina in the intention of prayers and thanks from the faithful will be celebrated at 7 pm at the convent chapel.
On June 7 and 8, the Annual Divine Mercy Medicine, Bioethics, and Spirituality Conference will be held at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, organized by the Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy in cooperation with the Marian Fathers. This event will be attended by Sr. Inga from the Washington community of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy, who will give a conference on Eucharist a source of healing for patients.
A formal gathering of members and volunteers of the Faustinum Apostles of Divine Mercy Association will be held at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki on June 3rd. The theme of the Convention will be: The community of the Church as a place of growth, which corresponds with the motto of the pastoral year in Poland. The meeting agenda includes Holy Mass, lectures, community sharing, Adoration of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and the entrustment of the Faustinum Association to St. Joseph, who communicated to St. Faustina that he is supporting her prophetic mission to bring the message of Mercy to the world and who asked her for prayer as well.
To find out more about the Faustinum Association and the Convention agenda, please visit www.faustinum.pl.
On June 3rd, the Youth Meeting at Lednica will be held for the twenty-seventh time. This year the main theme will be the Eucharist, and the motto of the meeting will be Follow the Lamb. Sisters from the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy will be there with Sr. Gaudia Skass who will deliver a message to the participants of this event, which flows from the spiritual legacy of St. Faustina. The Saint’s relics also have accompanied the young during the Lednica meetings for a few years.
A spiritual retreat for young women will be held at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki on May 26-28. The theme of the event is How do I find my way? It will be delivered by Fr. Mariusz Balcerek, S.J. and Sr. M. Gaudia Skass, I.S.M.M. Based on Scriptures, the Diary of St. Faustina and the teaching of St. Ignatius Loyola concerning how to discern spirits.
In May, in a number of parishes in Poland, children participate for the first time in the sacraments of confession and Holy Communion. More and more children in special white clothes arrive with their priests, catechists and parents to the Shrine of Divine Mercy to make thanks for the great gift of God’s mercy which is the Eucharistic presence of the Lord Jesus and His indwelling in the human soul and to ask for fidelity and growth in the love of God and other people.
May 27th is the 17th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s pilgrimage to the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki. The Holy Father prayed before the grace-famous painting of Merciful Jesus and at the tomb of St. Faustina, in the chapel of Perpetual Adoration, and in the Basilica he met with the sick, who – as he said – are the most eloquent witnesses of God’s Mercy and have an active part in the salvation of the world. On a general audience in Rome, he recalled this pilgrimage to the Shrine in Łagiewniki: I had the opportunity to point out that only Divine Mercy illuminates the mystery of man. … Contemplating the illuminating wounds of the risen Christ, Sister Faustina Kowalska received a message of trust to humanity, the message of God’s Mercy … This message is indeed the main message of our time: mercy as God’s power and as the boundary for the evils of the whole world.
On May 27th at 28 pm a prayerful vigil before the feast of the Pentecost will begin at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki. We will gather in the chapel of the miracle-famous image of Divine Mercy and the tomb of St. Faustina, which will become the Cenacle. Together with Mary, the Mother of Mercy, we shall be asking the Holy Spirit for the Light, Power and Graces for us, the Holy Church, our Country and the entire World. The vigil will end with Holy Mass at midnight. You can join in this prayer online at www.saint-faustina.org where it will be broadcast.
It is a tradition in Poland that Catholics gather in every church and even at small roadside shrines in May to celebrate “Majówki” – a special kind of devotion to the Virgin Mary, during which the Litany of Loreto is sung. At the Shrine in Krakow-Łagiewniki, the May devotions are celebrated in the chapel of the miracle-famous Divine Mercy Image and the tomb of St. Faustina every day at 7:00 pm and on Sundays and other holidays at 6:30 pm. You can also join in the prayer online, at /www.saint-faustina.org
People from many countries of the world participating in the work of the Perpetual Chaplet of Divine Mercy are praying not only in their own intentions, but also asking for “mercy on us and the whole world”. Specific intention for May: For children and youth so that they nurture the spirit of faith, hope and love and for new vocations to God’s service in the Church.
The work of Perpetual Chaplet is a response to the request of Jesus to constantly implore for mercy “for us and the whole world”. The work has been operated by the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy at: www.faustyna.pl since 2011. Anyone can participate in it by filling out a short form and declare to say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which Jesus dictated to St. Faustina—at least once.
The 5th World Congress on Divine Mercy, organized by Wacom, will be held in Samoa, the island country in Oceania, from May 20-26. Sisters from the American communities of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy will also participate. Sister M. Teresa de la Fuente will give a conference, The Ocean of Love that Encompasses the Whole World: The Message and Mission according to Sister Faustina, and Sr. M. Inga Kvassayova will speak about the image of Merciful Jesus as the face of the new evangelization. The Congress organizers emphasize that the Pacific Ocean on which Samoa lies, considered the largest and deepest ocean in the world, can serve as a metaphor of God’s deepest, unfathomable, forgiving love for sinful humanity. The image of the ocean reveals the truth that God’s mercy is humanity’s hope of returning to the Father and the greatest force that fights evil in the world today.
On May 19th (Friday), the Church is making a novena before the feast of the Holy Spirit. In the chapels of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, including the one with the miracle-famous image of Merciful Jesus and the tomb of St. Faustina at the Shrine of Divine Mercy, this novena is combined with the May devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. You can participate in it on-line and ask for the light and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit for you, the Church, our country and the world, so that the Spirit lead us to full familiarity with Jesus, reveal to us the depth of His merciful love and teach us to perceive His presence and action in our daily lives. At the end of the novena in the Łagiewniki Shrine, a prayer vigil will be held.
On Saturday, May 20th of this year, at the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki, the silver anniversary of the religious profession of Sister Aleksandra, Sister Catherina, Sister Clara, Sister Daria, Sister Lilioza and Sister Nazareta will be celebrated. At 11:00 a.m. in the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki, a solemn Holy Mass will be celebrated with the renewal of the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience by the Jubilarians, whose outer sign is a silver ring with the engraved name of Jesus. Sisters from other convents of the Congregation, Family, as well as persons entrusted with apostolic work will join the celebration praying in of thanksgiving for the gift of the Jubilarians and for their intentions.
On Saturday, May 20st, there will be a spring pilgrimage to the Rock Shrine of Divine Mercy on Mount Butkov in Slovakia. Celebrations will start with communal prayer at the Hour of Mercy and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy led by the Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy from from Slovakia. Solemn Mass in honor of St. John Paul II at 3.30 p.m. will be presided over by Father Pavol Zvara, rector of the Pontifical Slovak College of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Rome. The site devoted to the worship of Divine Mercy located at Mount Butkov (11th floor of a stone quarry), where a large illuminated cross, in addition to statues of St. Faustina and St. John Paul II have been placed, is part of the Rock Shrine of Divine Mercy with a church in Ladce.
On May 18, 2020 – the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II – the third national TVP channel began daily broadcast of the Hour of Mercy prayer and the Divine Mercy Chaplet from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki. In front of the grace-famous Divine Mercy image and at the tomb of St. Faustina, the prayers are recited by Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy. At three o’clock in the afternoon, a privileged time in the Divine Mercy devotion, only thanks to this broadcast, hundreds of thousands of people gather every day at the cross of Jesus, and – as Jesus wanted – at least for a brief moment ponder the mystery of God’s mercy revealed in His passion and, for its merits, beg for God’s mercy “for us and the whole world”. It is a time of grace that is given to us every day, because Jesus has bound promises of all graces and temporal blessings in accordance with His will, with the Hour of Mercy (the moment of His dying on the cross) and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, if we ask for them with trust and combine this confident prayer with acts of mercy towards other people.
The broadcast of the Hour of Mercy and the Chaplet on TVP3 is also available online, at www.faustyna.pl including other language versions of the website, as well as on our Faustyna.pl You Tube channel and app for Android and iOS.
On May 18th, faithful across Australia and Oceania will join in prayer of the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 pm for the 6 time. The action is the fruit of the Congress of Divine Mercy held in Melbourne in 2018 and involves joining in prayer twice a year: on May 18, which is the anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II, and on September 13—the anniversary of the revelation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, above all, by the faithful of Australia and Oceania. Also Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy have joined in this prayerful action. Also Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy have joined in this prayerful action. On May 18th, all those participating will pray for the following intentions:
More information and how to join: www.worldchaplet.org
The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy would like to thank all those who have supported the on-line broadcasting from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki at www.faustyna.pl, on You Tube and on our mobile Faustyna.pl app for Android and iOS. Thanks to these broadcasts, people can virtually travel to the Łagiewniki Shrine 24 hours a day to participate in the Liturgy and pray for their intentions.
For all the Contributors and Benefactors of this work, on May 17th, at 5 p.m., Holy Mass will be celebrated in the chapel of the miracle-famous image of Merciful Jesus and the tomb of St. Faustina. We commend everyone to the Mercy of God in daily prayer in this holy place.
On May 17th, in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Prešov, Slovakia, a “Day of Divine Mercy” will be held. Sister from both communities of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in Slovakia will take part, the ones from the Košice and Nižny Hrušov, together with members and volunteers of the “Faustinum” Association. The program includes: Holy Mass, sisters’ conference on “Our God’s name is Mercy”, adoration and prayer at the Hour of Mercy and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
On Sunday, May 14, the parish of the Heart of Jesus and Mary in the village of Korneevka will host a meeting on the topic of Mary’s reign and what it means in our lives. It will be hosted by Sr. Anastasis Omelchenko from the Petropavlovsk community of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. The meeting is organized as part of the diocese’s preparations for the coronation of the statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace, which will take place at the National Shrine of the Queen of Peace on July 7, 2023.
On May 8 we will be celebrating the 155th anniversary of the establishment, by Mother Teresa Ewa Countess Potocki nee Sułkowski, of the first house of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Krakow. The sisters became involved in the education of girls and women in need of deep moral renewal, first in the “House of Mercy” at the Church of Divine Mercy at Smoleńsk street, and then in the convent at the crossroads of Zwierzyniecka and Straszewskiego (now occupied by Hotel Radisson). Since 1891, the convent’s house has been in Krakow-Łagiewniki. Today, the sisters are performing more than their original work, being also involved in the mission of St. Faustina to proclaim the message of Mercy to the world. They do this not only at the Shrine of Divine Mercy among the pilgrims from around the world, but also through many new works: the Association of Divine Mercy Apostles “Faustinum”, the publishing company “Misericordia”, the quarterly magazine “Orędzie Miłosierdzia”, the website available in 8 languages, the online broadcasts from the chapel of the miracle-famous Divine Mercy image and the tomb of St. Faustina, the perpetual Chaplet, the Chaplet for the dying, presence in the media, social networking, visits to parishes in Poland and abroad, participation in symposia and conferences devoted to the Mercy of God and the heritage of St. Faustina, etc. Their ministry, even the most implicit, includes the proclamation of the message of the merciful Love of God to man.
