In our culture, we use the word “mercy” to mean forgiveness. You might ask your mom to have mercy on you after you didn’t do the dishes and not take away your video games. While Divine Mercy does include an aspect of forgiveness, it is so much more than that.
Divine Mercy is the help God gives us when we suffer and when we sin. St. John tells us that “God is love”; Divine Mercy is the expression of God’s love for us. God is perfect and experiences perfect love in the Holy Trinity; He does not need the love of humans. Yet, God does love us and wants for us to love Him also. He pours out this love as His Divine Mercy to help us in times of trouble. We see the greatest expression of this love in the Gospels.
God began this pouring out of love way back in the Old Testament, but devotion to the Divine Mercy as we know it today began in the 1930s, shortly before the start of the Second World War. In His infinite knowledge, God knew that the world was about to experience a time of great suffering and sought to remind His people to turn to Him in times of need. To do this, Jesus appeared to a young nun in Poland named Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska.
Jesus appeared to St. Faustina over a period of 7 years, which she documented in a diary. He taught her about His Divine Mercy and asked her to help spread a devotion to this love. He asked St. Faustina to do this in five ways: the celebration of a special feast dedicated to His Divine Mercy, the creation of an image of Jesus as He appeared to her, a Novena to Divine Mercy, a special set of prayers called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and by the honoring of the Hour of Great Mercy.
The first Sunday after Easter, the last day of the Octave of Easter, is celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. This feast existed before Jesus shared His message with St. Faustina, but it was not widely celebrated. St. Faustina recorded Jesus’ desire for greater celebration on this feast day, and under the leadership of St. Pope John Paul II, the Church officially declared the Sunday after Easter to be Divine Mercy Sunday.
In His conversations with St. Faustina, Jesus promised to pour out extra graces on those who turn to His Divine Mercy on this day, saying “The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.” (Diary of St. Faustina, 699)
St. Faustina worked with painter Eugeniusz Kazimirowski so that he could paint her vision of Jesus. The image on the left is this original painting. It took him 12 tries to get the image close to how Jesus appeared, yet St. Faustina still said that Jesus was much more beautiful than the image captured.
Jesus asked that we venerate this image and think of His Divine Mercy.
The rays coming from the Heart of Jesus represent the blood and water which spilled from His side when it was pierced with a lance after His death.
The Divine Mercy Chaplet is a series of prayers which Jesus taught to St. Faustina. These can be prayed using a rosary. The purpose of these prayers is to ask Jesus for His Divine Mercy. The words of the chaplet are meant to mirror the moment in Mass when the priest offers the Body and Blood of Jesus up to the Father. We offer Jesus’ sacrifice to the Father and beg His mercy. Jesus especially desired for the chaplet to be said for those who are dying, promising to grant them extra mercy.
A novena is a series of prayers said over nine days. Jesus asked that we pray a novena to His Divine Mercy, beginning on Good Friday. He gave a specific list of people to pray for on each day. The novena includes the Divine Mercy Chaplet and a series of other prayers.
Jesus asked us to take time each day to remember His sacrifice on the cross. He specifically asked that this happen in the 3pm hour, because that is the time He died. His specific request to St. Faustina was that she pray the Stations of the Cross at this hour, but He shared that His main purpose was to have us be united with His suffering on the cross. Many people make it a habit to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm each day.