In the midst of the COVID-19 turmoil, God's merciful and tender love overflows from His Heart more than ever. God loves all of us, no matter how great our sins. He desires to bring us healing, strength, pardon, peace and hope. He longs to bless us through the Feast of the Divine Mercy. Through this unique grace, the Lord opens wide the floodgates of His mercy so we can enter and turn back to Him while it is still the time of mercy, before He comes again as the just judge.
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we are called to gaze upon Christ's merciful love, which is greater than our sins and miseries, and to proclaim His mercies as we live out the ABCs of the Divine Mercy...
Ask for God's Mercy - we are to be purified by the "Tribunal of Mercy" through the sacrament of Reconciliation (if possible) or by offering an Act of Perfect Contrition made out of love for God (provided, there is the desire for the sacrament and the intention to receive sacramental confession at the earliest opportunity). To sign up for Confession (Saturday, April 25, 4:00 p.m.), please email saintlukefc@gmail.com.
Be merciful - perform merciful works, in union with the saving acts of God (click here for the 14 Works of Mercy)
Completely trust in Jesus - we are to venerate His sacred image, and seal and ratify the covenant of mercy by receiving Jesus in Holy Communion. (During the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass via EWTN (7:00am, 10:30am, 4:00pm) or SF Archdiocese Live Stream (7:30am, 9:00am, 11:00am), make an Act of Spiritual Communion, provided there is the desire for the sacrament and the intention to receive it at the earliest opportunity).
Through this great Feast of Divine Mercy, we are revived and transformed by no other greater love than the love of Christ Jesus who died for us, redeeming us by His blood to set us free from sin and death. Jesus, now risen and alive, made the ultimate sacrifice, so that we might have life eternal. In Jesus, we see the Father's loving mercies made visible.
Let our merciful Savior embrace us all as we place our trust in Him. Let us offer merciful acts and continue to unite in prayers for one another, especially for those who are suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A safe and grace-filled Divine Mercy Sunday, dear friends!
In Christ, 'til our blessed reunion at St. Luke,
Rev. Jonathan Paala
Jesus asked the Church, through St. Faustina, to institute the Feast of Mercy, emerging from the very depths of His tenderness, for the consolation of the whole world:
“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...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… 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.” (Jesus to St. Faustina, Diary #699).
“[This comes] from the lips of the risen Christ, who bears the great message of Divine Mercy and entrusts its ministry to the Apostles in the Upper Room: ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you. ...Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained’” (John 20:21-23). (Pope John Paul II, institution of the Feast of Divine Mercy, April 30, 2000)