Saint Faustina KowalskaIt isn't often that one has the opportunity to speak to someone who received a miracle – not only a miracle – but one that helped lead to an individual's beatification en route to sainthood in the Catholic Church.
The saint is the 20th century Polish-born nun and mystic, Maria Faustina Kowalska, known worldwide as "Saint Faustina" and the recipient of the "Divine Mercy" message.
The recipient of the miracle is Maureen Digan, of Lee, who had once pushed God out of her life,
Digan had lived a healthy life until she developed lymphedema, for which there is treatment but no cure, around the age of 15. This is swelling in the body due to a blockage of the lymphatic system and build-up of lymphatic fluids. These fluids normally circulate in the body, helping rid it of harmful bacteria and waste. Primary lymphedema, which is rare, can develop on its own. Secondary lymphedema is more common and is the result of another condition.
Recently, during a Lenten evening of reflection at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in Westfield, Digan shared the journey that led her from despair to hope. A journey that included more than 50 surgeries and a leg amputation and took her from anger and a belief that God did not love her to a place of deep faith.
Digan told of how doctors didn't know what was causing the swelling and unbearable pain, requiring months of hospitalization and the eventual diagnosis that further deterioration would require the amputation of her other leg.
Digan described her life in the hospital at such a young age as very lonely, especially when friends stopped coming. She told of how this changed when she met Bob Digan, a man of deep faith who refused to give up on her.
"How can Bob love me when God doesn't love me?" she told herself, believing what Bob needed was a girlfriend he could dance with, instead of one expected to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.
Despite attempts to push him away, they eventually married. The doctors told them they could never have children, but Bob said, "Whatever God sends we will accept – whatever God doesn't send we will accept that as well."
Maureen said not long after they married she became pregnant.
"It was then I let God into my life. I began to trust him a little bit more. But at five months, the baby died, and I wanted nothing more to do with God. Six or seven months later, I became pregnant again, but the baby, Bobby, was born brain damaged. The doctors told us to put him in an institution and get on with our lives, but our baby was our life — he was our miracle child."
Living with a serious illness and taking care of a sick child who suffered multiple seizures a day took its toll.
But everything changed after Bob saw a movie about the cloistered Faustina, whose diary, "Divine Mercy in My Soul," documented apparitions from Jesus and Mary emphasizing God's mercy — "I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart" — and requesting the creation of the Feast of the Divine Mercy.
The movie resonated with Bob, who had served with the Marines. He was convinced of the healing powers of intercession. He believed that if he took his wife and son to pray at the tomb of Faustina, they would be healed.
They were living near Boston when Bob traveled to the shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, and asked the Rev. Seraphim Michaleko, vice-postulant for Faustina's cause, to travel to Poland with them to "witness the miracle" Bob believed would take place.
Maureen said she thought her husband was having a breakdown, as they didn't have the money to travel to Poland, and had to take out a loan.
But on March 23, 1981, they traveled to Faustina's tomb at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy near Krakow, Poland. Maureen said she was still unconvinced, but she prayed at the tomb and heard Faustina say, inwardly, "Ask for my help and I will help you."
"I knew something was happening," she said. "All the pain seemed to drain out of me. After two days, I had to stuff tissue in my shoe because the swelling in my limbs had subsided, and the shoe fell off. I looked at my leg. It looked like it had before I got lymphedema."
When Bob saw her leg he said, "I knew Jesus would do it."
Maureen said it took her three full weeks before she could really believe.
"I was so scared and full of fear. I couldn't believe God could be so loving and merciful."
She said Bobby, who had been confined to a special wheelchair, received a dramatic, although incomplete healing. He stopped having seizures, which led him to lead an almost normal life until his death at the age of 18.
Later, five physicians appointed by the Sacred Congregation for the Cause of Saints declared there was no medical explanation for Maureen's healing. A doctor from Yale also agreed. In 1991 the Vatican declared her case as miraculous and the cure was accepted as a miracle caused by Faustina's intercession.
Despite this miraculous cure, the Digans do not believe in putting too much emphasis on the healing itself, but rather on the message of God's merciful love. Faustina, known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy, was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 18, 1993, and canonized on April 30, 2000. Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated the first Sunday after Easter.
The shrine in Stockbridge is ministry of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, promoters of the message of "The Divine Mercy."
For more information, visit the website http://thedivinemercy.org/message/stfaustina/graces.php