Hello Family!!

Is there a thread already about the Divine Mercy devotion???  Just wanted to know, doing research about the topic, and didn't want to start a thread if there is one already  :confused1:

Thank you, and God bless!!

Love,

michaela +

I've always been suspicious of this devotion.  For one thing, why would Christ command that a novena to His mercy be started on Good Friday????  Good Friday has always been completely and totally devoted to contemplating Christ's death on the cross.  

Marsha

The post by Servus is wrong in many different ways.

The Divine Mercy was given Imprimaturs by the Catholic Church in the time of Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII.
So it is false for Servus to say that it is a bogus ordo devotion, it is not.
The Divine Mercy is from the Papacies of Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII.
Many traditional Catholic groups and individuals have no problem concerning The Divine Mercy, because it received approval from the Catholic Church in the time of Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII.
Almost everyone in the conciliar church are fine about The Divine Mercy.
Almost all of the recognize-but-disobey crowd are fine about The Divine Mercy.
Most Sedevacantists are also fine about The Divine Mercy.

Another false claim by Servus was that it is heresy that God’s Mercy is described as being greater than Justice.
In reality, the Bible agrees with The Divine Mercy about this: Psalm CXLIV: 9:

The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works.

Saint Augustine agrees with this in his commentaries on the Psalms.

I began to search in the writings of the Fathers of the Church for a confirmation that this is the greatest of the attributes of God, as Sr  Faustina had stated, for I had found nothing on this subject in the works of more modern theologians. I was very pleased to find similar statements in St Fulgentius, St Idelphonse, and more still in St Thomas and St Augustine, who, in commenting on the Psalms, had much to say on Divine Mercy, calling it the greatest of God’s greatest attributes. From then onwards, I had no serious doubts of the supernatural revelations of Sr Faustina.

And:

Hence, reflecting in our human way, the Mercy of God seems to be the chief motive for His exterior actions and, as St. Thomas asserts, is found at the very source of every work of the Creator.

…The Angelic Doctor proves this truth in the following argument. Every perfection may be considered either in itself or in regard to the one in whom it is found. Mercy considered in itself is the highest perfection because it consists in communicating one's own perfections to other beings by lifting them from their wretchedness and removing their deficiencies; one who gives shows higher perfection than the one who receives. Such communicativeness is a property of higher beings in regard to the lower; in the highest degree, it is a property of God through which His greatest Power is manifested.

Mercy considered in a person in whom it is found, it not always the highest perfection, but is so only if the possessor himself is the highest being; that is, if he has neither an equal nor anyone superior to himself. The one therefore, who has some superior to himself, manifests his perfection best by partaking in a higher being through love, than by removing deficiencies in lower beings. For this reason love of God is the greatest virtue of man. Since God has no superior and no one to whom He could subordinate Himself through love, therefore His highest perfection is not Love, but Mercy (Summa Theologica, I, q. 21, aa. 3 and 4; II-II, q. 30, a.4). Furthermore, comparing Mercy with Justice the angelic Doctor proves that Mercy is superior. This is also confirmed by Holy Scripture which directly states: "... But mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).

  (God Is Mercy. Father Michael Sopocko. A.D. 1955. Translated by The Marians of The Immaculate Conception.)

Mercy can be considered God’s greatest attribute with regard to His relationship with men.

In this sense, all of God's attributes are God, one and the same. For this reason, all are absolutely equal to each other. Divine Mercy is as infinitely perfect as His Wisdom or Power, for it is likewise God, and the same God, just as Divine Wisdom and Divine Power are God …If, on the other hand, mercy is understood in the Biblical sense as functional, then, even though it is called an attribute, it first of all denotes the results of the infinite and eternal love of God in world history, and especially in the history of mankind's salvation. In fact, both hesed (mercy in the Old Testament), as well as eleos (i.e., mercy in the New Testament) signify active manifestations of God's love toward mankind. In the Old Testament the manifestations found their expression in the calling and directing of the chosen people, and in the New Testament they were found in the sending of the Son of God into the world and in the entire work of redemption. This Biblically formulated relationship between love and mercy is expressed by [St.] Faustina in the words: 'Love is the flower, mercy the fruit' (Diary, 948). So, if we understand mercy in the Biblical sense, then without any fear of error contrary to the faith, it can be said that mercy is the greatest attribute of God ... [in other words] within this Biblical understanding, the results of the activity of merciful love are the greatest in the world and in this respect, mercy surpasses all other Divine attributes

 (Pillar of Fire. Fr. Ignacy Rosycki. Marian Press. p.96.)

Servus claimed that she is not as “holy”? as St. Bernadette or Sister Lucy. That is just nonsense.
How do you measure holiness? Is there a graph? The Catholic Church does not make such measurements.
If reading the Diary gives Servus an “awkward” feeling, that feeling is his responsibility.
The Church of Pope Pius XII had no such “awkward” feelings when it bestowed the Imprimaturs on The Divine Mercy.

It is just an ad hominem insult for Servus to accuse her of not being sane.
It is simply untrue.
S. Faustina Kowalska’s calmness, serenity of mind, and sanity was attested to by those who knew her.

Another poster had a query about praying a Novena which started on Good Friday.
Of course you can pray The Novena to The Divine Mercy, which starts on Good Friday.
You can pray a Novena on any day. The pre-conciliar Church had no problem with that.

Canonizations are infallible.
So if you believe that John Paul II was Pope, you have to accept that he infallibly canonized S. Faustina Kowalska.
Only sedes can reject the canonizations of Antipope John Paul II.
And Sedes are still entitled to accept The Divine Mercy.
After all, JPII canonized Padre Pio. Not many Sedes have any problem with Padre Pio.

The Catholic Church of Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII gave Imprimaturs to The Divine Mercy.
So traditional Catholics should accept the authority of the Catholic Church of Pope Pius XII and Pope Pius XII.

Cardinal Ottaviani also promoted The Divine Mercy.

Informative Process of Sr. Faustina's life and virtues is opened by Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Archbishop of Krakow, encouraged by Cardinal Ottaviani, the Prefect of the Holy Office.

That is from the official website of the Marian Fathers:
http://thedivinemercy.org/message/history/timeline.php

That proves that Cardinal Ottaviani also believed in The Divine Mercy.

Also:

…Cardinal Ottaviani gave instructions to the archbishop actively promoting the beatification of Sr. Faustina to hurry and interview the witnesses before they all died.

(“Saints of the Jubilee”A.D. 2002, edited by Tim Drake, p.95. )

That also proves that Cardinal Ottaviani believed in The Divine Mercy.

Therefore traditional Catholics should certainly accept The Divine Mercy.

Pope Pius XII believed in The Divine Mercy.
Cardinal Ottaviani believed in The Divine Mercy.
Cardinal Hlond, the Primate of Poland believed in The Divine Mercy.
Cardinal Prince Adam Sapieha, Cardinal of Poland, believed in The Divine Mercy.
Archbishop Romuald believed in The Divine Mercy.
The Ordinary of Gorzow, Zygmunt  Szelazek, believed in The Divine Mercy.
Many Polish Bishops believed in The Divine Mercy.
Many other Bishops throughout the world believed in The Divine Mercy.
Father Michael Sopocko, S. Faustina Kowalska’s Spiritual Director, believed in The Divine Mercy.
Father Joesph Andrasz, S. Faustina Kowalska’s convent’s other Confessor, believed in The Divine Mercy.
Mother Irene Krzyzanowska, S. Faustina Kowalska’s Mother Superior, believed in The Divine Mercy.

By A.D.1953, some 25 million pieces of Divine Mercy literature had been distributed around the world.

(From http://thedivinemercy.org/library/article.php?NID=3466 )

The Divine Mercy was an Approved Devotion in the Pontificates of Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII as can be shown by the fact that The Divine Mercy was granted many Imprimaturs throughout the world.

Some Examples of Imprimaturs given to The Divine Mercy:

Bishop Romuald gave the Imprimatur to The Divine Mercy Devotion in A.D. 1936.

The Novena to The Divine Mercy, The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy, and The Litany to The Divine Mercy were all given the Imprimatur by the Metropolitan Curia in Cracow in A. D. 1937.

Reference is to the imprimatur of two publications: 1. An image of Jesus with the Chaplet to The Divine Mercy on the back, for which Fr. Sopocko obtained permission in Vilnius on Sept. 1, 1937 (No. R. 200/ 37); 2. A small pamphlet under the title Chrystus Krol Milosierdzia (Christ King of Mercy), which included the novena, the chaplet and the litany to The Divine Mercy. The imprimatur was granted by the Metropolitan Curia in Cracow (L. 671/37). Both were published by the J. Cebulski Publishing House, 22 Szewska St., Cracow.

(The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. Footnote 208.)

 
The above Imprimatur shows that the pre-conciliar Church promoted The Divine Mercy.



THUS, THE DIVINE MERCY IS AN APPROVED DEVOTION OF THE PRE- CONCILIAR CATHOLIC CHURCH OF POPE PIUS XI AND POPE PIUS XII.

The pre-conciliar Catholic Church in the time of Pope Pius XII in the A.D. 1950s established a Religious Order for the purpose of spreading The Divine Mercy.

On August 2, 1955, the Ordinary of Gorzow, Zygmunt Szelazek, on the basis of special authorization, established the Congregation of the Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ, Merciful Redeemer, whose aim was to spread the cult of The Divine Mercy and to assist the Church hierarchy.

(The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. Footnote 96.)

Our Lord had told S. Faustina Kowalska that He wished for this Religious Order of Nuns, which S. Faustina prophesied would be founded.
This order was inspired by the Directions given by Our Lord to S. Faustina Kowalska for the founding of such a community.
It was founded because S. Faustina told Pope Pius XII’s pre-conciliar Catholic Church that Our Lord wanted this Order to be founded.

Thus we can see the very great degree of approval given to The Divine Mercy by the pre-conciliar Catholic Church in the lifetime of Pope Pius XII.

Therefore Catholics should believe in The Divine Mercy.

Therefore Sedes and other traditional Catholics should believe in The Divine Mercy.



Some people have spent their time reading about The Divine Mercy not for spiritual gain, but instead to try to find fault. Such an attitude is not only futile and arid, but it also contradicts the mind of the Church. When the Imprimatur has been given, the Church has spoken. The matter is closed. We are not protestants.

This is from “The Casuist” (A.D. 1906):

Where the Church has thus given her approval to any particular private revelation, it is no longer permitted to ridicule or to despise it. “Fas non est,” says Card. Franzelin, “tales revelationes contemnere” (de div. trad. 22). To do so were to fail in the respect due to the Church….

Pope Benedict XIV…: "When the Church has examined and approved these visions, no one may any longer doubt their supernatural and divine origin."

Believe the Imprimaturs given to The Divine Mercy by the Catholic Church of Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII.

Private revelation has to be interpreted by the Church, not by us.
That is where Faith comes in. We believe, because the Church has approved of the Devotion concerned.
The Church of Pope Pius XI and of Pope Pius XII gave extensive Imprimaturs and other approvals to The Divine Mercy.

 
Therefore traditional Catholics should certainly accept The Divine Mercy.

Pope Pius XII believed in and defended The Divine Mercy.

If anyone is concerned that Antipope John XXIII banned it, do not worry.
It was Antipope John XXIII who did that.
So it is invalid, because he was an Antipope, and therefore he had no Authority.
He did it (invalidly) in 1959.
No additions to the Index after the death of Pope Pius XII in A.D. 1958 are valid.
So it does not matter at all.
No Sede or traditional Catholic should care about the invalid actions of Antipope John XXIII.
And if anyone mistakenly thinks that John XXIII was a valid Pope, they probably also think that Paul VI was Pope.

Paul VI lifted the banning of The Divine Mercy.



If you believe that John XXIII was a real Pope, then you probably also believe that Paul VI and John Paul II were real Popes.
Paul VI lifted the bannings of The Divine Mercy:

On June 30, 1978, The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (A.A.S. page 350) published a "Notification" signed April 15, 1978, by His Eminence Franjo Cardinal Seper, Prefect, and Archbishop Jerome Hamer, O.P., Secretary. It is as follows:

From various places, especially from Poland, even proceeding from competent authority, it has been asked whether the prohibitions contained in the "Notification" of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, published in the Acts of the Apostolic See, in the year 1959, p. 271, regarding the devotion to The Divine Mercy in the forms proposed by Sister Faustina Kowalska, must be regarded as still in force.

This Sacred Congregation, having now in possession the many original docuмents, unknown in 1959; having taken into consideration the profoundly changed circuмstances, and having taken into account the opinion of many Polish Ordinaries, declares no longer binding the prohibitions contained in the quoted "Notification." On July 12, 1979, in response to the Superior General of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M., who in the name of the Provincial Superior of the American Province of St. Stanislaus Kostka, of said Congregation, had asked for an authoritative explanation of the scope of the text in the "Notification" of 1978, rescinding the prohibitions to spread the devotion to The Divine Mercy proposed by Sister Faustina Kowalska, the Prefect of The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ascertained:

... I have the honor of informing you that with the new "Notification" (A.A.S., 30 June 1978, p. 350)... it was the intention of the Holy See to revoke the prohibition contained in the preceding "Notification" of 1959 (A.A.S., 1959, p. 271), in virtue of which it is understood that there no longer exists, on the part of this S. Congregation, any impediment to the spreading of the devotion to The Divine Mercy in the authentic forms proposed by the Religious Sister mentioned above [The Servant of God Sister Faustina Kowalska]. ”

(The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. Footnote 89.)


Canonizations are infallible.

So if you believe that John Paul II was truly Pope, you must accept that Sister Faustina is now Saint Faustina.

Archbishop, Marcel Lefebvre taught that canonizations are infallible.
I am not an SSPX supporter at all, but SSPX supporters usually believe what he said.
Or do you think that he was wrong about canonizations?
Strangely, some of the people who really push the unCatholic idea that canonizations are not valid, are often SSPX. Their founder said otherwise. He taught that canonizations are infallible.

What would be the point of a canonization if they were not infallible?

Canonizations are held to be infallible:

Pope Benedict XIV, in “De servorum Dei”]
If anyone dared to assert that the Pontiff had erred in this or that canonization, we shall say that he is, if not a heretic, at least temerarious, a giver of scandal to the whole Church, an insulter of the saints, a favorer of those heretics who deny the Church’s authority in canonizing saints, savoring of heresy by giving unbelievers an occasion to mock the faithful, the assertor of an erroneous opinion and liable to very grave penalties.

And:

To suppose that the Church can err in canonizing, is a sin, or is heresy, according to St. Bonaventure, Bellarmine, and others; or at least next door to heresy, according to Suarez, Azorius, Gotti, etc.; because the Sovereign Pontiff, according to St. Thomas, is guided by the infallible influence of the Holy Ghost in an especial way when canonizing saints.

And:

...to say the Church errs is to say no less that God errs, or else that He is willing and desirous for us to err; which would be a great blasphemy.

The form of canonization was unchanged by Vatican II.  
The words spoken by a Pope when he canonizes a Saint:

In honor of the Blessed Trinity, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith and the growth of Christian life, with the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and Our Own, after lengthy reflection, having assiduously invoked God’s assistance and taken into account the opinion of many brothers of ours in the episcopate, we declare and define ...to be a Saint, and we enroll him in the Catalogue of the Saints, and we establish that in the whole Church he should be devoutly honored among the Saints.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Canonization, therefore, creates a cultus which is universal and obligatory

So if you believe that John Paul II was a true Pope, the Church OBLIGES YOU to believe that Sister Faustina Kowalska is now SAINT Faustina Kowalska.

Furthermore, "Jesus" supposedly said to Sister Faustina the following (and this can be read in her diary):

“From today on, do not fear God’s judgment, for you will not be judged” (§374, p. 168).

She also spoke several times of the Eucharist "jumping out of the tabernacle and resting in her hands".

If someone wants to believe in the Divine Mercy, I guess that's their business, not mine. But I believe that, when we consider not only that no Traditional groups support the devotion but also the erroneous quotes from her diary (such as what I quoted above), it seems, at least to me, that it should be avoided.

I didn't "make" it refer to Judgement Day, I copy and pasted the quote.

While I appreciate you providing the entire quote, how does it justify that somehow she wouldn't be judged by God on Judgement Day? Or are you saying God didn't mean she wouldn't be judged?

As far as the Eucharist, sorry, "jumped" was not the correct word. This is the quote that I was primarily refering to:

On page 23 of the book Divine Mercy in My Soul (The Diary of Sr. Faustina), it says: “…and the host came out of the tabernacle and came to rest in my hands and I, with joy,placed it back in the tabernacle. This was repeated a second time, and I did the same thing. Despite this, it happened a third time…”

Then there is this quote from her diary, and it reminds me of something Benedict XVI said in 2009:

On page 643, we read that Sr. Faustina said after receiving Communion: “Jesus transform me into another host!… You are a great and all-powerful Lord; you can grant me this favor. And the Lord answered me, You are a living host."