On the second Sunday of Easter time, the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday, but where does this devotion come from? The devotion to the Divine Mercy of God comes through the private revelations made to Saint Faustina Kowalsca, a Polish nun with no basic education who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of around 600 pages that recounts the revelations she received on the Mercy of God.
The message of Mercy is that God loves us all, no matter how great our faults. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we approach Him with confidence, so that we receive His mercy and let it pour out on others.
Asking for the Mercy of our Lord, trusting in His Mercy, and living as merciful people, we can ensure that we will never hear “Their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13) but rather the beautiful promise of “Blessed are the merciful, since they will obtain Mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Therefore, to celebrate this feast of Divine Mercy, this Sunday after Easter Sunday, we must:
- Come to the Lord with a humble and contrite heart, repent of all sins
- Trust firmly in the Divine Mercy of the Lord.
- Confession to a priest on that day if possible, otherwise twenty days earlier or later as approved by the Church.
- Receive the Holy Eucharist on the day of the Feast.
- Venerate the image of Divine Mercy.
- Being merciful as God is merciful, practicing works of mercy, physically helping others or spiritually with intercessory prayers.
- Pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff
Complying with these requirements assures us a plenary indulgence, that is, the complete healing of the penance of those sins that we have confessed or the penances that the soul of a deceased has to fulfill. (CCC 1471).
Let the Divine Mercy of Our Lord pour out on us, that the blood and water that flowed from the heart of Jesus Christ cleanse us of our sins and give us eternal life.
Catholic.Net, “Domingo de la Divina Misericordia”, Catholic Net Inc, Accessed: 4/11/2023 https://es.catholic.net/op/articulos/18181/domingo-de-la-divina-misericordia.html