Founded with the help of Fr. Sopocko.

Short History of the Sisters of Merciful Jesus.

Jesus asked St. Faustina to found a new religious congregation that would dedicate themselves to spreading His message of Divine Mercy in deed word and prayer to the ends of the earth.

As a Community desired by God Himself, there is a tremendous responsibility on it, but also a very special grace and a unique vocation in making know the message of Divine Mercy to the world. With a charism and spirituality coming directly from God, Fr. Sopocko called them “pillars of the future.”

Jesus gave Saint Faustina the new congregation‘s charism, which is the way they must lead their lives and carry out their mission for God. The responsibility of putting them into a position to do all this  was given to the other great apostle of Divine Mercy chosen by God, Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko, Saint Faustina’s spiritual director.

Shortly after Saint Faustina met Fr. Michael Sopocko for the first time in Vilnius, she recorded in her diary: "The goodness of Jesus is infinite; He had promised me visible help on earth, and a little while later I received it in Vilnius  in the person of Fr. Sopocko. I had already known him before coming to Vilnius, thanks to an interior vision. One day I saw him in our chapel between the altar and the confessional and suddenly heard a voice in my soul say: "This is the visible help for you on earth. He will help you carry out My will" (Saint Faustina’s Diary 53)

After she came to Vilnius and made her confession to Fr. Sopocko she said: “This priest is surely guided by the Spirit of God; he penetrated the depths of my soul, [he knows] my deepest secrets which I understood were between me and God, and which I had never yet spoken to him about, because I had not understood them clearly myself, and which I believed the Lord had not told me to tell him.   (Saint Faustina’s Diary 436)

When Fr. Sopocko asked me if I had any such inspirations, [about a new congregation] I replied that I had not had any clear orders [from Jesus] on this; but at that instant a light penetrated my soul, and I [immediately] understood that the Lord was speaking through Fr. Sopocko. In vain had I defended myself by saying I had not received any clear orders, but at the end of our conversation [with Fr. Sopocko] I saw the Lord Jesus as He is represented in the image, and He said to me: “I desire that there be such a Congregation that will proclaim the mercy of God to the world and by their prayers, obtain it for the world”.   (Saint Faustina’s Diary 437)

 Saint Faustina attended a mass celebrated by Fr. Sopocko the very next day:“ At the very beginning of Holy Mass on the  following day, I saw Jesus in all His unspeakable beauty. He said to me that He desired that this Congregation be founded as soon as possible, and  He said: “My Spirit shall be the rule of their life. Their lives are to be modelled on Mine, from My crib to My death on the Cross. They will penetrate My mysteries, and they will know the abyss of My mercy towards creatures and My unfathomable goodness - and this they shall make known to the world.

Through their prayers, they shall mediate between heaven and earth.”