PROCLAMING, PRACTICING AND REQUESTING “DIVINE MERCY” IS A CRUCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. HH. JP II

THE FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY

Through this means we would like to inform about the concern to let everybody know in advance about the Feast of Divine Mercy and grant it the importance it deserves. This was the same concern of Pope John Paul II and Our Lord Jesus Christ. This was such a great concern that He insisted so much to Saint. Faustina to make it known.

This need to proclaim the mercy of God is a recurring theme in the Diary of St. Faustina, a Saint who Our Lord entrusted with the great mission of spreading the message of the Divine Mercy to the whole world and who by order of her confessor and spiritual leader, Blessed Michael Sopoćko and Jesus Himself, wrote a diary which proved to be an exceptional document of Catholic mysticism: “Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart.” (…) Before the Day of Justice I am sending the Day of Mercy. (Diary 1588)

Our Lord very clearly explained to St. Faustina the urgency of this need to proclaim His message of Mercy, because the world needs it as preparation for His return: “Proclaim to the whole world My unfathomable mercy”. (Diary, 1142)

On February 22, 1931, in Poland, Jesus manifested to Sister Faustina and ordered her to paint His Image as she saw it, with two rays symbolizing the blood and water that flowed from His pierced heart to shed all His Mercy to mankind.(…) “I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death”. (…) “ I desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this image, which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy”. “I desire that priests proclaim this great mercy of Mine towards souls of sinners. Let the sinner not be afraid to approach Me”.

“Tell My priests that hardened sinners will repent on hearing their words when they speak about My unfathomable mercy, about the compassion I have for them in My Heart. To priests who proclaim and extol My mercy, I will give wondrous power; I will anoint their words and touch the hearts of those to whom they will speak”. (Diary 1521)

“I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. (…) The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion

shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. (…) Were a soul like a decaying corpse so that from a human standpoint, there would be no hope of restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full”. (Diary 699, 1448)

This Feast, unknown to most, must be widely known: “Who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often do not know about it themselves. That is why I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it”. (Diary 341)

Pope John Paul II seemed to have a strong sense of this need and in 1981 he declared that he had considered the message of Mercy as his "special task" from the beginning of his ministry and that this task was designated by God “in the current situation of mankind, of the Church and the world. "He stressed that we are living in a special time of preparation for the new coming of the Lord.

Pope John Paul II wrote: “The Church must consider it one of her principal duties-at every stage of history and especially in our modern age-to proclaim and to introduce into life the mystery of mercy, supremely revealed in Jesus Christ”. (Rich in Mercy, 14) September 30, 1980

Pope John Paul II canonized St. Faustina on April 30, 2000. At the end of the canonization, the Pope declared the second Sunday of Easter as "Divine Mercy Sunday", establishing the Feast of the Divine Mercy that Jesus had so much requested to Saint. Faustina. The Holy Father said: “throughout the world the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come.". And after his visit to Poland in June 2002, "to help the faithful live this celebration, with intense mercy, the Supreme Pontiff himself established that this Sunday would be enriched by a plenary indulgence so that the faithful may receive in abundance the gift of the consolation of the Holy Spirit, and enrich their love to God and their neighbors, and, once having obtained the forgiveness of their sins by God they can, in turn, generously forgive their brothers”.

The Feast of Divine Mercy providentially marked the death of Pope John Paul II since he died when the Feast had already begun. On Saturday April 2, 2005 at 9:37 in Rome. At that time the Sunday Feast started (according to the liturgy, the holidays begin the eve of the celebration). Because of this fact we can be very clearly assume that our Lord wanted to give great importance to this feast marking the departure of the Pope to eternal life on this day. The Pope was a great promoter of Mercy through his teachings, particularly with his Encyclical "Dives in Misericordia", but also with his gestures. There are gestures that remain beyond his words in the memory, in the consciousness of the Church.

John Paul II assured thet “Mercy is the only hope for the world” just as Jesus said: “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My Mercy”. (Diary, 300)

The Divine Mercy is a gift that Pope John Paul II gave the Church. A gift that probably responds to an expectation of our world, which experiences, more than ever, this need of mercy and goodness.

We know that the fountain of Mercy and goodness is in the heart of God. As often repeated by the Pope, the Church must become increasingly a minister of the Mercy and Goodness of God.

One must give the Feast of Mercy the importance it deserves. Making it known to all humanity is one of the most important responsibilities of the Church through which all the souls shall be able to receive the Divine Mercy offered on this day by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself

Through the knowledge of the Feast of Mercy, the doors to this devotion will open, bringing only good to mankind.

We might think that John Paul II, is still working from heaven so that this devotion is known to the world, with this date chosen for his beatification: May 1, 2011, the second Sunday of Easter: the "Feast of Mercy". And now there is no doubt with the date chosen by Pope Francis for his canonization: April 27, 2014, the second Sunday of Easter: The "Feast of Mercy"

Jesus wants to fulfill His promises to offer great graces to the whole world through the new forms of veneration of the Divine Mercy

Five forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy:

1-The image of Merciful Jesus, painted in Vilnius Lithuania in 1934 on the orders of Jesus to Sister Faustina, through which many graces shall be granted to the souls.

2 - The Feast of Divine Mercy, which is celebrated the first Sunday after Easter according to the request of Jesus, being this celebration the most important detail among all the elements of the devotion of the Divine Mercy.

3-The Chaplet of Divine Mercy, dictated by Jesus to Sister Faustina in Vilnius in 1935, as an appeal to appease God’s anger our own sins and those of the whole world. “Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will”. (…) Say unceasingly the chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation”. (Diary,1731, 687)

How to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy: (using a rosary)

“Start with Our Father….., Hail Mary….. Creed (of the apostles) In the big beads (once): “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”.In the small beads, (ten times): “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”.At the end we say: (three times): “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world”. Prayer: “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!”

4- The hour of Great MercyThe lord asked for a special prayer and a meditation of his passion every day at three o’clock, the hour that reminds His death in the cross“In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion....” (Diary 1320).(Praying the Chaplet at this hour is recommended)

5- The spreading of Mercy SpriritualityExercise mercy through prayer, by deed and by word. In these three degrees, Jesus told Saint Faustina, the fullness of mercy is contained (Diary, 742)“Be compassionate as my Father is compassionate”. When a soul approaches Me with trust, the Lord says, I fill it with such an abundance of graces that it cannot contain them within itself, but radiates them to other souls. (Diary, 1074)

Thank you for your attention, we hope that the faithful will learn about this Feast far in advance so that they can be prepared to receive the graces that our Lord Jesus Christ will grant in this, His so much desired “FEAST OF MERCY”

(Please extend this letter to who may be interested in order to achieve the desired goal)

Sincerely

_________________________ ______________________ Luz Elena Cecilia Von Hemken Susana Segura Orive luzelenacecilia@hotmail sdm.sso@gmail.com

www.jesusdivinamisericordia.org