Divine Mercy mission: A Lenten Evening of Recollection

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
February 12, 2004

All are welcome to attend a Lenten Evening of Recollection conducted by sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy.

Sister M. Teresa de la Fuente and Sister M. Caterina Esselan, two active members of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, will facilitate the evening of recollection to be held at 7 p.m. March 1 in the community room at Trinity Heights in Sioux City. Their message will focus on "What it means to be an Apostle of Divine Mercy."

Their convent in Boston was the first international convent, founded outside of Krakow, Poland.

Sister Teresa, born and raised in the Philippines, left the Philippines in 1996 to join the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy after two sisters from that order had facilitated a Divine Mercy mission in the Philippines earlier that year. Presently, she participates in the community's apostolic mission of bringing the mercy of God closer to people through prayer and through the work of spreading the Divine Mercy devotion in prisons, prayer groups, parishes, school and conferences.

Sister Caterina, a native of Belgium, studied and worked in the United States until she joined the sisters' active-contemplative community in Boston in 1995. In addition to sharing the message of mercy at conferences, in parishes and prisons, Sister Caterina is also the vocations director for the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.

The March 1 gathering is sponsored by a local Divine Mercy Apostolate, made up of lay persons from the Siouxland area who are devoted to spreading the message of Divine Mercy.

According to Carol Wolpert, a member of the Divine Mercy Apostolate and parishioner at Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City, they chose the Lenten season to hold this evening of recollection because it is a time of year when people's hearts are often more receptive to spiritual renewal.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy is the religious order to which Saint Faustina Kowalska belonged. Wolpert described Saint Faustina as "the spiritual heir" to the Divine Mercy message.

Saint Faustina Helena Kowalska was born in a village in Poland, on Aug. 25, 1905. She was the third of ten children. When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women.

In the 1930s, Saint Faustina received from the Lord a message of mercy that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world.

Pope John Paul II canonized Saint Faustina on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 30, 2000, in Rome. Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter.

The Holy Father solemnly entrusted the world to Divine Mercy in August of 2002 during his homily at the dedication of the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland. He declared "that the message of God's merciful love, proclaimed here through Saint Faustina be made known to all the peoples of the earth and fill their hearts with hope."

Wolpert said the Divine Mercy Apostolate invited the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy to Sioux City to help the Catholic laity know and live the message of Divine Mercy "entrusted to us by our Holy Father at that historic event in August 2002. We hope the sisters' message of God's merciful love will be embraced by all and will bring abundant peace and happiness into our families, schools and workplaces."

For more information about the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, check out their Web site at www.sisterfaustina.org.

There is no cost and no reservations are required for the March 1 gathering.