Origin of the devotion to Divine Mercy
God is essentially Merciful according to Revelation. He himself manifests himself as “Merciful and Clement” (Ex 34,5-7). He thus presents the Holy Scripture to her more than 300 times. Our Lord appeared from 1931 to 1938 to the nun Faustina Kowalska, in Poland, entrusting her with the spread of the devotion to Mercy for her, as recorded in her Diary.
Saint John Paul II beatified her on April 18, 1993 and canonized her on April 30, 2000.
Diary texts related to Divine Mercy
The Diary consists of 6 notebooks of 210, 320, 66, 60, 156 and 143 pages respectively.
Vilna, Friday, September 13, 1935.
In the afternoon, being in my cell, I saw an angel executing the wrath of God. He had a light robe, a shining face, with a cloud under his feet. From the cloud came thunderbolts and lightning that went to his hand, and from his hand they went to earth. Seeing this sign of divine wrath, which, for just reasons, was going to punish the earth and particularly a certain place, which I cannot name, I began to beg the angel to hold back for a while, so that the world would do penance. . But my plea was nothing, compared to the wrath of God.
So I began to pray to God for the world, using the words I heard inside me. By praying like this, I saw the powerlessness of the angel to be able to carry out the just punishment, consequence of sins. Never, until then, had I prayed as effectively as at that moment.
The words with which I begged God are the following: “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, the Soul and the Divinity of your Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for our sins and those of the whole world” . “By his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us” (notebook 1, pages 196-197).
Vilna, Saturday, September 14, 1935.
The next morning, as I entered our chapel, I heard this inner voice: “Every time you enter the chapel, immediately say the prayer I taught you yesterday.”
When I prayed the prayer, I heard these words in my soul: “This prayer that serves to appease my holy wrath, you will pray it for nine days, with a common rosary”, as follows:
First you will say an OUR FATHER, an AVE MARIA and a CREDO. Then, on the rosary beads corresponding to the Our Father, you will say:
“ETERNAL FATHER,
I OFFER YOU MY BODY AND BLOOD,
THE SOUL AND DIVINITY OF YOUR BELOVED SON,
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,
AS A PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS
AND THOSE OF THE WHOLE WORLD”.
On each of the Hail Mary beads, you will say “FOR HIS PAINFUL PASSION,
HAVE MERCY ON US AND ON THE WHOLE WORLD.”
And in the end you will say three times:
“HOLY GOD, HOLY STRONG, HOLY IMMORTAL,
HAVE MERCY ON US AND ON THE WHOLE WORLD.” (1, 197)
Krakow, October 1936.
The Lord told me “Go to the Superior and tell her that I want all the sisters and students to pray the Rosary that I have taught you. They must pray it for 9 days and in the Chapel, to implore Divine Mercy for Poland” (II, 147 ).
Leaves Krakow for Pradnik, December 9, 1936.
The Lord told me to pray this Rosary during the nine days that precede the Feast of Mercy. The novena should begin on Good Friday, “During this novena I will grant all graces to souls” (11, 197).
In the Pradnik hospital, December 28, 1936.
Today I have started the novena to Divine Mercy. That is to say, I have moved, in spirit, in front of the Merciful Jesus painting and I have prayed the Rosary that the Lord taught me. (11, 231).
Good Friday, March 26, 1937, in Pradhik.
“Jesus orders me to make a novena, which precedes the Feast of Mercy and that I must begin it today, for the conversion of the entire world and to make God’s Mercy known.” “I want my creatures to have confidence in Me”. (111, 16).
Cracow, August 1937. (III, 57 to 65,)
Novena to Divine Mercy, which Jesus commanded me to write and do in preparation for the Feast of Mercy, to begin on Good Friday.
“I wish that during those nine days you bring souls to the spring of my Mercy so that they may find the strength, consolation and all the graces they need to face the difficulties of life, especially at the hour of death.
Every day you will bring to my Heart a different group of souls and you will introduce them into the Immensity of my Mercy, and I, will lead all those souls to the house of my Father.
I answered: Jesus, I do not know how to do this novena, nor which souls to lead first to your Most Merciful Heart. Jesus answered me that He, every day, would let me know which souls he had to introduce into his Heart. (III, 57).
If you liked this text about the origin of the devotion to Divine Mercyplease share it on social networks by pressing the following buttons