Throughout salvation history, God has revealed Himself to mankind. In the Old Testament, His name Yahweh, “He who is,” appears approximately 6000 times.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve knew Him, knew His love, knew His friendship, and experienced Him in a unique way. In the time preceding the Exodus, Moses also experienced God in an amazing way. When he asked to see God’s glory, the Almighty bent over backwards to make this possible. (Exodus 33. After the Lord placed Moses in a cleft in the rock and passed by, He exclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious!” So, the first word God used to describe Himself was “merciful.”

If we fast forward to February 22, 1931, we find another person who had been having incredible experiences of the Lord. On that day, Sr. Maria Faustina was retiring to her room in the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy when Jesus came to her and, through her, to all mankind. The world would never be the same.

Helena Kowalska was born on August 25, 1905. Seven years later, she heard an interior voice that she would hear throughout her life. At age nineteen, while attending a dance in Lodz, Poland, she suddenly saw Jesus standing before her covered with wounds. “How long shall I put up with you? And how long will you keep putting Me off?,” He asked. Helena immediately left the dance and ran to the cathedral. That would be the first of many steps she would take to fulfill her vocation as a religious and as the one Our Lord would call “secretary of My Mercy.”