By Catholic Review Staff
Some Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore marked Divine Mercy Sunday April 15 by participating in events at Holy Rosary Church in Baltimore.
From April 13-15, the 125-year-old city parish, home of the archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy, offered a variety of activities to commemorate the feast, such as a musical tribute to Blessed John Paul II, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass in Polish and in English and a viewing of the movie “Faustina.”
Blessed John Paul II established Divine Mercy Sunday in 2000 as a feast celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter – a day when the liturgical readings highlight mercy. The pope announced the new feast on the same day he canonized St. Faustina Kowalska, a 20th century Polish nun who had a vision of Jesus in which he asked for devotions to divine mercy.
Holy Rosary has a special connection to St. Faustina because the late Father Ronald Pytel, a former pastor, was cured of congestive heart failure when prayers were offered to the Polish nun for her intercession on the priest’s behalf. Father Pytel’s unexplained recovery in 1995 became the second miracle needed for St. Faustina’s canonization. The spot where the prayers were offered at Holy Rosary is now the archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy that features an image of Christ with the words “Jesus, I trust in you” written in Polish and English. Father Pytel’s doctor at the time of his miracle, Johns Hopkins cardiologist Nicholas Fortuin, died on April 11, Divine Mercy Sunday, while biking. He was 69. Blessed John Paul II died on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005.
Holy Rosary also welcomed the relic of Blessed Michael Sopocko, the confessor of St. Faustina, during the Divine Mercy Triduum.
Copyright (c) April 17, 2012 CatholicReview.org