of mercy waiting for you no matter what you’ve done,” Deb says. “Remind them that God’s mercy is for everyone. People are longing to feel that mercy.” The story of the Divine Mercy devotion at St. Pius X Parish offers an example of what can happen when people follow that longing where God leads. In 2000, the Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet had been part of Deb’s daily prayer life for two years, ever since she had read Divine Mercy in My Soul as a Lenten devotion. So, when Deb received an urgent prayer request for Michelle, a young mother of three diagnosed with a brain tumor, she decided at once to confront Michelle’s need with two of the most powerful prayer weapons she had. “We invited anyone able to come before the Blessed Sacrament on Fridays at 3 p.m. to pray for Michelle,” Deb recalls. She expected the band of intercessors to meet for a few weeks, but the parish Rosary and Divine Mercy Prayer Group gathered weekly for 14 years! (Their first petition was granted: Michelle is alive and cancer-free today.) And since 2020, parishioners have continued praying for one another’s intentions through St. Pius X’s Divine Mercy Intercessory Prayer Group, using Flocknote. In 2002, Cathy Reese, a faithful participant in that Friday prayer group, was herself diagnosed with cancer and given only two years to live. Drawing “tremendous strength” from her “unwavering faith,” Cathy lived six years longer than expected. During that time, she was among the prayer group members who contributed to the purchase of a large Divine Mercy Image to display inside the church. Devotion expands Over the years, as prayers continued to multiply, so did visible signs of the parish’s devotion to the merciful Christ. Father Raymond Suriani bought a second large Divine Mercy Image to display in the rectory, and in 2011, St. Pius X held its first Divine Mercy Sunday celebration. Parishioner Sharon Furman had received a first-class relic of St. Faustina as a gift, and it has been venerated at the Feast of Mercy service every year. In 2012, Fr. Ray led a group of more than 50 parishioners on pilgrimage to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, where the group received a tour from Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, who was then a deacon. Four years later, during the Year of Mercy, Father Ray led another pilgrimage to the Shrine. Deb recalls, “The grace and blessings experienced as we walked through the Holy Doors of Mercy were profound.” Later that same year, the parish’s new pastor, Fr. Michael Najim, introduced the “Pilgrim Icon of Divine Mercy” program, in which a family or individual hosted a Divine Mercy Image for a week and received a prayer card explaining how to consecrate their homes and themselves to Divine Mercy. Each hosting household was then given a certificate proclaiming Jesus as “King of their Home.” Also in 2016, a couple donated yet another Divine Mercy Image, which, displayed in an enclave of the church, established a special area of prayer that has become the parish’s own “Divine Mercy Shrine” (below). Seed to tree In time, non-parishioners began to perceive the remarkable honoring of God’s mercy that had become part of St. Pius X’s parish character. During the 2016 Jubilee Year of Mercy, parishioner Christine Magowan lost her nephew, John Jerabeck, suddenly. Only 33 years old when he died, John was devoted to St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy message, and he frequently visited St. Pius X when he traveled from his home in upstate New York to see his aunt. After John’s death, his parents made a donation to the parish, which used the funds to install a stained-glass window, depicting St. Faustina holding a Divine Mercy Image (see opposite page). In 2021, thanks to Fr. Edward Nadolny and the generosity of parishioners Paul and Dolores Cusson, the large beckoning Divine Mercy Image was erected on the façade of the church. The current pastor, Fr. Daniel Mahoney, is organizing a Divine Mercy pilgrimage to Poland in May 2025. The mustard seed planted 24 years ago in the form of a small group praying the Chaplet for a special intention has grown into a tall sheltering tree, where parishioners and strangers alike seek comfort in the shade of its branches. After reading St. Faustina’s Diary for the first time during that Lent so many years ago, Deb made an Easter promise to our Lord “to spread the message any way I could.” Together with her pastors and fellow parishioners, Deb has done precisely that, following the promptings of the Holy Spirit toward ever more fervent, ever bolder devotion to Jesus, the Divine Mercy. She hopes others will do the same. “Stay steadfast,” she urges, “and you can always go deeper.” To purchase a Divine Mercy Image and other sacred art, visit DivineMercyArt.org. Marian Helper • Winter 2024-25 • Marian.org 5
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