Divine Mercy Sunday Promise: Divine Mercy Sunday is this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter, every year. This is the ONLY Sunday throughout the year that this is available to you to receive the removal of all sin and all punishment due to sin, similar to Baptism, and so, it is called “a second baptism.” You receive this by going to confession and receiving Holy Communion worthily on this weekend ONLY, starting on this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. when the Divine Mercy Sunday Vigil starts.
The risen Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Mercy made this promise to the faithful people through St. Faustina during a series of private revelations starting February 1931 in Poland. These private revelations have been approved by the Roman Catholic Church as worthy of belief; although, no one is required to believe in it. What we are required to believe in is God’s unconditional, infinite love and mercy for us! Therefore, our prayer is the prayer this devotion teaches us, “Jesus, I trust in you!”
This devotion includes the promise by Jesus that He removes all punishment due to sin. This means that there will not be any punishment in purgatory required for all past sins forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance, a.k.a. confession). Obviously, the usual conditions apply for receiving these two sacraments. The most commonly known conditions are that we must be sorry for all of our sins in confession and we cannot be guilty of any mortal sin while receiving communion.
If you are not able to go to confession and receive communion using the regular weekend schedule, you can request to do this immediately following the Divine Mercy Holy Hours scheduled for this Sunday afternoon at SHC in Gettysburg 3:00 p.m. (about 4:00 p.m.) and SPX Church in Onida at 5:30 p.m. (about 6:30 p.m.).
I am providing additional information on a single-sheet bulletin insert this Sunday similar to one of the pages last Sunday explaining this devotion in more detail. The “second baptism” handout from last Sunday with the single sheet handout is available in our church gathering spaces. If you have any extra Divine Mercy materials, you can leave them in our church entries to share as long as they have been formally approved by a bishop in union with the Pope or myself. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy has many promises attached to it as well.
Blessing & Conferral of the Brown Scapular: Traditionally, priests have enrolled First Communicants in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I do this after the Final Blessing of the First Communion Mass. I will have more room in my bulletin column to explain this next Sunday. You can search information online about this Catholic sacramental. Nobody has to wear one, but if they so choose later in life and in order to benefit from the private revelation promises, they have to have been enrolled.
