Click here to listen to a musical rendition performed by Director of Liturgy and Music Ryan Chimzar.
There are many ways to participate in Divine Mercy Sunday, both here at Saint John of Little Canada, in the area, and in your own prayer life and home. The easiest way is to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and if you choose, pray it for nine consecutive days beginning on Good Friday, following these intentions and devotions. Other options include reading the diary of Saint Faustina, displaying the image she had commissioned based on her conversations with Christ in prayer, and devoting your household to the Divine Mercy.
Participate with us at 3 p.m., the Hour of Mercy, the Second Sunday of Easter, in the church. More details can be found here.
Many people use the Rosary beads as a guide while praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Here are the simple instructions:
Sign of the Cross.
1 Our Father.
1 Hail Mary.
The Apostles Creed.
On the Our Father beads, pray: Eternal Father, I offer you the body and the blood, soul and divinity, of your dearly beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins, and those of the whole world.
On each of the 10 Hail Mary beads, pray: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Repeat these last two steps 5x (i.e. follow the decades of the Rosary)
Conclude with: Holy God. Holy Mighty One. Holy Immortal One. Have mercy on us, and on the whole world. Repeat this Conclusion Prayer 3x.
From the diary of a young Polish nun, a special devotion began spreading throughout the world in the 1930s. The message is nothing new, but is a reminder of what the Church has always taught: that God is merciful and forgiving, and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness. But in the Divine Mercy devotion, the message calls people to a deeper understanding that God’s love is unlimited and available to everyone — especially the greatest sinners.
The message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God’s mercy.
Devotion to The Divine Mercy involves a total commitment to God as Mercy. It is a decision to trust completely in Him, to accept His mercy with Thanksgiving, and to be merciful as He is merciful. The devotional practices proposed in the diary of Saint Faustina are completely in accordance with the teachings of the Church and are firmly rooted in the Gospel message of our Merciful Savior.
During the course of Jesus's revelations to Saint Faustina on the Divine Mercy, He asked that a feast day be dedicated to the Divine Mercy and that this feast be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. This Feast, which had already been granted to the nation of Poland and been celebrated within Vatican City, was granted to the Universal Church by Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the canonization of Sister Faustina on April 30, 2000.