The Divine Mercy

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Is the Divine Mercy a private revelation and are we required to believe in it?
 
Yes, it is a private revelation. And because it’s a private revelation, we are not required to believe in it.
 
Divine Mercy Sunday is a universal solemnity officially established by the Pope, so churches are required to celebrate it.

Regarding the Divine Mercy revelations to St. Faustina as expressed in her diary, I will just quote from thedivinemercy.org :
…it would not be quite accurate to say that the Diary is now one of the Church’s “official sacred documents.” It is not a proclamation of the Church’s infallible teaching authority, but a fallible record of the private and prophetic revelations given to a saint, and her musings about those revelations. As such, we are encouraged by the Church to accept it and respect it with the virtue of “prudence,” i.e., as on the whole trustworthy, rather than with the virtue of “divine faith,” i.e., as infallibly revealed by God, and therefore necessary to be believed by all the faithful. Thus, a faithful Catholic could largely disbelieve it and not be guilty of “heresy,” but one who did so would still be guilty of rashness and imprudence. It is overwhelmingly unlikely that a Diary which has been fully examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Church’s highest doctrinal tribunal under the Pope) and by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, and has been praised and quoted repeatedly by popes, and whose author has been canonized as a “saint” (that is, as someone “full-to-overflowing” with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth) would contain serious and unqualified errors and illusions. The Holy Spirit does not abandon the Church when she is making such important acts of discernment (see Jn. 16:13; Acts 15:28). If He did we would be lost indeed!
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Tis_Bearself said:
Divine Mercy Sunday is a universal solemnity officially established by the Pope, so churches are required to celebrate it.

Regarding the Divine Mercy revelations to St. Faustina as expressed in her diary, I will just quote from thedivinemercy.org :

…it would not be quite accurate to say that the Diary is now one of the Church’s “official sacred documents.” It is not a proclamation of the Church’s infallible teaching authority, but a fallible record of the private and prophetic revelations given to a saint, and her musings about those revelations. As such, we are encouraged by the Church to accept it and respect it with the virtue of “prudence,” i.e., as on the whole trustworthy, rather than with the virtue of “divine faith,” i.e., as infallibly revealed by God, and therefore necessary to be believed by all the faithful. Thus, a faithful Catholic could largely disbelieve it and not be guilty of “heresy,” but one who did so would still be guilty of rashness and imprudence. It is overwhelmingly unlikely that a Diary which has been fully examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Church’s highest doctrinal tribunal under the Pope) and by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, and has been praised and quoted repeatedly by popes, and whose author has been canonized as a “saint” (that is, as someone “full-to-overflowing” with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth) would contain serious and unqualified errors and illusions. The Holy Spirit does not abandon the Church when she is making such important acts of discernment (see Jn. 16:13; Acts 15:28). If He did we would be lost indeed!
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My problem with it is, doesn’t it say something about the end of the world?, which unsettles me, and Jesus said “ no one knows but the father.”
 
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Thanks for that. I was about to say, it would be pretty hard (to say the least) to find a parish that wouldn’t celebrate it.
 
This was a really good post&quote @Tis_Bearself, the best of its kind I have seen on CAF.

A single paragraph and your succinct commentary says it all.

BOOKMARKED!!!
 
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Hope1960 said:
My problem with it is, doesn’t it say something about the end of the world?, which unsettles me, and Jesus said “ no one knows but the father.”
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St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy prayer addressed to “Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness” very clearly says that the date of the final judgment is “known to you (God) alone”. She does not predict the date of the end of the world.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy prayer addressed to “Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness” very clearly says that the date of the final judgment is “known to you (God) alone”. She does not predict the date of the end of the world.
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Are you sure? And the time wasn’t revealed to her?
 
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Not that I know of.
Furthermore, even if she had received such a revelation (which we would not be obligated to believe), God would be quite capable of changing his mind about the time.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Not that I know of.

Furthermore, even if she had received such a revelation (which we would not be obligated to believe), God would be quite capable of changing his mind about the time.
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Thanks. Anyone else?
 
<<<<<<<<<<<< Devotion

The primary focus of the Divine Mercy devotion is the merciful love of God and the desire to let that love and mercy flow through one’s own heart towards those in need of it.[1] As he dedicated the Shrine of Divine Mercy, Pope John Paul II referred to this when he said: “Apart from the mercy of God there is no other source of hope for mankind”.[8]

The resting place of Faustina, now a permanent chapel within the Basilica of Divine Mercy in Kraków, Poland
There are five main forms of this devotion:

The Divine Mercy image with the specific inscription Jesus, I trust in you;[5]
The commemoration of the Feast of the Divine Mercy Sunday[9]
The recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
The designation of the Hour of Mercy at 3:00 am or pm
The spreading of acts of mercy to the whole humanity, in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ to earth

Proclaim that mercy is the greatest attribute of God.
— Words attributed to Jesus by Faustina in her diary.[10][11]

As in the prayers that form the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, there are three main themes to the Divine Mercy devotion: to ask for and obtain the mercy of God, to trust in Christ’s abundant mercy, and finally to show mercy to others and act as a conduit for God’s mercy towards them.[4][6]

The first and second elements relate to the signature “Jesus I trust in You” on the Divine Mercy image and Faustina stated that on April 28, 1935, the day the first Divine Mercy Sunday was celebrated, Jesus told her: “Every soul believing and trusting in My Mercy will obtain it.”[12]
The third component is reflected in the statement “Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners” attributed to Jesus in Faustina’s diary (Notebook I, items 186-187).[13] This statement is followed in the diary by a specific short prayer: “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You.” which Faustina also recommended for the Hour of Divine Mercy.[13][14] In her diary (Notebook II, item 742) Faustina wrote that Jesus told her: “I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me.” and that he explained that there are three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first-by deed, the second-by word, the third-by prayer.[10]

The Divine Mercy devotion views mercy as the key element in the plan of God for salvation and emphasizes the belief that it was through mercy that God gave his only son for the redemption of mankind, after the fall of Adam.[15] The opening prayer for Divine Mercy Sunday Mass refers to this and begins: “Heavenly Father and God of Mercy, We no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for He is alive and has become the Lord of Life”.[15]
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The bolder parts are what I think got me in a tizzy. Especially the part about Jesus’ return to earth, but also the part where “He is alive, too”. Does either of those mean that He will return really soon OR that He will return sometime but no one but the Father knows when?
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Um, of course Jesus “is alive”. He rose from the dead (which we just celebrated last Sunday), the readings all week have been about his disciples going to look for him in the tomb and discovering he was alive, and we all know that he went on to ascend into heaven and sit at the right hand of God the Father. Surely you didn’t think He was deceased?

What does “He is alive” possibly have to do with the timing of God’s return for the final judgment?
 
Hope1960 said:
Does either of those mean that He will return really soon
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I don’t see how they would say that.

Preparing “for the return of Jesus Christ to earth” is something we should all be doing, at all times, and the same applied to the people who lived hundreds of years ago.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Um, of course Jesus “is alive”. He rose from the dead (which we just celebrated last Sunday), the readings all week have been about his disciples going to look for him in the tomb and discovering he was alive, and we all know that he went on to ascend into heaven and sit at the right hand of God the Father. Surely you didn’t think He was deceased?

What does “He is alive” possibly have to do with the timing of God’s return for the final judgment?
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I guess nothing. It was mentioned in that whole article along with
“In preparation for the return of Jesus Christ to Earth” so I was afraid it might’ve meant something else.

What about “in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ to Earth?” Does that mean Jesus will return really soon OR that no one knows when He will return except the Father?
 
The Lord’s return to earth has been predicted since Jesus ascended to Heaven (see for example 2 Peter 3).

The actual day of the return is known only to God.

As the poster above said, we should all be preparing for the return at all times because we have no idea when it might happen.

2 Peter 3 talks a lot about being prepared for the final judgment too, and that was written 2000 years ago.
2 Peter 3:8 also notes that a thousand years is like a day to God.

There is no way to quantify “really soon”. God doesn’t follow earthly time, and “really soon” could mean thousands of years from now or it could mean tomorrow morning.
We’re supposed to be prepared for it to happen literally any time.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
The Lord’s return to earth has been predicted since Jesus ascended to Heaven (see for example 2 Peter 3).

The actual day of the return is known only to God.

As the poster above said, we should all be preparing for the return at all times because we have no idea when it might happen.

2 Peter 3 talks a lot about being prepared for the final judgment too, and that was written 2000 years ago.

2 Peter 3:8 also notes that a thousand years is like a day to God.

There is no way to quantify “really soon”. God doesn’t follow earthly time, and “really soon” could mean thousands of years from now or it could mean tomorrow morning.

We’re supposed to be prepared for it to happen literally any time.
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Ok, so to be clear nobody but God knows when the end of the world will be and it could even be a really long time from now, right?
 
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