Saint Faustina lived and died in a congregation which educated girls and women “in need of moral conversion” (foundational charism). Being a member of the Congregation she lived the charism and, at the same time, God gave her a greater gift – the charism of preaching the Divine Mercy to the world, of making the evangelical value, that is, God’s merciful love to each man, present in the world. “Under the Old Covenant I sent prophets to My people with thunderbolts. Today, I am sending you with My mercy to the whole of mankind” (Diary 1588). Many a time He called on to her to preach the Biblical truth to the world: “Write of this, and tell souls about My great mercy, for the terrible day, the day of My justice is close at hand” (Diary 965); “Tell the world of My mercy; let all mankind learn of My unfathomable mercy” (Diary 848). Tell the world of My mercy, of My love.” “The flames of mercy are burning Me; I want to pour them out onto human souls (Diary 1074).
The centre of Saint Faustina’s charism is the evangelical value (not a concrete task), that is, the mystery of the Divine Mercy. Therefore, living the charism requires coming to know the truth of faith, pondering upon it in the daily life and responding to it by the attitude of trust in God (that is, by fulfilling His holy will, which is Mercy itself for us) all the time. It also requires an active love of the neighbour. The witness of life in this spirit is the basic way of preaching the Divine Mercy to the world. The task is also fulfilled by va- rious deeds of mercy, words and prayer, especially by practising the devotion to the Divine Mercy in the forms that Jesus conveyed to Sister Faustina.
Sister Faustina’s charism contributes to the history of the Church – it gives it a new school of spirituality as well as the Apostolic Movement of the Divine Mercy, which, in various ways, fulfils the task of making the mystery of the Divine Mercy present in the world. The Holy Father John Paul II discerned the relevance and importance of this charism and he expressed it at various occasions. “Although since her beginning – he noted – the Church has been proclaiming the mystery of the Divine Mercy, still nowadays she seems to be especially called to preach this message to the world. Since God Himself, through Saint Faustina’s witness, calls her to fulfil the mission, the Church cannot abandon it.”
