CASA CANDELARIA

With a contrite heart, go to confession if at all possible today.

His Mercy grants forgiveness of all sins and punishment on Mercy Sunday for even the most hardened sinners.

Sunday, April 15 is Divine Mercy Sunday. The Church offers us a special opportunity to contemplate

God's Divine Mercy with intense devotion and to receive, under certain conditions, the incredible gift

of a plenary indulgence--a person becomes as if just baptized and would go directly to heaven if he or

she were to die at that very instant. It is a wonderful opportunity to receive this generous gift and, with

a firm and resolute heart, to start over again. An essential part of satisfying the conditions is to go to

sacramental confession right away. I hope this reaches everyone in time to do that! If you would like

to read more on the background of Divine Mercy Sunday, you can see this link from EWTN:

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

The following is drawn from the official decree. The full document may be found at the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_trib_appen_doc_20020629_decree-ii_en.html

"O God, your mercy knows no bounds and the treasure of your goodness is infinite..." (Prayer after

the "Te Deum" Hymn) and "O God, you reveal your almighty power above all by showing mercy

and forgiveness..." (Prayer for the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time), in these prayers Holy Mother

Church

humbly and faithfully sings of Divine Mercy. Indeed, God's great patience with the human race in

general
and with each individual person shines out in a special way when sins and moral failures are

forgiven by Almighty God Himself and the guilty are readmitted in a fatherlike way to his friendship,

which they deservedly lost.

Duty of honouring Divine Mercy

The faithful with deep spiritual affection are drawn to commemorate the mysteries of divine pardon

and to celebrate them devoutly. They clearly understand the supreme benefit, indeed the duty, that the

People of God have to praise Divine Mercy with special prayers and, at the same time, they realize

that by gratefully performing the works required and satisfying the necessary conditions, they can obtain

spiritual benefits that derive from the Treasury of the Church. "The paschal mystery is the culmination

of this revealing and effecting of mercy, which is able to justify man, to restore justice in the sense of

that salvific order which God willed from the beginning in man, and through man, in the world"

(Encyclical Letter Dives in misericordia, n. 7).

It is God's Mercy that grants supernatural sorrow and resolution to amend

Indeed, Divine Mercy knows how to pardon even the most serious sins, and in doing so it moves the

faithful to perceive a supernatural, not merely psychological, sorrow for their sins so that, ever with the

help of divine grace, they may make a firm resolution not to sin any more. Such spiritual dispositions

undeniably follow upon the forgiveness of mortal sin when the faithful fruitfully receive the sacrament

of Penance or repent of their sin with an act of perfect charity and perfect contrition, with the resolution

to receive the Sacrament of Penance as soon as they can. Indeed, Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in the

parable of the Prodigal Son that the sinner must confess his misery to God saying: "Father I have sinned

against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son" (Lk 15,18-19), realizing

that this is a work of God, "for [he] was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found" (Lk 15,32).

Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday

And so with provident pastoral sensitivity and in order to impress deeply on the souls of the faithful
these precepts and teachings of the Christian faith, the Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, moved by the
consideration

of the Father of Mercy, has willed that the Second Sunday of Easter be dedicated to recalling with
special devotion these gifts of grace and gave this Sunday the name, "Divine Mercy Sunday"
(Congregation for

Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Decree Misericors et miserator, 5 May 2000).

The Gospel of the Second Sunday of Easter narrates the wonderful things Christ the Lord accomplished
on the day of the Resurrection during his first public appearance: "On the evening of that day, the first day
of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood
among them and said to them, "Peace be with you'. When he said this, he showed them his hands and his
side. Then the discples were glad to see the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the
Father has sent me, even so I send you'. And then he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the
Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are
retained'" (Jn 20,19-23).

Plenary Indulgence

To ensure that the faithful would observe this day with intense devotion, the Supreme Pontiff himself
established that this Sunday be enriched by a plenary indulgence, as will be explained below, so that
the faithful might receive in great abundance the gift of the consolation of the Holy Spirit. In this way,
they can foster a growing love for God and for their neighbour, and after they have obtained God's
pardon, they in turn might be persuaded to show a prompt pardon to their brothers and sisters.

Pardon of others who sin against us

Thus the faithful will more closely conform to the spirit of the Gospel, receiving in their hearts the
renewal that the Second Vatican Council explained and introduced: "Mindful of the words of the
Lord: "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another'
(Jn 13,35), Christians can yearn for nothing more ardently than to serve the men of this age with
an ever growing generosity and success.... It is the Father's will that we should recognize Christ
our brother in the persons of all men and love them with an effective love, in word and in deed
(Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, n. 93).

Three conditions for the plenary indulgence

And so the Supreme Pontiff, motivated by an ardent desire to foster in Christians this devotion to
Divine Mercy as much as possible in the hope of offering great spiritual fruit to the faithful, in the
Audience granted on 13 June 2002, to those Responsible for the Apostolic Penitentiary, granted
the following Indulgences:

A plenary indulgence, granted under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic
communion and prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff) to the faithful who, on the Second
Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely
detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held
in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved
in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful
Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!");

A partial indulgence, granted to the faithful who, at least with a contrite heart, pray to the merciful
Lord Jesus a legitimately approved invocation.

For those who cannot go to church or the seriously ill

In addition, sailors working on the vast expanse of the sea; the countless brothers and sisters, whom
the disasters of war, political events, local violence and other such causes have been driven out of
their homeland; the sick and those who nurse them, and all who for a just cause cannot leave their
homes or who carry out an activity for the community which cannot be postponed, may obtain a
plenary indulgence on Divine Mercy Sunday, if totally detesting any sin, as has been said before,
and with the intention of fulfilling as soon as possible the three usual conditions, will recite the
Our Father and the Creed before a devout image of Our Merciful Lord Jesus and, in addition,
pray a devout invocation to the Merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you).

If it is impossible that people do even this, on the same day they may obtain the Plenary Indulgence
if with a spiritual intention they are united with those carrying out the prescribed practice for obtaining
the Indulgence in the usual way and offer to the Merciful Lord a prayer and the sufferings of their illness
and the difficulties of their lives, with the resolution to accomplish as soon as possible the three
conditions prescribed to obtain the plenary indulgence.