As the celebration of Our Lord’s Resurrection continues in the Church for eight days, called the Octave of Easter, it ends this weekend on the Second Sunday of Easter, the Sunday of Divine Mercy, April 24 (this year). Please take a couple minutes to listen to Bishop Talley talk about Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday: BishopTalleyDivineMercy.
As Bishop Talley explains in the video, in the Jubilee Year 2000, at the Mass where Pope St. John Paul II canonized the humble religious Sr. Faustina Kowalska, John Paul II declared that from then on throughout the Church the Second Sunday of Easter would also be called the Sunday of Divine Mercy—and reminded us, “Divine Mercy is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity… .” He frequently said “mercy is an indispensable dimension of love” and refer to mercy as “love’s second name.” God’s love was revealed and actualized as mercy. We see this in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And this is what we are called to live and actualize today in our lives and in the life of the Church. Our Lord told St. Faustina three ways we are called to exercise mercy toward our neighbors: by deed, by word and by prayer. He is Risen!
Note: Each day of the Octave is ranked as a Solemnity in the Church’s liturgical calendar, the highest ranking of liturgical feasts. At Masses during the Octave of Easter, as on Sundays, the Gloria, is recited or sung. And at the end of each Mass of the Octave, the double Alleluia is sung at the dismissal. As we celebrate the Sunday of Divine Mercy, let us “give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118:1). And may the Lord help us to spread his mercy and to bear witness to it among all our brothers and sisters!
