Saint Faustina wrote:"Our meals shall be such that not even the poor will have any reason to envy us" (546). So, it's no surprise that St. Faustina didn't eat meat on Fridays even outside of Lent. That was Canon Law. But since St. Faustina's time, Canon Law has allowed us, depending on our bishops conferences, to choose another penance on Fridays in place of abstaining from meat. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops allow a substitute penance. Nevertheless, the USCCB gives "first place to abstinence from flesh meat" (24, Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence)

Turn to any page of St. Faustina’s Diary, and you find spiritual gems. Marc Massery, a staff writer for the Marian Fathers at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, reflects on one such gem:

Turn to any page of St. Faustina's Diary, and you'll find spiritual gems. Like this one:I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently, but to no avail, for themselves; only we can come to their aid (Diary, 20).