Introduction
The Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday recalls the fullness of the
revelation of God’s all-merciful love of us in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 These holiest of days in the Church Year mark the events by which our Lord won our salvation, making us
heirs, with Him, of eternal life.  They also make present for us, in a strong way, the abundant gifts of
God’s immeasurable love, the gifts of His grace won for us by God the Son’s Suffering and Dying.
 
The fifty days of Easter, beginning with the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord and concluding
with His Sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, are filled with the recognition of how God continues to
pour out His merciful love for us in His Son, our Lord, risen from the dead and alive for us in the Church.  
In the events of the Sacred Triduum, which culminate with the Resurrection, all time finds its meaning and
every person of every time and place is embraced by the love of God.  Christ, after he had risen from the
dead, ascended to the right hand of God the Father, so that He might send the Holy Spirit upon the
Apostles and, through the Apostles, upon the whole Church.  Through the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in
the Church, Christ is with us always, most especially in the Sacraments, until His return in glory on the
Last Day.
 
Public Revelation and Private Revelation
In the last century, our Lord Jesus granted a private revelation to a Polish religious sister, Sister Maria
Faustina Kowalska of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy.  The purpose of the private revelation was to draw
us to the fullness of the public revelation of the Father’s immeasurable love of us in His Incarnate Son.  As
with all private revelations, the private revelation to Sister Maria Faustina draws us to recognize the public
revelation of God’s love in the Redemptive Incarnation of God the Son.
 
In the particular case of Sister Maria Faustina, the private revelation is centered upon the mercy of God.  
Sister Maria Faustina kept a meticulous record or diary of all that our Lord taught her about His
 
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immeasurable mercy toward us.  It is entitled Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul and is available through the
religious order of men, the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, who are in charge of the National
Shrine of the Divine Mercy at Stockbridge, Massachusetts.  Having studied the Diary and having returned
often to reread its passages, I wholeheartedly urge you to obtain a copy for your daily spiritual reading and
meditation.
 
Why the Private Revelation of Divine Mercy?
The private revelation of the immeasurable mercy of God toward us came at a time when many had lost
hope.  It was the time between World War I and World War II, a time of great disillusionment and
suffering.  It was also the time in which the godless philosophies of Rationalism and Atheistic Materialism
(Marxism) had more and more insinuated themselves into the popular culture, leaving many with a sense
that there was nothing beyond themselves and the material realities about them.  The resulting
forgetfulness of God and of His plan for us and our world leaves them without hope.
 
In response to man’s loss of hope, our Lord, in His infinite love, spoke to Sister Maria Faustina and
revealed to her an image of Himself to remind us of His unfailing mercy.  In the image, two streams of
light, red and white in color, flow from the pierced Heart of Jesus.  These streams represent the blood and
water which flowed from the Heart of Jesus, when, after His death on the Cross, it was pierced by the
Roman soldier’s spear.  They symbolize the unceasing outpouring of divine grace from the glorious Heart
of Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, especially in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy
Eucharist.  Under the image are inscribed the words: “Jesus, I trust in You.”  These words are our prayer
when we look upon the image of our Lord, Divine Mercy Incarnate.
 
Divine Mercy Chaplet and Divine Mercy Sunday
Through Sister Maria Faustina, our Lord asked that, each day, we recite the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3
P.M., the hour of His death for our salvation.  He also asked that we celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter
as Divine Mercy Sunday, preceding the celebration with a novena to Divine Mercy, beginning on Good
Friday.  Those who devoutly participate in these devotions can only be filled with hope in God’s merciful
love and strengthened against the temptations to discouragement and despair.
 
The one who most promoted the devotion to the Divine Mercy was our late and most beloved Pope John
Paul II, first as Archbishop of Cracow and then as Roman Pontiff.  Pope John Paul II beatified Sister Maria
 
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Faustina on April 18, 1993, and he canonized her a saint on April 30, 2000, the Second Sunday of Easter.  
During the homily of the Mass, he declared: “It is important that we accept the whole message that comes
to us from the Word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church
will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’.”  Since April 30, 2000, the Second Sunday of Easter also bears the
name of Divine Mercy Sunday.
 
On Divine Mercy Sunday, the image of the Divine Mercy, revealed to Saint Faustina, is to be displayed in
the church or chapel, and the homily is to be a reflection on the immeasurable mercy of God toward us.  In
order to participate fully in the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, the faithful are asked to go to
Confession and receive Holy Communion, and to cultivate interiorly a great trust in the mercy of God and
to practice exteriorly acts of mercy, especially on behalf of brothers and sisters in most need.  We should
go to Confession on Divine Mercy Sunday itself or some days before Divine Mercy Sunday, so that we
will be rightly disposed, that is, free of any mortal sin and from any attachment to sin, to receive Holy
Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday.
 
Conclusion
Regarding Divine Mercy Sunday, Saint Faustina records these words of our Lord to her:
My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy.  I desire that the Feast of Mercy
be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners.  On that day the very depths of
My tender mercy are open.  I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who 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 all the divine floodgates through which
grace flow are opened.  Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet.  My
mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all
eternity....  The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness.  It is My desire that it
be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter.  Mankind will not have peace until it turns
to the Fount of My Mercy (Diary, n. 699).
Let us all draw near to the Fount of Divine Mercy in the Sacraments of Confession and, above all, the Holy
Eucharist.  Let us pray, in the coming days and especially during the Novena of Divine Mercy that all
souls which have drifted away from our Lord will receive the grace of forgiveness and reconciliation with
God and neighbor.
 
 
May you have a most blessed celebration of the Sacred Triduum.  May the celebration of Divine Mercy
Sunday fill you with the peace which comes from the forgiveness of our sins and the joy which comes
from the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.