An advocate of the Divine Mercy shared the following reminder for us all.
Ms. Tricia Roxas wrote, “During the Lenten season, let us pray for the grace to follow God’s will in our lives, the grace of forgiveness. It is this time of the year again that we celebrate a beautiful gift given to us by Jesus the Divine Mercy. On Sunday May 1, 2011 is the Feast Day of the Divine Mercy (Sunday after Easter Sunday).
Let us celebrate the promise of Jesus to St. Faustina on that special day!
Jesus promised that “The soul that will go to confession and receive holy communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow. 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. 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.”
The Divine Mercy advocates tell us “not (to) deny ourselves and our loved ones taking that one step closer to heaven. Remember that God’s mercy knows no boundaries and it is for everybody.” For more information about our Divine Mercy, please refer to the following websites:
a) www.ourdivinemercy.info
b) www.ourdivinemercy.multiply.com
c) www.ourdivinemercy.webs.com
d) www.ourdivinemercy.blogspot.com
This year, we also started the Divine Mercy Novena, which starts Good Friday and ends on Saturday before the Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, which is also, happily, the day scheduled for the beatification of our beloved Pope John Paul II!
If you will recall as well, on Sunday, April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass for the canonization of Sr. Mary Faustina Kowalska, a 20th-century Polish religious known as the apostle of Divine Mercy.
According to the email sent by Ms. Roxas, Pope John Paul II said, in his homily for that mass,“It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter (also referred to as Sunday after Easter, 1st Sunday After Easter, Second Sunday of Easter and Low Sunday), which from now on throughout the Church will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday.”
Back to the Divine Mercy Novena, what is special about this is that the novena asks nothing for those who pray it but instead, it offers prayers for others, for specific groups per day.
For example, for the first day, the novena is dedicated to all humankind, especially for all sinners for God to immerse them in the ocean of His mercy. The second day prays for priests and religious, the third day for all devout and faithful souls, the fourth day for all those who do not believe in God and for those who do not yet know God, the fifth day is for the souls of those who have separated themselves from God’s church, the sixth day, for the meek and humble and the little children, the seventh day for those who especially venerate and glory God’s mercy, the 8th day for those in Purgatory, and finally, the 9th day, for those who have become lukewarm about their relationship with God.
The Novena is prayed together with the Divine Mercy Chaplet where we offer to God His Son’s sorrowful passion for the atonement of our sins and the whole world.
As we remember God’s love and mercy for us that brought His Son (who also shares His Father’s love and mercy for us all) to earth, to be born, to suffer, and to be crucified, we also join all in rejoicing in His Son’s resurrection and return to God our Father!
Happy, happy blessed DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY to you all!!!
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Email: cherryb_thefreeman@yahoo.com