MADISON/SAUK CITY — Blessed John Paul II declared in the Great Jubilee Year 2000 that throughout the universal Church, the Sunday after Easter will be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
He said, “When I was called to the See of Peter, I felt impelled to pass on those experiences of a fellow Pole that deserve a place in the treasury of the universal Church.”
Revelations about mercy
In 1931, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations concerning Divine Mercy that were recorded in her diary.
Blessed John Paul II explained, “This was precisely the time when those ideologies of evil, Nazism and communism, were taking shape. Sister Faustina became the herald of the one message capable of off-setting the evil of those ideologies, the fact that God is mercy — the truth of the merciful Christ.”
The message of Divine Mercy is that God is love itself poured out for us and this love is more powerful than any kind of evil in which individuals, humanity, or the world are entangled. All need Divine Mercy.
Blessed John Paul II referred to the many instructions that Jesus gave to St. Faustina regarding His request for a Feast of Mercy on the Sunday after Easter.
St. Faustina’s diary records 14 occasions when Jesus requested that a Feast of Divine Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday) be observed. Jesus promised that “on that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open” and the He would open His heart and pour out His mercy like a “whole ocean of graces” to those who go to Confession and receive Holy Communion.
Jesus told her, “My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? . . . Come then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain . . . You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of my graces.”
He also instructed her to paint an image of Him as He appeared to her and to have it blessed and venerated on the first Sunday after Easter throughout the world.
The Image of the Divine Mercy will be on display at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison and St. Aloysius Church, Sauk City, where special celebrations are being planned. Other parishes in the diocese will observe this feast, too.
Celebration in Madison
A Celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy will be held in the chapel at the Bishop O’Connor Center, 702 S. High Point Rd., Madison, on Sunday, April 27.
Confessions will be heard from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. The Rosary will be prayed at 1 p.m. Mass will be celebrated at 2 p.m. with Msgr. James Bartylla, vicar general of the diocese, presiding and Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer and Fr. Tait Schroeder concelebrating.
Benediction and Recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy will follow Mass. All are invited to attend.
Celebration in Sauk City
In preparation for this Feast of Mercy, the Divine Mercy Novena and Chaplet will be led by Ann Black in the Divine Mercy Chapel at St. Aloysius Church in Sauk City. These nine days of prayer in preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday will be offered at 3 p.m. beginning on Good Friday, April 21.
The festivities on Sunday, April 27 will begin at 2 p.m. in St. Aloysius Church with a talk on Divine Mercy Sunday. Eucharistic Adoration will begin at 2:30 p.m., the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3 p.m., and the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available in the church.
Benediction is scheduled for 4 p.m. and followed by a procession with the Divine Mercy Image to the Divine Mercy Chapel in the church.
There will light refreshments after the procession. Assisted listening devices will also be available.
Divine Mercy Parish invites everyone to come for a portion or all of the afternoon and take advantage of the incredible promises available on this great Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday.