“I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the fount of My mercy…on each day you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls…and I will bring all these souls into the house of My Father…I will deny nothing to any soul whom you will bring to the fount of My mercy…” — Jesus to Saint Faustina.
St. Faustina
Divine Mercy Sunday is the week after Easter Sunday and a day when God’s immense love is poured out. God’s divine mercy is always available and He’s always willing to forgive the repentant sinner, so, why is there a Divine Mercy Sunday, preceded by a Divine Mercy novena, that overlaps with the greatest weeklong feast of Easter?
The resurrection IS mercy and the Divine Mercy novena attaches a special outpouring of mercy. This raises another question: why do I need to do a novena to receive God’s special outpouring of mercy? You don’t, but God enters the physical world to trigger grace. God did not have to send His Son to suffer on a cross to redeem sinners. But, He did. Jesus did not have to use mud to heal blindness. But, He did. Christ promises mercy and forgiveness through devoting attention to the Divine Mercy novena.
“Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you what you ask for will be compatible with My will.”
For those who do the novena, are interiorly detached from sin, go to confession, and receive communion on Divine Mercy Sunday, will have full remission of their temporal punishment due to sin. These are not “works” to achieve God’s mercy, but conditions to properly prepare the heart to receive God’s mercy. Repentance is required before forgiveness, and the novena softens the heart to repent to receive God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of confession.
This is why even the most hardened sinner who recites the chaplet of Divine Mercy will obtain His infinite mercy. The chaplet is like a hammer chipping at the cement of sin hardened around the heart. Confession and Jesus’ words through the priest, “I absolve you from your sins,” replace the cement with fresh clay to continually be molded.
Mercy is Necessary for Salvation
Without God’s mercy we are damned to hell. Without Jesus’ resurrection, death and sin hold a grip on humanity. God’s entrance into humanity to raise it through his resurrection is the foundation of our faith. The resurrection is necessary so our repentance has meaning. The celebration of God’s mercy through the Divine Mercy novena bring an extra outpouring of mercy and forgiveness because the sinner intends to completely immerse herself into the rays of God’s love; to completely enter into the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Recite the Chaplet
Good Friday is the first day of the novena. Those who don’t recite the novena, don’t care to say the chaplet, or don’t believe in God, are the ones Jesus is calling to say it. What is nine days in a year to set aside pride, obstinacy, or laziness to say the novena? Even non-Catholics can recite the chaplet, inquire into why Jesus established the sacrament of confession (most Catholics don’t even know why, so pick up the Catechism of the Catholic Church), and attend church on Divine Mercy Sunday.
Conclusion
Jesus wants us to trust in Him completely, to accept His mercy with a thankful heart, and to exhibit mercy to others. The greater the sinner, the greater the mercy. We sinners only need to ask for his mercy, to repent, and completely trust in Jesus.
“Jesus, my most perfect model, with my eyes fixed on you, I will go through life in your footsteps, adapting nature to grace, according to your most holy will and your light which illuminates my soul.”
For more information on the Divine Mercy, visit http://www.thedivinemercy.org/.
This article, Why Divine Mercy Matters (START YOUR NOVENA TODAY!) is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/divine-mercy-matters-start-novena-today/
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