The Divine Mercy devotion promoted by St. Faustina was providentially revealed to her on the First Sunday of Lent.
St. Faustina records the date of her vision of Jesus on Sunday, February 22, 1931, which would have been the Sunday following Ash Wednesday of that year.
She explains what happened on that fateful Sunday night in her Diary.
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 chest. From beneath the garment, slightly drawn aside at the chest, there were emanating two large rays, one red and the other pale. (…) After a while Jesus said to me, “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You.“
Diary, 47
The artist Eugene Kazimirowski, who received instructions provided personally by Sister Faustina, painted the first depiction of Divine Mercy in 1934 in Vilnius. However, it is the image of Lagiewniki, Krakow, painted by Adolf Hyla, that has gained fame throughout the world.
It is fitting that St. Faustina received this instruction at the beginning of Lent, as the Divine Mercy devotion is connected intimately with the Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, displaying the love Jesus has for humanity through the rays of his wounds.
Lent is set apart as a special time in the Church’s calendar to meditate on Jesus’ Passion, and Divine Mercy Sunday occurs a week after Easter Sunday, on the Second Sunday of the Easter season.
While St. Faustina received many other private revleations throughout her life, this vision on the First Sunday of Lent is regarded as the most important one.
