Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,
Alleluia! He is Risen! Alleluia! Yes, we are still celebrating Easter Sunday! Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and it is the final day of Octave of Easter. After this day, we will move into the Season of Easter and continue the celebration of Easter until the end of the day on Pentecost Sunday.
Today, Divine Mercy Sunday, is a day of unfathomable and ineffable graces! I urge all to ask for and celebrate the great gift of Divine Mercy offered by our Heavenly Father through His Son, Jesus Christ! We will have opportunities to visit our Lord in at least one of our churches on Divine Mercy Sunday.
We will have time for private prayer with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament; the Sacrament of Confession offered; the Chaplet of Di-vine Mercy recited; and finally Benediction and the Divine Praises! Plan now to celebrate our Lord’s infinite Mercy this Sunday and join with other parishioners in our special event. Divine Mercy Sunday is a day of great promises from our Lord Jesus, particularly when we ask Him to share with us His unfathomable and ineffable Mercy!
Here is a brief summary of the message of Divine Mercy:
“The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us - all of us. And, he wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy. The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC: A - Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world. B - Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us. C - Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive. This message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God's mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.”
The message of Mercy grows through various devotional practices. These practices are:
F – Feast of Divine Mercy: celebrate Divine Mercy in your parish!
I – Image of Divine Mercy: venerate the Image of Divine Mercy and place on in your home!
N – Novena of Divine Mercy: pray the Novena of Divine Mercy!
C – Chaplet of Divine Mercy: pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy each day!
H – Hour of Mercy: 3-4pm is the Hour of Great Mercy – ask Jesus for graces each day during this hour! Pray the Stations of the Cross as you are able and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy!
“In repeated revelations to St. Faustina, Our Divine Savior makes it clear that the fountain is His Heart, the water is His mercy, and the vessel is trust.
I have opened My Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust (Diary of St. Faustina, 1520). On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls — no one have I excluded! (1182). I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in You" (327). The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is — trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive (1578).
In the Diary of St. Faustina, we hear Our Lord reminding us that we can depend upon His love … that He alone is worthy of our trust: I never reject a contrite heart (1485). Sooner would heaven and earth turn into nothingness than would My mercy not embrace a trusting soul (1777).
My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners.
On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.
On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity.
The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tender-ness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My mercy. (699)” (info and quotes taken from www.thedivinemercy.org)
Through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy, St. Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin and Foster Father of our Redeemer, St. Paul, and St. Michael, may our good Lord Jesus grant us open hearts to desire and receive His Divine Mercy!
In Christ through Mary,
Fr. Kasel