This weekend the Universal Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday. I really didn’t know much about this devotion until I made a pilgrimage to Poland in 2003, which included a Mass at the International Shrine and convent where St. Faustina died and is buried. Since then, I have had the privilege of being the celebrant at Mass right near St. Faustina’s tomb more than once. When I was in Krakow for World Youth Day in 2016, I had the privilege of being able to show our seminarians at the time the Convent where St. Faustina died, as well as the Shrine located on the same grounds. In my first year here back in Duluth, I am happy that we have a celebration here in our cluster. As you all know, we pray the Chaplet every Friday at St. Mary Star of the Sea. But on Divine Mercy Sunday, the Cathedral hosts the day. We will have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 1PM, along with a procession and enthronement of the Divine Mercy Image. We will have confessions from 1 to 3. Then at 3PM, we will sing the Chaplet, and finish with Benediction. I encourage you to attend all or part of the celebration, or learn more about St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy devotion.
This Feast was granted to the Universal Church by Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the canonization of Sr. Faustina Kowalska on April 30, 2000. In a decree dated May 23, 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship stated that …throughout the world the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come.
Finally, I offer this quick refresher on the devotion: The 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, Blessed Father Michael Sopocko, 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 is nothing new, but is a reminder of what the Church has always taught through scripture and tradition: that God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness. So, plan on going to Mass this weekend at the normal times, and then I encourage you to take part in the celebrations in the afternoon, and to seek once again Our Lord’s Mercy.
In Christ and Mary Immaculate,
Fr. Tony