Divine Mercy Sunday
Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated in Central Region
The Central Region of the Diocese of Lafayette will host a celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday on Sunday, April 15, 2012, at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 2319 Johnston Street, Lafayette. This special afternoon of prayer included Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacrament of Reconciliation, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Divine Mercy Prayers and Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by Mass. Main celebrant for the Mass is Most Rev. Michael Jarrell, D.D., Bishop of Lafayette. Homilist will be Rev. Hampton Davis, Pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Lafayette. Joining Bishop Jarrell and Father Davis will be Very Rev. Thomas James, SVD, VE, Episcopal Vicar for the Central Region, as well as several other Priests and Deacons.
2012 Divine Mercy Sunday flyer – coming soon!
Celebrated on the Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday was declared by Pope John Paul II following the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska in the Jubilee year of 2000.
St. Faustina entered into the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy when she was twenty years old and died of tuberculosis only 13 years later. She is remembered for her great desire, ever since her childhood, to offer up her own personal sufferings for the salvation and redemption of others.
In recognition of such an exemplary spirit, the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday offers individuals an opportunity for extraordinary and unlimited graces.
Those who wish to receive the special graces of mercy that day are required to place complete trust in God’s mercy; repent of all sins and go to Confession sometime during Lent; celebrate God’s mercy by attending Mass on the Sunday after Easter; receive the Eucharist while in the state of grace; venerate the image of the Divine Mercy; and be merciful to others by action, words or prayers.
Those Catholics who celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday will be able to receive a plenary indulgence, as granted by Pope John Paul II.
All are invited to join the Central Region in this special afternoon of prayer for Divine Mercy Sunday. If possible, please receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation prior to the celebration of this feast so that all may be accommodated.
Parking is available at Our Lady of Fatima Church. Additional parking will be available at Blackham Coliseum, with a uniformed police escort to assist in crossing Johnston Street to the Church. No pre-registration is necessary, and all are welcome. For more information, please call Mary Bergeron at (337) 654-8682.
Who was Saint Faustina Kowalska?
Saint Faustina was born in 1905 in the village of Glogowiec near Lodz (Poland) as the third of ten children in the family of Marianna and Stanislaw Kowalska.
From her childhood, she was distinguished by a love for prayer, diligence at work, obedience, and sensitivity for the poor. She attended not quite three years of elementary schooling, and later, as a teenager, left her family home to work as a domestic servant.
At the age of twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in which, as Sister Maria Faustina, she spent thirteen years of her life performing the duties of cook, gardener, and doorkeeper. Her life, though seemingly very ordinary, monotonous and drab, concealed in itself an exceptionally profound union with God.
From her childhood, she desired to become a great saint, and she consistently strove toward that goal, working together with Jesus for the salvation of lost souls, even to the extent of offering her life as a sacrifice for sinners.
Therefore, her life as a religious was marked with the stigma of suffering, but also with extraordinary mystical graces.
The mission of Saint Faustina consists of initiating a great movement of devotees and apostles of Divine Mercy who would lead people toward the renewal of Christian life in the spirit of this devotion; in other words, in the evangelical spirit of a childlike confidence in God and an active love of neighbor.
Worn out and weakened by tuberculosis and the sufferings she bore in sacrifice for sinners, Saint Faustina died in the odor of sanctity in Cracow on October 5, 1938, at the age of 33.
On the first Sunday after Easter, April 18, 1993, in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope John Paul II declared her one of the community of the blessed. On the following day during his general audience, he said:
“God has spoken to us through the spiritual wealth of Blessed Sister Faustina Kowalska. She left to the world the great message of Divine Mercy and an incentive to complete self-surrender to the Creator. God endowed her with a singular grace that enabled her to experience His mercy through mystical encounter and by a special gift of contemplative prayer.
“Blessed Sister Faustina, thank you for reminding the world of that great myster of Divine Mercy; that “startling mystery,” that inexpressive mystery of the Father, which today every individual and the whole world need so very much.”
Sister Faustina was canonized in Rome on the First Sunday after Easter, April 30, 2000, by Pope John Paul II.