Five Ways to Celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday at Home

I’ve heard about the devotion to Divine Mercy many times, but I’d never really taken the time to look into it deeply before — after all, our Church has so many devotions, and it seemed like just another one to add to my list. Now that I’ve done the research, however, I feel pretty passionate about celebrating this feast every year. Divine Mercy Sunday is just that awesome.

Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted by Pope John Paul II, but it was an obscure Polish nun named St. Faustina Kowalska who would be the conduit for Jesus’s message of mercy to the world.

The things Faustina wrote about in her journal were miraculous. Throughout her short life, she received visions of Jesus, who told her about the bottomless mercy of God. It was from these visions that Divine Mercy Sunday — and the Divine Mercy devotion — was born.

Why is Divine Mercy Sunday important?

In her visions, Jesus promised that anyone who went to Confession and received Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday would have all of their sins forgiven — including mortal. Not so different from regular Confession you say? Here’s the kicker: Confession forgives our sins and saves us from hell, but most of us will still need to be purified in purgatory before we get to heaven. On Divine Mercy Sunday, if you complete the requirements, you are relieved of purgatory as well. This is similar to a plenary indulgence but even more spectacular — indulgences generally require other actions and you have to have a complete detachment from sin for it to be full. On Divine Mercy Sunday, all you have to do is show up and be open to God’s mercy.

How to celebrate at home this Sunday

1. Confession: Obviously most of us won’t be able to make it to Confession this year because of the Coronavirus pandemic. There’s good news though! Simply saying an Act of Contrition, with plans to go to Confession once you are able, is enough to meet the requirements this year (see video linked below).
2. Communion: Again, most of us are unable to go to Mass currently, and therefore, receiving the Eucharist is all but impossible. Fortunately, God’s mercy isn’t bound by the impossible. This year, you can say a Spiritual Communion instead of physically receiving (as long as you resolve to receive again as soon as you are able).
3. Divine Mercy Chaplet: If you want to do more to make Divine Mercy Sunday special, there are other parts of the devotion that you can participate in today (and any day). One is to pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet. You can use a normal rosary if you don’t have a chaplet designed for these specific prayers. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is much shorter than a rosary, and much less intimidating for those who find the Rosary daunting.
4. Divine Mercy Image: If you don’t have one already, hang a Divine Mercy image in your home. This painting comes from Faustina’s journal and is a representation of the Christ she saw in her visions; Faustina was instructed by Jesus to have the painting made and place the words “Jesus I trust in You” at its base. If you already have this painting, put it somewhere special where you can look at it often today.
5. Divine Mercy Hour: The Divine Mercy hour starts at 3 o’clock — the hour when Jesus died on the cross. This is a good time to sit in prayer, perhaps with a Divine Mercy chaplet, and contemplate God’s forgiveness and love. If you missed the 3 o’clock hour today, don’t worry, you can do your divine mercy hour at any time.

Resources

Ocean of Mercy: This is a great movie. It can be watched for free on Formed. If you don’t have access to that, you can get it here.

Here’s a quick YouTube video that will give you a bite-sized rundown.