Rays of Merciful Love Spring 2021

3 This cenacle of formation started on Dec. 12, 2019. Lay minister Katrina Sandoval, under the authority and guidance of Spiritual Director Fr. Napa Tovar of the Los Santos Arcangeles Parish in the district of Los Olivos, Lima, began the group. Immediately, Father and I noticed the enthusiasm and total dedication of the group to the Divine Mercy devotion. That, in turn, motivated us to help supply books and other materials to assist them in the proper formation. All members are following the formation manual schedule and guidelines. The brothers and sisters of this cenacle are blessed by the Lord to hear this wonderful message of God’s love and mercy and also to better understand the need for all to assist in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Everyone is happy to commit to do their best to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a hurting world, and to help others who are not aware of the message. May God bless, and may Our Lady protect them from all danger. Also, I would like to ask EADM and members if there are brothers and sisters promoting the message of Divine Mercy in Peru so we can approach them to continue our formation to more families. Please get their contacts to the EADM office, and they will forward to me. TAMBOGRANDE PIURA, P eru Donny and Katrina Sandoval of Hartford, Connecticut, wrote and told us: The EADM office asks that each cenacle visit TheDivineMercy.org/eadm to make sure your cenacle is registered and that the information is correct. If it is not, please call us toll free at 1-877-380-0727 or email us at [email protected] Likuni Parish was established in 1902 and was the first parish in the Archdiocese of Lilongwe. It later became the first cathedral in the diocese. Its patron saint is Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. It has five outstations and small Christian communities. The Divine Mercy Apostolate was launched at the parish on April 24, 2017, the Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday. It has 50 members, excluding members from outstations. Every member is encouraged to attend Mass daily and to frequently receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. After every morning Mass, members who are free pray the Divine Mercy Novena and the Chaplet. Before we pray the Chaplet, we read a list of those who are ill. On the eighth day of the Novena of Divine Mercy, we read from a list of those who have died. These are the souls whom we were praying for when they had been sick on earth. We pay visits to homes of those for whom we pray, and we encourage them to not lose hope but to trust in God. We pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and mention their names. If we have something to offer them, we help, but most of the time it is a challenge because we are very limited in resources. We visit Catholics and Muslims as long as they allow us to pray with them. When we go to visit the sick, we first teach them about the Image of Divine Mercy and the graces that flow through it. Another work is evangelization of Divine Mercy, which was done in all five of the outstations of the parish. One problem is that we lack necessary materials, including Rosaries, booklets, and Bibles. Our experience has shown that people were very interested to know more about Divine Mercy. We are supposed to monitor how they are progressing in their prayers, but transportation to get to them is often an issue. Most of them don’t know how to read or write, so they depend on memorizing the prayers. We have also done evangelization at Likuni Girls Catholic Secondary School, which is within the radius of Likuni Parish. Students at the school were very much interested in knowing more about Divine Mercy, and they formed their own Divine Mercy group. This is good because when students are out for holidays they can evangelize and spread the devotion to their families and friends. We were also faced with a challenge of materials when we were evangelizing at the girls school, and we pray for more materials. We often pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, a spiritual work of mercy. This is done during our Divine Mercy Novena prayers, which we offer on the eighth day, by mentioning the names in our register for the departed souls. We also offer Mass for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Before the Mass starts, we pray all four Mysteries of the Rosary so that our Blessed Mother might help us in interceding for them. When the Mass is about to start, the names of souls are read. Every member of our group is allowed to bring in four names of his or her MALAWI, A frica Clare Chikaya wrote and told us: in the Diary , it speaks to us wherever we are in our lives. The lessons always seem new, no matter how many times we might re-read a passage. We support each other with prayer and encouragement. We always remind each other to remember the phrase “Jesus, I trust in You!” deceased friends, relatives, or neighbors. These names are added to the names that we have in our register and are read at the altar. During the week before the Mass is offered, we encourage every member to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to fast, and to perform works of mercy. We also attend many funerals, another work of mercy. We always go to pray the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Catholic homes where there is a funeral. We ask permission from the executive of the small Christian community to pray for the soul of the departed. Before we start our prayers, we counsel the deceased’s family that they should not lose hope but entrust everything to God. During Lent and the Christmas season, we increase our prayers as a group. We go to the mountains to pray, and we do more charity work. We visit people not necessarily of our religion but who are physically in need: the lame, the old, the mentally ill, and the sick. We try to offer them something, especially things that meet their basic needs, such as soap, sugar, and salt. Before offering them some- thing, first we teach them about the Image of Divine Mercy and pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy with them. We encourage them by telling them that God loves them and that they should not despair in their sufferings. Also, we have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. This is done on every first Friday of the month. All members are also encouraged to pray with Jesus in the tabernacle at their own time. Lastly, due to the kind benefactors of EADM, we received a large box of Rosaries, books, and religious materials to help us learn more and grow spiritu- ally. So thank you so much, and please pray for us!

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