April 7, 2024 - "Easter Season"

Dear Friends in Christ,
Good morning! I hope that you have had a prayerful Easter week following our celebration of the Paschal Triduum.  2022 was the first year when we were able to gather for Easter Mass in Church after churches were closed for many months owing to COVID-19.  1,227 attended Mass here that year.  In 2023, we had 1,775 attend Mass here at the Easter Vigil and Masses on Easter Sunday.  This year we had 2,012 attend Mass here at the Easter Vigil and the Masses on Easter Sunday.  There is a 167% increase from 2022 to 2024. My prayer during this Easter week is that some who came for Mass on Easter and who don’t come to Mass on a regular basis may start to do so.
 
Our Easter Season is only beginning, with 50 days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost, the day commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary. There are many beautiful chapters in our Catholic faith between the beginning and the end of the Easter season—and this Sunday, April 7, Divine Mercy Sunday, marks one of them.
 
Pope Saint John Paul II officially designated the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday on April 30, 2000.  The feast day celebrates Jesus Christ’s revelations on Divine Mercy to a Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, which were recorded in her diary. These revelations, made in the 1930s, included the following:
 
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. (Diary, No. 699).
 
At its essence, Christ promises forgiveness of sins and the gift of his full graces on those who go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday.  The Couples for Christ have organized our parish Divine Mercy celebration that will take place this afternoon starting at 2:30 p.m.  There will be an opportunity to pray the Rosary, sing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (with Confessions available during the time of Exposition), the regularly scheduled 5:00 p.m. Mass, and a potluck supper to close out the celebration.  I hope that you will be able to attend some or all of these events marking Divine Mercy Sunday.
 
It is important for us to remember the word summarizing the Divine Mercy Devotion:  Jesus, I trust in You!
 
Until next week,
Fr. John