20 Marian Helper • Fall 2023 • Marian.org “Your life may be the only Gospel some people read,” the Very Rev. Chris Alar, MIC, told the Fifth World Apostolic Congress on Mercy (WACOM5), convened in Samoa from May 20-26, 2023. “They’re not going to pick up the Bible, but they’re going to see you. They’re going to hear you. That makes living the message and devotion of Divine Mercy all the more important for our times.” A first for Oceania From the Americas and Europe to the countries of the Pacific Rim, Divine Mercy devotees gathered at WACOM5 for prayer, fellowship, and formation based around the theme “Divine Mercy: The Ocean of Love that Envelops the Whole World.” The deputy prime minister of Samoa, Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio, welcomed all the delegates on behalf of the government and people of Samoa, an island nation 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii. “We noticed that the last three hosts of WACOM were countries with larger economies and resources: Poland in 2011, Colombia in 2014, and the Philippines in 2017,” Ponifasio said, noting Samoa was the first country in Oceania to host WACOM. He offered “the warmest of Oceanic and Pacifica alofa’aga — an ocean of love, enveloping not only the delegates but the whole world. May His guiding arms lead, protect, and steer our ships/canoes, as we sail through this week and our respective journey back, as apostles of mercy, proclaiming and striving for perfection and His righteousness — leading the mission and movement of the Divine Mercy.” Speakers included Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC, who’d worked so closely with the late, great Fr. Seraphim An Ocean of Mercy By Chris Sparks Father Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC (center), at the closing Mass for the Fifth World Apostolic Congress on Mercy.
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