Of divine mercy
B.F. SHOWRAYYA
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Feast of Sacred Heart is celebrated today.
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There is something amazingly uplifting about religion. It can generate tremendous hope. Depending on a devotee's trust in divine mercy, that hope can be ecstatic and enduring.
Such are the reflections of people as they celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus celebrated today (Friday 23 June) by the Church throughout the world. In 1673, Sister, later Saint, Margaret Mary Alacoque of France had a vision of the "Heart of Jesus".
In her own words, the divine heart of Jesus was shown to her as it were on a burning throne, more shining than the sun and transparent like the crystal, with that worshipful wound. (Jesus was pierced with a lance after he died on the cross). It was girt about with a crown of thrones, signifying how it is hurt by our sins; and above it was a cross.
The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is reinforced by the Feast of Divine Mercy celebrated on the Sunday immediately following Easter.
It is believed that the feast of Divine Mercy is given to humanity by Jesus himself through Sr. Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska who died in October 1938. From the pierced Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sr. Faustina said, life gushed forth for souls and the ocean of mercy enveloped the whole world.
In a series of visions, Jesus revealed the ever- inundating love of his eternal unfathomable divine mercy. Her visions have been recorded in her diary.TitledDivine Mercy In My Soul, it is the greatest spiritual autobiography humanity so far has. The narration is simple. The simple, semi-educated nun with an extremely sensitive spirit captures every contour of the dazzling overlapping human-divine drama of her encounters and dialogues with Jesus. "Divine love and the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus mean a lot to me. A thousand Da Vinci Codes can not shake my faith ,'' says M. John Vianney of Loyola Academy.
Joseph Patrick Coutinho who has been organising the Feast of Divine Mercy every year says, "My devotion to the Heart of Jesus have made me a peace-filled person with an internal stability. I have benefited a lot.''
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