The first Sunday after Easter is celebrated as the feast of Divine Mercy.
Established by St. Pope John Paul II in the Jubilee Year 2000, Divine Mercy Sunday grew from messages that Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun and now a saint, received from Jesus in the 1930s, as World War II approached.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, St. Faustina’s Diary records 14 occasions when Jesus requested that a feast of mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday) be observed.
One entry reads: “My daughter, tell the whole world about my inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of my tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of my mercy. The soul that will go to confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to me. … It is my desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the fount of my mercy.” (Diary, No. 699)
On May 5, 2000, five days after St. Faustina’s canonization, the Vatican decreed that the second Sunday of Easter would be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
According to St. Faustina, mankind’s need for the message of Divine Mercy took on a dire urgency in the 20thcentury 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.
“This was precisely the time when those ideologies of evil, Nazism and communism, were taking shape. Sister Faustina became the herald of the one message capable of offsetting the evil of those ideologies, that fact that God is mercy — the truth of the merciful Christ. And for this reason, when I was called to the See of Peter, I felt impelled to pass on those experiences of a fellow Pole that deserve a place in the treasury of the universal Church,” St. John Paul II said.
The image associated with Divine Mercy Sunday is based on Jesus’ appearance to St. Faustina. According to her recollection, his right hand was raised in a blessing and his left hand was touching his garment above his heart. Red and white rays emanated from his heart, symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out for our salvation and our sanctification. St. Faustina said the Lord requested that “Jesus, I trust in you” be inscribed under his image and that his image be painted and venerated throughout the world.
According to her diary, he said: “I promise 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. 742)
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy also was given to St. Faustina with this promise: “Encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given you.” (Diary, No. 1541) “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. I desire that the whole world know my infinite mercy.” (Diary, No. 687)
Jesus also gave St. Faustina nine intentions for which to pray the Chaplet beginning on Good Friday and ending on the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday.
For more information on Divine Mercy Sunday, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Divine Mercy Novena, visit usccb.org/about/pro-life-activities/prayers/divine-mercy-sunday.cfm.