This worked for me:
String language = userLocale.substring(0, 2);
String country = userLocale.substring(3, 5);
Locale locale = new Locale(language, country);
ActionContext.getContext().setLocale(locale);
session.put(I18nInterceptor.DEFAULT_SESSION_ATTRIBUTE, locale);
where the values userLocaleare: fr_FR, and the file for resources is called resource_fr_FR.properties