The 101 on Divine Mercy Sunday
By: Deacon Ryan J Pruess
Indeed the message [St. Faustina] brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies.
- Pope John Paul II – Divine Mercy Sunday Homily, Sunday April 22, 2001
This weekend, the Catholic Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday. We celebrate God’s infinite mercy on this Sunday because of the message that St. Maria Faustina Kowalska of Poland received from our Lord on Good Friday in 1937.
St. Faustina was a nun who grew up in Communist controlled Poland. It was in a small convent in Warsaw where our Lord appeared to St. Faustina and directed her to pray a novena (a nine-day prayer) beginning on Good Friday through the Octave (Octave is the eight days of Easter) of Easter ending on what is now known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
While the formal name is relatively new to the Churches calendar (proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in 2000), the concept of divine mercy is not new to our tradition. In fact, if you paid close attention to the readings at Mass today, you would have noticed that our response to the first reading includes the line “his mercy endures forever.” In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, Christ appears to his apostles and grants them the power to forgive sins. In other words, Christ entrusted the treasury of mercy to His Church! I just listed two ways in which we celebrate God’s mercy at Mass; there are many more ways in which we recognize God’s love and mercy at the liturgy.
Along with all of the beautiful ways in which our Liturgy points to God’s love and mercy, our tradition invites us to participate in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy which is a prayer that is traditionally prayed on Friday’s throughout the year at 3:00pm; though it may be prayed at any time.
Another style of prayer is the veneration of the image of the Divine Mercy. It was at the request of our Lord Jesus Christ, that St. Faustina designed the image of our Lord offering us His Divine Mercy that is flowing from our Saviors Heart. In her journal, St. Faustina writes that our Lord spoke to her saying “I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated so that souls may know about it” (Diary of St. Faustina, 341).
Divine Mercy Sunday is a beautiful way our Catholic tradition highlights the love and mercy God has for each of us. As sinners, we are utterly dependent on God’s mercy and love. No good can be done in this life apart from that love. So as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter Season, let us give thanks to God for allowing us to be the beneficiaries of His incredible love and mercy.
How to Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
| If you are using a rosary:
Start on the Crucifix and pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary and the Apostles' Creed.
Skip ahead to the centerpiece and pray the following:
"Eternal Father, I offer You the body and blood, soul and divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world."
You will say this same prayer on each Our Father bead.
On each Hail Mary bead pray the following:
"For the sake of His sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world."
On the last Our Father bead, pray the following prayer three times:
"Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
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Our Father:
Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hail Mary:
Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death. Amen.
The Apostles Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.
