On April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Maria Faustina Kowalska and declared the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. This year, we celebrate the feast on April 16.
In his devotion, Pope John Paul II entrusted the world to divine mercy two years later, when he consecrated the International Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland.
Standing before the image of divine mercy, the pope said: “I wish solemnly to entrust the world to divine mercy. I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope.”
He finished his homily with this prayer:
God, merciful Father,
in your Son, Jesus Christ, you have revealed your love
and poured it out upon us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
We entrust to you today the destiny of the world and of every man and woman.
Bend down to us sinners,
heal our weakness,
conquer all evil,
and grant that all the peoples of the earth
may experience your mercy.
In you, the Triune God,
may they ever find the source of hope.
Eternal Father,
by the passion and resurrection of your Son,
have mercy on us and upon the whole world!
The consecration and entrustment of the world to Divine Mercy represented the fulfillment of a mission for Maria Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938). Faustina, a poor, young Polish nun experienced visions of Jesus in which he asked her to make his message of infinite love and mercy known to the world. At the request of her spiritual director, she made a record of the visions in her diary.
In his visitations, Jesus asked her to have a painting made portraying him as he appeared to her. In her diary she recorded the vision:
“Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’ I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.”
In another visitation, he asked the nun that she help establish Divine Mercy Sunday on the first Sunday after Easter to offer the world salvation.
Faustina recorded Jesus’ words: “This Feast emerged from the very depths of My mercy, and it is confirmed in the vast depths of my tender mercies. Every soul believing and trusting in My mercy will obtain it.”
It was the mission that Pope John Paul II also felt called to help complete.
The Catholic News Agency
