…….He was an energetic, intensely spiritual priest who was happy in his pastoral duties. But Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko — whose feast day is Feb. 15 — could never have imagined how in 1933, when he was appointed to be confessor to the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Vilnius, in present-day Lithuania, his life would change.
It was there, in a confessional, where he met Sr. Maria Faustina (1905-1938), a humble nun with a tremendous weight upon her. The Lord had begun revealing to her His message of Divine Mercy - an urgent message that He wanted her to share with the whole world. But who would believe her? At first, no one. Not her superiors in the convent and not her previous confessors.
Sister Faustina had prayed for a spiritual director, someone to help guide her, someone who understood that what she was experiencing was real. Father Sopocko was the answer to her prayers, and eventually he became the main promoter of her revelations, the very linchpin in the Lord's call to spread Divine Mercy throughout the world.
Blessed Michael Sopocko (1888-1975) was beatified Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008 in Bialystok, Poland. And with that, the world has begun to get to know the man on the other side of the confessional whom Jesus assured St. Faustina would be her "visible help ... on earth. He will help you to carry out My will on earth" (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 53)………….”