Divine Mercy (Catholic Devotion)
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Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, the Divine Mercy is a
devotion Devotion or Devotions may refer to: Religion * Faith, confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept * Anglican devotions, private prayers and practices used by Anglican Christians * Buddhist devotion, commitment to religious observance * Cat ...
to
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
associated with the reported apparitions of Jesus to
Faustina Kowalska Maria Faustyna Kowalska, OLM (born Helena Kowalska; 25 August 1905 – 5 October 1938), also known as ''Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament'', Faustyna popularly spelled "Faustina", was a Polish Catholic religious sister an ...
. The venerated image under this title refers to what Kowalska's diary describes as "
God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
's loving mercy" towards all people, especially for
sinners In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
. Kowalska was granted the title "Secretary of Mercy" by the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
in the
Jubilee Year A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of ...
of 2000.


Devotion

In February 1931, in
Płock Płock (pronounced ) is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Its full ceremonial name, according to the ...
, Faustina Kowalska had a vision of Jesus who tasked her with spreading the devotion to his Divine Mercy. Kowalska reported a number of apparitions during
religious ecstasy Religious ecstasy is a type of altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) eup ...
which she described in her 1934–1938 diary, later published as the book '' Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul''. The two main themes of the devotion are to trust in Christ's endless goodness, and to show mercy to others acting as a conduit for God's love towards them. The primary focus of the Divine Mercy devotion is the merciful love of God and the desire to let that love and mercy flow through one's own heart towards those in need of it.Ann Ball, 2003 ''Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices'' page 175 As he dedicated the Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Pope John Paul II referred to this when he said: "Apart from the mercy of God there is no other source of hope for humankind". There are seven main forms of this devotion: #The Divine Mercy image with the specific inscription ''Jesus, I trust in You''; #The commemoration of the Feast of the Divine Mercy Sunday #The recitation of the
Chaplet of the Divine Mercy The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, also called the Divine Mercy Chaplet, is a Christian devotion to the Divine Mercy, based on the Christological apparitions of Jesus reported by Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), known as "the Apostle of Mercy." ...
#The recitation of the
Divine Mercy novena The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, also called the Divine Mercy Chaplet, is a Christian devotion to the Divine Mercy, based on the Christological apparitions of Jesus reported by Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), known as "the Apostle of Mercy." ...
#The designation of the Hour of Mercy at 3:00 a.m. or p.m. #Spreading mercy by word, deed, or prayer #The spreading of
works of mercy Works of mercy (sometimes known as acts of mercy) are practices considered meritorious in Christian ethics. The practice is popular in the Catholic Church as an act of both penance and charity. In addition, the Methodist church teaches that th ...
to the whole humanity, in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ to Earth As in the prayers that form the
Chaplet of Divine Mercy The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, also called the Divine Mercy Chaplet, is a Christian devotion to the Divine Mercy, based on the Christological apparitions of Jesus reported by Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938), known as "the Apostle of Mercy." ...
, there are three main themes to the Divine Mercy devotion: to ask for and obtain the mercy of God, to trust in Christ's abundant mercy, and finally to show mercy to others and act as a conduit for God's mercy towards them.EWTN on the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
/ref> The first and second elements relate to the signature "Jesus I trust in You" on the
Divine Mercy image The Image of the Divine Mercy is a depiction of Jesus Christ that is based on the devotion initiated by Faustina Kowalska. According to Kowalska's diary, Jesus told her "I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish ...
and Kowalska stated that on 28 April 1935, the day the first
Divine Mercy Sunday Divine Mercy Sunday (also known as the Feast of the Divine Mercy) is celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter, which concludes the Octave of Easter. The feast day is observed in the Roman Rite calendar, as well as some Anglo-Catholics of the ...
was celebrated, Jesus told her: "Every soul believing and trusting in My Mercy will obtain it." The third component is reflected in the statement "Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners" attributed to Jesus in Kowalska's diary (Notebook I, items 186–187). This statement is followed in the diary by a specific short prayer: "O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You." which Kowalska also recommended for the Hour of Divine Mercy.''A Divine Mercy Resource'' by Richard Torretto 2010 pages 137–140 In her diary (Notebook II, item 742) Kowalska wrote that Jesus told her: "I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me." and that he explained that there are three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first-by deed, the second-by word, the third-by prayer. Kowalska's diary contain also a litany of Divine Mercy (''Diary'' 949) The Divine Mercy devotion views mercy as the key element in the plan of God for salvation and emphasizes the belief that it was through mercy that God gave his only son for the redemption of humankind, after the fall of Adam.''A Divine Mercy Resource'' by Richard Torretto 2010 pages 58–59 The opening prayer for Divine Mercy Sunday Mass refers to this and begins: "Heavenly Father and God of Mercy, We no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for He is alive and has become the Lord of Life". In 1959, the Vatican banned the image and devotion to it because of a number of factors. Some Polish bishops questioned Kowalska's claims and were uncomfortable with the image's similarity to the red-and-white
Polish flag The national flag of Poland ( pl, flaga Polski) consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colours are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colours. A variant of the flag ...
. Polish priests were reported to be interpreting the rays as a symbol of the flag. The ban on devotion was lifted on 15 April 1978, due to pressure from future Polish pope
Karol Wojtyła Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
, who had great interest in Kowalska. In 1987, American filmmaker Hermann D. Tauchert co-wrote, produced, and directed the film '' Divine Mercy: No Escape'', which depicted the life of Kowalska.


Image

Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You... I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.
The chaplet is associated with the paintings of the image as in Kowalska's diary. The most widely used is an image painted by
Adolf Hyla Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...
. Hyla painted the image in thanksgiving for having survived
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In the image, Jesus stands with one hand outstretched in blessing, the other clutching the side wounded by the spear, from which proceed beams of falling light, coloured red and white. An explanation of these colors was given by Kowalska, which she attributed to Jesus in her diary: "The two rays represent blood and water". These colors of the rays refer to the "blood and water'" of the
Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
() which are also mentioned in the optional prayer of the Chaplet. The words "Jesus I Trust in Thee" usually accompany the image (''Jezu Ufam Tobie'' in Polish). The original Divine Mercy image was painted by
Eugeniusz Kazimirowski Eugeniusz Marcin Kazimirowski (November 11, 1873 – September 23, 1939 in Białystok) was a Polish painter member of the realism movement. He is best known for the first depiction of the Divine Mercy image in 1934, based on a request from Faus ...
in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
in 1934 under Kowalska's direction. However, according to her diary, she cried upon seeing that the finished picture was not as beautiful as the vision she had received, but Jesus comforted her saying, "Not in the beauty of the colour, nor of the brush is the greatness of this image, but in My grace". The picture was widely used during the early years of the devotion, and is still in circulation within the movement, but the Hyla image remains one of the most reproduced renderings.''Butler's lives of the saints: the third millennium'' by Paul Burns, Alban Butler 2001 page 252 After the Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday was granted to the Universal Church by Pope John Paul II on 30 April 2000 new versions of the image have emerged from a new generation of Catholic artists.


Daily devotions

In her diary Kowalska wrote that Jesus specified 3:00 p.m. each day as the hour at which mercy was best received, and asked her to pray the Chaplet of Mercy and venerate the Divine Mercy image at that hour.Catherine M. Odell, 1998, ''Faustina: Apostle of Divine Mercy'' OSV Press page 137''15 Days of Prayer with Saint Faustina Kowalska'' by John J. Cleary 2010 page 75 On 10 October 1937, in her diary (Notebook V, item 1320) Kowalska attributed the following statement to Jesus: The time of 3:00 p.m. corresponds to the hour at which Jesus died on the cross. This hour is called the "hour of Divine Mercy" or the "hour of great mercy".


Feast day

The feast of Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted by
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
and is celebrated the Sunday after Easter on the
General Roman Calendar The General Roman Calendar is the liturgical calendar that indicates the dates of celebrations of saints and mysteries of the Lord (Jesus Christ) in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, wherever this liturgical rite is in use. These celebra ...
, and is associated with specific
indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins". The '' Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission before God o ...
s.''Saints of the Jubilee'' by Tim Drake 2002 pages 85–95''A Divine Mercy Resource'' by Richard Torretto 2010 pages 187–190''Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary on Divine Mercy Indulgences'', 29 June 2002, at the Vatican web site
In an entry in her diary, Kowalska stated that anyone who participates in the
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
and receives the
sacrament A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...
s of
Confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
and the
Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
on this day is assured by Jesus of full remission of their sins and punishments.EWTN on the Divine Mercy Novena
/ref>


Orders and institutions

A number of
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
orders and institutions are devoted to the Divine Mercy. The John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy is managed by the
Congregation of Marian Fathers The Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary ( la, Congregatio Clericorum Marianorum ab Immaculata Conceptionis Beatissimae Virginis Mariae) is a Catholic male clerical religious congregation fou ...
, which takes an active role in promoting the Divine Mercy message. The
Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (''Congregatio Sororum Beatae Mariae Misericordiae'' (lat)), (''Zgromadzenie Sióstr Matki Bożej Miłosierdzia'' ( pol)) - was founded by Mother Teresa Eva Potocka (1814–1881) in Warsaw, Po ...
, to which Kowalska belonged, and the
Congregation of Sisters of Merciful Jesus A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...
, established by
Michał Sopoćko Michael Sopoćko ( pl, Michał Sopoćko ; 1 November 1888 – 15 February 1975) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and professor at Vilnius University. He is best known as the spiritual director of Faustina Kowalska. He was beatified by Pope Bene ...
on the request of Christ reported by Kowalska, also have a very important role in spreading the devotion. The World Apostolic Congress on Mercy takes place every third year in various cities of the world. Continental congresses on Mercy also take place.


See also

*
Compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as being sensitive to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based on n ...
*
Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...
*
Atonement in Christianity In Christianity, salvation (also called deliverance or redemption) is the "saving fhuman beings from sin and its consequences, which include death and separation from God" by Christ's death and resurrection, and the justification following t ...
*
Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consid ...


References


Further reading

*'' Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul'' by Faustina Kowalska 2003
online version
*''Pope Benedict's Divine Mercy Mandate'' by David Came 2009 *''Explaining the Faith Series: Understanding Divine Mercy'' by Fr. Chris Alar, MIC 2021


External links

{{Roman catholic approved apparitions Catholicism-related controversies