PARISH CELEBRATES DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY: Embracing “Charity, Forgiveness, and the Love of God”

Here at OLA, our parish embraces mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday and throughout the year. This year, parishioners are especially encouraged to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. This devotion is based on the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska, who was a Polish sister of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.

“She wrote a diary documenting the revelations she received about God’s mercy,” says Casey Oliver. “Before her death in 1938, the devotion to the Divine Mercy was already becoming well-known, and it is very popular even today. On May 5, 2000, five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, Pope St. John Paul II decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

“Our parish has a prayer space featuring the image of the Divine Mercy on the choir side of the church,” she adds. “This image is a depiction of Jesus based on St. Faustina’s devotion. The red and pale rays coming from the heart of Jesus represent blood and water. The image as a whole is symbolic of charity, forgiveness, and the love of God, which is referred to as the “Fountain of Mercy.’”

Fr. Eduino has always hoped to grow the parish’s devotion to the Divine Mercy and to acknowledge Divine Mercy Sunday in a special way.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, parishioners were invited to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet in St. John’s Hall after the 11 a.m. Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday — the event was well-attended, but the pandemic prevented this from becoming a regular occurrence each year. This year, the parish hopes to gather for a similar event.

“We plan to invite parishioners to stay in the church after all Divine Mercy Sunday Masses to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet,” Casey says. “We also will be making an effort to educate our parish community about Divine Mercy Sunday, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and how Jesus is ‘the Divine Mercy.’”

While not all of us may be able to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet in full each day, we can all learn and grow from this beautiful devotion.

“What I love about the Divine Mercy Chaplet is that components of it can be prayed as I need it throughout the day — lines such as, ‘For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world’ and ‘Jesus, I trust in you,’” Casey says. “I am constantly asking for mercy, and knowing that I have it from the Lord is a profound comfort. Mercy sustains me when life is especially busy or difficult.”

Fr. Eduino also encourages parishioners to be merciful in their daily lives.

“Our church prominently features banners listing the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, and Fr. Eduino is known for preaching about love each and every Sunday,” Casey says. “It was important to him to have the mercy banners prominently displayed in the church as a reminder to all of us about how we can love those in our community at large, our parish community, and our families. The banners were initially hung in the church in acknowledgment of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy that Pope Francis proclaimed at the end of 2015.”

Casey hopes that the parish’s plan to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday helps spark a greater interest in the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

“I also hope that our parish’s image of the Divine Mercy, as well as our beautiful mercy banners, serve as ongoing reminders to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and to remember Christ’s merciful love for all of us,” she says.

If you would like more information about the Divine Mercy devotion and Divine Mercy Sunday, please contact the parish office at 916-481-5115.