Divine Mercy Sunday

Courtesy: Divinemercy.org

This coming Sunday is a very special feast day where the church celebrates the universal availability of Divine Mercy as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Divine Mercy Sunday – this year April 27 – takes place on the eighth day of Easter and is the day Jesus promised he would pour out his mercy on all who seek it.

“Divine Mercy Sunday is the culmination of Easter day,” said Father Michael Voithofer, associate pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Omaha.  “It’s the whole point and purpose and heart of the Easter octave.”

Jesus shared his promise of complete forgiveness of sins and the remission of all punishment due to sin with St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun, in the 1930s. He appeared to her several times, and each time she wrote his messages in her diary. Jesus asked St. Faustina’s to record everything he wanted mankind to know about his mercy before he returns to judge the world.

He asked her to paint the vision of his Merciful Divinity being poured from his Sacred Heart and specifically asked for a feast of Divine Mercy to be established on the first Sunday after Easter so mankind would take refuge in him.

Jesus also taught St. Faustina the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which consists of the recitation of prayers to God with the use of the rosary for the sake of Christ’s sorrowful passion.

In one of her diary entries, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her that on Divine Mercy Sunday, “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.”

To receive Jesus’ promise, one must go to confession near the feast day, receive communion on the feast day and pray for the pope’s intentions.

If a person dies after doing that, and is in a state of grace, that person will go straight to heaven, without suffering in purgatory, Jesus told St. Faustina. 

Connection to John Paul II

Devotion to the Divine Mercy was suppressed by the Vatican in 1959 due to misinterpretation of St. Faustina’s writings. But it spread again in 1978 at the urging of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow, who six months later became Pope John Paul II.

St. Faustina was canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II, making her the first new saint of the millennium.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II announced that Divine Mercy Sunday would be celebrated universally the Sunday after Easter.

This year’s Divine Mercy Sunday is especially significant because on that day Blessed John Paul II and Blessed John XXIII will be canonized as saints. John Paul II was instrumental in advancing and promoting Divine Mercy and the canonization of St. Faustina.

God’s mercy

The mercy of God comes directly from the love of God, said Mike Kube, coordinator of Divine Mercy Sunday activities at St. Mary Cathedral in Grand Island.

“God loves us so very much that he is willing to die for us and is willing to forgive us of absolutely anything,” he said. “To have access to this infinite mercy, all we have to do is acknowledge our sinfulness, be sorry for it, and ask to be forgiven through the sacrament of reconciliation. In essence, we trust everything about God, especially his anxiousness to forgive us, to have mercy on us.”

Divine Mercy Sunday isn’t our devotion to God but God’s devotion to us, Father Voithofer said.

“God’s greatest attribute is his Divine Mercy,” he said.

That’s why Father Voithofer encourages Catholics to attend a Divine Mercy Sunday event, receive the graces that day and spread the message of Jesus’ Divine Mercy to others.

We are not only to receive the mercy of God, but to use it by being merciful to others through our actions, our words, and our prayers, he said.

“Accept God’s mercy, be merciful to others through prayer, words and actions, and completely trust in God,” he said.

For more information on Divine Mercy Sunday, go to divinemercy.org.

Divine Mercy Sunday activities in the listening area

St. Mary Cathedral in Grand Island

2 p.m. – Divine Mercy video, book/religious items for sale at Cathedral Square

2:30 p.m. – Eucharistic procession at Cathedral Square

2:55 p.m. – Welcome & explanation at Cathedral

3 p.m. – Divine Mercy Chaplet at Cathedral

3-4 p.m. – Confessions at Cathedral

3:45 p.m. – Divine Mercy Litany and Benediction at Cathedral

4 p.m. – Reception at Cathedral Square

4:15 p.m. – Divine Mercy talk at Cathedral Square

5 p.m. – Sunday Mass at Cathedral

St. Vincent de Paul Church in Omaha

2 p.m. – Divine Mercy reflection by Fr. Rob Kroll, SJ

2:20 p.m. – Examination of conscience by Fr. Kevin Barrett (video)

2:50 p.m. – Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

3 p.m. – Chaplet of Divine Mercy

3:20 p.m. – Benediction with eucharistic procession

3:40 p.m. – “Divine Mercy & Pope John Paul II” by Msgr. Joseph Hanefeldt

4 pm. – “Let us be merciful” (video)

4:30 p.m. – Family-led rosary

5 p.m. – Divine Mercy Sunday Mass with Fr. Damien Cook as celebrant

Priests will be available for confessions throughout; Childcare available

For information, call 402-498-9871.

Sponsored by the Apostolate for Family Consecration & Spirit Catholic Radio

Omaha Polish Community

At St. Stanislaus Church in Omaha

10 a.m. – Divine Mercy Chaplet & Litany of St. John Paul in Polish and English

10:30 a.m. – Procession & Mass with hymns in Polish and English. People in folk outfits are invited to march in the procession.

At the Polish Home in Omaha

4-7 p.m. – Dinner & presentation

Display of Pope John Paul II Museum items

4:30 p.m. – BBC tribute documentary film on the life of John Paul II

5:30 p.m. – Travel video & presentation on Wadowice, Poland, the birthplace of John Paul II.

Polish dinner available for $8

For information, call402-592-5117.

St. Thomas More Parish in Omaha

12:30 p.m. – Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

12:30-3 p.m. – Confessions

1 p.m. – Rosary

2:30 p.m. – Divine Mercy Chaplet and Benediction

3 p.m. – Procession and Mass with Father Patrick Harrison as celebrant

Call Rita Smedra at 402-556-0384 or Connie Johnson at 402-339-8253.

Blogged by Lisa Maxson, senior writer/reporter.