Hello, I'm Father Joe Roche of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.

Thank you for joining us as we continue with our year-long journey, reading the diary of

St. Maria Faustina Kavalska, from beginning to end. Today, we take up from where we left off,

beginning with diary entry number 769. I have noticed that the Lord grants this grace to souls for two purposes.

The first is when the soul is to do some great work, which is, humanly speaking, absolutely beyond its power.

In the second case, I have noticed that the Lord grants it in order that kindred souls might

be guided and set at peace.

Although the Lord can grant this grace as he pleases and to whomever he pleases.

However, I have noticed this grace in three priests, one of whom is a secular priest, probably Father Sopochko,

and the other two religious priests, probably Father Elter and Father Andrash.

And also in two religious sisters, probably Mother Michael and Sister Mary Joseph, but not in the same degree.

As for myself, I received this grace for the first time, and that, for only a brief moment, in the 18th year of my life, within the octave of Corpus Christi, June 18th to 25, 1925. During Vespers,

when I made to the Lord Jesus the vow of perpetual chastity, I was still living in the world,

but I entered the convent soon afterwards.

The grace lasted for a very brief moment, but its power was great.

After this grace there was a long interval.

It is true that I received many graces from the Lord during this interval, but they were

of a different order.

It was a time of trials and purification.

The trials were so painful that my soul felt as though it was being totally abandoned by God,

and it was steeped in profound darkness. I became aware and understood that no one would be able to bring me out of these moments

or even understand me. There were two occasions when the soul was plunged into despair,

...