Utah parishes to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday

IC photo/Linda Petersen

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SALT LAKE CITY — On April 28, several parishes in the Diocese of Salt Lake City will join the universal Catholic Church in celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday.

Divine Mercy Sunday was  declared a feast day by Pope John Paul II during an April 30, 2000 Mass after the canonization of Faustina Kowalska, a Polish sister of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Saint Faustina is said to have been personally visited by Jesus many times from 1934 to 1938; she recorded the visits in her diary, which was published in 1981.

During one visit, the Savior showed himself to Faustina in a vision as the risen Lord, from whose heart shone two rays, one red (representing blood) and the other “pale” (symbolizing water), with the words “Jesus, I trust in you” at the bottom. He asked that the image be painted and venerated throughout the world.

“I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish,” he told her, she wrote in her diary.

“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,” St. Faustina recorded Jesus as saying. “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.”

Five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, the Vatican decreed that Divine Mercy Sunday should be observed every year on the Octave of Easter, which is the eighth day of Easter, the Sunday after Easter Sunday.

“Jesus told Sr. Faustina:  ‘Humanity will not find peace until it turns trustfully to divine mercy,’” Pope John Paul II said in his homily at the Mass for St. Faustina’s canonization, quoting her diary. “Through the work of the Polish religious, this message has become linked forever to the 20th century, the last of the second millennium and the bridge to the third. It is not a new message but can be considered a gift of special enlightenment that helps us to relive the Gospel of Easter more intensely, to offer it as a ray of light to the men and women of our time.”

Observation of Divine Mercy Sunday may include recitation of the Divine Mercy Novena of Chaplets in the days preceding the feast day. This year, parishioners at Christ the King Catholic Church in Cedar City will pray this novena.

For each of the nine days of the novena, St. Faustina was given an intention by the Lord. In reciting the Chaplets each day, the faithful are asked to pray for a group of people that they may be immersed in the mercy of the Savior. They are:  all mankind especially all sinners; priests and religious;  the devout and faithful  and those who do not believe in God; those who do not yet know  Jesus Christ; those who have separated themselves from His Church; the meek and humble; little children; those who especially venerate and glorify his mercy; those who are detained in purgatory and those who have become lukewarm in their faith.

For the first time, several parishes this year have combined to organize the Northern Utah Divine Mercy Celebration at St. James the Just Catholic Church in Ogden. The event will include the Sacrament of Reconciliation, singing of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Divine Mercy Mass, which will be celebrated by Bishop Oscar A. Solis.

“Our event is focused on evangelizing our faith, especially for those Catholics who have fallen away, are sitting on the fence or just need a boost to their spiritual lives,” said John Valdez, Northern Utah Divine Mercy Sunday Committee chairman. “We have coordinated with all of our parishes in northern Utah, and those who do not already have an event planned in their parish will be celebrating with us.”

Several committee members are lay ecclesial minister candidates finishing their final year of formation and training. They are organizing the event as part of their LEM program. Committee members come from the parishes of Holy Family, St. Mary and St. James the Just.

“We are doing this as a team to evangelize our Lord Jesus and to share with our brothers and sisters in Christ the promises given to St. Faustina by Jesus for those who participate on that day by coming in a state of grace and receiving Communion,” Valdez said.  

In Salt Lake City, Father Jan Bednarz, pastor of St. Martin de Porres Parish, has been celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday every year since Pope Paul II called upon the Church to do so. This year, at each of the Masses of the April 27 weekend he will preach about Divine Mercy and St. Faustina’s diary, along with leading the Divine Mercy devotions.

 “We have to teach our people that ‘Jesus, I trust in you’ is a medicine for fear, pain, hopelessness, loneliness and more,” Fr. Bednarz said. “As Jesus showed mercy for all people and us, we have to follow and be merciful.”

Other parishes in the diocese that will celebrate the feast day include St. Thomas More in Cottonwood Heights, which will offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation, followed by the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Mass. Also, Father Christopher Gray, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Park City, will celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday Mass at 3 p.m. that day.

 Divine Mercy Celebrations

Parishes in the Diocese of Salt Lake City will host Divine Mercy Sunday celebrations on April 28 with various events.

St. James the Just Catholic Church

495 N. Harrison Blvd., Ogden

1 p.m. Sacrament of Confession

3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet

3:30 p.m. Divine Mercy Mass

Reception in the gym following Mass

St. Thomas More Catholic Church

3015 E. Creek Road, Cottonwood Heights

1:30 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation

3 p.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet, Mass

St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church

4914 South 2200 West, Taylorsville

3 p.m. O Salutaris Hostia, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, The Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Confession, silent prayer

3:30 p.m. Tantum Ergo, Benediction

St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church

1505 White Pine Canyon Road, Park City

Divine Mercy Sunday Mass, 3 p.m.