Divine Mercy celebrations planned throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City

Intermountain Catholic

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Fr. Jan Bednarz, pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, is shown in a chasuble adorned with an image of the Divine Mercy.

SALT LAKE CITY — Every year Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the second Sunday of Easter; this year it is on April 8. Parishes all over the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City are preparing for this celebration.

Saint John Paul II devoted part of his second encyclical, “Rich in Mercy,” to a meditation on the mystery of God’s mercy, and he spoke on the theme often. For example, in his 2005 message for Divine Mercy Sunday, he said, “As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness, and fear, the Risen Lord offers His love that pardons, reconciles, and reopens hearts to love. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy!”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explains the origin of Divine Mercy Sunday in this way: “Mankind’s need for the message of Divine Mercy took on dire urgency in the 20th Century, when civilization began to experience an ‘eclipse of the sense of God’ and, therefore to lose the understanding of the sanctity and inherent dignity of human life. In the 1930s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations concerning Divine Mercy that were recorded in her Diary.”

On May 5, 2000, five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, the Vatican decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. On this day in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, numerous parishes will have events to mark the devotion.

This year Bishop Oscar A. Solis will preside at the Divine Mercy Mass at Saint Thomas More Parish.

Prior to the Mass, the Divine Mercy chaplet will be recited. When Jesus gave this chaplet to St. Faustina, he promised that “whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. … Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy.” (Diary, no. 687)

There is also the Divine Mercy novena, which are nine intentions for which to pray the chaplet,  beginning on Good Friday and ending on the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday. This novena will be prayed daily at  Saint Mary of the Assumption Parish beginning at 3 p.m. on Good Friday and continuing through April 7. On April 8 the Divine Mercy Mass will be celebrated at 3 p.m. at the parish.

In West Heaven, St. Mary Catholic Church, on April 8 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., will offer a Holy Hour for Mercy, including a chanting of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.

St. Martin de Porres Parish in Taylorsville will have an Hour of Mercy on April 8 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, singing of the Divine Mercy chaplet with piano accompaniment, the litany to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, silent prayer and benediction.

Fr. Jan Bednarz, pastor of St. Martin de Porres, has celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday every year since 2000, when St. John Paul II established the feast. Fr. Bednarz, who is originally from Poland, brought with him a 24” x 40” picture of the Divine Mercy when he came to the United States in 1978. He had read St. Faustina’s Diary, and understood that the Divine Mercy “is new evangelization. It is a new form of devotion, where we as sinners pray for ‘the salvation of the whole world,’” he said.

The Image of the Divine Mercy originated from a vision St. Faustina had on Feb. 22, 1931. In this image, Jesus has his right hand raised in a blessing; his left hand touches his garment above his heart, from which red and white rays emanate, symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out for the salvation and sanctification of humankind.

To St. Faustina, Jesus promised “that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish” (Diary, no. 48) and “By means of this image I will grant many graces to souls (Diary, no. 687).

All are welcome at the celebrations. For information and times, see the Around the Diocese listing of this publication or contact the parish.