Blessed Sacrament hosts Divine Mercy service

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
Posted May 1, 2003

Divine Mercy Sunday brought people to Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City to pray and reconcile as well as sing and reflect.

"Divine Mercy Sunday is a celebration of the Lord's mercy with a particular emphasis on the sacrament of reconciliation," said Father Nickolas Becker, parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament. "Anything which draws people to a deeper reliance on God's mercy in our lives I see as a very good thing. By the size of the crowd - by the obvious devotion and faithfulness of the crowd that was present - I felt it was a wonderful thing."

The Divine Mercy Sunday celebration began at 2 p.m. on April 27 with reconciliation and exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Becker, retired priest Father Raymond Wieling and Msgr. Leonard Ziegmann, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Laurens, were available to hear confessions.

"As one who was joining other Christians in prayer, I found that to be very rich and reflecting on my own reliance on God's mercy," Father Becker said. "I sat in the confessional for about 40 minutes and never had a quiet moment - just one person after another. It's always moving to serve as a confessor. In a situation like that where so many people are seeking God's mercy in that sacrament, I found being a minister of that sacrament to be profoundly moving."

To fittingly observe the Feast of Mercy people were to: celebrate the feast the Sunday after Easter; sincerely repent all of their sins; place their complete trust in Jesus; go to confession, preferably before the feast; receive Holy Communion on the feast day; venerate the image of Divine Mercy; and be merciful to others, through actions, words and prayers on their behalf.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy started at 3 p.m. with a homily by retired Bishop Lawrence Soens followed by benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The vocalists were Kevin Keane and Claudia Hardy, accompanied by Mary Helen McElroy.

"In his revelation to Saint Maria Faustina, we find a feeling of anxiety on the part of Jesus," Bishop Soens said in his homily. "He is anxious for all men and women to come to the realization that he is a God of mercy. As God, Jesus has no need for us to recognize him as the God of mercy. He will be God whether we recognize him or not. We are the ones who need to acknowledge and appreciate his mercy."

Following the celebration of Divine Mercy, people gathered for a reception in the parish center. The Divine Mercy video was also available for people to view in the parish center at 4 p.m.

"The nine-day novena replicates our wait of the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles from the time Jesus rose to heaven and the Holy Spirit came," said Larry Walsh, a member of the spiritual committee at Trinity Heights and parishioner at Blessed Sacrament. "It's a time of prayer. Jesus himself chose the topics for each of those novena items for Faustina. Each of us can fall in the category of each of these at one time in our lives."

The novena lasted for nine days beginning on Good Friday and lasting until Divine Mercy Sunday. The other six days of the novena were observed at Trinity Heights Queen of Peace, Inc. in Sioux City. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was recited on ordinary rosary beads. Saint Faustina's praises of the Divine Mercy, which Jesus revealed to her, were also recited.

"Novenas are wonderful," Father Becker said. "Nine days of prayer are great, but as Saint Paul reminds us we are to pray always. That means all the time and all different ways. I hope that those who participated in the nine days of prayer don't stop now. I hope it is a step in people's prayer life - not a final destination.

"All devotions should lead us back to the liturgy - back to the Eucharist. Hopefully those who celebrated this devotion will have a deeper love of the Lord, a deeper love of the Eucharist and a deeper love of the sacrament of reconciliation."