Divine Mercy
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DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY is a very special Sunday when the Divine Floodgates from Heaven are wide-opened and Jesus offers us the total forgiveness of all sins and punishment to any soul, who goes to Confession and receives Him in Holy Communion, on that day.
Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted in the Catholic Church on the Second Sunday of Easter on April 30, 2000 and decreed on May 5th of that year by Pope Saint John Paul II. -
Documents
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DIVINE MERCY EXPLAINEDThe Resurrection of Jesus was the most important event in the history of the world. When the Lord appeared in the 'Upper Room' to the apostles pointing out His wounds, it was to demonstrate He was the Crucified Christ, and to show He had resurrected from the dead. The final proof that He was God. He then bestowed on the apostles the power to forgive sins, which was in effect Divine Mercy coming into the world.
It was the beginning of the Church on earth. In 1931 He appeared as the same image in another room, this time the room of a young nun, again showing His wounds, emphasizing the power of those wounds as rays from a font of reconciliation and renewal, rays of love and mercy. This was Divine Mercy, His victory on the Cross, His resurrection, coming into to a very sinful world once again. A world that was about to plunge man into the depths of depravity in a horrific world war.
He asked her to teach the world again of why he died on the Cross to give sinners another chance of obtaining God's Divine Mercy, and pardon their sins if they returned to living by God’s commandments. He was also reminding man that His death on the Cross, Divine Mercy was for all mankind (And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, these I have to lead as well. They too will hear My voice, and then there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:11 – 18)
The commandments of God are built into every human born, in the form of a conscience that was given them at birth, it is the spirit of God within them, if you deny your conscience, you deny God.
The image that appeared to the apostles was the resurrected Christ. The Resurrection was the start of the Christian Church. The image that appeared to Saint Faustina was the same image that started the Christian Church. His appearance to Saint Faustina as the same image was to renew the Church, to renew belief in the Cross, in the Resurrection, in mans salvation.
In the beginning he said “I have not come to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance”. (Luke 5:32) For the same reason He appeared again on earth to Saint Faustina, to save sinners from eternal damnation. His message of Divine Mercy is a warning to mankind to exercise their conscience, come back to God and live by the Commandments.
Who are the sinners? – sinners are those who offend human nature, God’s creation, and the dignity of man -
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAYThe Resurrection of Jesus was the most important event in the history of the world. When the Lord appeared in the 'Upper Room' to the apostles pointing out His wounds, it was to demonstrate He was the Crucified Christ, and to show He had resurrected from the dead. The final proof that He was God. He then bestowed on the apostles the power to forgive sins, which was in effect Divine Mercy coming into the world.
It was the beginning of the Church on earth. In 1931 He appeared as the same image in another room, this time the room of a young nun, again showing His wounds, emphasizing the power of those wounds as rays from a font of reconciliation and renewal, rays of love and mercy. This was Divine Mercy, His victory on the Cross, His resurrection, coming into to a very sinful world once again. A world that was about to plunge man into the depths of depravity in a horrific world war.
He asked her to teach the world again of why he died on the Cross to give sinners another chance of obtaining God's Divine Mercy, and pardon their sins if they returned to living by God’s commandments. He was also reminding man that His death on the Cross, Divine Mercy was for all mankind (And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, these I have to lead as well. They too will hear My voice, and then there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:11 – 18)
The commandments of God are built into every human born, in the form of a conscience that was given them at birth, it is the spirit of God within them, if you deny your conscience, you deny God.
The image that appeared to the apostles was the resurrected Christ. The Resurrection was the start of the Christian Church. The image that appeared to Saint Faustina was the same image that started the Christian Church. His appearance to Saint Faustina as the same image was to renew the Church, to renew belief in the Cross, in the Resurrection, in mans salvation.
In the beginning he said “I have not come to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance”. (Luke 5:32) For the same reason He appeared again on earth to Saint Faustina, to save sinners from eternal damnation. His message of Divine Mercy is a warning to mankind to exercise their conscience, come back to God and live by the Commandments.
Who are the sinners? – sinners are those who offend human nature, God’s creation, and the dignity of man. -
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How to Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
The Divine Mercy Chaplet is a relatively recent but very popular devotion revealed by Our Lord to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun. On Good Friday 1937, Christ appeared to Saint Faustina and asked her to recite this chaplet for nine days, starting on Good Friday and ending on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), now known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
The chaplet is most often recited during those nine days, but it can be prayed at any time of the year, and Saint Maria Faustina recited it almost unceasingly. A standard rosary can be used to recite the chaplet, and the entire devotion takes just 20 minutes—about the time it takes to pray the rosary.- Make the Sign of the Cross
- Pray the Opening Prayers
There are two opening prayers; the second is repeated three times:
First Prayer
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
Second Prayer
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! (repeat three times)- Pray the Our Father
- Pray the Hail Mary
- Say the Apostles' Creed
- Pray the Prayer "Eternal Father"
On the Our Father bead before each decade, pray the following prayer:
Eternal Father
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. Amen.- Pray the Prayer "For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion" Ten Times
On each of the Hail Mary beads in each decade, pray the following prayer:
For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.- Repeat Steps 6 and 7
On each of the next four decades of the Chaplet, repeat steps 6 and 7 (pray the "Eternal Father," followed by ten "For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion").- Pray the Concluding Doxology Three Times
After you have prayed all five decades of the Chaplet, pray the following prayer, which is repeated three times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world." (repeat three times)- Pray the Closing Prayer
After the doxology, pray the following final prayer:
Eternal God, in Whom mercy is endless, and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments, we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy Itself. Amen.
- End With the Sign of the Cross
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DIVINE MERCY NOVENAThe Resurrection of Jesus was the most important event in the history of the world. When the Lord appeared in the 'Upper Room' to the apostles pointing out His wounds, it was to demonstrate He was the Crucified Christ, and to show He had resurrected from the dead. The final proof that He was God. He then bestowed on the apostles the power to forgive sins, which was in effect Divine Mercy coming into the world.
It was the beginning of the Church on earth. In 1931 He appeared as the same image in another room, this time the room of a young nun, again showing His wounds, emphasizing the power of those wounds as rays from a font of reconciliation and renewal, rays of love and mercy. This was Divine Mercy, His victory on the Cross, His resurrection, coming into to a very sinful world once again. A world that was about to plunge man into the depths of depravity in a horrific world war.
He asked her to teach the world again of why he died on the Cross to give sinners another chance of obtaining God's Divine Mercy, and pardon their sins if they returned to living by God’s commandments. He was also reminding man that His death on the Cross, Divine Mercy was for all mankind (And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, these I have to lead as well. They too will hear My voice, and then there will be one flock and one Shepherd. John 10:11 – 18)
The commandments of God are built into every human born, in the form of a conscience that was given them at birth, it is the spirit of God within them, if you deny your conscience, you deny God.
The image that appeared to the apostles was the resurrected Christ. The Resurrection was the start of the Christian Church. The image that appeared to Saint Faustina was the same image that started the Christian Church. His appearance to Saint Faustina as the same image was to renew the Church, to renew belief in the Cross, in the Resurrection, in mans salvation.
In the beginning he said “I have not come to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance”. (Luke 5:32) For the same reason He appeared again on earth to Saint Faustina, to save sinners from eternal damnation. His message of Divine Mercy is a warning to mankind to exercise their conscience, come back to God and live by the Commandments.
Who are the sinners? – sinners are those who offend human nature, God’s creation, and the dignity of man. -
ORIGIN OF DIVINE MERCY SUNDAy...
ORIGIN OF DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY, THE DIVINE MERCY IMAGE, THE CHAPLET, AND THE NOVENA
Saint Faustina: Mankind’s need for the message of Divine Mercy took on dire urgency in the 20th Century, when civilization began to experience an “eclipse of the sense of God” and, therefore to lose the understanding of the sanctity and inherent dignity of human life. In the 1930s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations concerning Divine Mercy that were recorded in her Diary. Saint John Paul II explains:
"This was precisely the time when those ideologies of evil, nazism and communism, were taking shape. Sister Faustina became the herald of the one message capable of off-setting the evil of those ideologies, that fact that God is mercy—the truth of the merciful Christ. And for this reason, when I was called to the See of Peter, I felt impelled to pass on those experiences of a fellow Pole that deserve a place in the treasury of the universal Church."
-Pope Saint John Paul II, Memory and Identity (2005)
Divine Mercy Sunday: St. Faustina’s Diary records 14 occasions when Jesus requested that a Feast of Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday) be observed, for example:’
"My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day 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. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me. … It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary, no. 699)
On May 5, 2000, five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, the Vatican decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would henceforth be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
The Image: Jesus appeared to St. Faustina in a vision, with his right hand raised in a blessing and his left touching his garment above his heart. Red and white rays emanate from his heart, symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out for our salvation and our sanctification. The Lord requested that “Jesus, I trust in You” be inscribed under his image. Jesus asked that his image be painted and venerated throughout the world:
“I promise that the soul that will venerate tis image will not perish” (Diary, no. 48) and “By means of this image I will grant many graces to souls” (Diary, no. 742).
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy: The Chaplet was also given to St. Faustina with this promise: “Encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given you” (Diary, no. 1541).
“Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. … Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I desire that the whole world know My infinite mercy” (Diary, no. 687). (Instructions for its recitation are provided on a separate page.)
The Divine Mercy Novena: Jesus gave St. Faustina nine intentions for which to pray the Chaplet beginning on Good Friday and ending on Holy Saturday.