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Hearts of Jesus and Mary- Divine Mercy - Feast |
The
Feast of Divine Mercy: Sunday after Easter Sunday
See also:
Decree regarding Indulgences received on the
Feast of Divine Mercy>>>
On May 23, 2000, the
Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
made public a Decree whereby the Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, moved by
the consideration of the Father of Mercy, has willed that the Second
Sunday of Easter be dedicated to recalling with special devotion these
gifts of grace and has given this Sunday the name, “Divine Mercy
Sunday.”
The Pope had already announced this during Sister Faustina Kowalska’s
canonization on April 30th : “In the entire Church, the Second Sunday of
Easter will receive the name of Divine Mercy Sunday: a perennial
invitation for the Christian world to confront, with trust in divine
benevolence, the difficulties and the trials awaiting the human race in
the years to come” (cf.).
However, the Pope had not written these words, and therefore, they did
not come out in the official transcript of his speeches during that
canonization.
Saint Faustina, who is known as the messenger of Divine Mercy, received
mystical revelations in which Jesus showed her His heart, fountain of
mercy, and He expressed His desire of this feast to be established. The
Pope dedicated one of his encyclicals to the Divine Mercy (Dives in
Misericordia).
The Apostles of the Divine Mercy consist of priests, religious and
laity, united by the commitment of living mercifully in relation with
their fellow brother and sisters, in order to make known the mystery of
divine mercy and in order to invoke the mercy of God toward sinners.
This spiritual family approved in 1996 by the Archdiocese of Krakow is
present today in 29 countries all over the World.
The Vatican Decree clarifies that the liturgy of the second Sunday of
Easter and the readings of the breviary will continue to be the ones
used in the Missal and the Roman rite.
The Lord asked St. Faustina, at least 14 times, to officially institute
a "Feast of Mercy." (Diary of St. Faustina).
"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. ....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,
even though its sins be as scarlet..." (Diary, 699). All Communion received
with a clean heart tends to reestablish in the one who receives it the
inherent innocence of Baptism, since the Eucharistic Mystery is the "fount
of all grace."
Our Lord
manifested to St. Faustina that in the Feast of Divine Mercy, all the
floodgates, though which flow divine graces of conversion and forgiveness of
sins, would be open.
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This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
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