(Catholic Herald photos/Kevin Wondrash)
MADISON — For the past decade and a half, the eighth day of the Easter Octave has become a time of celebration in its own right.
On Sunday afternoon, April 12, people attended the annual Divine Mercy Sunday celebration in the chapel at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison.
In the Great Jubilee year 2000, St. John Paul II declared that throughout the Church, the Sunday after Easter will be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
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.
Confession and prayer
The afternoon in Madison began with multiple priests from the Diocese of Madison hearing Confessions. Lines for the sacrament nearly blanketed both side walls of the chapel.
In his messages to St. Faustina Kowalska, Jesus said that those who go to Confession and receive communion on this feast day will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.
While Confessions were being heard, the ever-growing number of people in the pews prayed the Rosary — the Glorious Mysteries — appropriate for a Sunday.
Following the mysteries of the Rosary, other prayers were said, such as: the Memorare, pro-life prayers, a prayer for mercy for souls in Purgatory, and a litany of Divine Mercy.
Mass for mercy
As the afternoon continued, the highest form of prayer, Holy Mass, was celebrated.
Msgr. James Bartylla, vicar general for the Diocese of Madison, was principal celebrant, along with Fr. Greg Ihm — director of vocations and master of ceremonies to the bishop — and Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer — retired priest from the Diocese of Madison and former director of Pontifical Mission Societies — concelebrating the Mass.
Monsignor Bartylla welcomed everyone saying it’s a time to “really reflect on that need for Divine Mercy that is so important to our daily life.”
During his homily, Monsignor Bartylla joked he once again was doing a “movie review,” having talked about The Passion of the Christ and Heaven Is For Real in past Divine Mercy Sunday homilies.
This year, he reflected on the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. He spoke on one “missing” piece or scene of the story, namely who will show mercy to one of the story’s main antagonists, Bob Ewell.
Who “loves the enemy?” Monsignor Bartylla asked, saying the story remains unfinished without a notion of that character being saved.
He reflected on Christ’s “thankless” job of bestowing mercy on everyone, especially on Divine Mercy Sunday.
Monsignor Bartylla then blessed the Divine Mercy Image — a depiction of Jesus based on the revelations to St. Faustina.
Divine Mercy Chaplet prayed
Following Mass, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed while Monsignor Bartylla led the praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the three o’clock hour, or the “hour of mercy.”
The chaplet was given to St. Faustina through her visions and conversations with Jesus later recorded in her diary Divine Mercy in My Soul.
Following the chaplet was Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by a recessional, to conclude the afternoon of prayer and mercy.