Catholic Fire

You'll find it all at this week's Catholic Carnival hosted by Bryan Murdaugh. Bryan shares, "Today, my dad would have been fifty-nine years old. The day after we celebrated the Divine Mercy of God through Jesus Christ my youngest daughter chose a special birthday balloon to place at the grave marker of her 'Poppie' who died just fifteen days before she was born. Love is indescribable, but love is tangible. It’s so real. Just like mercy is real." Go here to read all the great posts there.

The pictures above are those I always associate with Divine Mercy Sunday -- I also have the top one in my home. This one of Pope John Paul II is one of my favorites. If it weren't for him, this feast day wouldn't exist. How blessed we are for the many graces that he brought into our lives! In our parish, we celebrated this feast day with the recitation of the rosary, then the recitation of the Divine Mercy, followed by the Divine Mercy Sunday Mass. We received the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Saturday and attended evening Mass afterward -- I am so thankful for all the graces of this weekend! As a priest reminded us: "Now if you get hit by a truck and die, you will go straight to Heaven!" Well, it didn't happen ... but don't you just love plenary indulgences ?

The Feast Day This coming Sunday, March 29, is Divine Mercy Sunday . This feast was instituted by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000, in response to a direct request by the Lord to a Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, whom Pope John Paul II canonized that year . The Image On February 22, 1931, Jesus first appeared to St. Faustina at the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy convent in Plock, Poland. This is how she describes that vision in her diary: “In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord in a white garment. He had one hand raised in blessing and the other was touching his garment at the chest. From the fold in His garment…..there were two large rays: one red and the other pale.” Jesus later told her: “Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature Jesus, I trust in You. I desire this image be venerated first in your chapel and then throughout the world.” The Meaning of the Image There is a connection between that image and the liturgy of the sec...

"If souls would put themselves completely in my care, I myself would undertake the task of sanctifying them, and I would lavish even greater graces on them. There are souls who thwart My efforts, but I have not given up on them; as often as they turn to Me, I hurry to their aid, sheilding them with My mercy, and I give them the first place in My compassionate Heart. ~ God speaking to St. M. Faustina Kowalska, The Divine Mercy in My Soul Diary , 1682 (59) May 1, 1938.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday . This feast was instituted by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000, in response to a direct request by the Lord to a Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, whom Pope John Paul II canonized that year . In 1931, Jesus first appeared to St. Faustina in her convent in Krakow and asked her to become his “secretary,” and write down what He revealed to her for the good of the Church and the world. What He revealed to her was the message of His divine, merciful love. She wrote down what the Lord said and it filled in her diary, which turned out to be 689 pages in the English translation. Here is one of the messages that the Lord gave to St. Faustina about the feast we celebrate today: "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 ap...

SOLEMN MASS AND CELEBRATION OF DIVINE MERCY FROM STOCKBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS (120:00) Celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy with EWTN and the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. This feast commemorates God’s infinite love and mercy, which He continues to pour out to the world. April 15, 1 PM, Live April 15, 9 PM, Encore also: DIVINE MERCY CELEBRATION FROM THE SHRINE OF THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT IN HANCEVILLE, ALABAMA, USA 60:00 New Live Join the Nuns of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery for this celebration of God’s Mercy. April 15, 4 PM Live April 16, 1:30 AM April 17, 1 PM April 19, 3:30 AM FAUSTINA (90:00 ) Feature film depicting the life of Saint Faustina April 14, 8 PM April 15, 2 AM April 19, 1 PM. NATIONAL CATHOLIC PRAYER BREAKFAST (90:00) April 13, 10:00 AM April 13, 5:00 PM JESUS LIVING IN MARY: THE LIFE OF ST. LOUIS DE MONTFORT (90:00 ) An exciting documentary examining the life of this humble man. St. Louis traveled around France giving parish missions and teaching true devot...

National Catholic Register has an excellent article on the Divine Mercy devotion. Here is an excerpt from that article: It was in Poland during the 1930s that Jesus himself lit the fire of Divine Mercy devotions. He revealed his desire for this special ardor to a humble nun, Sister Faustina Kowalska. And he specifically asked that a feast in its honor be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. The flames spread bit by bit until the Jubilee Year 2000, when they burst into a conflagration. This came when Pope John Paul II declared — on April 30, at the canonization Mass for St. Faustina Kowalska — that “this Second Sunday of Easter … from now on throughout the Church, will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.” Then, on Aug. 17, 2002, at the new Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, Poland, the 263rd successor to St. Peter solemnly entrusted the world to the Divine Mercy, adding: “I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, m...

Jesus asked that the Feast of the Divine Mercy be preceded by a Novena to the Divine Mercy which would begin on Good Friday. He gave St. Faustina an intention to pray for on each day of the Novena, saving for the last day the most difficult intention of all, the lukewarm and indifferent of whom He said: "These souls cause Me more suffering than any others; it was from such souls that My soul felt the most revulsion in the Garden of Olives. It was on their account that I said: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass Me by.' The last hope of salvation for them is to flee to My Mercy." In her diary, St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her: "On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls." The different souls prayed for on each day of the novena are: DAY 1 (Good Friday) ...