SacredSpace102fm was a weekly programme produced by "Come & See Inspirations" in West Limerick. The programme included inspirational music, chat, interviews, what’s on locally and not so locally and a reflection on the Sunday gospel reading of the day. It was presented by John Keily, regular panelists, contributors and invited guests. Programmes are available to be listened to online on our podcast pages.
In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has lead the celebrations of Divine Mercy Sunday which is held on the second Sunday of Easter.
Vatican Radio - Pope at Divine Mercy Mass: Be Apostles of mercy Pope Francis presided over Mass in St Peter’s Square on Sunday for the Feast of Divine Mercy, and encouraged the faithful to be “apostles of mercy” toward those in need. “We are all called to become living writers of the Gospel, heralds of the Good News to all men and women today,” the Pope told the crowds during his homily. “We do this by practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which are the hallmarks of the Christian life. - Continue reading at Vatican Radio link.
Vatican Radio - Pope Francis leads prayer vigil for Divine Mercy Pope Francis on Saturday lead a prayer vigil for Divine Mercy, in which he spoke of the many faces of the mercy of God. The prayer vigil took place on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday and coincided with the 11th anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s death. Continue reading at the Vatican Radio link.
Christ isrisen,Alleluia! He is trulyrisen, Alleluia The Lord is risenindeed, Alleluia! And there appearedto Simon, alleluia!
Welcome to Sacred Space 102fm on the second Sunday of Easter where we continue to celebrate Easter Sunday within the Octave of Easter. On this weeks programme John and Michael Keating have an interview with Don Devaney about Divine Mercy and the Divine Mercy devotion. You can listen to the full podcast of this weeks programme HERE. You can listen to the interview with Don excerpted from the main programme HERE. The Devotion to the Divine Mercy
John and Michael have an interview with Don Devaney who share their thoughts and reflections about Divine Mercy Sunday. Pope John Paul II introduced Divine Mercy Sunday following on the private revelation to the Polish nun St Faustina. Many Catholics gather in churches throughout the world today at 3pm to partake in the Divine Mercy Chaplet, veneration of the image of Divine Mercy, confessions, Mass etc. The Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), is a relatively new addition to the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. Celebrating the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ, as revealed by Christ himself to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the day that he canonized Saint Faustina. From EWTN: From the diary of a young Polish nun, a special devotion began spreading throughout the world in the 1930s. The message is nothing new, but is a reminder of what the Church has always taught through scripture and tradition: that God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, must show mercy and forgiveness. But in the Divine Mercy devotion, the message takes on a powerful new focus, calling people to a deeper understanding that God’s love is unlimited and available to everyone — especially the greatest sinners.
The message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God’s mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread. The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us — no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others.
During the course of Jesus' revelations to Saint Faustina on the Divine Mercy He asked on numerous occasions that a feast day be dedicated to the Divine Mercy and that this feast be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. The liturgical texts of that day, the 2nd Sunday of Easter, concern the institution of the Sacrament of Penance, the Tribunal of the Divine Mercy, and are thus already suited to the request of Our Lord. This Feast, which had already been granted to the nation of Poland and been celebrated within Vatican City, was granted to the Universal Church by Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the canonization of Sr. Faustina on 30 April 2000. In a decree dated 23 May 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stated that "throughout the world the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come." These papal acts represent the highest endorsement that the Church can give to a private revelation, an act of papal infallibility proclaiming the certain sanctity of the mystic, and the granting of a universal feast, as requested by Our Lord to St. Faustina.
A plenary indulgence (the forgiveness of all temporal punishment resulting from sins that have already been confessed) is granted on the Feast of Divine Mercy if to all the faithful who go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and "in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. 'Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!')." A partial indulgence (the remission of some temporal punishment from sin) is granted to the faithful "who, at least with a contrite heart, pray to the merciful Lord Jesus a legitimately approved invocation." 9 things you need to know about Divine Mercy Sunday
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Liturgy of the Hours - psalter week 2 - 2nd week of Easter
Saints of the Week 4th April - Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord 5th April - St Vincent Ferrer 6th April - Blessed Maria Karlowska - Evening of Prayers in the Pastoral Areas for Limerick Diocesan Synod 2016 7th April - St John Baptist de la Salle 8th April - Saint Albert of Jerusalem - co-founder of the Carmelite Order (First Friday) Beginning of Limerick Diocesan Synod 2016 9th April - Saint Miguel de Sanctis (First Saturday) Limerick Diocesan Synod 2016 continues.
Over at the Irish Catholic, Fr Martin Browne OSB reminds us that Easter isn't over just because the chocolate is finished:
I rarely experience the kind of exhaustion that I experienced on Easter Sunday evening and on Easter Monday. Holy Week – particularly the days of the Triduum from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday – is a time of unparalleled intensity in the life of the Church.
It can also be a serious test of resilience and stamina for clergy, sacristans, servers, choirs, liturgy teams and others who are involved in leading or facilitating worship in their communities. I happen to be the sacristan (and flower arranger!) and Master of Ceremonies in my community, so it was a particularly hectic time for me.
I’m not complaining though. It is a great joy to be able to help others to celebrate Easter in this way.
I’m not trying to suggest that monks have a harder time in Holy Week than others. Most parish clergy have as much or more to do. Most have sick calls and multiple homilies to prepare, and many have to celebrate the ceremonies of the Triduum in more than one church.
The temptation when we reach lunchtime or evening on Easter Sunday is to lock the door, collapse in a comfy chair, and say, ‘Thank God that’s over!’
But it isn’t. The chocolate might be devoured after a day or two, but the Church’s celebration is prolonged for 50 days until the feast of Pentecost. Like Christmas, Easter has an Octave – a prolongation of the celebration over the following week.
Feast
Every day of the week is a feast, and the liturgical texts treat them as if each one of them is actually Easter Day itself. We then have seven more Sundays in the Easter season. Seven times seven days – a week of weeks – following on from the ‘Week of Weeks’. That’s a lot of Alleluias…
As I rest after the exertions of Holy Week, reflecting on what all that effort during the Triduum was actually about is a powerful energiser. One scholar puts it: “The great Christian tradition has always considered the liturgy to be the fertile womb of the Church from which Christians are born. The liturgy is parturient. It gives life.” We can extend that striking image by noting that the Paschal Triduum, with its intense and beautiful sacramental representation of the Lord’s Easter mystery, culminating in the blessing of the baptismal water and the celebration of the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, is the womb of the Church’s liturgy. It is the source and summit of what we hold to be the source and summit of the Christian life.
In the early Church, the Easter Vigil was the principal time for initiating new Christians through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. Lent was the time of final preparation. If it was, then Easter was the ‘50-days-after-the-night-before’ – a period of joyful afterglow, when the newly-baptised explored more deeply what had happened to them and what they had become when they were baptised.
For new Christians, the Easter season was a time for ‘unpacking’ what happened at the Vigil. It was a time to be guided into the mystery of their new identity in Christ. This experience of being guided into the mystery was given the name mystagogy. The newly-baptised themselves were called ‘neophytes’, meaning ‘newly-planted’ [neophutos] or ‘newly-enlightened’ [neophotistos].
Over time, the rest of the Church, and not just candidates for Easter Baptism, began to observe Lent as a time of prayer, penance and almsgiving. But somehow, spending Eastertide going deeper into what it is to have been planted in Christ and enlightened by the energy of his glorious resurrection from the dead didn’t catch on in the same way.
When was the last time you heard someone speak about their Easter resolution, like they do about Lenten resolutions?
We still have the Easter season, of course. The Paschal Candle stands tall throughout the 50 days. Choirs and music groups often have nice Easter music that they like to use, and so on, but for many people, Easter is a one-day feast.
Connection
At a time when more and more Catholics have less and less connection with the Church and with the practice of the Faith into which they were baptised, the season of Easter is a treasure to be retrieved. It may have a strange name that some will struggle to pronounce, but whatever we call it, the practice of mystagogy during the Easter season has a lot to offer the Church in Ireland today.
It doesn’t have to be a big programme, needing lots of time and resources. We could make a start by ensuring that the Easter season is celebrated well, embodying what the liturgy proclaims about what it is to be incorporated into the Body of Christ.
