ANNA LU
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JESUS I TRUST IN YOU.........................................................................-.This is the Original Image --Archbishop Grusas explained that many people have only recently learned about …More
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU.........................................................................-.This is the Original Image --Archbishop Grusas explained that many people have only recently learned about the image because it was hidden for many years, and it was only rediscovered and restored within the last 15 years.

During World War II, Lithuania was under Soviet occupation and in 1948, the communist government closed the Church of St. Michael and abolished the convent. Many of the sacred objects and artworks were moved to another church to be saved from Soviet hands, but the Divine Mercy image was left undisturbed in St. Michael's for several years.

In 1951, two women were able to pay the keeper of St. Michael's church and save the image. Since it couldn't be taken across the border to Poland, they gave it to the priest in charge of the Church of the Holy Spirit for safekeeping.

Five years later it was moved to a church in Belarus, where it remained for over a decade. In 1970 this church too was shut down by the government and looted, but miraculously, again the Image of Divine Mercy was untouched.

Eventually it was brought back to Lithuania in secret and again given to the Church of the Holy Spirit. In the early 2000s its significance was rediscovered and after a professional restoration it was rehung in the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity in 2005, which is now the Shrine of Divine Mercy.

So though it is a more recent arrival on the international scene, the painting "is also probably the most profound of the Divine Mercy paintings," Grusas said. "It has a very deep theology, very closely tied with St. Faustina's diary." The Story of Divine Mercy: Where is the Original Image? - Living Faith - Home & Family - News - Catholic Online
ANNA LU
"Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You" (Diary, 47). I myself will give you many orders directly, but I will delay the possibility of their being carried out and make it depend on others (...) but know, My daughter, that this offering will last until your death." (Diary 923)
ANNA LU
In its creation, St. Faustina "was instrumental in making all the adjustments with the painter," Archbishop Grusas said.
The image shows Christ with his right hand raised as if giving a blessing, and the left touching his chest. Two rays, one pale, one red - which Jesus said are to signify water and blood - are descending from his heart.
St. Faustina recorded all of her visions and conversations …More
In its creation, St. Faustina "was instrumental in making all the adjustments with the painter," Archbishop Grusas said.

The image shows Christ with his right hand raised as if giving a blessing, and the left touching his chest. Two rays, one pale, one red - which Jesus said are to signify water and blood - are descending from his heart.

St. Faustina recorded all of her visions and conversations with Jesus in her diary, called Divine Mercy in My Soul. Here she wrote the words of Jesus about the graces that would pour out on anyone who prayed before the image:

"I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend [that soul] as My own glory."
One more comment from ANNA LU
ANNA LU
When the image was completed, it was first kept in the corridor of the convent of the Bernardine Sisters, which was beside the Church of St. Michael where Fr. Sopocko was rector.
In March 1936 St. Faustina became sick, with what is believed to have been tuberculosis, and was transferred back to Poland by her superiors. She died near Krakow in October 1938, at the age of 33.More
When the image was completed, it was first kept in the corridor of the convent of the Bernardine Sisters, which was beside the Church of St. Michael where Fr. Sopocko was rector.

In March 1936 St. Faustina became sick, with what is believed to have been tuberculosis, and was transferred back to Poland by her superiors. She died near Krakow in October 1938, at the age of 33.
mccallansteve
Why is the Sacred Heart and wounds in the hands not shown? What a disgrace.