There is still time!!!!

[Denise]

From Donal Foley


Dear Friends,

Last Sunday was Divine Mercy Sunday. Even if you didn’t do the Divine Mercy novena from Good Friday, you can still benefit from the wonderful promise connected with this devotion.

If you received Holy Communion last Sunday, then there is still time to go to confession and have all your sins forgiven and the punishment attached to them wiped away. As long as you go to Confession within 8 days of Divine Mercy Sunday, you can still qualify for the great promise, which Our Lord revealed to St Faustina as follows:

“On [Divine Mercy Sunday] the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity.” (Diary of Sr. Faustina, 699).

What this promise means is that we get a totally new start, like a second baptism, which completely wipes away all our sins and any punishment attached to them, a punishment which would normally have to be expiated in purgatory. And since according to the testimony of some saints, the only difference between purgatory and hell, is that purgatory has an end, whereas the torments of hell are endless, then clearly it would be foolish to ignore the great benefits attached to the Divine Mercy devotion.

For more information, please see:

www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/mercy_sunday.htm

www.marian.org/divinemercy/

http://www.divinemercysunday.com/

God bless,
Donal
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[Denise]

Dear Friends,

This is an update regarding my recent email about the Divine Mercy devotion. I had meant to send info about that before last Sunday, but for various reasons wasn’t able to do that.

Having looked into the question in more depth, I can see that the whole thing is more complicated than I thought. Basically, not only is there the Great promise from Christ, but there is also, parallel to this, a plenary indulgence promulgated by the Church for the Divine Mercy Sunday.

Looking at the various Divine Mercy websites regarding Confession and Divine Mercy Sunday, there doesn’t seem to be any provision for Confession concerning the devotion after that particular Sunday. Confession can take place during Lent, and it isn’t strictly necessary to confess on Divine Mercy Sunday – the main thing, it seems, is to be in a state of grace on the day. (I emailed one of the main Divine Mercy sites asking for a clarification about all this, but no response so far.)

I was going on the usual conditions for a plenary indulgence, and also on the practise for confessions in association with the Fatima Five First Saturdays devotion. But it looks as though you can’t take advantage of the Divine Mercy promises after the event as it were – you need to have the intention on the day itself.

So that means if anyone has missed going to confession this year, they will have to wait until next year’s Divine Mercy Sunday to take advantage of the incredible graces attached to this devotion. (This would also seem to apply to the Plenary Indulgence offered by the Church for Divine Mercy Sunday – you need to have the intention on the day itself).

Sorry if my earlier email caused any confusion, but my intentions were good, and there is a never bad time to go to confession!

There is more info and helpful links below for those who are interested.

Happy Eastertide,
Donal

There is info about the Plenary Indulgence here:

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/feast.htm

and here:

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/decree.htm

And you can read an explanation of the difference between the Indulgence and the Promise here:

http://thedivinemercy.org/library/faq/c ... ?newsID=89

And a further explanation about the difference between the two here:

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/i ... romise.htm

There is also an answer here about confession and this devotion:

http://thedivinemercy.org/library/article.php?NID=2618

and this answer is also useful.

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