Mission focuses on the message of Divine Mercy

Intermountain Catholic

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Father Kazimierz Chwalek presents a three-day Lenten mission at St. Martin de Porres Parish on the sacraments and the Divine Mercy message.IC photo by Christine Young

TAYLORSVILLE — "The message of the Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us — all of us," said Congregation of Mary of the Immaculate Conception Father Kazimierz Chwalek. "God wants us to recognize that his mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon him with trust, receive his mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share his joy."

Fr. Chwalek, who prefers to be called Fr. Kaz, presented a Lenten Mission at St. Martin de Porres Parish, Taylorsville, March 24-28. The mission was a renewal of faith, hope, and love through the sacraments and the Divine Mercy message and spirituality.

Fr. Kaz was ordained in 1987, and has contributed to the spread of the Divine Mercy message and devotions by assisting in the publications of the original "Diary of St. Faustina," in Polish and of its English edition. Born and raised in Poland, his love for Pope John Paul II led Fr. Kaz to be the editor of the English edition of "The Making of the Pope of the Millennium: Kalendarium of the life of Karol Wojtyla."

Fr. Kaz currently serves as the director of evangelization and development and on the board of the Marian Helpers Center. He pastorally assists at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass. He continues to promote the message and spirituality of Divine Mercy and Our Lady through conferences, seminars, radio, and television programs.

In 1935, St. Faustina Kowalska of Poland, received a vision of an angel sent by God to chastise a certain city. St. Faustina began to pray for mercy, but her prayers were powerless. Suddenly she saw the Holy Trinity and felt the power of Jesus’ grace within her. At the same time she found herself pleading with God for mercy with words she heard interiorly, the angel became helpless and could not carry out the deserved punishment. The next day as she was entering the chapel, she again heard this interior voice instructing her how to recite the prayer that our Lord later called the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Prayed on rosary beads, the Divine Mercy Chaplet is an intercessory prayer that extends the offering of the Eucharist. It can be prayed at any time, but our Lord specifically told St. Faustina to recite it during the nine days before the Feast of Divine Mercy, the first Sunday after Easter. It is likewise appropriate to pray the Chaplet during the Hour of Great Mercy at 3 p.m., recalling the time of Christ’s death on the cross.

"Jesus said the greater the sin, the greater my mercy," said Fr. Kaz. "The Lord wants us to be prepared deep in our Christian faith. But we do not have time to pray because we work and go to school. The Lord is inviting us to be fresh again. Just think if we did not bathe, we would stink. So the Lord wants us to be refreshed by going to confession and receiving the Eucharist, and growing closer to him. We have to turn away from sinful things. We block ourselves from grace when we sin."

Each day during the mission, Fr. Kaz began with a morning Mass and a Lenten homily based on the readings. In the evening he would cover mission topics. The first night he spoke about "The Sacraments of Mercy: Reconciliation and the Eucharist – presence, source, and gift of unending joy."

"When you think of reconciliation, the sacrament of mercy, you realize God communicates through his Son. It is so important for us to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Catholics do not always take these sacraments seriously because they do not know Jesus."

Fr. Kaz said people do not realize it is Christ who sustains us and comes into union with us. When we leave church, the first thing we do is turn on the radio in the car, and then go home and watch television. We forget we have God inside us in our hearts.

"When we don’t recognize God, we do not receive the grace," said Fr. Kaz. "Just imagine what happened to the disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter day. They did not recognize Jesus until he broke bread with them. Then they said their hearts were burning. For us, we don’t believe and our faith is shallow. We are hungry for a meager crumb instead of a banquet."

The second topic was "Divine Mercy: The Power to Transform Our Lives." Fr. Kaz said when we realize who God is and what he gives us, he starts changing our lives. The means or power at our disposal is the Divine Mercy Chaplet. It can transform us. The chaplet came about when St. Faustina was praying for an intervention, which was beyond her ability to do anything about.

Fr. Kaz said The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC.

Ask for God’s Mercy. God wants us to approach him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking him to pour his mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

Be merciful. God wants us to receive his mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as he does to us.

Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of his mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

Fr. Kaz said pray the chaplet in the presence of the dying because Jesus will stand between God and the dying person, not just as judge but as the merciful savior.

The third topic for the Lenten mission was "Mary, Mother of Mercy and Our Guide to Holiness." Fr. Kaz said Mary is our mother and guide to holiness. She is the mother of Jesus who is our merciful Lord. Mary is our life, our sweetness, and our hope as the Hail Holy Queen prayer says. She is a powerful intercessor. We walk alone most of the time, when we could walk with her.

"Mary can take us by the hand as lead us on the path of holiness," said Fr. Kaz. "She knows how to trust the Lord. She had to trust as she stood under the cross and watched her son suffer and die. She is the healing balm for all the wounds we have experienced.

"Mary is someone who in her freedom said, ‘Yes,’ to God," said Fr. Kaz. "If we do not turn to God we have great emptiness. In our search for something we often choose things that are destructive. Our separation blinds us. We must trust God, he is our salvation."