Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska was born in 1905 in Poland. At the age of 20 she entered the convent of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. St. Faustina was assigned the humblest of tasks working in the kitchens and in the gardens. Although she seemed to be a very ordinary nun, she received extraordinary revelations from the Lord Jesus Who instructed her to record God’s loving message of Divine Mercy for mankind. Today, her notebooks are known as the Diary of St. Faustina.

From the Diary of St. Faustina (47):

In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in the gesture of blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were emanating two large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze fixed on the Lord; my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me: Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel and then throughout the world. 

During prayer, I heard these words within me (299): 

The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls…

These rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. I desire the first Sunday after Easter, be the Feast of Mercy.

St. Faustina died at the early age of 33 in 1939. All her messages and visions of Jesus are recorded in her Diary and centered on Gods great love for us and His great Mercy for all mankind. St. John Paul II who had a great devotion to St. Faustina, established Divine Mercy Sunday in the year 2000, to be celebrated each year, one week after Easter Sunday.