During the 1930s, a Polish nun named Faustina Kowalska reportedly had private revelations from Jesus Christ.
The visions she had would later be defined as the “Divine Mercy” devotion, and inspired St. John Paul II to establish “Divine Mercy Sunday” on the 2nd Sunday after Easter.
On December 16, 1936, St. Faustina wrote in her Diary about how she offered her day for Russia.
I have offered this day for Russia. I have offered all my sufferings and prayers for that poor country. After Holy Communion, Jesus said to me, I cannot suffer that country any longer. Do not tie my hands, My daughter. I understood that if it had not been for the prayers of souls that are pleasing to God, that whole nation would have already been reduced to nothingness. Oh, how I suffer for that nation which has banished God from its borders!
Diary, 818
This entry was only a few days after Joseph Stalin signed the Constitution of the Soviet Union on December 5, 1936. During the same year, Stalin began what would later be called, “The Great Purge,” where 750,000 people were killed for their opposition to the government.
The good news is that Jesus’ Divine Mercy triumphs over all and that the “prayers of souls that are pleasing to God” can help turn the tide in any war and even convert the hearts of the leaders in Russia.
Above all we should pray with St. Faustina, “Jesus, I trust in you!“
