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On a crisp April evening, hundreds of young adults prayed the words of the Divine Mercy Chaplet at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
As their voices echoed through the cathedral, their eyes remained fixed on an image of the Divine Mercy to the left of the altar—and on the wooden reliquary in front that contained relics of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.
The cathedral visit was one of many at churches in the archdiocese on “Mercy Mission,” a tour for the relics of the “Apostle of Mercy” sponsored by the archdiocesan Vocations Office. The first-class relics, including bone fragments and bits of the Polish saint’s habit, were in New York April 2-10.
At each stop, Masses were celebrated, some in English and Spanish, confession was available, the Divine Mercy Chaplet was prayed, and the relics were venerated.
Speaking to CNY, Father Enrique Salvo, director of vocations for the archdiocese, said that he considered the Mercy Mission “a powerful sign from Jesus himself about how much he wants to fill us with his mercy.”
The principal celebrant of the Young Adult Mass on April 6 was Father Justin Cinnante, who resides at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown. He gave an unforgettable homily regarding Jesus’ message of Divine Mercy, revealed to St. Faustina to remind people of His love.
Much of the homily centered on the sacrament of reconciliation. “So many souls are afraid of God…especially in confession,” Father Cinnante said. The sacrament is a way to experience God’s mercy and healing, and yet often people don’t allow God to forgive their sins, he said.
“That’s why this image reminds us to trust,” he said.
He also asked the young people to be open to and to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Emma Smith 25, whose parish is St. John-St. Joachim in Beacon, attended with her sister Rachel, 18, a freshman at Fordham University. A regular attendee at the Mass, she finds it “spiritually refreshing and a good reminder that young Catholics in New York City are not alone.”
Holding a special devotion to St. Faustina, she had already gone to the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, where the relics began their archdiocesan tour, for Divine Mercy Sunday, April 3.
Ms. Smith learned the Divine Mercy Chaplet in middle school from her Polish grandmother. “This year, I’ve made a special effort to return to the chaplet because I’m drawn to the words in her diary,” she said.
“The chaplet, the diary and the image of Divine Mercy are a special avenue for me personally because I feel I’ve obtained many graces through them, like courage and faith.”
She shared how she returned to confession this year and the role St. Faustina’s diary played.
“Having her diary puts Divine Mercy in perspective and helps us believe and trust in it, and it’s rather contemporary since it happened less than 100 years ago,” she said.
St. Faustina, who died in 1938, was canonized by St. John Paul II in April 2000.
“Having St. Faustina’s relics here really sheds the message of mercy on a lot of people who might not have heard of it,” she added.
Sister Inga Kvassayova, O.L.M., of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, St. Faustina’s order, spoke after Mass. Sister Confida Gilera, O.L.M, accompanied her. The two nuns reside in a Boston convent, the order’s only one in the United States.
Gabriella Foe, 25, who is a parishioner at St. Jean Baptiste in Manhattan, said she came because “there are just so many wonderful things occurring in one place all in one night.”
“With the Jubilee of Mercy, the Holy Door at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the relic of St. Faustina and young adults around the city gathered together, it’s an opportunity that I could not miss,” she said.
“I believe the image and message of the Divine Mercy is so important and relevant to young adults today. I know it is to me.
“Society has placed increasing value and importance on being independent, autonomous beings…It is hard to be on the receiving end of mercy and love. We don’t want to depend on and be indebted to another,” she said.
She continued, “It’s hard to grasp how someone, namely Jesus, can so freely give oneself away to another. It is easy to blame ourselves or others instead of trusting in God’s mercy, goodness, love and providence. And if we haven’t allowed ourselves to experience mercy, how can we give mercy?”
