Woodhaven parish to teach on Divine Mercy
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 16, 2007
 To start the Lenten season, Our Lady of the Woods Parish in Woodhaven is hoping to teach as many people as possible about the Divine Mercy devotion.
The devotion began in 1931, when Jesus appeared to St. Faustina Kowalska, then a Sister of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland. St. Faustina recorded many messages from Christ, who she said wanted to remind the faithful of God's unfathomable Divine Mercy, and wanted people to trust in Him. St. Faustina, who died in 1938, left the image of the Divine Mercy — a picture, now popular around the world, of Christ pointing toward His heart — and a diary depicting her various conversations with the Lord. She was canonized in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.
On Feb. 25, Sr. Mary Grace Kelly, a Sister of Reparation of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus from Steubenville, Ohio, will give a one-hour presentation on the message of Divine Mercy brought to the Church through St. Faustina. Last week, Sr. Kelly spoke with Michigan Catholic reporter Joe Kohn. Here is an edited transcript of the interview:
Why is the Divine Mercy Devotion beneficial to today's Catholics?
If you look at the picture of Divine Mercy, everything in the picture is like a catechism lesson. It's all a reiteration of Scripture. Here we see Jesus in the white robe; He's like the divine physician coming to heal us who are sick because of sin. And he's walking toward us; it's very significant. He's searching for us. And the essence of the message is trying to see mercy. With His right hand He's blessing us. He's showing us 'I died for you. I poured out my blood for you and now you have to do the same for each other, because we will be judged by the mercy that we show to each other." With his left hand, he's pointing to His heart. We see the blood and water that flow from the heart. He's showing us the sacraments. He says, "Tell people to come as often as possible to the fountain of life." He's referring to baptism and confession, which are the cleansing sacraments, which we see through the water. And the red ray symbolizes the blood of Christ, which He holds as the very life of our soul.
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Divine Mercy explained
What: A one-hour talk on the Divine Mercy devotion, followed by a recitation of the Divine Mercy chaplet, veneration of a relic of St. Faustina, Eucharistic adoration and benediction.
When: 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25.
Where: Our Lady of the Woods Church, 21892 Gudith Road in Woodhaven.
Cost: Free.
For information: Call (734) 671-5101. | What is Jesus telling us through St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy devotion?
Jesus tells St. Faustina, "Tell souls where they are to find peace in the tribunal of my mercy. Tell them that the greatest miracles happen in the confessional. That even where your soul is though dead, decaying like a corpse, so humanly speaking there would be no hope — it is not that way with God."
So we see how Jesus wants us to approach Him with confidence, because He says when you approach Him with confidence, "I can do everything for you" — so we're never on the losing end if we trust.
Our Lady of the Woods is bringing this devotion in Lent — is there a particular appropriate season to pay attention to this devotion?
Divine Mercy, because it's rooted in Scripture, is for every day. The reason why Lent is so good, first of all, is because Jesus is calling us to come back to Him through repentance. And, also, He's showing us with the Feast of Mercy — which is the first Sunday after Easter — that He wants us to cleans ourselves during Lent of our sins through sacramental confession.
He made a promise. He said if, after sacramental confession, you receive Holy Commmunion on the first Sunday after Easter, "I will not only remove your sin but also the punishment you deserve because of it." When we go to confession, we are forgiven if we're sincere, but we still have to repair for the damage that we've done through our sins, and that is what Jesus is removing from us on Divine Mercy Sunday.
Why is Divine Mercy Sunday just a week after Easter
Divine Mercy Sunday is a day of special worship of His mercy. And it's not that it's bigger than Easter. Jesus is pointing to Easter and saying, "This is the source of your salvation. I suffered, died and rose from the dead for you." What you celebrated at Easter was the culmination of our faith, and that's why we see the connection to Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus asked us to make a novena prior to the Feast of Mercy. Well, the novena begins on Good Friday, the day of Jesus' death, and then we have Easter Sunday. And the Church celebrates Easter Sunday and the seven days after Easter Sunday as the Octave of Easter, every day — even though you go back to work and don't realize it — it's really like another Easter Sunday for seven days. So the last day of that octave is Divine Mercy Sunday. St. Faustina herself realized that Jesus is showing us the connection between Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday. The Paschal mystery, the triduum of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus is the source of all mercy. That's why in the image we see His passion; we see His wounds and His hands, feet and side; and we see His resurrection. And that's why He's called Divine Mercy.
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