STUART | The celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, at St. Andrew Church in Stuart was marked by deep reverence, with the faithful participating in Eucharistic adoration, singing the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet, receiving the sacrament of reconciliation and joining in the Mass.
“This is what Jesus asked us to do, and I have been doing this (celebrating Divine Mercy) for 30 years now,” Father John Barrow, St. Andrew’s pastor, told the Florida Catholic.
“It is a complete renewal of your baptismal promises given only this one day of the year, Divine Mercy Sunday,” he said. “Plenary indulgences you can get all year if it is complete detachment, but Divine Mercy Sunday’s special promise only comes this day.”
In a series of revelations to Sister Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s, according to information on Divine Mercy, “Our Lord called for a special feast day to be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter,” now named “Divine Mercy Sunday by Pope St. John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska April 30, 2000.”
Parish usher Sara Matera said, “This is so amazing to see such love in this church at this time. Christ is on the altar, rosary and confession, you can do all three right now. It is a very, very special day.”
Father Barrow presided at the Mass, saying, “Today we celebrate the second Sunday after Easter, which is also Divine Mercy Sunday.” The Divine Mercy devotion “began back in the 1930s with Sister Faustina, a Polish nun, and it was a devotion that was actually in the church from the time of St. Augustine,” as found in his writings, he said.
Extolling the saint’s diary, “Divine Mercy for the Soul,” Father Barrow said, “It is one of the best books outside of the Bible that you can pick up and read the words of our Lord.”
His homily focused on paragraph 699 in the diary: “I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge, a shelter for souls, and especially one for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I will pour out an ocean of graces upon those souls who will approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day are opened all the floodgates through which graces flow.”
Father Barrow said, “‘Mankind will not have peace in the world until he turns to the fount of My mercy.’ Isn’t that interesting? ‘Mankind will not have peace’ until he comes ‘to the fount of My mercy.’”
With Divine Mercy, “there is a special grace that is given when you do all of the requirements,” he said. “You can’t offer it for a holy soul. It has to be you coming to the Lord on Divine Mercy Sunday and you making this special effort to do the prayers, receive the sacraments and come to the Lord himself with trust.”
Two visitors, who came to St. Andrew for Divine Mercy Sunday to receive the sacraments and the extraordinary graces promised by the Lord, spoke outside the church. Carol D’Agostino of Michigan said, “I heard about this from the Servants of Jesus of the Divine Mercy. Your sins are washed away completely, and the punishment, too.”
Amy Nowak, a visitor from Boca Raton, said, “I came here specifically for this because I wanted to do confession, the chaplet, the rosary and attend Mass.”
To learn more about St. Andrew Parish, go to https://saintandrewcatholic.org/ and https://saintandrewcatholic.org/bulletins.
