Sister Faustina Kowalska: Her LIfe and MIssion

roadway. At first, th is seemed impossible to F a the r Sopocko b u t events happened exactly as foretold by S is te r Faus tina : namely, the parish p ries t of the O stra B ram a d istrict, Canon S tan is lau s Zawadski, asked the Reverend Professor Sopocko to give a sermon during the celebrations. The la t te r took the opportunity to agree, with the condition th a t th e parish p r ie s t expose the pa in ting by Kazimierowski in th e window of the galleried chapel over the roadway a t the O s tra Brama. The p r ie s t made no objection, and the picture, g a r ­ landed by S ister Fau s tina , was placed nex t to the famous picture of Our Lady of O s tra B rama. There, according to F a th e r Sopocko "it looked imposing, and drew everybody’s a tten tion , more th an did th e image of Our Lady". There was no th ing odd about th a t : people were used to seeing th e picture of Our Lady, b u t the picture of Je su s was unknown to any, and in teres ted them by the un fam iliar rep resen ta tion , which was the more in trigu ing because its m ean ing was not entirely clear to everyone. People wondered w ha t the picture represented , and most concluded th a t i t was a new version of the Sacred Heart. S is te r F au s tina recorded a detailed account of the celebrations in h e r Diary: "7 desire that this image be displayed in public on the f ir s t Sunday after Taster. That Sunday is the f e a s t o f Udercy.' (Jesus h ad repea ted th is m any times to her.) ' Strangely , aCC things came about j u s t as the Lord had requested I t was on the f ir s t Sunday after Taster [April, 1935] that the image was publicly honored by crowds o f people fo r the f ir s t time, f o r three days i t was exposed and received public veneration. Since it was placed at the very top o f a zvindow at Ostra Trama [Shrine of Our Lady above th e "Eastern Gate" to the city of Vilnius], i t could be seen from a great distance. 207