FFC 
DIVINE MERCY APOSTOLATE
St Peter’s Church, Padungan, Kuching, in the Archdiocese of Kuching.
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MERCY APOSTOLATE . Diary > Resources
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of Mercy on February 22, 1931, a young Polish nun, Sr.
Faustina Kowalska, saw a vision of Jesus with rays of mercy streaming from
the area of His Heart. He told her to
have an image painted to represent this vision and to sign it, “Jesus, I
trust in You!” Calling her the Apostle and
Secretary of His mercy, He ordered her to begin writing a diary so others
would learn to trust in Him. In a series of revelations, He
taught her that His mercy is unlimited and available event to the greatest
si8nners, and He revealed special ways for people to respond to His mercy. By the time of Sr. Faustina’s
death in 1938, devotion to The Divine Mercy had already begun to spread
throughout Eastern Europe. In July of 1940, Fr. Joseph
Jarzebowski, a Polish Marian priest fleeing from war-torn Poland, prayed to
the Merciful Savior to help him escape, vowing to spend his life spreading
The Divine Mercy message. He arrived
safely on American soil in May 1941; and Marians in Detroit, MI, and
Washington, DC, were soon distributing Mercy of God leaflets, prayer cards,
and other materials. In 1944, a group of Marians
opened a new house and apostolate on Eden Hill in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. By 1953, the apostolate had
become the international center for the Divine Mercy devotion, and in 1960
the Marians on Eden Hill completed construction of a shrine to the Mercy of
God. The shrine has now become the
National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, and the apostolate has become the Marian
Helpers Center, a modern religious publishing house spreading devotion to the
mercy of God and to Mary Immaculate. On the Sunday after Easter, April
30, 2000 (Mercy Sunday), Sister Faustina was solemnly canonized in Rome by
Pope John Paul II. The Pope also
established Mercy Sunday worldwide. The ABC’s of Mercy The message of mercy can be
called to mind simply by remembering A-B-C. Ask for His Mercy.
God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly. Be Merciful.
God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to
others. Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His
mercy are dependent upon our trust. The Sacred Image The image that Our
Lord asked St. Maria Faustina to have painted is a portrait of Jesus as
Merciful Savior. The red and pale rays
represent the blood and water that flowed from His pierced Heart as fountain
of mercy for us. The image is a
reminder for us to come to Jesus with trust and to be merciful to others; and
it should always carry the signature, “Jesus, I trust in You!” Many different versions of
this image have been painted, but Our Lord made it clear that the painting
itself is not what is important; “Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the
brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace”(Diary 313). So, no matter which version
you prefer, you can be assured that God’s grace will flow through it. The Chaplet of Mercy In 1935, Our Lord taught Saint
Faustina a special prayer: “Encourage souls to say the Chaplet…. Whoever will
recite it will receive great mercy…. Through the Chaplet you will obtain
everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will”(Diary, 1541, 687,
1731). The Feast of Mercy Jesus also requested that the
Sunday after Easter be officially established in the Church as the Feast of
Mercy: “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” (Diary, 699). The Divine Mercy Novena On Good Friday 1937, Jesus
dictated the intentions for a Novena that He wanted Saint Faustina to say
before the Feast of Mercy. By means of
a special prayer, she was to bring to His Heart a different group of souls
each day: “I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the
fountain of My mercy” (Diary, 1209). The Hour of Great Mercy Our Lord asked for special
prayer at the hour that recalls His death: “At three o’clock implore My
mercy, especially for sinners: and, if only for a brief moment, immerse
yourself in My Passion…. This is the hour of great mercy…. In this hour I
will refuse nothing to the soulo that makes a request of Me in virtue of My
Passion” (Diary, 1320). The Sacraments of Mercy The Sacraments of Penance and
Eucharist are special fountains of mercy which should be received frequently
with great trust and love (Diary, 914, 1602). To emphasize the importance of
these two great “miracles of mercy,” Our Lord made their reception a
condition for obtaining His promise for the Feast of Mercy: “The soul that
will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete
forgiveness of sins and punishment” (Diary, 699). Works of Mercy God expects us to let His
mercy flow through us to others. His
words to Saint Faustina are unmistakably clear: “I demand from you deeds of
mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me.
You are to show mercy to your neighbours always and everywhere”
(Diary, 742). How to pray The Chaplet of Mercy Our Father … Hail Mary … The Apostles’ Creed.
On the Our Father bead before each decade: Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity Of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, In atonement for our sins And those of the whole world.
On the Hail Mary beads of each decade: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, Have mercy on us And on the whole world.
Conclude with (three times): Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy on us And on the whole world. |
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MERCY APOSTOLATE
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