O Saint Faustina had less than three years of formal schooling, and yet here she was shedding light on the progress of the mystical life of the soul and giving an unparalleled understanding into the mystery of Divine Mercy. Father Sopocko had to turn to the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, among others, to help him to confirm the authenticity of St. Faustina's revelations that God's greatest attribute is mercy "In the confessional it became apparent that she knew things that no one under normal circumstances could know about," says Fr. Seraphim. "For instance, one Lent, Fr. Sopocko was asked to give a talk on the radio. She didn't hear the talk. But next time he came for confession, she told him how Jesus was very much displeased with his talk on the radio because he did not have a 'pure intention.' He later wrote that she was right, that he had tried to make an impression on people on what he said and how he said it that was not a pure intention. "So Jesus squealed on him," Fr. Seraphim says, with a laugh. "At another time," says Fr. Seraphim, "there was a meeting of priests at the sisters' convent. They were discussing some thing about the Holy Trinity. They had hit a blank wall during their discussion. Father Sopocko paused the meeting and asked one of the nuns to have Sr. Faustina come in. She entered, and Fr. Sopocko posed the question to her, and she came out with such an answer that all the other priests' mouths were gaping because they were wondering how she knew the things she knew." It was Fr. Sopocko who first instructed St. Faustina to keep her Diary, which chronicles her experiences of Divine Mercy and her mission to share it with the world. When St. Faustina told Fr. Sopocko of her visions of Jesus and His request for a new Image to be painted and spread throughout the world, it was he who found the artist, E. Kazimirowski, who would paint the Divine Mercy Image. He didn't stop there. In actions that mark the beginning of the spread of the Divine Mercy devotion, Fr. Sopocko made sure the Divine Mercy Image was displayed on the Sunday after Easter, 1935, over the famous Ostra Brama gate to the city of Vilnius. And in the nearby church, he preached the message of mercy. Following St. Faustina's death, and at the outbreak of World War II, Fr. Sopocko gave Divine Mercy material to Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski, MIC, a member of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, who was escaping the Nazis. "He's the one who gave the material to Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski as he was coming to the States," says Fr. Seraphim. "And where Fr. Jarzebowski was doubting he would be able to get here to the United States, Fr. Sopocko didn't say 'If you get to the States spread this,' he said 'When you get to the States spread this.'" Father Joseph eventually did make it to the U.S., where the Marians established a beachhead from which they have spread the message of Divine Mercy around the world. In the meantime, Fr. Sopocko suffered ridicule from spreading the devotion, as St. Faustina prophesized. She wrote in her Diary: One day, I saw interiorly how much my confessor would have to suffer: friends will desert you while everyone will rise up against you and your physical strength will diminish. I saw you as a bunch of grapes chosen by the Lord and thrown into the press of suffering. Your soul, Father, will at times be filled with doubts about this work and about me. I saw that God Himself seemed to be opposing [him], and I asked the Lord why He was acting in this way toward him, as though He were placing obstacles in the way of his doing what He Himself had asked him to do. And the Lord said, "I am acting thus with him to give testimony that this work is Mine. Tell him not to fear
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