Divine Mercy All Year
Divine Mercy is an image of Jesus that appeared to Polish nun shortly before World War 2. It shows Jesus with red (for loving blood) and blue (for cleansing water) light coming from his heart signifying how everything is forgiven. Normally his day is the Sunday after Easter and that is when his statue is out and about in town. However, the Pope made this a Divine Mercy year so this statue is Jesus is out and about all year long. He even replaced the crucifix in the temple to St. Francis!
Also you’ll find folks in town wearing lapel ribbons of blue and red, signifying the rays of light from Jesus’ heart reminding us of endless forgiveness. During the Pope’s recent Mexican visit, Divine Mercy was a constant theme to his speeches and featured in his Welcome to Mexico posters.
Divine Mercy, la Misericordia Divina, is growing more popular by the day and isn’t it nice to think no matter what, all you have ever done, or not done, can be forgiven. During Divine Mercy Sunday specific prayers are said at 3 p.m., the hour of Jesus’ death, requesting Jesus’ mercy in dire situations. Often you will see images of the Divine Mercy on the way to or from church to receive special blessings for miracles requiring a lot of divinity and mercy.
You can also hike up a mountain top on the borders of Comonfort to visit the area’s shrine to Divine Mercy.
I even thought about Divine Mercy while watching a recent Christina Ricci mini-series on Lizzie Borden (Wednesday Addams grows up to play Lizzie Borden, how fit!). The mini-series was darkly funny. At one point, Lizzie/Wednesday is in a church and she tells the priest how she taught Sunday School and the kids asked difficult questions like “Does Jesus forgive everything?” I thought it was leading to a chat about Divine Mercy but I forgot that image didn’t come around until the 1930’s.
The priest surprisingly says “No. Only if you are truly sorry and remorseful for what you have done.” Since Lizzy/Hump Day kills about 2 people every 30 minutes with utter glee, she is quiet for a moment before uttering “Well, that would be a problem.”