-
March 23, 2018
Parishes hosting services on Divine Mercy Sunday include:
Church of the Assumption, 1227 7th Ave. North, Nashville, Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 2:30 p.m.; Divine Mercy Chaplet followed by Vespers and Benediction, 3 p.m
.
Church of the Nativity, 2793 Buckner Lane, Thompsons Station, 3 p.m.
Immaculate Conception Church, 716 Franklin St., Clarksville, 3 p.m. in the Chapel.Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 610 Kimmins St., Hohenwald, 3 p.m.
Our Lady of the Lake Church, 1729 Stop 30 Road, Hendersonville, 3 p.m.
Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 103 Golf Club Lane, Springfield, 3 p.m.
Sacred Heart Church, 305 Church St., Loretto, 3 p.m.
St. Anthony Church, 1900 Huntsville Highway, Fayetteville, 3 p.m.
St. Catherine Church, 3019 Cayce Lane, Columbia, 2:30 p.m.
St. Christopher Church, 713 W. College St., Dickson, Adoration and Confessions at 2 p.m., Divine Mercy Service at 3 p.m.
St. Edward Church, 188 Thompson Lane, Nashville, 3 p.m.
St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, 601 Bell Road, Nashville, will have one hour of Eucharistic Adoration between Sunday Masses, 9:15-10:15 a.m.
St. John the Evangelist Church, 1061 S. Ellington Parkway, Lewisburg, 1 p.m.
St. Joseph Church, 1225 Gallatin Pike S., Madison, 3 p.m.
St. Luke Church, 10682 Old Nashville Highway, Smyrna, Confessions 1:30-2:45 p.m., Divine Mercy Celebration, 3 p.m., followed by a reception.
St. Patrick Church, 175 St. Patrick St., McEwen, 3 p.m. Reception to follow.
St. Paul the Apostle Church, 304 W. Grizzard St., Tullahoma, 3 p.m.
St. Philip, 113 Second Avenue, South, Franklin, 3 p.m.
St. Rose of Lima Church, 1601 North Tennessee Blvd., Murfreesboro, Rosary at 1:30 p.m., bilingual (English and Spanish) Divine Mercy Service at 2 p.m.
St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 421 N. Washington Ave., Cookeville, 9 a.m.
If your parish is not listed, check with the church office.
In August 1999, Therese Casler was cast into a deep darkness of worry over the soul of her son Travis Forrest who had died by suicide.
“I worried, where was he now,” said Casler, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Hendersonville. “What did the Church say about suicide. What does the Church say about redemption.”
Several months later, St. John Paul II proclaimed that the Second Sunday of Easter should be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday to draw the clear connection between the merciful love of God and the Paschal Mystery.
It was in the Divine Mercy devotion that Casler found peace. She now encourages others to take advantage of the devotion, which began with the visions of a Polish nun.
On Sunday, April 8, Catholics around the Diocese of Nashville once again will join others around the world in celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday, asking for God’s mercy for themselves and the whole world with special services that will include praying the Divine Mercy chaplet and venerating the Divine Mercy image.
In the months after her son’s death, Casler struggled. The late Msgr. William Bevington, then the pastor of Our Lady of the Lake and Casler’s spiritual director, assured her that God knew what was in her son’s heart at the end of his life, loved him and is merciful
Still, Casler was worried.
“I tried to learn everything I could about what the Church taught about purgatory,” Casler said. She prayed to God, “If you can get him to purgatory, I’ll pray him the rest of the way.”
At the same time, she was beginning to learn about the Divine Mercy devotion.
The devotion to Divine Mercy is based on the writings and revelations of St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun in the 1930s. The revelations from Jesus Christ were recorded in notebooks that were compiled as “The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.”
In the revelations, Christ asked for acts of mercy arising out of love for him, through deed, word and prayer.
In 2000, Casler attended the Divine Mercy Sunday service at St. Joseph Church in Madison. During his homily that day, Bishop James Niedergeses urged the people to trust in Jesus.
“I felt this heaviness lifting in me,” Casler said. “It was eight months later, but I felt peace.
“I knew he was in the arms of the Blessed Mother. I knew he was going to be OK,” she said. “I didn’t have that heaviness anymore. I didn’t have that despair. … I knew Christ was with me.”
The next year, Casler helped organize a Divine Mercy Sunday service at Our Lady of the Lake, and the parish has had one every year since.
“I know how important it is,” Casler said. “I know how it can help.”
St. Faustina’s diary includes a passage in which Christ asked people to say a novena of the Divine Mercy Chaplet in preparation for the Feast of Divine Mercy. The novena is to begin on Good Friday. In one vision, Christ gave St. Faustina the words of the Divine Mercy chaplet and instructions on how it should be prayed, using the beads of a rosary.
According to her diary: “First of all, you will say one ‘Our Father’ and ‘Hail Mary’ and the ‘I Believe in God’ (the Apostles’ Creed). Then on the Our Father beads you will say the following words, ‘Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.’ On the Hail Mary beads you will say the following words, ‘For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.’ In conclusion, three times you will recite these words: ‘Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.’”
“By this novena (of Chaplets) I will grant every possible grace to souls,” Christ told St. Faustina.
In another vision, Christ asked St. Faustina to have his image painted as he appeared to her. In the Divine Mercy image, Jesus is shown with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand touching his chest. Two rays of light emanate from his heart, one red and the other white, representing the blood and water that poured from his side on the Cross. At the bottom of the image are the words, “Jesus, I trust in you.”
For more information about the Divine Mercy devotion, visit www.divinemercy.org.