'A Priest After My Own Heart '

In light of the beatification of Blessed Michael Sopocko (1888-1975) on Sept. 28, 2008, Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, who served as the vice-postulator in North America for St. Faustina's canonization cause, points out one of the many interesting passages from the Diary of St. Faustina that mentions her confessor, Fr. Sopocko.

This passage, he says, "is like a canonization by Jesus Himself" of Fr. Sopocko.

On Aug. 30, 1937, St. Faustina writes in her Diary:

Reverend Father Sopocko left this morning. When I was steeped in a prayer of thanksgiving for the great grace that I had received from God; namely, that of seeing Father, I became united in a special way with the Lord who said to me, he is a priest after My own Heart; his efforts are pleasing to Me. You see, My daughter, that My will must be done and that which I had promised you, I shall do. Through him I spread comfort to suffering and careworn souls. Through him it pleased Me to proclaim the worship of My mercy. And through this work of mercy more souls will come close to Me than otherwise would have, even if he had kept giving absolution day and night for the rest of his life, because by so doing, he would have labored only for as long as he lived; whereas, thanks to this work of mercy, he will be laboring till the end of the world (1256).

"It looks as though Jesus already canonized him by giving him that great praise," says Fr. Seraphim.