Pope's love of Divine Mercy celebrated
in archdiocese

By Sean Gallagher

Pope John Paul II died shortly after the celebration of the vigil Mass of the feast of Divine Mercy was celebrated in his presence. It is a feast that will always be intimately connected to his pontificate.

Just hours before he died, following an 8 a.m. Mass at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis offered for the ailing pope, Anchorite Sister Mary Ann Schumann, who has promoted devotion to Divine Mercy throughout the archdiocese, tearfully spoke of her thoughts regarding the closeness of the pope’s grave condition to Divine Mercy Sunday.

“I really think he will die on [the feast of] Divine Mercy,” she said, “… and then he will take us all into [Christ’s] mercy. If there’s anytime that we need mercy, we need it now.”

Following the same Mass at the cathedral, St. Monica parishioner Steve Dlugosz of Indianapolis, a longtime adorer of the Blessed Sacrament at the Divine Mercy Chapel at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Indianapolis, spoke in wonder at the widespread nature of the Divine Mercy devotion which started in relative obscurity.

“Coming from humble upbringings for both of them [the pope and St. Faustina],” Dlugosz said, “in a little part of the world that most people don’t even know [about], for them to achieve that level of greatness is beyond comprehension.”

The next day, Catholics across the archdiocese gathered to participate in services to celebrate the feast. At the same time, they prayed for the repose of the late pope’s soul and in gratitude for his life and ministry.

Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general and pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis, was the celebrant for the services at St. Michael Church and spoke in a sermon about the connection between the devotion to Divine Mercy and the late Pope John Paul II.

He explained how the devotion “grew out of mystical revelations” in the 1930s to St. Faustina Kowalska, a Mercy nun who lived in John Paul’s home Archdiocese of Krakow, Poland.

Msgr. Schaedel also explained the late pope’s central role in rehabilitating St. Faustina’s writings after the Vatican had banned them in the 1950s. (The ban had occurred due to a poor translation.)

Archbishop Karol Wojtyla investigated the writings and helped Vatican officials understand the meaning of the nun’s diary.

Msgr. Schaedel reflected upon a passage of St. Faustina’s diary, where she wrote, “As I was praying for Poland, I heard the words, ‘I bear a special love for Poland… From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for my final coming.’ ”

In reflecting upon the late pope’s life, Msgr. Schaedel sought its meaning in part in light of Divine Mercy.

“He did not originate the message of God’s Divine Mercy,” the vicar general said. “Yet he reflected it. He was God’s instrument, along with St. Faustina, to spread it.

“Pope John Paul II must have been part of that spark that came forth from Poland to prepare the world for the coming of Christ,” Msgr. Schaedel said. “Today, we help him with our prayers.”

Sister Mary Ann spoke about the Holy Father’s death before the service at St. Michael Church.

“Well, naturally [I was] sad,” she said, “but since he entrusted his petrine ministry and the world to Divine Mercy, and he exemplified this in his life, his activity, he took that mission from the Lord and the Eucharist, and he shared it with the world in his compassion and his love.

“I think it’s just a tremendous grace that God would allow him to die on the day that was so important … ”

Pauline Father Simon Stefanowicz, who ministers at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in the Archdiocese of Krakow, was leading a mission focusing on Divine Mercy at St. Nicholas Parish in Ripley County when the Holy Father passed away.

Three days before the pope’s death, he spoke in an interview with The Criterion about the importance of Divine Mercy to John Paul.

Calling him “the pope of mercy,” Father Simon recounted how as a laborer during World War II he often prayed at the tomb of St. Faustina, which was in a church along the route he would walk from his home to the factory where he worked.

Later, as a priest, Father Simon said, he nurtured a devotion to Divine Mercy, especially seeking to grow his trust in Jesus.

As the bishop of Rome, his love for Divine Mercy was reflected in his 1980 encyclical “Dives in misericordia” (Rich in Mercy), where he described Jesus Christ as “the inexhaustible source of mercy” and “the definitive incarnation of mercy, its living sign” (#93).

Father Simon, who before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council was ordained to minor orders by the late Holy Father when he was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Krakow, also spoke about the significance of the suffering leading up to his death happening so close to Divine Mercy Sunday.

“He [was] the pope of mercy,” Father Simon said, “by his life, trusting Jesus, surviving so many surgeries and an attempted assassination. Now he is showing God’s mercy in his life, offering his life, suffering… for the whole people.”

In closing his sermon at the Divine Mercy service at St. Michael Church, Msgr. Schaedel exhorted his listeners to carry on in their own lives the legacy of Pope John Paul II and his love for Divine Mercy.

“With Christ’s power, we will follow his example to serve the human person and the whole of mankind,” he said. “If we do that, then we will be part of that great legacy John Paul leaves behind.

“For now, we commend him to the Divine Mercy of God. In his absence, we entrust our Church to God’s mercy as well. And in that Divine Mercy, like John Paul, we are not afraid!” †