This devotion is multifaceted and has many different components: it involves a divinely inspired painting of Jesus with attached promises for its veneration, vocal prayers (the Divine Mercy chaplet and Divine Mercy Novena), a book (The Diary of Faustina Kowalska), a Holy Hour (3 o’clock), and a solemn feast day with attached indulgences (Divine Mercy Sunday).

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, a simple, young, uneducated Polish nun received a special calling.  On the night of Sunday, February 22, 1931, while she was in her cell, Jesus appeared to Sister Faustina as the “King of Divine Mercy.” He was wearing a white garment with red and pale rays emanating from his Sacred Heart. He would continue to appear and speak to her, and for four years St. Faustina recorded Jesus’ words, her visions, and her own thoughts and prayers in a personal diary.

Jesus gave St. Faustina a special mission, telling her, “I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful Heart.”  He also said to her, “You are the secretary of My Mercy. I have chosen you for that office in this and the next life.” In visions that followed, Jesus asked Saint Faustina to be His instrument for spreading the message of His Mercy to all the world.

Sr. Faustina was beatified on April 18, 1993, Mercy Sunday. She is  now Blessed Faustina, and will hopefully one day become St.  Faustina.

“Act in such a way that all those who come in contact with you  will go away joyful. Sow happiness about you because you have  received much from God; give, then generously to others. They  should take leave of you with their hearts filled with joy, even  if they have no more than touched the hem of your garment. Keep  well in mind the words I am telling you right now.”

-Excerpt from “Divine Mercy in my Soul”(#55), the Diary of Blessed
Faustina)

These words of Jesus are found in the widely read and loved Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, which chronicles Sister Faustina’s great experience of the work of Divine Mercy in her own soul, and her mission to share that mercy with the world. Jesus chose St. Faustina as the Apostle and “Secretary” of His Mercy, so that she could tell the world about His great message, which she faithfully recorded in a diary. St. Faustina, who may one day be regarded as one of the Church’s great mystics, exemplified a childlike trust, simplicity, and profound intimacy with Christ. Nearly a million copies of this diary have been sold worldwide, bringing consolation to many souls and leading them to greater trust in Jesus.