Sister Faustina Kowalska frequently asked the other sisters at her convent to pray for Poland “because a terrible war was coming.”
On February 22, 1931, Sister Faustina received the vision that we all know today as the beautiful image of Jesus’ Divine Mercy. He appeared to her dressed in white, with His right hand raised in blessing and His left over His Heart, from which shone two glorious rays of light: one red, one white. The rays represented the Blood and Water that came forth from His Heart—the Water that cleanses and the Blood that vivifies.
The original Divine Mercy image
In 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, a dreadful war did come. It was in the midst of the great suffering of World War II that devotion to the image of the Divine Mercy began to flower.
One young Polish man, studying for the priesthood in secret, would later—as Archbishop of Krakow—begin the investigation into Faustina’s life and virtues. He would beatify and canonize her many years afterward when he became Pope John Paul II.
Another Polish priest, Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski, escaped in the middle of the war through communist Russia and Japan to take the message of Divine Mercy to the United States. He promised Our Lord that, if he made it safely, he would dedicate the rest of his life to spreading this devotion. He arrived in the U.S. in 1941, which led to the founding of the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
St. Faustina’s diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, gives us a stirring insight into Our Lord’s plan for His Divine Mercy. She writes of her communications with Him, her visions, and His desire that the whole world be enveloped in His Mercy. Delve into the wonderful message of Divine Mercy in this singular work, available here at The Catholic Company!
