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Baptism of the woman. She was also struck by the magnificence of the baptized woman’s soul as
it was “ascending to heaven.” Sr. Faustina wrote in her Diary in this way:
In a private room next to mine, there was a Jewish woman who was seriously ill…I felt
inspired to pray before the image which Jesus had instructed me to have painted…And I
said to the Lord, Jesus, You Yourself told me that You would grant many graces through
this image. I ask You, then, for the grace of Holy Baptism for this Jewish lady…The
Sister who was her nurse said that Baptism would be difficult because (people) were with
her...When the sick woman began to lose consciousness,…in order to save her, they
began to run about…some to fetch the doctor, others went…in other directions to find
help. And so the patient was left alone, and Sister baptized her, and before they had all
rushed back, her soul was beautiful, adorned with God’s grace. Her final agony began
immediately…All of a sudden, I saw her soul…with sanctifying grace…ascending to
heaven in wondrous beauty. Joy flooded my heart that before this image I had received so
great a grace for this soul (Diary, # 916).
(7.2) The Spiritual Gifts through Baptism in Christ
(Diary, # 391): Sr. Faustina wrote in her Diary on the general principles on Baptism
stating that, “Through Holy Baptism, we enter into union with other souls. Death tightens the
bonds of love. I ought always to be helpful to others. If I am a good religious, I will be useful,
not only to the Order, but to the whole Country as well.” Among the Baptismal themes, which
Sr. Faustina emphasizes in her Diary include “entering into union,” “bonds of love,” and being
“helpful to others.”
The Catechism expounds on the above themes. Through Baptism, the Christian “enters
into union” with Christ, “His life,” as well as “His Passion and glorification” (CCC, # 790). The
Christian also “enters into” a “sacramental bond of unity” with the rest of Christ’s Body, the
Church or the People of God (CCC, 1271; Diary, # 391). Yet, the “bond” with Christ is of the
greatest value in the hierarchy of all bonds that includes the “familial or social” bonds (CCC,
1618; cf. Lk 14:26; Mk 10:28-31). lxxx Baptism is also the entryway for a soul to die to sin, but to
rise up to a new life; thus, to a new spiritual script of living, no longer for the self, but as
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