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 Kowalska from beginning to end.

Today we take up from where we left off, beginning with Diary Entry No. 826.

This morning I had an adventure. My watch had stopped and I did not know

when to get up and I thought of what a misfortune it would be to miss Holy Communion.

It was still dark so I had no way of knowing whether it was time to get up. I dressed, made my meditation,

and went to the chapel, but everything was still locked, and silence reigned everywhere.

I steeped myself in prayer, especially for the sick. I now see how much the sick have need of prayer.

Finally, the chapel was opened. I found it difficult to pray

because I was already feeling very exhausted, and immediately after Holy Communion I returned to my room.

Then I saw the Lord, who said to me,

No, my daughter, that the ardor of your heart is pleasing to me,

and just as your desire ardently to become united with me in holy communion,

so too do I desire to give myself holy to you,

and as a reward for your zeal, rest on my heart.

At that moment, my spirit was immersed in his being,

like a drop in a bottomless ocean.

I drowned myself in him as in my soul treasure.

Thus I came to recognize that the Lord allows certain difficulties for his greater glory.

December 18, 1936.

Today I felt bad that a week had gone by and no one had come to visit me.

...