"Wellspring of the Divine Mercy!"

    GREETINGS of peace and joy in the Risen Lord! Today, the second Sunday of Easter, has been designated as the feast of the Divine Mercy.

It is significant that the Feast of the Divine Mercy follows right after the Great day of the Easter, which manifests the immense love and mercy of God for humankind. Devotion to the Divine mercy arose from special revelations of the Lord fairly recently, during the 1930's, to St. Faustina Kowalska, a Sister of the Congregation of the Virgin Mary of the Divine Mercy, from Glogoweik, Poland.

Jesus Himself chose the first Sunday after Easter to be Feast of Mercy. In her diary, St Faustina quoted the Lord, "This feast of  emerged from My most tender pity and it is confirmed in the depths of My Mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls and especially for poor sinners. Say that Mercy is God's greatest attribute. All the works of My Hands are crowned with Mercy."

In a much earlier time, 1673-1675, it was St Margaret Mary Alacoque, Religious of the Visitations Congregation, in Paraleyle-Monial in France, that Christ chose to reveal the desires of His Heart and to confide the task of imparting new life to the devotions to it. "Behold the Heart has so loved man" Jesus made significant promises in favor of those who comply with His desire for a special devotion His Sacred Heart. I trust that we in the Parish know by heart the Twelve Promises that Jesus made to those who nurture a special devotion to His Most Sacred Heart.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Divine Mercy are so inseparably linked that one is inevitably drawn to both. In the Holy Picture, the Risen Lord is portrayed as emanating lights of red and white colors from His Sacred Heart. Reminiscent of His Passion, the flow of blood and water from His pierced Heart projects the flow of the graces of Baptism and the Eucharist into all the faithful. Jesus, the Risen Lord, is the greatest Sacrament of God's unfailing and overflowing Mercy for all Humanity.

It is the same Jesus as risen that is the object of the two devotions. The Sacred Heart is the same source of the love and mercy of God. Out of love, God created the world and humankind. His love sustains the life of His creatures. The mercy of God is at the same time an expression of His Love. When humankind commits sin, God forgives and shows His infinite Mercy through His Love.

Let our invocations to the Sacred Heart: "Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!" and to the Lord of Divine Mercy: "Jesus, I trust in You" help us come closerr to the Risen Lord and experience the tremendous love of God for us all. May we be images of the love of God and His mercy to others.

" May the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus continue to impart His Divine Mercy to us all!"

Rev. Fr. Rufino P. Yabut

Parish Priest

SHJ-MBS Parish Church