The first Sunday after Easter is celebrated in our Church as the Feast of Divine Mercy. There is a natural logic of the placement of that feast in the liturgical calendar\u2013 what greater mercy could God show to us all than by what had transpired on the Great Night of Easter? God agrees to die for us and rises from the dead \u2013 as the immense sign of hope to us, too because from now on, his home is our home.<\/p>\n
Resurrected Jesus brings us love, freedom from sin and from fear. Liturgy sings about it, popes and priests alike remind us about it in Easter sermons. Yet \u2013 are we able to comprehend the amazing message of Easter?
\nFor myself, I am overwhelmed. Maybe I try to understand too much instead of just giving thanks and I trying to stay open.
\nThe Triduum should be under special protection to allow us all to spend these days in church, in meditation and prayer… So much of our faith is rooted in those days.
\nBut soon, too soon, my rushed daily life swallows this bit of good disposition. This year the Good Week was also the end of semester at the university and the first exams, two of them! The traditional Easter brunch usually brings family and some friends to our table, and this means cooking and baking right during the Triduum, too.
\nEaster passes so quickly, especially in countries where Protestant tradition emphasizes the Passion, not the Resurrection.<\/p>\n
Thus what remains after the Easter Day seem to be only an increasingly faint memory of joy of Saturday liturgy, scent of lilies and some crumbs of Easter cake eaten in haste instead of normal lunch in days after the feast.. Over the past years, to offset this frightening tendency to \u201cforget what Easter is about\u201d I have learned to make an Easter display in our living room \u2013 a statuette of Resurrected Jesus, some lilies beside it, a crucifix. It works somewhat, but without more time spent on prayer, all these things become \u201choly artifacts\u201d, a decoration, a pang of conscience at the best.<\/p>\n
Work, various problems, and all kinds of daily little fears engulf me like a merciless tide..
\nThat is why I need Divine Mercy Sunday as continuation of Easter, or rather as a feast for a hungry soul . This is when I read the Diary of St Faustina again, and again I return to the Chaplet of Mercy she was taught by Jesus in her visions.<\/p>\n
Theological content of this simple prayer is astounding.
\nI must say, that the first time I speak out the words \u201cEternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son…\u201d my soul trembles.
\nWho am I to offer the supreme sacrifice of Jesus to his Father? Yet the ending of this part of the Chaplet \u201cin atonement for our sins and those of the whole world\u201d explains the beginning \u2013 only God\u2019s sacrifice can cover our sins… and all together the very fact that I am saying these \u201coffertory words\u201d confirms my priestly dignity as a baptized child of the Church.<\/p>\n
Then comes the humble “For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and the whole world” repeated ten times. I admit in these words that it is only the Passion of Christ which opens the door to Mercy, and I beg for it.
\nChristian priestly dignity becomes true only when it is on its knees before God, begging, not demanding.
\nThere is a great balance in this prayer and a source of comfort which lifts darkness of all fears, great and small. I (and my friends) have said it for the dying who had been away from the Church for fifty years and more \u2013 and they received Sacrament of the Sick and passed on peacefully. I have seen marriages healed with this prayer and the sick healed, dangers averted.<\/p>\n
Then comes this tiny prayer anyone can say easily, Catholic or not, yet so profound \u2013 “Jesus I trust in You”. A cure for the many fears we have \u2013 great and small.
\nI trust in You – because you are God, yet you died for me and my sins, and you love me..
\nI trust in You – because you are \u201cdives in Misericordia\u201d \u2013 \u201crich in mercy\u201d and \u201cyour mercy is above all your works\u201d.
\nI trust that Your will, whatever it spells for me, is always holy and focused on my ultimate good. This I am safe and so are mine. Also the world, contrary to what I read, hear, and experience sometimes, is safe in your pierced, resurrected hands.<\/p>\n
Jesus, I trust in You.
\nWords of Jesus to Sister Faustina:
\n“Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you. Anyone who
\nsays it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death. Priests
\nwill recommend it to sinners as the last hope. Even the most
\nhardened sinner, if he recites this Chaplet even once, will
\nreceive grace from My Infinite Mercy. I want the whole world to
\nknow My Infinite Mercy. I want to give unimaginable graces to
\nthose who trust in My Mercy….”
\n“….When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I
\nwill stand between My Father and the dying person not as the just
\njudge but as the Merciful Savior”.<\/p>\n
Maria Kozakiewicz<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Feast of Divine Mercy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n