Feast of Divine Mercy
ShareThe Feast of Divine Mercy
During the course of Jesus' revelations to Saint Faustina on the Divine Mercy He asked on numerous occasions that a feast day be dedicated to the Divine Mercy and that this feast be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. The readings and liturgical texts of the Second Sunday of the Easter Season concern the institution of the Sacrament of Penance, the Tribunal of the Divine Mercy, and are thus were already suited to the request of Our Lord. Of this feast He states,
Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. 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 420)
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. (Diary 699)
This Feast of Divine Mercy, which had already been granted to the nation of Poland and celebrated within Vatican City by Pope John Paul II, was granted by the Pope to the Universal Church on the occasion of the canonization of Sr. Faustina on 30 April 2000. In a decree dated 23 May 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments 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."
These papal acts represent the highest endorsement that the Church can give to a private revelation, an act of papal infallibility proclaiming the certain sanctity of the mystic, and the granting of a universal feast based upon a requested of Our Lord communicated to that mystic.
The Celebration of the Feast
In the course of the revelations to St. Faustina the Lord made several requests of the Church and of Christians. Among these are:
Public Veneration of the Image of the Divine Mercy
"I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world." (Diary, 47)
And, he also asked for Deeds of Mercy of those seeking Divien Mercy for themselves:
Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to our neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to absolve yourself from it. (Diary 742)
The Divine Mercy Promise
Finally, the Lord also made an extraordinary promise of mercy for sinners to be received on the Feast of Mercy.The great promise for the individual soul is that a devotional act of sacramental Penance and Holy Communion will obtain for that soul the plenitude of the Divine Mercy on the Feast, that is, the complete remission of the guilt of sin, and its temporal punishment.
Whoever approaches the Fountain of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. (Diary 300)
The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. (Diary 699)
I want to grant complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy. (Diary 1109)
Confession: The Cardinal of Krakow, Cardinal Macharski, whose diocese is the center of the spread of the devotion and the canonization cause of now St. Faustina, has written that we should use Lent as preparation for the Feast, and confess even before Holy Week! The confessional requirement, therefore, does not have to be met on the Feast itself - an impossible burden for the clergy, if it did. Indeed, the Church herself allows Confession 20 days before or after a work which gains an indulgence, and this is a reasonable understanding in the case of the Promise, as well.
Communion: The Communion requirement is easily met that day, however, since it is a day of obligation. We would only need confession again, if received earlier in Lenten or Easter Season, if we were in the state of mortal sin on the Feast.