St. Cecilia and Mary Immaculate Catholic Churches

ASK FR. JOE – QUARANTINE EDITION

“CAN YOU PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE DIVINE MERCY DEVOTION?”

Christ’s Divine Mercy has always been around of course, but the idea of a devotion to the Divine Mercy was first introduced in the 1930’s.  That was when Christ appeared to a young Polish nun named Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska.  He told her about His Divine Mercy and His desire to bring all of humanity back to His Merciful Heart. In the course of various visions, Jesus gave Sr. Faustina various instructions in order to help promote this new devotion. 

• He told her to have a painting done of how He appeared to her in her visions.  This is now known as the Image of Divine Mercy.  Both of our Churches have a copy of that image.  Christ’s right hand is giving a blessing, while His left is at His heart.  From His heart radiates two rays of light, one red and the other a pale blue.  They represent the blood and water that flowed from His heart after being pierced by a lance at the Crucifixion.  Christ’s Divine Mercy also flows from His heart.
• He taught her a set of prayers to be said as a chaplet.  This Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed on rosary beads.  Jesus wants this prayer prayed daily.  It can be prayed at any hour of the day, but many people pray it at 3 P.M. which is the hour Christ died.  This is known as the Hour of Great Mercy.  Christ also encourages us to make some sort of prayer at that time.
• He told her His desire to have the Second Sunday of Easter be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.  In April 30, 2000, St. Pope John Paul II officially declared Divine Mercy Sunday a regular part of the Church’s calendar.
• He told her to pray the chaplet for the nine days leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday.  This is known as the Divine Mercy Novena.  If you go to the website, www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/novena, you can find a list of intentions that Christ asks as to pray each of the nine days.  The idea is to pray for various groups of souls to come back to Jesus’ merciful heart.  It begins on Good Friday and ends the day before Divine Mercy Sunday.

This year I would like to encourage as many people as possible to join me praying the Divine Mercy Novena.  We cannot all be together, but we can still pray it on our own.  For those interested, I will live stream me praying the chaplet each of the nine days on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/fatherjoseph.sobolik.  My plan is to do it at 4:30 P.M. on Good Friday, April 10, and then at 3 P.M. the following days. 

On Divine Mercy Sunday (April 19) Mass will be live streamed at 9 A.M.  At 2 P.M. we will have a Holy Hour at Mary Immaculate in Coleraine.  Rosary at 2:30, Chaplet at 3 followed by Benediction.  Confessions will be heard throughout that time.