The examples of the apostolate of mercy of sister Faustina Kowalsk and the martyrdom of St Massimiliano Kolbe, who, in a Nazi extermination camp, sacrificed his life for another prisoner, are mentioned in the Pastoral Letter of the Polish Bishops for the Day of Consecrated Life, which will be celebrated on 2nd February. “St Faustina and St Maximilian became means of God’s Mercy, by offering their lives up to God” to “do good in the world”, the document reads. The life of consecrated people, the prelates point out, “is a sacrifice of the self, but it is not made for the offering itself, but because, through chastity, poverty and obedience, mercy may be experienced and shared with other people”. “Since there is no mercy without sacrifice and offering, without renouncing one’s plans, ambitions and belongings”, the bishops state, pointing out that “consecrated people in crucial points all over the world try to give answers with words and works of mercy to the violence, injustice and the spiritual emptiness in which sin lurks”.