SALT LAKE CITY- "The Last Wish Of Pope John Paul II: The Life And Messages Of Saint Faustina Kowalska" is a new look into the lives of the late Pope John Paul II and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska. It can be downloaded as an E-book or found in book form at Amazon.com.
Authors Susan Crimp, Vincentian Sister Paulette Honeygosky and Maxine Burton have researched what the two Polish spiritual leaders had in common. Pope John Paul II's last wish, the authors tell us, was to promote the Divine Mercy as it was revealed to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Most Blessed Sacrament in the form of an image, her diary, "Divine Mercy In My Soul," the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the institution of Divine Mercy Sunday, and prayer groups devoted to St. Faustina.
Born in 1905 in Glogwiec, Poland, St. Faustina entered the Convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. At the age of 15, she had revealed that God was calling her to be a nun. She reported having visions of Jesus in Purgatory, and of Jesus and Mary. Among her writings is her call by God to spread the devotion of the mercy of God, and to have a painting made illustrating His divine mercy. The image, seen worldwide today, shows Jesus resurrected. From his heart flow two streams of light, one white and the other red, representing the blood and water that flowed from Jesus' side when it was pierced at his crucifixion. Even before Faustina's death, people began to pray before the image. After her death in 1938, her writings and the image created a great deal of controversy.
When Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005), the future Pope John Paul II, became Archbishop of Krakow, Poland, he renewed interest in Faustina, and began an investigation into her visions, her writings, and the remarkable image that had remained on display at the Convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. The investigation revealed the validity of her visions. St. Faustina was beatified on April 18, 1993, and canonized April 20, 2000.
In his Divine Mercy Sunday (celebrated annually on the Sunday after Easter) homily, April 22, 2001, Pope John Paul II said: "Indeed the message (St. Faustina) brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies."
The late pope wrote: "Right from the beginning of my ministry in St. Peter's See in Rome, I considered this message (referring to the message found the "The Diary of Saint Faustina") my special task. Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man, the Church and the world."
Writing of St. Faustina's visions and writings the authors of "The Last Wish of Pope John Paul II: The Life and Messages of Saint Faustina Kowalska" wrote: "While such claims might seem dramatic and perhaps even quite dubious to many, Pope John Paul II most certainly believed these claims with all of his heart. Additionally, despite the fact that even many within the echelons of the Catholic Church viewed this woman's testimony with skepticism, it was nevertheless their most beloved pope who made Saint Faustina the first Catholic saint of this millennium."
"The Last Wish of Pope John Paul II: The Life And Messages Of Saint Faustina Kowalska," by Susan Crimp, Sister Paulette Honeygosky, and Maxine Burton, Authorhouse, 2009, paperback, Amazon, 16.99, 184 pages.
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