Blessed Sacrament to host Divine Mercy Sunday service

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
March 17, 2005

When Pope John Paul II declared fellow Pole Faustina Kowalska the first saint of the new millennium back on April 30, 2000, he described her as a "gift of God for our time."

At her canonization ceremony, the Holy Father proclaimed the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in honor of the new saint and her message centered on God's mercy. The Polish Mercy sister, who died in 1938 at the age of 33, inspired the Divine Mercy devotion worldwide through her 600-page diary account of visions and revelations of Christ.

Since her canonization, the number of people dedicated to the Divine Mercy devotion has continued to increase. As with the past six years, two diocesan parishioners who serve on the spiritual committee of Queen of Peace, Inc. - Roxanne Lohr and Regina Ratino - are organizing a special service to be held on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 3. For the third consecutive year, Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City is hosting the service.

Organizers of the local service encourage people to prepare for the Feast of the Divine Mercy with a nine-day novena starting on Good Friday, March 25. They ask people to pray the novena on their own March 25, 26 and 27 and then March 28 through April 2, everyone is welcome to join others in prayer at 7:30 p.m. each evening at Trinity Heights.

"We will be praying together the intentions for the day, singing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and listening to a reflection about mercy from one of our diocesan priests or deacons," said Ratino. "There will also be opportunities for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the novena at Trinity Heights as well as on Divine Mercy Sunday at Blessed Sacrament Church."

The service on April 3 at Blessed Sacrament Church will begin with adoration at 1:30 p.m. Father Nick Becker, the administrator for parishes in Ellendale, Neptune and Merrill and part-time teacher at Briar Cliff University, will serve as homilist for the ceremony.

"I think the Divine Mercy devotion is a beautiful one. Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has a deep devotion to Divine Mercy and to the writings of St. Faustina," said Father Becker. "This is a devotion that for years has been important in his personal life and he has invited the whole church to participate in that."

Father Becker pointed out that he was involved in the service in 2003 when he was associate pastor at Blessed Sacrament and graciously accepted the invitation to speak at this year's service. He anticipates that he will speak about how wonderful it is to have a feast of the Lord's mercy.

"The very identity of God is compassion, love, mercy and forgiveness. All we have to do is turn back to him and ask for it and do what we can to change our lives," he said. "Regardless of who we are, we all stand in need of God's mercy. None of us can do the Christian life on our own. We don't pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We need God's love and mercy to live a faithful and holy life."

One of the reasons why Father Becker willingly agreed to be a part of this service is that he believes in the last 40 to 50 years there has been an "unfortunate decrease in the devotional life of the church. Promoting devotions and helping people celebrate them more fully and understanding them in their proper relationship - flowing from the liturgy and leading us back to the liturgy - are very important."

Father Merlin Schrad, pastor at Blessed Sacrament, said his parish agreed to host the service once again because he felt it is important the event be held in a local church.

He pointed out that with this being the Year of the Eucharist this service gives people another opportunity for adoration to the Blessed Sacrament.

Confessions will also be available at the April 3 service and the chaplet of Divine Mercy is slated for 3 p.m. A reception will follow in the parish hall.

Ratino said they continue to promote the event because of the message the Lord gave to all people through St. Faustina.

St. Faustina wrote in her diary (327) that Jesus told her, "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 (of the Divine Mercy) with the signature: Jesus, I trust in you."

The saint also wrote (diary 1109) that Jesus has promised that he will "grant a complete pardon to the soul that will go to confession and receive Holy Communion on the feast of my mercy."

At St. Faustina's canonization Mass, the pope said that the faithful must be open not only to God's mercy but to the practice of mercy toward others as God's love and brotherly love are inseparable.