Divine Mercy
"Divine Mercy" is the whole gospel message in two words. God, the Father, has saved the whole world through the Passion and Death of God, the Son.
"For God so loved the world ..." (Jn 3:16).
Divine Mercy Sunday
Mercy Sunday is like a magnifying glass that the Church uses to enlarge one aspect of the Easter Season. By looking through this lens, we can see that the whole of Easter is a season of Mercy. Every Sunday is a little Easter and another "Divine Mercy Sunday."
Older Nicknames
- "Low Sunday", Pascha clausum, Dominica in albis depositis (Sunday when albs worn by the neophytes were removed).
- "Thomas Sunday" from the story of Doubting Thomas in the gospel of John.
- "Quasimodo Sunday"--Wikipedia from the Introit: "Like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:2).
- "Octave of Easter."
Chaplet of Divine Mercy
- Preface
- Our Father
- Hail Mary
- Creed
- At the beginning of 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."
- The central prayer
"For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
- Conclusion
- "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
Prayer
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
Solemn Novena
In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her:
"On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls."
The different souls prayed for on each day of the novena are:
During the Solemn Novena leading to Divine Mercy Sunday, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy should be offered each day for the day's intentions.
| 1 | Good Friday | All mankind, especially sinners |
| 2 | Holy Saturday | The souls of priests and religious |
| 3 | Easter Sunday | All devout and faithful souls |
| 4 | Easter Monday | Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him |
| 5 | Easter Tuesday | The souls of separated brethren |
| 6 | Easter Wednesday | The meek and humble souls and the souls of children |
| 7 | Easter Thursday | The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy |
| 8 | Easter Friday | The souls who are detained in purgatory |
| 9 | Easter Saturday | The souls who have become lukewarm
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Reflections
This is a priestly prayer. We make reparation not only for our own personal sins but for for the sins "of the whole world": sinful priests, sinful Catholic couples, sinful enemies of the Church, etc., etc.