The apparitions to St. Faustina

Maria Faustyna Kowalska was born in 1905 to a poor farming family in Poland and entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy at age twenty. Beginning in 1931 in Płock, Poland, she reported the first of many visions of Jesus Christ, who appeared to her clothed in white, with one hand raised in blessing and the other touching his garment near his heart, from which two rays — one pale, one red — streamed outward.

Jesus told her: "Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You." He explained that the pale ray represented the water that justifies souls, and the red ray represented the blood that is the life of souls. He promised that whoever venerated this image would not perish, and asked that the image be publicly honored, first in her convent chapel and then throughout the world.

The diary — Divine Mercy in My Soul

Over the following years, Sister Faustina kept a spiritual diary at the direction of her confessors, recording her visions, locutions, and reflections on God's mercy. The diary, published after her death as Divine Mercy in My Soul, runs to over 600 pages and is considered one of the great mystical texts of the twentieth century.

Its central message is simple and radical: no matter how great a person's sins, God's mercy is greater still, and it is available to anyone who turns to Him with trust — not fear, but confident trust.

Divine Mercy Sunday

Jesus also asked, through St. Faustina, that the Sunday after Easter be established as the Feast of Divine Mercy — a day of special grace when the floodgates of mercy would be opened to all who approached with trust and received the sacraments of Confession and Communion.

This request was fulfilled on April 30, 2000, when Pope John Paul II — himself Polish, and deeply devoted to the Divine Mercy message — canonized Faustina Kowalska as a saint and formally established Divine Mercy Sunday as a feast for the universal Church. Fittingly, Pope John Paul II himself died on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Alongside the image, Jesus taught St. Faustina a specific chaplet — a prayer said on ordinary rosary beads. It begins with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Apostles' Creed, then moves through decades in which the person praying repeats:

• On the large beads: "Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world."
• On the small beads: "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

The chaplet is traditionally prayed at 3:00pm — the Hour of Great Mercy, marking the hour of Christ's death on the cross — though it may be prayed at any time.

Why Catholics turn to the Divine Mercy

The Divine Mercy devotion resonates especially with those who feel unworthy, ashamed, or far from God — precisely because its message is that no failure places a person beyond mercy. Catholics turn to it when:

• Struggling with guilt, shame, or a sense of unworthiness
• Returning to the faith or the sacraments after time away
• Praying for the conversion of a loved one
• Facing illness, death, or the hour of dying — the chaplet is often prayed for the dying
• Seeking to trust God more deeply amid fear or uncertainty

Carrying the Divine Mercy in daily life

The image and its words are among the most reproduced in the modern Catholic world, appearing in homes, hospitals, cars, and wallets everywhere. A laminated prayer card is a simple way to keep both the image and the words within reach — a small, constant reminder that mercy, not fear, is the last word.

Like any devotional object, a card can be brought to a priest for a blessing, becoming a personal sacramental for daily prayer.