make an earnest Act of Spiritual Communion. According to the Catholic teaching expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas, an act of Spiritual Communion consists of an ardent desire to receive Jesus in Holy Communion. Through this ardent longing, “spiritual reception” takes place “in which is received the sacramental effect, whereby a person is spiritually joined to Christ in faith and charity, the inward reality of the sacrament” (Summa Theol., 3a.80, I. Reply). Decree on Indulgences Attached to Devotions in Honour of Divine Mercy adds the following provision: “The sick and those who nurse them and all who for just cause cannot leave their homes on Divine Mercy Sunday or its Vigil, can, however, gain a Plenary Indulgence connected with an act of devotion towards The Divine Mercy by reciting the Our Father and the Creed devoutly before an image of Our Merciful Lord Jesus and, in addition, pray devoutly the invocation “Merciful Jesus, I trust in You.”4 From the wealth of graces available on Divine Mercy Sunday and other graces flowing from the forms of devotion listed in the Nurses for Divine Mercy Ministry Kit our Lord’s intention is clearly visible: “In order that the Feast of Mercy be truly a refuge for all souls, on this day are totally open the depths of Jesus’ generosity, in order to pour out on souls — with no holding back — graces of every sort, of every degree, even most unheard-of ones. The promise of this most extraordinary, unheard-of grace [attached to Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday] is for all souls the proof that the generosity of Jesus on this day is really without limits. This generosity is at the same time for all souls the motive to beg, with great and 24
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