The Feast of Divine Mercy
The Sunday After Easter
Beginning on February 22, 1931, a Polish nun named Sister Faustina claimed to have seen visions of Jesus, and heard Jesus speak to her soul. Jesus is alleged to have said to Sister Faustina:
"Paint the image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world." (Diary, 47)
"I promise that the soul that shall venerate this image will not perish." (Diary, 48)
"Jesus looked at me and said, Souls perish in spite of My bitter Passion. I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is the Feast of My Mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity." (Diary, 965)
"My image already is in your soul. I desire that there be a Feast of Mercy. I want this image, which you will paint with a brush, to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy." (Diary, 49)
"I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: 'Jesus, I trust in You'" (Diary, 327)
"I desire that the image be publicly honored." (Diary, 414)
"By means of this image, I shall be granting many graces to souls; so let every soul have access to it." (Diary, 570)
(Diary numbers are paragraph numbers)
Source: Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, by Blessed Sister M. Faustina Kowalska, published by Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 01263, 1998, ISBN 0-944203-04-3. Here are some websites or pages devoted to this Feast of Divine Mercy:
Apostles of Divine Mercy
Pope Dedicates New Divine Mercy Shrine
The Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy
Divine Mercy — Sister M. Faustina Kowalska
Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception
A Revelation of Divine Mercy
The Divine Mercy DevotionPretty amazing claim isn't it? Merely venerate (worship) this image of Jesus on the Sunday after Easter and you are guaranteed eternal life! Millions of Catholics attend services on the Sunday after Easter expecting to obtain eternal life by merely worshipping an image of Jesus (shown above). Catholics are also taught that if they will go to confession and participate in Communion that day (Diary, 699), all their sins and all punishment due them will be washed away as though they were being baptized again, Divine Mercy Sunday being greater in its effect than a plenary indulgence. (A plenary indulgence only removes temporal punishment due for sins, it does not forgive the sins themselves.)
Sister Gratia
Sister Gratia*, from the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy, Krakow, Poland, the same order as Sister Faustina, says: "Jesus also promised that all the divine floodgates, through which graces flow are opened on that day, the dams holding back the graces of heaven are opened for the asking, flowing out upon the world",
as though God's grace is normally dammed up and not fully accessible on other days.
Image copyrighted by
Apostolate For Family Consecration
P.O. Box 151, Bloomingdale, Ohio., 43911."The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened." (Diary, 699).
Sister Gratia also suggests that should a notorious sinner die that day, after attending confession and the Mass, they would go straight to heaven (bypassing Purgatory), since all their sins and all punishment due would have been forgiven that day. In Sister Faustina's diary, the alleged apparition of Jesus is also quoted as saying that this feast of Divine Mercy is "the last hope of salvation." Hear Sister Gratia say this. (mp3)
"Say unceasingly the [Divine Mercy] chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation." (Diary, 687).
Sister Gratia also claims that Sister Faustina was so gifted that she was capable of bi-location, the ability to be in two places at the same time!
On April 18, 1993 (Divine Mercy Sunday), Sister Faustina was beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II, and then canonized on April 30th, 2000 (also Divine Mercy Sunday), so now she is Saint Faustina Kowalska.
4. It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called "Divine Mercy Sunday".
Source: Homily of Pope John Paul II, Canonizing Sr Mary Faustina Kowalska, Sunday, 30 April 2000.
Decree Establishing the Sunday after Easter 'Divine Mercy Sunday' issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
Images © 2001 by CTV (Vatican Central Television) Statue of Sister Faustina in St. Peter's Square
on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 22, 2001.Jubilant Catholics displaying a Divine Mercy Banner
for the Pope in St. Peter's Square.
Images © 2001 by EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) Large Divine Mercy image beside a Catholic altar for veneration on April 22, 2001 So April 22nd, 2001 was the first Divine Mercy Sunday available to all Catholics worldwide, when they could all venerate, as promised by the apparition, the image that is the vessel for grace that will prevent them from perishing, that they may gain eternal life. The net effect of this teaching is that Divine Mercy Sunday will likely become the most heavily attended feast on the Catholic calendar, exceeding even Easter or Christmas, due to the unique advantages attributed to it for obtaining God's mercy.
Is this what the Bible teaches, salvation and eternal life from worshipping images?
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God...Isa 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them
Pope John Paul II bowing down
before the image of Divine Mercy
in Krakow, PolandJohn 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
It is faith in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God that will result in eternal life, not veneration of an image, not even veneration of an image of Jesus. Because this vision of Sister Faustina clearly contradicts the Commandment of God forbidding image worship, it is not from God. There is no light in it. The Feast of Divine Mercy is nothing but idolatry and apostasy, plain and simple, and now it has essentially been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
* Source: Family Covenant Series (of videos), Divine Mercy
Sunday,
Apostolate for Family Consecration,
P.O. Box 151, Bloomingdale, Ohio., 43911.
Telephone: (614) 765-4301.