Hello, I'm Father Joe Roche of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculacic 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 129.

Satan always takes advantage of such moments.

Thoughts of discouragement began to rise to the surface.

For your faithfulness and sincerity, this is your reward?

How can one be sincere when one is so misunderstood?

Jesus, Jesus, I cannot go on any longer.

Again, I fell to the ground under this weight, and I broke out in a sweat, and fear began to overcome me.

I had no one to lean on interiorly.

Suddenly I heard a voice within my soul. Do not fear. I am with you.

And an unusual light illumined my mind, and I understood that I should not give in to such sorrows. I was filled with a certain strength and left myself with new courage to suffer.

Nevertheless, I began to grow a bit negligent.

I did not pay attention to these interior inspirations and tried to distract myself.

But despite the noise and the distraction, I could see what was going on in my soul.

The word of God is clear, and nothing can stifle it.

I began to avoid encounters with the Lord in my soul, because I did not want to fall prey to illusions.

However, in a sense, the Lord kept pursuing me with his gifts, and truly I experienced alternately torture and joy.

I make no mention here of the various visions and graces God granted me during this time,

because I've written this down elsewhere. But I will simply mention here that these various

sufferings had come to a peak, and I resolved

...