The Easter Feast Concludes by Celebrating Divine Mercy

Happy Easter! Yes, Easter overflows into an eight-day feast (known in the Church as an octave), and the Easter season is fifty days long (longer than Lent!) Eight may seem a peculiar number of days… why not a three-day feast (a “trinity” of days), or a weeklong feast (seven being the biblical number of fullness)? Instead, Christians celebrate the number eight as the day of the New Creation: following the “seven days” of creation in Genesis, ending with the Sabbath (Saturday), our Savior rose from the dead on the “eighth day” (Sunday). This is why church furniture is sometimes shaped like an octagon – like the ambo/pulpit at St. Martha and the baptism fonts in both churches.

The “octave” or eighth day of Easter today is known as Sunday of Divine Mercy. Pope Saint John Paul II canonized St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun who experienced an apparition of Jesus Christ asking her to present him to the world as “Divine Mercy”. We have a copy of the “Divine Mercy” image St. Faustina saw in each of our churches, with Jesus’ hand raised in blessing as blue and red rays shine forth from his wounded side, symbolizing the water and blood that we experience as Baptism and Eucharist.

Far more important than the image or the feast day, however, is the message and meaning of divine mercy. Come this Sunday afternoon to learn more and experience the divine mercy God has for us, and how we are able to share His divine mercy with others. Our 1:30pm Divine Mercy Mini-Retreat starts in St. Mary Hall downstairs, then joins others who are attending the 3:00pm Adoration and Divine Mercy Chaplet prayer upstairs in the church. If you can’t join us, consider reading more and watching videos about Divine Mercy at www.shrineofdivinemercy.org or www.faceofmercyfilm.com – both sites are powerful!