By Terry Peloquin
Although the Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday is officially celebrated worldwide, its establishment didn’t always seem likely. As we prepare to celebrate the 20th "anniversary" of Divine Mercy Sunday on April 19, let's take a look at some history.
In her Diary, St. Faustina records 14 revelations from Jesus about His desire for a feast on the Sunday after Easter. The feast would proclaim Jesus’ mercy and extend to those who received the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (see Diary, 699).
Yet this revelation and the rest of the Divine Mercy message was nearly squelched in Poland in the 1930s. Even Sr. Faustina, who would become a canonized saint, got pushback about this feast. On Nov. 5, 1934, she tells Jesus:
I am very surprised that You bid me to talk about this Feast of Mercy, for they tell me that there is already such a feast and so why should I talk about it? And Jesus said to me, “And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often do not know about it themselves” (Diary, 341).
This pattern of obstacles continues throughout the history of the Divine Mercy devotion. Certainly, the odds didn’t favor what the Diary prophesied.
Look at St. Faustina herself. Who would imagine that a poor, uneducated religious sister from Poland would be a canonized saint? Yet she describes a vision of this event in her Diary, 1044. Most notably, she expresses confusion about a connection she envisions between this celebration in Rome and in Poland. As it happened on April 30, 2000, the canonization was celebrated in Rome and in Poland — accompanied by large screens for viewing by simulcast.
Then there’s the carrying of the Divine Mercy message out of occupied Poland and to the United States. Many would say it was miraculous how a Marian priest, Fr. Joseph Jarzebowski, accomplished this task. Customs officials in Russia and Japan searched Fr. Jarzebowski’s bags, but they never looked in his briefcase. He was certain that, had officials opened it, they would have confiscated them. The materials included the reasons why a Feast of Divine Mercy should be established in the Church, according to our Lord’s request to Sr. Faustina.
Saint Faustina also had a vision that this mission of Divine Mercy would face opposition. She writes that she saw her spiritual director’s soul in great suffering because it would appear as though the work were “utterly undone” (Diary, 378). But then, “God will act with great power, which will give evidence of its authenticity.”
Indeed, on March 6, 1959, the Holy See placed a ban on the further spread of the message and devotion, due to concerns raised over incomplete and inaccurate translations of Sr. Faustina’s writings. The Marian Fathers, while promoting devotion to the mercy of God, obediently put aside materials specifically from her revelations. Nearly 20 years later, the ban would be lifted thanks to new research and more accurate translations, and the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, published by the Marian Fathers, would become one of the bestselling mystical works in Catholicism.
Several months before the canonization of St. Faustina, the Marian Fathers launched a petition drive among the faithful, asking the Holy Father to establish Divine Mercy Sunday as a universal feast. Many Marian Helpers already celebrated it annually, especially at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy.
At the canonization of St. Faustina on April 30, 2000, Pope John Paul II unexpectedly announced that Divine Mercy Sunday would be celebrated from then on throughout the world. His announcement validated the decades of efforts by the Marian Fathers and Marian Helpers to promote the Divine Mercy message and devotion as revealed to St. Faustina.
Every Divine Mercy Sunday should remind us to trust in Jesus and His promises. All the more so for the Marian Fathers and Marian Helpers who have witnessed these victories of faith over likelihood.
See more about Divine Mercy Sunday in DivineMercyMatters.org and TheDivineMercy.org/celebrate.
