St. Faustina’s Suffering Inspires Cancer Survivor

“Suffering is a Gift” – says the First Saint of the New Millennium, Secretary of the Divine Mercy, Apostle of the Divine Mercy, known as St. Faustina.

At a young age, Helen heard God’s call. She never lost her desire for a religious vocation. After being called during a vision of the Suffering Christ, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy on August 1, 1925, and took the name Sr. Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament. She lived in the Congregation for thirteen years in several religious houses. She spent time at Krakow, Plock and Vilnius in Poland where she worked as a cook, gardener, and porter.

Though uneducated, she was able to write a famous diary containing the messages she received from Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus chose Sr. Maria Faustina as the Apostle and “Secretary” of His Mercy, so that she could tell the world about His great message, which Sr. Faustina recorded in a diary she titled Divine Mercy in My Soul.

Pope Francis has decreed that St. Faustina Kowalska’s feast day be added to the Roman Calendar as an optional memorial to be celebrated by all on October 5. The Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship issued the decree on May 18, the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II, who canonized St. Faustina on April 13, 2000, making her the first saint of the new millennium.

Many of the great saints suffered like St. Faustina, who died of tuberculosis at age 33, suffering greatly in her final years. In her dairy, she writes, “Suffering is a great grace; through suffering the soul becomes like the Savior; in suffering love becomes crystallized; the greater the suffering, the purer the love.”

St. Faustina’s life and suffering inspired Ronita Osic Aragon, 50 years old, married.

During the first quarter of 2019, she was diagnosed with Breast Carcinoma Stage IIA. The tumor was first detected in August 2016 with size of 0.5cm. Ronita was told by her physician to closely monitor the progress of the tumor thru mammogram and ultrasound every 6 months.

But, in denial, she avoided the monitoring, “‘cause I’m afraid of the operation.”

The tumor slowly increased its size up to 3cm in the 1st quarter of 2019 and was recommended for core needle biopsy and later confirmed that it was malignant. Upon hearing the result, “… tears started falling from my eyes thinking that I would already die.”

On the other hand, she continued, “But God is so good, since it was also the time that I was appointed as Divine Mercy Coordinator by our parish priest Rev. Fr. Jesus H. Samaniego.”

From there, her attention was caught doing research about the devotion to the Divine Mercy thru St. Faustina and even discovered that a lot of people were healed from different illnesses.

With these challenges she was inspired by St. Faustina in her Diary 386, “I understand souls who are suffering against hope, for I have gone through that fire myself. But God will not give us anything beyond our strength. Often have I lived hoping against hope, and have advanced my hope complete trust in God.” And Diary 72, “Let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God’s mercy will never be exhausted.”

Then, Ronita started praying the Chaplet and the Holy Rosary regularly with complete trust to the Divine Mercy.

“Indeed, a lot of surprises I had encountered prior and after operation and treatment Histopath result was negative of metastasis. Laboratory results prior and after chemotherapy were normal,” she added.

Ronita was even surprised to having miraculously had the strength to fight all the 4-cycles of chemotherapy until such time that her oncologist declared that she has graduated from the treatment and was already healed.

Now, Ronita is a member of the Prophetic Ministry team of the Divine Mercy Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Davao that is propagating the devotion via online through the Home Evanglization Program (HEP). The team is headed by Dr. Catherine P. Zamoras.

Doc Cathie, as she is fondly called, recalled her experience when last April 2016 as a new devotee to the Divine Mercy, she already felt blessed, “because aside from my not so thorough knowledge about the St. Faustina, the apostle of the Divine Mercy, also called the Secretary of Mercy and Messenger of Mercy, I had a chance of going to the country where this very devotion of Divine Mercy started – Poland.”

What was very providential for her about it was that, it was on time with feast of Divine Mercy, April 2, 2016, (2nd Sunday after Easter Sunday) and they had the chance to be with so many pilgrims from all over the world, mostly from Europe to visit the shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagieniki, Krakow , Poland.

They met the nuns from the congregation of Our Lady of Mercy where St. Faustina was once a member. They were led to the chapel of St. Faustina where her remains were laid down and felt more than blessed that time because all of them from the Philippines were able to kiss the relics of St. Faustina.

“What an experience indeed,” she added. “My faith to Jesus, the Divine Mercy was right there and then raised to the highest level.”

For her that was the start of the “never turning back of my journey as a true devotee of the Divine Mercy inspired by St. Faustina, the messenger of Mercy.”

“I could not describe my feelings, the happiness felt, the guidance, how it was made easy for us to just slip from the crowd of pilgrims and go directly to where St. Faustina’s remains are found. I knew then, deep inside me that something is burning inside my heart, meant to warm not only for myself but others’ hearts as well, as I am now bound to help St. Faustina proclaim the message of Divine Mercy, thus saving many souls in the process.”

Divine Mercy Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Davao Lay Head Coordinator Joji Ilagan-Bian describes St. Faustina’s numerous virtues that flow from Divine grace.

“As apostolates and devotees of the Divine Mercy, the virtues of utmost importance to us are humility, obedience all anchored in our faith and trust. In Diary 415: the message of Divine Mercy to her that humility pleases God the most,” she added.

Today, thousands of devotees of the Divine Mercy all over the world are spreading the devotion with the Marian Fathers in Stockbridge, Georgia, USA who have launched an online petition drive since Sept. 1, 2015 requesting the Holy See to name St. Faustina a Doctor of the Church. The Church bestows this ecclesiastical title on saints of extraordinary holiness, those whose theological writings have been declared exemplary and beneficial for the countless faithful worldwide in teaching the truth, beauty, and splendor of the faith.

In observance to the health protocols, parish coordinators and executive officers of the Divine Mercy Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Davao have sponsored a Mass in her honor on Oct. 5 at 3:00pm at San Antonio de Padua Parish, Agdao which will be aired live at DXGN 89.9 Spirit FM and official Facebook page.