Know About Divine Mercy Sunday’s Special Graces

The Catholic Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday the Sunday after Easter. It’s not just another feast day, though. Divine Mercy Sunday is an incredible day to receive the mercy that Christ gives His Church.

Here’s what you need to know about the graces that come with Divine Mercy Sunday:


What is Divine Mercy Sunday?

During his papacy, Saint Pope John Paul II declared that the Sunday after Easter should be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. John Paul II announced this addition to the liturgical celebrations of the Catholic Church on May 5, 2000, during Saint Faustina’s canonization Mass.

Messages of God’s mercy can be traced all the way back through the Old Testament. We hear that God is slow to anger, rich in compassion. God the Father gives humanity His only begotten Son in the ultimate act of mercy. And Christ hangs on the cross as expiation for our sins.


Christ Himself tells us about the graces

Christ appeared to Saint Faustina over the course of four years. In one of the visions, He told Faustina about the Divine Mercy Promise. We find the promise in her diary:

“Our Lord Jesus said, ‘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 graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet…Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.”

Plenary indulgences come with a list of conditions. In order to receive the indulgence you must receive the Eucharist, go to confession within 20 days, pray for the intentions of the Holy father, and be detached from all sin.

Christ’s promises for Divine Mercy Sunday removes the requirement for the soul to be detached from all sin. The special graces promised by Christ come through receiving Communion, being in a state of grace, and trusting in Divine Mercy.
The graces from Mercy Sunday are incredible, but just what are the graces? The most important grace that Christ promises for Divine Mercy Sunday is equivalent to the soul returning to the state it was right after baptism – “complete forgiveness (remission) of sins and punishment”. This grace can usually only be received by baptism itself – or by making a confession with perfect contrition.

“Whoever approaches the Fountain of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment,” Christ told Faustina.

To receive these graces, the only conditions are to receive Holy Communion in a state of grace on Divine Mercy Sunday (or the Vigil celebration on Saturday evening), make a good confession, and trust in His Divine Mercy.

“On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open,” Faustina records in her diary. “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.”

Christ emphasizes the importance of confessing our sins and receiving His body in the sacrament of the Eucharist. He wants all souls to receive His Divine Mercy!

Eternal Father, we offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen. 

PLEASE SHARE TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY 

Divine Mercy Novena Day 9

The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy Novena

Ninth Day:

Today bring to Me SOULS WHO HAVE BECOME LUKEWARM,* and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy.

Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.

Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Litany to the Divine Mercy 

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*To understand who are the souls designated for this day, and who in the Diary are called 'lukewarm,' but are also compared to ice and to corpses, we would do well to take note of the definition that the Savior Himself gave to them when speaking to St. Faustina about them on one occasion: There are souls who thwart My efforts (1682). Souls without love or devotion, souls full of egoism and selfishness, proud and arrogant souls full of deceit and hypocrisy, lukewarm souls who have just enough warmth to keep themselves alive: My Heart cannot bear this. All the graces that I pour out upon them flow off them as off the face of a rock. I cannot stand them because they are neither good nor bad (1702).