Do you want to be happy?
A priest who taught me catechetics at the Faculty of theology at the University of Malta, always used to present to us with an interesting question every time we had class with him. He used to ask us: Do you want to be happy? By what way you can be happy?
This combined question helped me understand more and more the Diary of St Faustina. God’s mercy within the universe is our real happiness. Not only that but God, in his mercy, wants to make us the work of His hands happy to make us happy. St Faustina beautifully acknowledged this fact in her Diary. She has an answer for those who ask the question: What is the real source for my happiness? This great humble Polish saint was wise. She arranged the question by asking: WHO is the real source for my happiness? Then she added her reply: O Jesus, make the fount of Your mercy gush forth more abundantly, for humankind is seriously ill and thus has more need than ever of Your compassion. You are a bottomless sea of mercy for us sinners; and the greater the misery, the more right we have to Your mercy. You are a fount which makes all creatures happy by Your infinite mercy (Diary, 793).
And when she recognized that Jesus was the found which makes all creatures happy, thanks of course to his unfathomable mercy, what did she do? She entrusted herself totally to him. She wrote: I entrust myself completely to His infinite mercy and, as a little child, I am living in the greatest peace. I am trying only to make my love for Him deeper and purer, to be a delight to His divine glance… (Diary, 795). Her act of entrustment to Jesus clearly proves what she says in her Diary entry 522: From the fountain of Your mercy, O Lord, Flows all happiness and life.
St Faustina greatly feasted on the fact that the Almighty God, the Omnipotent Creator, takes full loving responsibility for his creatures. She exclaimed with great joy: Everything I look at speaks to me of God’s mercy (Diary, 651). For St Faustina the entire creation reminded her of God’s most loving and merciful presence. She said: O my Creator and Lord, I see on all sides the trace of Your hand and the seal of Your mercy, which embraces all created things (Diary, 1749).
How did Faustina come to realize that to see God’s most divine loving gaze in everything she saw? In her heart of hearts, Faustina realized that everything was a gift stemming from the tender mercy of our God (Luke 1:78).Like St Francis of Assisi, Faustina let the nature’s beauty taking her to the source of all creation, God himself. She wrote: O Lord. You have spread so much beauty over the earth, and it tells me about Your beauty, even though these beautiful things are but a faint reflection of You, Incomprehensible Beauty. And although You have hidden Yourself and concealed Your beauty, my eye, enlightened by faith, reaches You, and my soul recognizes its Creator, its Highest Good; and my heart is completely immersed in prayer of adoration (Diary, 1691).
For St Faustina nature’s beauty was an open book in which she could see the Beautiful One, God. In her Diary, entry 470, she said: One evening, as I looked up from my cell to the sky and saw the beautiful star-strewn firmament and the moon, an inconceivable fire of love for my Creator welled up within my soul and, unable to bear the yearning for Him that arose within my soul, I fell on my face, humbling myself in the dust.
As a Franciscan, Faustina’s admiration for God, beautifully found in his creation, reminds me of the Canticle of Creatures by St Francis of Assisi.
Most High, all-powerful,
good Lord,
yours is the praise,
the glory and the honor and every blessing.
To you alone, Most High,
do they belong,
and no one is worthy
to speak your name.
Praised be you, my Lord
with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who is the day through whom
you bring us light.
And he is lovely, shining
with great splendor,
for he heralds you, Most High.
Praised be you, my Lord,
through Sister Moon and Stars.
In heaven you have formed them,
lightsome and precious and fair.
And praised be you, my Lord,
through Brother Wind, through
air and cloud, through calm
and every weather by which
you sustain your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord,
through Sister Water,
so very useful and humble,
precious and chaste.
Praised be you, my Lord
through Brother Fire,
by whom you light up
the night, and he is
handsome and merry,
robust and strong.
Praised be you, my Lord,
through our Sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains us and directs us
bringing forth all kinds of fruits
and colored flowers and herbs.
Praised be you, my Lord
through those who forgive
for your love
and who bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those
who endure in peace,
for by you, Most High,
they will be crowned.
Praised be you, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death
from whom no living being
can escape.
How dreadful for those
who die in mortal sin!
How blessed are those she
finds in your most holy will
for the second death
can do them no harm.
O praise and bless my Lord,
thank him and serve him
humbly but grandly!
Our Heavenly Father, thank you for blessing us with your beauty and goodness. Surround us with your radiant love and inspiring beauty. Open our eyes to see more of you and get to know you better. Make us more like you, holy and beautiful. In Jesus’ name, with the intercession of Mary, Our Mother and St Faustina and St Francis. Amen.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
