Celebrant: Christ is Risen! It is because we now share in that Risen life that we are able to intercede for the world. Deacon/Lector: That the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, will experience continued grace and strength as he announces to the world that Christ is alive, we pray to the Lord... For all who were baptized at Easter, that they may experience in the Church the communion of life and love we have inherited from the apostles, we pray to the Lord... That the gift of forgiveness, entrusted to the Church through the apostles, may reach all who have been wounded by abortion, we pray to the Lord... For those who, like Thomas, do not yet believe, that they may see Jesus through our words and actions of faith and charity, we pray to the Lord... That the Risen Christ may heal the sick and comfort all who are afflicted in any way, particularly in our own families and parish, we pray to the Lord... That the deceased may share in the Risen glory of Christ, we pray to the Lord... Celebrant: Father, we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and our God.
Through him, grant all that we have asked you today,
for He is Lord forever and ever. Amen.
Divine Mercy and Pro-life Pope John Paul II declared the Sunday after Easter to be Divine Mercy Sunday. Many of the faithful pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy regularly. There is a link between this devotion and the pro-life movement. Fr. Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, who was a principal translator of St. Faustina's diary, and the postulator of her cause of canonization, writes the following: "On at least three occasions, from 8:00-11:00 in the evening, she felt like her insides were being torn apart. She suffered so much that she thought she was going to die. The doctors couldn't figure out what was ailing her, and no medication was able to alleviate her sufferings. Later, she was given to understand that she was undergoing those pains for mothers who were aborting their children (Diary, 1276). "On another occasion, she had a vision of an angel coming with thunderbolts to destroy one of the most beautiful cities of her country. And she felt powerless to do anything about it (Diary, 474). What antidote did the Lord give her? The Chaplet of Divine Mercy. [She explained] that the city was to be chastised for its sins, primarily the sin of abortion." ("Wombs of Mercy," Marian Helpers Bulletin, Summer 1995, p.13).
Acts 5:12-16
Rv 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
Jn 20:19-31 Watch a video with homily hints “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, and whose sins you retain are retained.” In this Gospel passage of the Second Sunday of Easter, which is Divine Mercy Sunday, we see Jesus proclaiming the gift that flows from his death and resurrection – the forgiveness of our sins. Isaiah had proclaimed that by his wounds we are healed. Now Jesus shows those wounds and imparts the healing. His cross and his resurrection reveal the mercy of God. We are familiar with the image of Divine Mercy. Rays of light are coming from Jesus’ wounds. Under the Old Covenant, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest went into the most sacred part of the Temple, asked God’s mercy for the sins of the people, and then came out declaring that they had God’s forgiveness. The Divine Mercy image is Jesus, the new and eternal high priest, having offered his own blood and entered the sanctuary of heaven itself, now coming to us and proclaiming that our sins are forgiven. Many pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, revealed to St. Faustina. But what many do not know is that she was told that of all the sins for which we must ask God’s mercy on the world, it was primarily the sin of abortion for which the Lord told her that we have to pray for mercy. Her diary reveals that she was made to feel the pains of women aborting their children. On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we renew our trust in the risen Lord that he will give us the strength to repent of all our sins, the trust to receive his forgiveness, and the determination to build a culture of life.
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