26–27 April 2025
Easter 2: Divine Mercy
 
“O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You.” (Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, no. 187).
 
Throughout her life, St. Faustina (1905–1938) trusted in the Lord Jesus, and became a kind of an “apostle” of Divine Mercy. She was devoted to the Lord, and longed to have the world know the depths of Divine Love that God has for humanity, by which his Mercy forgives sins and heals the human heart. She longed to see a feast day be established in the Church dedicated to God’s Divine Mercy. On the day of her canonization on April 30, 2000, Pope St. John Paul II established this feast throughout the entire Latin Church, occurring on the Second Sunday of Easter. 
 
As Pope John Paul II noted in his canonization homily, “Divine Mercy reaches human beings through the heart of Christ crucified. Christ pours out this mercy on humanity though the sending of the Spirit who, in the Trinity, is the Person-Love. It is this love which must inspire humanity today, if it is to face the crisis of the meaning of life, the challenges of the most diverse needs and, especially, the duty to defend the dignity of every human person.”
 
The collect for this Second Sunday of Easter recalls both the Mercy of God as well as those who were reborn through the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist) at the Easter Vigil and throughout the previous Easter Octave:
 
God of everlasting mercy,
who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast
kindle the faith of the people you have made your own,
increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed,
that all may grasp and rightly understand
in what font they have been washed,
by whose Spirit they have been reborn,
by whose Blood they have been redeemed.
 
(Colecta en español):
Dios de misericordia infinita,
que reanimas, con el retorno anual de las fiestas de Pascua,
la fe del pueblo a ti consagrado,
acrecienta en nosotros los dones de tu gracia,
para que todos comprendan mejor
qué bautismo nos ha purificado,
qué Espíritu nos ha hecho renacer
y qué sangre nos ha redimido.
 
As we continue the celebration of this eighth “Easter Day” of the Easter Octave, may our belief in the Resurrection of the Lord from the Dead continue to stoke our joyful hearts, that we might be credible witnesses to the World that desperately needs Christ.
 
May our prayers begging for God’s Divine Mercy also bear fruit in our hearts and in our lives.
 
Eternal Father, I 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.
 
Fr. Earthman