On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 12, you are invited to pray and reflect with others at parish celebrations across our Diocese; an opportunity to open your heart to God’s boundless forgiveness, deepen your trust in divine love and receive renewing grace.
Celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday is dedicated to the infinite mercy of God. It invites us to reflect on the love and forgiveness that Jesus extends to all. On this day, we are encouraged to trust in God’s mercy, seek reconciliation through the Sacrament of Confession, and perform acts of mercy towards others, living out the compassion Christ shows to the world.
Pope John Paul II established the Feast in 2000, linking it closely to the Easter season, reminding us that Christ’s victory over sin and death is a triumph of God’s merciful love. It was inspired by the visions of St Faustina of Kowalska, a Polish nun who, in the early 20th century, recorded visions of Jesus calling all people to trust in his mercy, and to share that mercy with others.
Pope Francis offered us a beautiful reflection on God’s Mercy in his decree announcing the Year of Mercy in 2016. In that same year, he reminded us of our call, as Jesus’ disciples, to practise corporal (we might say ‘practical’) and spiritual works of mercy for “it is not enough to experience God’s mercy in one’s life; whoever receives it must also become a sign and instrument for others.” (For more on this go the Vatican website).
Shepparton parishioner, Tom Melis, has been helping to organise St Brendan’s Divine Mercy Sunday program for seventeen years. Over that time, he has witnessed a quiet transformation in people, a heaviness lifted.
“Divine Mercy Sunday is a subject people don’t like to talk about, but they all want to know about,” says Tom, referring to the Feast’s attributed opportunity to receive a plenary indulgence. “Once they get to know about it, they want to know more. It’s growing because people want to get closer to God and, when His divine mercy hits their hearts, they realise there is so much more to it. It’s the Holy Spirit at work.”
The Church teaches that those who participate in the devotions of the day – going to confession, receiving Holy Communion in a state of grace, and praying for the intentions of the Pope – may receive a plenary indulgence. A plenary indulgence removes temporal punishment due to sin, helping the soul to more fully experience God’s forgiveness and be spiritually renewed. It does not forgive sins (that comes through Confession), but it allows a person to receive God’s Grace more completely, drawing them closer to Him and to the life of holiness to which the Church calls us.
“A plenary indulgence is a beautiful thing, says Fr Peter Ferwerda, Parish Priest of Heathcote, who has held Divine Mercy Sunday events at all four of the Sandhurst parishes he’s served in. “The theology is just too big for us, I can hardly understand it completely myself,” he says. To learn more about Plenary Indulgences, go to the Vatican website.
Tom Ellis believes the growing popularity of Divine Mercy Sunday participation reflects the Holy Spirit at work. “It’s the Holy Spirit drawing people to Divine Mercy Sunday,” he says. “St Faustina wrote down word-for-word what she heard God say; she wasn’t writing her thoughts. In the same way people are flocking to Divine Mercy Sunday; it’s not them all by themselves, it’s the Holy Spirit at work.”
“I think Catholics who go to Mass only at Christmas and Easter should seriously consider adding Divine Mercy Sunday to their list and going to Mass at least three times a year,” says Tom. “I tell people – ‘You can sleep in if you come to Divine Mercy celebrations because they’re in the afternoon!’ On Christmas, Jesus is born; on Good Friday, He dies; He resurrects at Easter, and then, on Divine Mercy Sunday, He gives something special to us, a day for us to repent and be renewed,” says Tom.
Tom also believes deeply in the power of praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet. The power of the Chaplet comes from who the person praying is appealing to, that is Jesus, and what they are appealing with – His sacrifice. The words of the Chaplet, which St Faustina heard from God, give us the language to do this with trust. When we pray the Chaplet, we are not relying on our own goodness or the words themselves; we are effectively saying, “Father, have mercy because of Jesus, because of His suffering and love for us.”
We are not creating anything new when we pray the Chaplet; we are simply pointing to Jesus’ sacrifice and saying to God, “Look at what your Son has done, have mercy because of that.” It is placing trust in Christ, not in our own efforts.
Tom says many priests who have celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday in Shepparton over the past seventeen years have reported back to him that they now pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet regularly, many daily.
“One priest tells me he now prays the Chaplet when he swims laps in the morning; another has created a small Divine Mercy group and they pray it daily at 6 am,” shares Tom.
As for Fr Peter Ferwerda, “I am constantly in awe of the generosity and mercy of God, and Divine Mercy Sunday is one beautiful example of this, another very special day for us.”
Divine Mercy Sunday events in our Diocese are listed below:
St Joseph's, Rochester
2.00 pm to 4. 00 pm Celebrant: Fr Ashley Caldow
St Brendan’s, Shepparton
2.00 pm to 4:30 pm Celebrant: Fr Jackson Saunders
Mary Help of Christians, Heathcote
2.00 pm to 4.00 pm Celebrant: Fr Peter Ferwerda
St Kilian’s, Bendigo
1.00 pm to 3.00 pm Celebrant: Fr Junray Rayna