Most of us are aware that Our Lady has appeared many times over the past 200 years in places such as Lourdes and Fatima. What we may not be aware of is that, over that same period of time, Jesus has also appeared.
One of his recent appearances took place less than one hundred years ago in Poland to a young woman named Faustina Kowalska. Between 1931 and 1938, Jesus revealed to her that she was chosen to spread the message of His Divine Mercy. He wanted her to tell the whole world how great His love was for mankind and that if we would only turn to Him we would experience forgiveness and limitless blessings. At the urging of her superiors and spiritual director, Sister Faustina kept a diary of her conversations with our Lord. They are available in a book entitled, Divine Mercy in My Soul.
In one appearance, Jesus asked that the Sunday after Easter be celebrated as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” It would be a blessed day when sinners would find relief from their transgressions and grace to live holy lives. Jesus describes this feast to Sister Faustina in these words recorded in her diary: “On the day of my feast, the feast of mercy, you will go through the world and bring fainting souls to the spring of my mercy. I shall heal and strengthen them.”
And so, on April 30, 2000, Saint John Paul II honored our Lord’s request by declaring that the first Sunday after Easter be celebrated by the whole Church as Divine Mercy Sunday.
We often hear people say, “If I walked into church, the ceiling would cave in.” There is nothing sadder that a person can say. It shows a total lack of trust in Jesus and His mercy. Jesus came to save sinners. He died on the cross so that all of us could find forgiveness. There is no sin so great that God cannot forgive it. And no one is so sinful that they cannot turn to Jesus and through His grace become a great saint. Jesus said as much to us through Sister Faustina when He said: “The greater the sinner, the more right he has to my mercy.
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