SAUK CITY — Divine Mercy Sunday will be celebrated on Sunday, April 16, at St. Aloysius Church (part of Divine Mercy Parish) 115 Madison St., Sauk City.
The celebration will begin in the church at 2 p.m. and conclude with Benediction at 4 p.m.
A free spaghetti dinner will follow in the school gym.
St. 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 stated, “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.”
In 1931, Jesus chose a humble Polish Nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations concerning Divine Mercy that were recorded in her Diary.
St. John Paul II explains, “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.”
Message of Divine Mercy
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. We all need Divine Mercy.
“Where, if not in the Divine Mercy, can the world find refuge and the light of hope?” asked St. John Paul II at the beatification of St. Faustina on April 18, 1993.
St. 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 that 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.
He also instructed her to paint an image of Him just as He appeared to her and to have it blessed and venerated on the first Sunday after Easter throughout the world.
The Image of Divine Mercy will be on display at St. Aloysius Church.
“Anyone can come here, look at this image of the merciful Jesus, his heart radiating grace, and hear in the depths of his own soul what Blessed Faustina heard: ‘Fear nothing; I am with you always,’” shared St. John Paul II when celebrating in Poland in 1997.
He added, “Those who sincerely say, ‘Jesus, I trust in you’ will find comfort in all their anxieties and fears.”
Celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday in 2021, Pope Francis urged all to open themselves to Christ’s mercy and extend this same mercy to others.
“Let us be renewed by the peace, forgiveness, and wounds of the merciful Jesus. Let us ask for the grace to become witnesses of mercy. Only in this way will our faith be alive and our lives unified. Only in this way will we proclaim the Gospel of God, which is the Gospel of mercy.”
This year’s event
The festivities on Sunday, April 16, will begin at 2 p.m. with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available in the church during Mass and throughout the afternoon.
Four priests will be available until all are heard.
Eucharistic Adoration will begin at 3 p.m. and the Divine Mercy Chaplet will be recited.
All will be invited to venerate the Divine Mercy image, a first class relic of St. Faustina, and Our Lady of Guadalupe image.
Benediction will follow at 4 p.m.
Assisted listening is available with the T-coil hearing loop and a separate loop is also available in one of the confessionals.
A free spaghetti dinner will be available to all in the school gym.
Divine Mercy images and materials will also be available in the gym.
Divine Mercy Parish would like to encourage 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.
To help the parish better prepare for dinner, registration is encouraged, but not required.
Register by Wednesday, April 12, at divinemercyparish.flocknote.com/signup/116851