_Our Lord did not expect Saint Faustina to physically carry out His wishes, her life was to inspire others to carry out these works which she has being doing since she first met Fr. Sopocko. And then, as a Saint in Heaven, a large part of  humanity has been inspired by her through the message of Divine Mercy which she brought to the world from the revelations she was given by Jesus. One of the requests made by Jesus was to found or cause to come into existence a new religious community to give their lives to make His message of Divine Mercy known throughout the world.

“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 modeled 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”.

“Then came the moment to receive Holy Communion, and Jesus disappeared, and I saw a great brightness. Then I heard these words: We give our blessing. At that moment a bright ray issued from that light and pierced my heart; and an extraordinary fire was enkindled in my soul - I thought I would die of joy and happiness. I felt the separation of my spirit from my body. I felt totally immersed in God, I felt I was snatched up by the Almighty, like a particle of dust, into a huge unknown expanse.” (Diary 436-439).

"O my Jesus, how immensely I rejoice at the assurance You have given me that the Congregation will come into being (...) and I see how great is the glory which it will give to God. It will be the reflection of God’s greatest attribute, that is, His Divine Mercy. Unceasingly, they will intercede for Divine Mercy for themselves and for the whole world (...) and they will be in God’s Church like a beehive active in a magnificent garden, hidden and meek." (Diary 664).

Jesus said: "With great desire, I wait and long for the time when I shall take up My residence, sacramentally in their convent. My spirit will rest in that convent and I will bless its neighbourhood in a special way" (Diary 570)

The community that Saint Faustina joined as a young girl was the ‘Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy’* they were originally called the  ‘Magdalene Sisters’. They were a community that helped girls that found themselves living corrupt lives on the streets of Paris. The community came to Poland from France in the nineteenth century.

The new congregation that Jesus asked for, to dedicate their lives to spreading His message of Divine Mercy, was a responsibility given to Saint Faustina, but founded on her behalf by Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko in the year 1941 in Vilnius, Lithuania, three years after Saint Faustina’s death. They are called the ‘Sisters of Merciful Jesus’.

Fr. Sopocko had a prayer group in Vilnius in his early days from which this congregation that Jesus had asked for, eventually came into existence. He took responsibility for their formation and their charism as dictated by Jesus. In his time in the black forest hidden from the Gestapo, he wrote a lot of his thoughts on Divine Mercy, it was from here he sent a letter to the group of young girls going forward for the congregation, he wrote “Brides of the Heart of Jesus and pillars of His future Congregation, Confidantes of the Mysteries of God, I have prayed for you at my daily mass that you will be the congregation that Jesus asked for.”

In the last few weeks before Sr. Faustina’s death, Fr. Sopocko met with her twice. During these meetings he received her last instructions, which he was to fulfill after her death.

Fr. Sopocko said: "I went to visit her during the week. We spoke about the congregation which I understood she was to found. In view of the fact that she was now dying, I felt depressed, because I felt how could this happen now, and if she could not carry out God’s will in this, could all her visions be an illusion. I discussed this with Sr. Faustina, she was not  perturbed and she just promised to talk about this matter with the Lord Jesus, during her prayer that evening.

The next morning as I was  offering Holy Mass for the intention of Sister Faustina, a revelation came to me: Jesus asked her to have a image painted just as she saw Him, but He did not expect her to paint it herself, she just had to give precise instructions to the painter of what she saw, neither was she meant to found the congregation herself, but only provide the framework and the inspiration for its creation. Jesus' wanted a new congregation that would give their lives to make known the continuous necessity to seek God’s Divine Mercy every day of our lives. The next time I came to the hospital, I asked her whether she had something to tell me about this matter. She said that she did not, because the Lord Jesus had already enlightened me and I should wait for the moment that God would inspire me.” [to found the congregation]

Father Michael Sopocko was obedient to the words given to him by Sr. Faustina on her death bed. He would wait patiently for the sign of God's Will. In 1939, war broke out. During this cruel time, Fr. Sopocko did whatever he could to make the message of God’s Mercy known. In his own house he spoke about it to organised meetings of the ‘Catholic Intelligence Association’ and the ‘Marian Solidarity of Academy Students’. At one of those meetings, Jadwiga Osińska, a graduate of Classical Philology of the Batory’s University of Vilnius said to Fr. Sopocko that she intended to offer her life in the service of God, but she was unable to find the right congregation. She asked him for prayers and advice, adding that she had friends who had the same aspirations as her. Fr. Sopocko felt this was the sign he was waiting for, but being cautious he decided after another conversation with Jadwiga in July of 1940 that he would suggest to her, that to be certain she had a calling to this life, she should spend some time in retreat at the Sisters of the Angels in Pryciuny, so she could have a clearer understanding of what religious life entailed.

After spending some time in prayer and retreat at this convent, Jadwiga came back to Fr. Sopocko and told him that she wanted to offer her life to the Most Merciful Jesus. Then to the delight of Fr. Sopocko, she said she wanted to found a new congregation, to glorify God in His infinite Mercy. She wanted to take private vows in memory of Sister Faustina Kowalska and being inspired by her message, she wanted to take the new religious name of Faustyna, and become the first sister following Faustina’s call. In November of 1941 from the same prayer group led by Fr. Sopocko emerged the next candidate, Izabela Naborowska.   

On the 26th of January 1942, four more  young girls came forward from the prayer group to join them, Ludmila Roszko, Zofia Komorowska, Adela Alibekow  and Jadwiga Malkiewicz. In this way the first six members for the new congregation came together. Father Sopocko gave all of them religious names. He created basic rules for them and set a time for a weekly discussion about interior life.  The Sisters planned to become a religious congregation and begin religious life when the war was over. On February 3, 1942, the first meeting of the new founded congregation took place in Fr. Sopocko’s apartment.

On March 3, 1942, the German occupation force organised raids and arrested almost all the priests in Vilnius. It was known that Father Michael Sopocko was very active in helping Jewish people escape capture. The Gestapo therefore were especially searching for him, but he escaped into the countryside. He was able to get to Ursuline Sisters’ convent in Czarny Bor, 4 km away from Vilnius, where he spent two and a half years working in the community as a carpenter. He kept in touch with the six sisters through letters every now and then, or one of the six would visit him in secret to discuss their future. More often than not it was Sister Faustyna Osińska. On April 11, 1942, on the vigil of the Divine Mercy feast day, the six candidates took simple vows. The first temporary name they took as a community was ‘The Servants of the Merciful God.’ From that time on, they lived their lives under the rules of a religious novitiate even though they continued to live separately with their families.

For Fr. Sopocko this was the sign from Providence. He wrote to the  proposed new community to say,  “This is a special grace of God’s Divine Mercy that has revealed itself in your vocations. You are chosen ones of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a community desired by God, pillars of the future,  I have prayed every day in Mass for this for the last 5 years” (Letter to the sisters from his sanctuary in Czarny Bor).

Father Sopocko came back to Vilnius on August 19, 1944 after the Soviet Army had pushed the German army out of Lithuania. In November, Jadwiga Faustyna Osińska, together with her friends, asked him to accept their vows. In preparation for this on November 9, 1944, he gave the novitiate six a retreat. This retreat was in preparation for the ceremony of the vows, planned for shortly afterwards.

 So on a dark November morning, even though a new curfew was in force, Jadwiga Osińska, Izabela Naborowska, Adela  Alibekow, Jadwiga Malkiewicz, Ludmila Roszko, and Zofia Komorowska, stealthily made their way from all different parts of Vilnius, to the convent of the Carmelite Sisters, at 29, Carmel Street, Poplawska, Vilnius, Lithuania.

There, on the 16th November 1944  in a catacomb beneath the convent at five o’clock in the morning, in a small chapel, Fr. Sopocko celebrated Mass. After which this congregation, called for by Jesus, and known today as the ‘Sisters of Merciful Jesus’, took their first religious vows, and dedicated their souls to the Merciful Jesus for the remainder of their lives. Fr. Sopocko said it was impossible to describe with words the joyful atmosphere that prevailed among the newly vowed servants of Christ. A simple meal was prepared for them by the hospitable Carmelite Sisters. They were the beginning of this new congregation, six brave young girls full of trust in Jesus in spite of the dangers all around them, and the oppressive times they lived in, with their homeland occupied by a foreign power all of their young lives. (taken from the memoirs of Blessed Michael Sopocko).

It is extraordinary that this was the only convent left untouched during the Second World War and a place where many other communities found sanctuary from the religious repression that exited in Lithuania at that time.

After the war was over in 1945, Lithuania became part of the Soviet Union and a mass-forced migration of the Polish population of the Vilnius region to Poland took place. Archbishop Jalbrzykowski was forced to leave Vilnius, with all the Curia and the Seminary. During this time, the families of three of the sisters that had taken vows, were forced to go to Poland, which meant there were only three Lithuanian sisters that took vows left in Vilnius. Sister Faustyna and Sister    Benigna longed for religious habits and for a convent where they could glorify the Merciful Jesus as a community together.

To help realize this desire, the remaining three girls in Vilnius  decided to go to Poland to be with the others. Before they left, on August 24, 1946, they paid their last visit to Fr. Michael Sopocko and explained why they were going to Poland.

"One passage of our life is finished, we are going to start a new life to fulfill the will of the One who has chosen us..." (Diary of Sr. Benigna).

On the sisters arrival in Poland, Fr. Sopocko had got a Jesuit priest Father Wladyslaw Wantuchowski to become their spiritual director. So on November 16th 1946, all six gathered together once more in Poznan to renew their vows, so it was he who said the mass for the congregation and accepted their vows. 

Sisters Faustyna Osińska and Benigna Naborowska sought permission to open a religious house in his diocese and he helped them to make their submission. He asked the apostolic administrator of Gorzow, Fr. Edmund Nowicki, for permission for the settlement of the sisters in the region of his diocese. The Father Administrator accepted their petition and assigned them to the parish of Mysliborz. On August 25, 1947 (the birthday of Saint Faustina) the Sisters started to live and work in the parish in Mysliborz.

On August 2, 1955, there was issued a decree approving the Congregation under the diocesan law, allowing the wearing of habits. In the same month in the presence of Fr.Michael Sopocko, Sr. Faustyna Osińska and Sr.Benigna Naborowska made their perpetual religious vows.

During all this time since the six met at 29, Carmel Street, Poplawska, Vilnius, Lithuania,  on the 16th November 1944, Fr. Sopocko kept in continuous contact with them, watching over everything in the newly founded congregation’s development, assuring they kept to the charism and inspirational purpose that Jesus chose them for, a charism given to Saint Faustina and passed on by her to Fr. Michael Sopocko.

In this way ‘The Sisters of Merciful Jesus’  that Jesus Himself had asked for, were beginning their chosen purpose, to bring the urgent message of Divine Mercy to the attention of the world, as well as doing works of mercy in Deed, Word and Prayer, supported by Fr. Sopocko who was  carrying out his mission helping to put everything in place for this to happen.

"This is the visible help for you on earth. He will help you carry out My will " (Diary of Saint Faustina, Parg 53).

Extract from the beginning of his life story written in the Diary of Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko.

_The autumn wind is blowing and from the darkening clouds a cold autumn rain begins to fall. This time last year I remembered I was at Janiszki* (Joniškio) strolling on the banks of a large lake, gazing into its vast depths and contemplating my future. I stopped by the mouth of a stream where it entered the huge lake and as my mind took in the scene, I compared it to myself and my future life as I enter the priesthood. Where the stream entered the lake it disappeared into a huge expanse of water and could just be seen swirling on the surface for a short time, then it became part of the immensity of the lake. A slow gentle flowing stream, losing its identity as it became a part of this enormous body of water. I wondered was this an omen of what was going to happen in my life – am I to lose my identity, going slowly like a gentle stream into a large organisation that is another immense body, that is the Kingdom of God on earth.

As I stood by the lake I remembered another occasion, a spectacular eclipse of the sun that I witnessed with my friends on this same lake. The sun, at first strong and dazzling, began to fade and weaken as it slowly disappeared out of sight. I peered through a piece of darkened glass my friend gave me, and saw a crescent of shadow creeping over the right edge of the bright sun, the shadow growing bigger and bigger and in the end the sunlight was so weak you could gaze    directly at the whole scene with the naked eye, and then the sun got lost in the shadow of the moon. It was a wondrous, unforgettable natural phenomenon, something that I also compared at the time to my forthcoming journey to the priesthood. I will probably never see it again in my life time, it was indeed a wondrous sight. Youth and innocence is such a joyous part of life. I was in a boat with my boyhood friends on that day, it was a blissful part of life that lasts only a short time but a scene I will have fond memories of all my life. Late in the evening we pulled in our oars and glided into the shore.

_We spent that night camping out in the open. It was a memorable evening, as day faded into twilight it was still bright in the west, however the darkness accompanied by a cool breeze was closing in from the east. Everything became grey as our clothes lost their colour. A flock of crows took off from the neighbouring trees and went westwards at some speed, screeching with their loud cawing sound, as if they were hastily pursuing the fading light. This was followed by many of nature’s other rural evening sounds, cattle in the meadow at the edge of the lake, making their lowing sound, a cock crowing in the distance. This was how nature was saying goodbye to the light of day. In the evening breeze the last rays of the sun broke through the swaying branches of the trees like a bright light being switched on and off for a time. When the light finally disappeared, we were left under a heavenly sky with smaller twinkling lights as the stars came out. As I stared up at that sky, a thought crossed my mind, without the sun, the earth would be in total darkness, a dead frozen planet unable to sustain life. In reality the darkness lasted only a short time, yet it seemed so long and despite nature’s beauty at night, I was longing for daylight and the warm sun again. I did not sleep much that night.

I welcomed the dawn with joy, as it came back from the east, the sun growing bigger and bigger, until finally it covered the whole landscape. The dawn of a new day brings expectation and a certain calmness back to nature. The crows were coming slowly back from the west, cawing happily this time it seemed with the new dawn. The cattle made a soft sound as they were chewing their cud and moving slowly from one tuft of grass to the next. As I rose, the cock in the farm nearby stopped crowing. I felt good, the rays of the sun were giving me such a warm feeling of wellbeing like maybe this beautiful dawn would remain forever. The morning sun shining brightly dispersing the darkness of the night, can be known to sooth the sorrows of the day past. You have time again to study the beauty of God’s nature, it can do so much for the soul. As the morning went on, the light seemed to grow a hundred times brighter and the sun became even warmer than the day before, and we all got into a discussion on how important the sun is to life. I compared the sun to God’s grace – when it is not there we feel cheerless and we miss it, so that we low with the cattle and caw with the crows as we await to find His grace again. But unlike the cattle and the crows, if we lose God’s grace, it is our own doing, it is not seasonable like the sun, we only need to ask and with contrition, God’s warmth and grace will return regardless of the season, it will enlighten and cheer us once again, and like the new dawn when the sun comes out again, God’s grace will shine and fill us with such bliss that we get to realise its value more each day, and we learn that, like the sun, we cannot live without the grace of God in our lives.

There is a lot of His diary devoted to the war years where he was involved in getting persecuted Jews to a safe sanctuary. He was chased by the Gestapo and was jailed in the infamous jail in Vilnius. But he escaped after only two weeks. Again his dwelling place was surrounded by Gestapo when he was saying mass one morning, but an astute neighbour went to the church and warned him. He escaped to the black forest under a wagon load of hay. Divine Mercy seemed to protect him throughout his life.

Divine Mercy in Action - Inspired by the Diary of St. Faustina

Once, a pain pierced my soul, and I began to pray: “Most merciful Jesus, I beseech You through the intercession of Your Saints, and especially the intercession of Your dearest Mother who nurtured You from childhood, I beg You, Jesus, look not on our sins, but on the tears of little children, on the hunger and cold they suffer.

Jesus, for the sake of these innocent ones, grant me the grace that I ask of You now.”

At that moment, I saw the Lord Jesus, His eyes filled with tears, and He said to me, You see, My daughter, what great compassion I have for them. Know that it is they who uphold the whole world. (Diary 286)

Introduction

_The Divine Mercy charity, “Help Us Dry The Tears” Foundation, (H.U.D.T.) was founded by Val Conlon who felt compelled to do so, when he read this in the Diary of Saint Faustina.

“Divine Mercy in Action” became its working name to make it more identifiable with the message from Jesus. To Val, the real message that Jesus brought to humanity in the Divine Mercy revelations was: You must live Mercy in this life if you expect to obtain in the next.

In the revelations of Divine Mercy, Jesus asked that His mercy be spread in “deed, word and prayer”, and he qualified this by saying first ‘in deed’. But it is important to be active in all three ways.

"I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for me. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it". (Diary 742)

_The mission that HUDT “Divine Mercy in Action” undertook as a result was to help the destitute and homeless children in Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism, especially abandoned and suffering children that became street children after overflowing orphanages became too full to take them in. We started in Romania by giving them everything they needed to survive, not only in a material way but also trying to fill the spiritual void left behind after communism, with the message of God's Divine Mercy.

We also found it a great opportunity for a “Catholic Charity” to sow the seed for renewal of the faith in Eastern Europe, so as well as saving lives we could bring the message of Divine Mercy in an effort to help save souls as well. Remember, Jesus gave this message to mankind in Eastern Europe and we believe this is where He intended it to be used most. It is a mission so important now in Eastern Europe at a time when people's spiritual nature is susceptible to other evil influences and other evil cults.

“Divine Mercy in Action” has taken it on itself to influence this faith renewal through the work we carry out there. As our humanitarian work melts people’s hearts, we make it clear that these works of Mercy are inspired by our Catholic belief in the revelations of the message of Divine Mercy. And as our projects are seen to be saving many children’s lives, they cannot be objected to by any authority, even those who are still influenced by socialist or communist ideals.

So the space once occupied by a communist socialist ideal which looked after the poor, is now being occupied by our charity “Divine Mercy in Action”, who now look after the poor.

But in our work we also try to cater for their spiritual hunger, and try to help their search for spirituality and the meaning of life. We do this by making the message of Divine Mercy, available to them. As it was given by our Lord in Eastern Europe at a time when communism was taking over, it seems especially meant for Eastern Europe after the long indoctrination of the young with Communism and Socialism.

We have established a foothold in what was once a space occupied by a Socialist inspired doctrine, Communism and we have filled that space with a Catholic inspired doctrine, Divine Mercy.

We have become the new missioners for Jesus Christ in this part of the world where communism once flourished until Jesus chose an Eastern European Pope, John Paul II, who was deeply involved in the Message of Divine Mercy. A Pope, who it is acknowledged by the world today, as probably the one person most responsible for the defeat of communism. But the faithless void left behind in most of Communist Eastern Europe has to be filled.

So we try to sow the seed of Catholic renewal, and to help save lives with food, medicine and education and souls with the message of Divine Mercy. It is a great mission to feed their material needs but also their spiritual needs in the name of Jesus the Divine Mercy. This is what Jesus asked of us through Saint Faustina to be active with His message of mercy, in deed, word and prayer. To partake in these three, He said, is the final hope for salvation.

Divine Mercy Publications

_Divine Mercy Publications, is a publications group that Val Conlon started in 1985. Val was first touched by this message from Jesus in 1980 when he came across a little leaflet or pamphlet that mentioned the revelations which led him on a journey of discovery that brought him to Poland and later Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to research the writings by this nun. It resulted in his total conversion, and all that happened in his promotion of this devotion since.

The Charity “ Help Us Dry The Tears” or Divine Mercy in Action is primarily financed by “Divine Mercy Publications” and donations from devotees of Divine Mercy, but as our Charity work does not restrict itself to any religious denomination or nationality, we accept and seek donations from all who are interested in helping children without hope.