DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY – 19 APRIL 2020

In accordance with Our Lord’s request to St Faustina, and as announced by Pope John Paul ll for universal Church, the Second Sunday of Easter (first Sunday after Easter) is Divine Mercy Sunday.

The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us – all of us, and He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others.

The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind by remembering ABC.

  1. Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and the whole world.
  2. Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.
  3. Completely trust in Jesus. God want us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

To ensure that the faithful would observe this day with intense devotion, Pope John Paul ll established that a plenary indulgence be attached to this Sunday.

The conditions for the plenary indulgence  are:

  1. Sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of the Pope;
  2. have a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy or, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father, and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in You)

Special conditions for the plenary indulgence during the coronavirus are:

During this challenging time when Churches are closed due to the coronavirus, and many cannot leave their homes, a plenary indulgence, on Divine Mercy Sunday, can still be obtained , if,

  1. detesting any sin, as referred to previously, and with the intention of fulfilling, as soon as possible, the usual conditions ,
  2. will recite the Our Father and the Creed before a devout image of Our Merciful Lord Jesus and,
  3. in addition, pray a devout invocation to the Merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you).

Jesus also asked that veneration of the hour of His death, be given particular emphasis. This is the Hour of Great Mercy. Jesus told St Faustina: “At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion,, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world…In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion” .”You can obtain everything for yourself and for others for the asking..”

APPROPRIATE PRAYER FOR THE HOUR OF GREAT MERCY (THREE O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON ON ANY DAY AND ON THE FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY)

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. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You.

Jesus also asked St Faustina: “Say unceasingly the Chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. …I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy. (Diary 687)

Jesus told St Faustina: The souls that will say this chaplet will be embraced by My mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death. (Diary 754)

When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as a just Judge, but as a merciful Saviour. (Diary 1541)

We can pray this Divine Mercy Chaplet as follows”

Using ordinary Rosary beads, begin the Chaplet with The Our Father, The Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed

on the first three small beads.

On the Our Father’ beads before each decade:

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.

On the ten ‘Hail Mary’ beads of each decade:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion,

Have mercy on us and on the whole world.

In conclusion, three times recite these words:

Holy God, Holy Mighty One,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy on us and on the whole world. (Diary476)

To find out more about Divine Mercy Sunday, go to: http://www.divinemercy.com.au/dm-mercy-sunday.php