Today, the Second Sunday of Easter, is Divine Mercy Sunday!
Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted in response to Our Lord’s requests to St. Faustina, who received visions of Him during her religious life in Poland in the 1930s. In her Diary, entry 699, St. Faustina records Jesus as saying: “My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a 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. 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.” St. Faustina records in her Diary 14 revelations from Jesus about His desire for this Feast. The Second Sunday of Easter was formally named Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope St. John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina on April 30, 2000.
The Divine Mercy image, which many churches display today, was also requested by Christ Himself and painted by Eugene Kazimierowski at the commission of St. Faustina and her spiritual director. Though many versions of the Divine Mercy image exist, Kazimierowski’s original is displayed in the Sanctuary of Mercy in Vilnius, Lithuania, where St. Faustina spent some of her religious life after making final vows.
Today is also a pastorate feast day; we send prayers and a shout-out to our Divine Mercy Pastorate!
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
