Sometimes, all the negativity in the world can feel overwhelming. The news cycle bombards us with messages of division, doubt and suffering. Still, in the midst of this brokenness, Jesus Christ offers us a lifeline through his Divine Mercy — a powerful reminder that no sin is too great for God’s forgiveness and love.
In fact, his Divine Mercy is so important that we celebrate it every year as we close the Octave of Easter! Divine Mercy Sunday, also known as the Feast of the Divine Mercy, is observed on the Sunday after Easter.
This special feast day is a relatively new addition to the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar, officially designated by Pope Saint John Paul II on April 30, 2000. Yet the story of Divine Mercy goes back nearly 70 years earlier, when Jesus himself appeared to a young religious sister.
As we explore Divine Mercy, we are also reminded that we are called to be Christ’s merciful hands and feet in our hurting world. By being a conduit of Divine Mercy, we can uplift the poor, end suffering, and share compassion with those who are in need.
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St. Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in 1905 to a poor, devout family in Poland. From a very early age, she felt a strong pull toward a religious vocation. Christ chose Faustina to receive and share his message of divine mercy, and she experienced many mystical visions of him throughout her life.
The first vision of Jesus called her to enter a convent. After many attempts, the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy accepted her, and she received the name Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament.
Jesus’ mission for St. Faustina was to bring his message to the world. He said, “In the Old Covenant, I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with my mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to my Merciful Heart.”
St. Faustina’s mission also involved reminding the world of God’s merciful and endless love for every person. Jesus wanted the world to understand the Lord’s Divine Mercy through the veneration of his image and the words, “Jesus, I trust in you.” He wanted people to have a childlike trust in God through repentance, prayer, fulfilling his will, and showing mercy to others.
On February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to St. Faustina while she was in her cell at the convent. During this vision, Jesus asked her to paint an image of how he appeared to her. In 1934, with the support of her spiritual director, St. Faustina commissioned a painting by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski depicting Jesus with two streams of light — one red and one white — coming from his heart with the signature “Jesus, I trust in You.” This is the image of Divine Mercy that we know today.
Jesus also told her that he wanted the Divine Mercy image solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and that Sunday would be known as the Feast of Mercy. Jesus promised complete forgiveness of sins for the soul that venerates the Divine Mercy image, confesses one’s sins and receives Holy Communion.
According to St. Faustina’s diary, Jesus proclaimed, “Everything that exists has come from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness.”
St. Faustina became known as the Secretary and the Apostle of Divine Mercy. At Jesus’ request, she kept copious notes of her visions and conversations with him, which were later published in Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul.
At just 33 years old, St. Faustina died of an illness believed to be tuberculosis. One of her final visions was his Divine Mercy being celebrated in her local chapel and, eventually, the rest of the world. With the help of several priests she had known and through the support of Pope Saint John Paul II, this vision was realized.
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In today’s fast-paced world filled with distractions, remaining faithful isn’t an easy task. Fear, loneliness and anxiety cause suffering for the individual and our communities. So many people live apart from the Church, the Bible and even prayer. It can even feel like this distance can’t be closed.
Divine Mercy Sunday reminds us there is no suffering that is beyond God. He does not condemn us for our distance but instead invites us back — back to his Church, back to prayer, back to Jesus. Easter celebrates Christ’s resurrection and victory over death and our sins. The second Sunday of Easter asks us to bring our sins and suffering to God.
Jesus did not turn away sinners, the marginalized, the sick or the forgotten. He invited them in without judgment but with love, forgiveness and healing. Divine Mercy Sunday offers us that same mercy today. It is particularly important when we feel unworthy.
When we confess our sins, repent and have a childlike trust in Jesus’ Divine Mercy, we will know forgiveness. And when we receive forgiveness, we pass it on to our neighbor. By caring for the vulnerable, showing compassion instead of judgment, and forgiving rather than holding resentment, we become the hope and healing the world needs. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy helps us do this.
RELATED: The Prayers of Saint Faustina – Daily Reflections on Divine Mercy
According to St. Faustina’s diary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy prayers were dictated to her by Jesus.
Holding a rosary, begin with the sign of the cross. On the first bead, you can say optional opening prayers. The most common one is St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners. Below is an abbreviated version.
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
Repeat the following three times:
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!
On the three small beads, pray the Our Father, Hail Mary and The Apostles’ Creed.
On the Our Father bead, pray: 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.
For each of the beads in the first decade, pray: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Repeat the Eternal Father and For the sake of His sorrowful passion prayer for each of the remaining decades.
Conclude with the prayer: Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Repeat this three times.
Close with optional closing prayers. Below is an abbreviated version of a common closing prayer.
Eternal God, in Whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.
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