Dear St. Paul Family and Friends,

The Second Sunday of Easter is also known as the Divine Mercy Sunday. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul, II canonized Sr. Faustina and, during the ceremony, he declared, “it is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.”

It goes without saying that this feast is connected to the appearances of Jesus to the Polish nun. In 1931, at the time when the world was in the midst of the Great Depression and the memories of World War I were still very much alive in the minds of all, Jesus appeared to Sr. Faustina and expressed his desire for a feast celebrating his mercy: “I desire the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the font of My mercy.”

“This promise of mercy has been affirmed by the Church, which has made Divine Mercy Sunday an occasion for receiving a plenary indulgence, “the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sin whose guilt has already been forgiven” (CCC, no. 1471). The plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful under the usual conditions (Confession, Eucharist, prayer for the intentions of the pope, and complete detachment from sin, even venial sin). The faithful may either take part in the prayers and devotions held in honor of Divine Mercy in any church or chapel or recite the Our Father and Creed in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus.” (USCCB)

The great mercy of Jesus for sinners is beautifully illustrated in the Gospel reading this weekend. “On the evening of the first day of that week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Instead of scolding them, lashing at them, or beating them up, for betraying him, denying him, and abandoning him on the Cross, Jesus offered his merciful peace. Then he breathed on them the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of forgiveness, so that those whose sins they forgive will be forgiven, and those whose sins they retain will be retained.

The same is reflected in the experience of Sr. Faustina. In April 1938, she wrote in her diary that during the Holy Thursday Mass, Jesus stood before her and said: “Look into my heart and see there the love and mercy which I have for humankind, and especially for sinner; look and enter into my passion.”

Friends, come and enter into the merciful heart of Jesus and say, “Jesus, I trust in You.”