Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter, which concludes the Octave of Easter. It is based on the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy that Faustina Kowalska reported as part of her encounter with Jesus. The feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the day that he canonized Saint Faustina. The celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday is an opportunity to reflect on the theme of how God’s mercy can overcome sin. (Source: Wikipedia)
Join fellow parishoiners and prepare your heart for Divine Mercy Sunday by praying the novena which begins on Good Friday, April 18. To participate, take home the pamphlet from the Narthex or view the onvena on the Divine Mercy Institue Website. You'll recite a prayer each day for nine days until April 27th.
On April 27th, join us in the Fireside room to watch a short film featuring Christine Niles discussing the miracles attributed to Divine Mercy. The video will play before and after the Holy Hour of Divine Mercy.
The Holy Hour for Divine Mercy Sunday will take place at 3:30pm in the church and feature meditations from Fr. John Bartunek, who provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s “Passion fo the Christ”. Fr. Bartuniek is also the author of several books and provides answers to your spiritual questions at spiritualdirection.com. For more information about Father Bartunek, read his Bio.
Confessions will be available during the holy hour.
For more information, contact Peter Hildebrand at pjhildebrand@bellsouth.net.
Where did the Feast of Divine Mercy Originate?
If you were born well before the year 2000, you know the feast of Divine Mercy has not always been celebrated in the Church. In the early 1900s, a young Polish nun began receiving private revelations. Jesus appeared to her during her times of prayer, speaking a message of mercy and love for the world. She received a set of prayers — the Divine Mercy Chaplet — and the request to have a feast day established to remind the Church of the mercy of God. St. Faustina died in 1938, on the cusp of war and in the midst of one of the most violent centuries in the history of the world.
Her story and her diaries began circulating in Poland and beyond. It quickly became apparent that this was a holy young women, and the cause for her canonization opened. In the year 2000, she was canonized by the first-ever Polish pope, St. John Paul II. On her canonization day, he established the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday, “a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind with experience in the years to come.”
For more in-dpeth information on Divine Mercy Sunday visit https://www.thedivinemercy.org/
