. 1 • Monday- Saturday 9:00am and 2:00pm Sunday 9:00am, 10:30am & 2:00pm Please check our website for the most up-to-date information on our Monday-Friday Mass and Devotions schedule. Please note: 2pm Mass on Saturday does NOT fulfill Sunday obligation Confessions Available Monday thru Friday 1:00pm - 2:00pm Saturdays and Sundays 1:00pm – 2:00pm 3:30pm – 4:15pm Livestream from the National Shrine Daily Devotions Daily Mass 9:00am Chaplet of Divine Mercy 3:00pm Rosary for Life 5:00pm Find us on: Divine Mercy (Official) Divine Mercy Videos posted on our Website daily: shrineofdivinemercy.org Dear Pilgrims, We welcome you to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. Please join us for any upcoming events at the Shrine along with doing a personal pilgrimage during this year. Feel free to visit our Gift Shop and stroll our beautiful grounds during your visit here. May God bless you. Daily Public Mass Schedule Sincerely in Jesus and Mary Immaculate, Fr. Matthew Tomeny, MIC Shrine Rector A Ministry of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary National Shrine of The Divine Mercy PO Box 951 2 Prospect Hill Road Stockbridge, MA 01262 (GPS: 11 Pine Street, Stockbridge, MA) Fr. Matthew Tomeny, MIC: Rector Fr. Robert Vennetti, MIC: Vice Rector Fr. Anthony Gramlich, MIC: Vice Rector Shrine Reception: 413-298-3931 Bus Pilgrimages: 413-298-1119 Gift Shop: 888-484-1112 National Shrine: shrineofdivinemercy.org Divine Mercy: thedivinemercy.org Marians: marian.org April 2nd – Palm Sunday of The Lord’s Passion National Shrine of The Divine Mercy
Upcoming Events For more information please visit the Shrine Calendar found on our website: https: www.shrineofdivinemercy.org April 2023 4/2 Palm Sunday • Distribution of Palms at 9am, 10:30am and 2pm Masses (see flyer on page 10 for more information) 4/6 Holy Thursday • Mass of The Lord’s Supper at 7:30pm 4/7-15 Solemn Novena to The Divine Mercy with Reflection • Daily at 3:00pm except on Good Friday (7:00pm) 4/7 Good Friday • St. Faustina Way of The Cross at 12:00pm (outdoors weather permitting) • Celebration of the Passion of The Lord at 3:00pm • Solemn Novena to The Divine Mercy – Day 1 at 7:00pm • Tenebrae (Meditation on the Seven Last Words of Christ) at 7:45pm 4/8 Holy Saturday • Solemn Novena to The Divine Mercy – Day 2 at 3:00pm • Easter Vigil Mass at 10:00pm 4/9 Solemnity of Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of The Lord • Easter Sunday Masses at 9:00am, 10:30am and 2:00pm • Solemn Novena to The Divine Mercy – Day 3 at 3:00pm 4/15 Divine Mercy Weekend Conference 2023 (see flyer on page 12 for more information on how to register) 4/15-16 Divine Mercy Weekend (see flyer on page 13 for schedule for the weekend)
sa i 1728 Image Pope Benedict XVI: https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/pope-benedict-xvis-top-10-mercy-quotes Homily April 17, 2011 ● April 17, 2011 Excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI Homily on April 17, 2011. To read in full go to: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110417_palm-sunday.html Pope Coat of Arms: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en.html But what are we really doing when we join this procession as part of the throng which went up with Jesus to Jerusalem and hailed him as King of Israel? Is this anything more than a ritual, a quaint custom? Does it have anything to do with the reality of our life and our world? To answer this, we must first be clear about what Jesus himself wished to do and actually did. After Peter’s confession of faith in Caesarea Philippi, in the northernmost part of the Holy Land, Jesus set out as a pilgrim towards Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. He was journeying towards the Temple in the Holy City, towards that place which for Israel ensured in a particular way God’s closeness to his people. He was making his way towards the common feast of Passover, the memorial of Israel’s liberation from Egypt and the sign of its hope of definitive liberation. He knew that what awaited him was a new Passover and that he himself would take the place of the sacrificial lambs by offering himself on the cross. He knew that in the mysterious gifts of bread and wine he would give himself for ever to his own, and that he would open to them the door to a new path of liberation, to fellowship with the living God. He was making his way to the heights of the Cross, to the moment of self-giving love. The ultimate goal of his pilgrimage was the heights of God himself; to those heights he wanted to lift every human being. The Fathers of the Church maintained that human beings stand at the point of intersection between two gravitational fields. First, there is the force of gravity which pulls us down – towards selfishness, falsehood and evil; the gravity which diminishes us and distances us from the heights of God. On the other hand there is the gravitational force of God’s love: the fact that we are loved by God and respond in love attracts us upwards. Man finds himself betwixt this twofold gravitational force; everything depends on our escaping the gravitational field of evil and becoming free to be attracted completely by the gravitational force of God, which makes us authentic, elevates us and grants us true freedom. Psalm 24, which the Church proposes as the “song of ascent” to accompany our procession in today’s liturgy, indicates some concrete elements which are part of our ascent and without which we cannot be lifted upwards: clean hands, a pure heart, the rejection of falsehood, the quest for God’s face. The great achievements of technology are liberating and contribute to the progress of mankind only if they are joined to these attitudes – if our hands become clean and our hearts pure, if we seek truth, if we seek God and let ourselves be touched and challenged by his love. All these means of “ascent” are effective only if we humbly acknowledge that we need to be lifted up; if we abandon the pride of wanting to become God. We need God: he draws us upwards; letting ourselves be upheld by his hands – by faith, in other words – sets us aright and gives us the inner strength that raises us on high. We need the humility of a faith which seeks the face of God and trusts in the truth of his love. The question of how man can attain the heights, becoming completely himself and completely like God, has always engaged mankind. It was passionately disputed by the Platonic philosophers of the third and fourth centuries. For them, the central issue was finding the means of purification which could free man from the heavy load weighing him down and thus enable him to ascend to the heights of his true being, to the heights of divinity. Saint Augustine, in his search for the right path, long sought guidance from those philosophies. But in the end he had to acknowledge that their answers were insufficient, their methods would not truly lead him to God. To those philosophers he said: recognize that human power and all these purifications are not enough to bring man in truth to the heights of the divine, to his own heights. And he added that he should have despaired of himself and human existence had he not found the One who accomplishes what we of ourselves cannot accomplish; the One who raises us up to the heights of God in spite of our wretchedness: Jesus Christ who from God came down to us and, in his crucified love, takes us by the hand and lifts us on high. We are on pilgrimage with the Lord to the heights. We are striving for pure hearts and clean hands, we are seeking truth, we are seeking the face of God. Let us show the Lord that we desire to be righteous, and let us ask him: Draw us upwards! Make us pure! Grant that the words which we sang in the processional psalm may also hold true for us; grant that we may be part of the generation which seeks God, “which seeks your face, O God of Jacob” (cf. Ps 24:6). Amen. Benedict XVI Dear Brothers and Sisters, Dear young people! It is a moving experience each year on Palm Sunday as we go up the mountain with Jesus, towards the Temple, accompanying him on his ascent. On this day, throughout the world and across the centuries, young people and people of every age acclaim him, crying out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” ●
Lenten Regulations 028 D Year of The Eucharist In a recent study, it was found that only 30% of Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus. We’re in crisis mode. They’re missing not just the reality of Jesus in their lives, but something transformative, powerful, and beautiful. This Year of the Eucharist is an opportunity for revival. Bishop William Byrne Bishop of The Diocese of Springfield, MA For more information about Events please visit: www.yearoftheeucharist.net November 21, 2021 to June 11, 2023
12 5 “I saw the suffering Face of Jesus…” From the Diary of Saint The Eucharistic Conference, March 4, 2023, at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. Register by Feb 1, 2023, to have lunch included in your registration. Palm Sunday. This Sunday, I experienced in a special way the sentiments of the most sweet Heart of Jesus. My spirit was there where Jesus was. I saw Jesus riding on a donkey’s foal, and the disciples and a great multitude with branches in their hands joyfully accompanying the Lord Jesus. Some strewed them before His feet where He was riding, while others raised their branches in the air, leaping and jumping before the Lord and not knowing what to do for joy. And I saw another crowd which came out to meet Jesus, likewise with joyful faces and with branches in their hands, and they were crying out unceasingly with joy. There were little children there also. But Jesus was very grave, and the Lord gave me to know how much He was suffering at the time. And at that moment, I saw nothing but only Jesus, whose Heart was saturated with ingratitude. April 10, 1938. Palm Sunday. I attended Holy Mass, but did not have the strength to go and get the palm.244 I felt so weak that I barely made it till the end of Mass. During Mass, Jesus gave me to know the pain of His soul, and I could clearly feel how the hymns of Hosanna reverberated as a painful echo in His Sacred Heart. My soul, too, was inundated by a sea of bitterness, and each Hosanna pierced my own heart to its depths. My whole soul was drawn close to Jesus. I heard Jesus’ voice: My daughter, your compassion for Me refreshes Me. By meditating on My Passion, your soul acquires a distinct beauty. Holy Thursday, April 18. 13 This morning I heard these words: From today until the [celebration of the] Resurrection, you will not feel My presence, but your soul will be filled with great longing. And immediately a great longing filled my soul; I felt a separation from my beloved Jesus, and when the moment for Holy Communion came, I saw the suffering Face of Jesus in every Host [contained] in the chalice. From that moment, I felt a more intense yearning in my heart. O Blessed Host, in whom is contained the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus as proof of infinite mercy for us, and especially for poor sinners. Monthly one-day retreat. t In the course of this retreat, the Lord has given me the light to know His will more profoundly and to abandon myself completely to the holy will of God. This light has confirmed me in profound peace, making me understand that I should fear nothing except sin. Whatever God sends me, I accept with complete submission to His holy will. Wherever He puts me, I will try faithfully to do His holy will, as well as His wishes, to the extent of my power to do so, even if the will of God were to be as hard and difficult for me as was the will of the Heavenly Father for His Son, as He prayed in the Garden of Olives. I have come to see that if the will of the Heavenly Father was fulfilled in this way in His well-beloved Son, it will be fulfilled in us in exactly the same way: by suffering, persecution, abuse, disgrace. It is through Faustina
all this that my soul becomes like unto Jesus. And the greater the sufferings, the more I see that I am becoming like Jesus. This is the surest way. If some other way were better, Jesus would have shown it to me. Sufferings in no way take away my peace. On the other hand, although I enjoy profound peace, that peace does not lessen my experience of suffering. Although my face is often bowed to the ground, and my tears flow profusely, at the same time my soul is filled with profound peace and happiness... During adoration, Jesus said to me, My daughter, know that your ardent love and the compassion you have for Me were a consolation to Me in the Garden [of Olives]. Thursday, Nocturnal Adoration. 45 When I came for adoration, an inner recollection took hold of me immediately, and I saw the Lord Jesus tied to a pillar, stripped of His clothes, and the scourging began immediately. I saw four men who took turns at striking the Lord with scourges. My heart almost stopped at the sight of these tortures. The Lord said to me, I suffer even greater pain than that which you see. And Jesus gave me to know for what sins He subjected himself to the scourging: these are sins of impurity. Oh, how dreadful was Jesus’ moral suffering during the scourging! Then Jesus said to me, Look and see the human race in its present condition. In an instant, I saw horrible things: the executioners left Jesus, and other people started scourging Him; they seized the scourges and struck the Lord mercilessly. These were priests, religious men and women, and high dignitaries of the Church, which surprised me greatly. There were lay people of all ages and walks of life. All vented their malice on the innocent Jesus. Seeing this, my heart fell as if into a mortal agony. And while the executioners had been scourging Him, Jesus had been silent and looking into the distance; but when those other souls I mentioned scourged Him, Jesus closed His eyes, and a soft but most painful moan escaped from His Heart. And Jesus gave me to know in detail the gravity of the malice of these ungrateful souls: You see, this is a torture greater than My death. Then my lips too fell silent, and I began to experience the agony of death, and I felt that no one would comfort me or snatch me from that state but the One who had put me into it. Then the Lord said to me, I see the sincere pain of your heart which brought great solace to My Heart. See and take comfort. February 13, [1937]. Today, during the Passion Service,170 I saw Jesus being tortured and crowned with thorns and holding a reed in His hand. Jesus was silent as the soldiers were bustling about, vying with each other in torturing Him. Jesus said nothing, but just looked at me, and in that gaze I felt His pain, so terrible that we have not the faintest idea of how much He suffered for us before He was crucified. My soul was filled with pain and longing; in my soul, I felt great hatred for sin, and even the smallest infidelity on my part seemed to me like a huge mountain for which I must expiate by mortification and penance. When I see Jesus tormented, my heart is torn to pieces, and I think: what will become of sinners if they do not take advantage of the Passion of Jesus: In His Passion, I see a whole sea of mercy. Today I saw the Crucified Lord Jesus. Precious pearls and diamonds were pouring forth from the wound in His Heart. I saw how a multitude of souls was gathering these gifts, but there was one soul who was closest to His Heart and she, knowing the greatness of these gifts, was gathering them with liberality, not only for herself, but for others as well. The Savior said to me, Behold, the treasures of grace that flow down upon souls, but not all souls know how to take advantage of My generosity. The mercy of God, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, the voice of the Lord who speaks to us from the Diary 642, 1657, 413, excerpt 356, 1037, 1394, 1664, 445, 948, 1687, excerpts 522 and 1485 throne of mercy: Come to Me, all of you. The bowels of God’s mercy are opened for us Through the life of Jesus, stretched on the Cross. O sinner, you must not doubt or despair, But trust in mercy, for you also can become holy. Two streams in the form of rays Have gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, Not for Angels, nor Cherubim, nor Seraphim, But for the salvation of sinful man.
St. Faustina’s Way of The Cross Lenten Regulations 1. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of abstinence from meat as well as days of fast, when only one full meal is allowed. On days of fast two other meat-less meals may be taken ac-cording to one’s needs, but together they should not equal another full meal. 2. The other Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat. 3. The obligation to abstain from meat begins at fourteen (14) years of age. 4. The obligation to fast begins at eighteen (18) years of age and ends at fifty-nine (59) years of age. 5. Although the faithful may excuse themselves for a just cause from these laws of fast and abstinence, there is an obligation to substitute another penance and no Catholic should lightly excuse himself/herself from this obligation in the Lenten season. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during Lent (following the Chaplet of Divine Mercy) Meditations and Prayers Based on Holy Scripture and Saint Faustina’s Diary
1 M Veiling of Statues and Icons During Passiontide The rubrics in the Roman Missal states: “In the Dioceses of the United States, the practice of covering crosses and images throughout the church from [the fifth] Sunday [of Lent] may be observed. Crosses remain covered until the end of the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, but images remain covered until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.” This ancient Catholic practice stems from the former liturgical calendar in which the traditional Gospel reading for the 5th Sunday of Lent (i.e., the start of Passiontide) tells us on how Jesus hid Himself away from the Jews when they attempted to stone Him. According to St. Augustine, at this moment when Jesus “hid Himself” from the Jews, Christ in fact became invisible by virtue of His Divine nature. To help signify this mystery, crucifixes and images of Christ are veiled with purple cloth on the evening before the start of the Passiontide. The same goes with images of the saints, as it is befitting that if the glory of the Master is hidden, then His servants should not appear. These last two weeks of Lent are meant to be a time of immediate preparation and ‘hunger’ for the Sacred Triduum the celebration of our redemption. These veils are a forceful reminder for us to be eager and ‘hunger’ for its fulfilment in our celebration. The Church uses veils to produce a heightened sense of anticipation for Paschal Mystery about to be celebrated. This is further actualized when you participate in the liturgy during this special time and see the veils each day. They are hiding some very beautiful images. Herein lies the whole point: the veils are not meant to be there forever, it is unnatural for beauty to be covered. We desire, we ‘hunger’ for this beauty to be unveiled. The unveiling before the Easter Vigil is a great reminder of our own life on earth. We live in a “veiled” world, in exile from our true home. It is only through our own death that the veil is lifted and we are finally able to see the beauty of everything in our lives. Why do we veil crucifixes and statues on the 5th Sunday of Lent? 1 2 1 facebook.com/catholicsknowtheanswerofficialpage 2 www.aleteia.org
O . ©2021 by United State Conference of Catholic Bishops T ht
Copies of the Diary of St. Faustina are sold in our Gift Shop located next to the main parking lot, or online: The Gift Shop is open daily 10:00am – 4:00pm Things to Note: Shrine Bulletin Board We are hiring! The National Shrine of The Divine Mercy is hiring for the following: Part-time Weekend Receptionist If you are interested, please call Human Resources at 413-298-3931 x140 Oil blessed in honor of St. Faustina is available at the Shrine Reception desk. A suggested donation of $5.00 which would go to help support Shrine Ministries. Or send your resume to: [email protected] National Shrine of The Divine Mercy Human Resource Director PO Box 951 Stockbridge, MA 01262 Blessed Oil of Saint Faustina Are you a Musician? The Mother of Divine Mercy Charismatic Prayer Group is looking for your help! We meet each Thursday of the month If interested please contact Paul Nnodim 617-784-0957 [email protected] The Gift Shop is open daily 9:30am – 4:30pm divinemercygiftshop.org Be a part of the Marian Family! Receive graces from doing deeds of Mercy. Please volunteer if you are able. See our website to sign up, or contact our Volunteer Office at 413-298-1114
Save a life. Contact Congress. WHAT Powerful leaders in Congress are trying to force Americans to pay for abortion. HOW The Hyde Amendment and similar laws have protected taxpayers from funding elective abortion for over 45 “…Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Mt 19:14 413-387-7192 or visit online: www.mass.gov/foster-care “Let us create the conditions which will ensure that children can receive as the legacy of our generation a more united and fraternal world! Let us give children a future of peace!” Pope John Paul II Quotes from Pope John Paul II’s Message on XXIX World Day of Peace: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jpii_mes_08121995_xxix-world-day-for-peace.html Picture from: https://www.thedivinemercy.org/amh iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages. Models used for illustrative purposes only. Copyright © 2021 USCCB, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. Let us give children a future of peace! This is the confident appeal which I make to men and women of good will, and I invite everyone to help children to grow up in an environment of authentic peace. This is their right, and it is our duty.” May is Foster Care Month There are nearly 7.000 children in Massachusetts alone that are in the foster care system. As we fight to protect the rights of the unborn child, let us too remember these children born into violence, neglect, abandonment and suffering. Is God calling you to open your heart and home to a child in need? If you would like more information about potentially becoming a foster parent, please contact Foster MA at: years. Now, powerful members of Congress want to take away these laws that both Democrats and Republicans had supported for nearly half a century. WHAT HAPPENS WITHOUT THESE PROTECTIONS? Billions of taxpayer dollars could be used to pay for abortion. TAKE ACTION Sign the petition to Congress at NoTaxpayerAbortion.com! Pope John Paul II “At the beginning of this new year, my thoughts turn once again to children and to their legitimate hope for love and peace. I feel bound to mention in a particular way children who are suffering and those who often grow to adulthood without ever having experienced peace. Children's faces should always be happy and trusting, but at times they are full of sadness and fear: how much have these children already seen and suffered in the course of their short lives!
In 1931, our Lord appeared to St. Faustina in a vision. She saw Jesus clothed in a white garment with His right hand raised in blessing. His left hand was touching His garment in the area of the Heart, from where two large rays came forth, one red and the other pale. She gazed intently at the Lord in silence, her soul filled with awe, but also with great joy. Jesus said to her: Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My own glory (Diary, 47, 48). I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You (327). I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world (47). At the request of her spiritual director, St. Faustina asked the Lord about the meaning of the rays in the image. She heard these words in reply: The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My tender mercy when My agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him (299). By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works (742). These words indicate that the Image represents the graces of Divine Mercy poured out upon the world, especially through Baptism and the Eucharist. Many different versions of this image have been painted, but our Lord made it clear that the painting itself is not what is important. When St. Faustina first saw the original image that was being painted under her direction, she wept in disappointment and complained to Jesus: "Who will paint You as beautiful as You are?" (313). In answer, she heard these words: "Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace" (313). From The Image of The Divine Mercy www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/image I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as my own glory. (Diary 48)
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