The Convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy located in Warsaw, Poland.
In July 1924, Helenka Kowalska came to the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Żytnia Street and, having spoken with the superior of the house, Mother Michael Moraczewska, she was initially admitted to the congregation.
“At last I knocked on our door. When Mother Superior, the present Mother General Michael came out to meet me, she told me, after a short conversation, to go to the Lord of the house and ask whether He would accept me. I understood at once that I was to ask this of the Lord Jesus. With great joy, I went to the chapel and asked Jesus: “Lord of this house, do You accept me? This is how one of these sisters told me to put the question to You. Immediately I heard this voice: I do accept; you are in My Heart. When I returned from the chapel, Mother Superior asked first of all, “Well, has the Lord accepted you?” I answered, “Yes.” “If the Lord has accepted, [she said] then I also will accept.” Divine Mercy in My Soul # 13-14
However, due to lack of a trousseau (dowry), she continued to work in service at the Lipszycs in Ostrówek for one year. Finally, on the 1st August, 1925, she entered the enclosure in this house.
This was the first step for St. Faustin’s vocation and the first step on our Poland pilgrimage in 2019. We had just visited St. James church where Helenka Kowalska first arrived in Warsaw the evening before on our arrival in Warsaw. This pilgrimage for me was all about visiting St. Faustina and so this Convent was a very special starting point for me. While the convent was leveled during WWII, it was still quite special for me to kneel in the same chapel as this great saint. To pray where she she accepted by the Lord to her new life.
We are all called to find the deepest desire of our heart – God. We search and sometimes some of us run from Him. But, even in those times we try to run, we are only able to find peace within the walls of His Most Sacred Heart. Like the walls of this order for St. Faustina, we are accepted by the Lord when we ask. The Lord of Heaven and earth becomes the Lord of our house, that is our heart. I was at peace having found God in my heart but it is also what I came to Poland in search of, I found so much more.
