April 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ’s Divine Mercy:

I write to you on Saturday, April 22, the eve of the Feast of Divine Mercy. A year ago at this time in the Liturgical Calendar our beloved Holy Father, John Paul II, was preparing to draw his last breath on this earth. As you remember, the Mass of Divine Mercy was celebrated in his room shortly before he died. Even in death, our Holy Father was evangelizing about Divine Mercy and the importance and grace of this devotion. Many heard about Divine Mercy and Sr. Faustina for the first time as the details of his death were revealed. “How precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His faithful ones” (Ps. 116).

This year I want to share with you a personal testimony of Jesus’ Divine Mercy. Some of you who know me know that I have a great aunt who is 109 years old. That is correct; she was born in 1897. She truly has been throughout my life a great beacon of light and love. The albs that I wear under my vestments were a gift from her. It is no exaggeration to state that I never knew anyone who prays as much as her. Often she would pray up to thirty rosaries a day. She prayed for everyone and everything. Hers was a deep and mystical spirituality. Everyone that came into contact with her throughout her life was affected by her presence. Many of the nurses that cared for her over these last several years had conversion experiences because of her deep spirituality.

Just in the last few months her health began to fail. I had planned to visit her on Easter Sunday, but I did not want to miss an opportunity to visit her so I got up early in the morning on Good Friday to make the hundred mile round trip to see her. I anointed her that morning and she was very much on my mind over the next few days. This Easter was different from almost any other Easter as I am now in Brockton, MA. I usually spend Easter Sunday afternoon at my mother’s house, but this year I wanted to have my mother with me for services and being fifty miles away it was easier if she stayed in Brockton. I got my mother on Holy Saturday and she stayed down here to attend the Vigil and Sunday morning Mass. This year we went to her cousins for Easter dinner and had an enjoyable visit. (I always find it interesting that people wonder what I am doing for dinner at Christmas and Easter. The truth is I am trying to keep my eyes open long enough to be polite before I can go lie down somewhere. For a priest, these days are very full and exhausting.)

Shortly after dinner my Aunt Mary’s granddaughter got a call that Aunt Mary was not doing well. The doctor expressed that there was no need to rush in, but that her condition had changed. The assembled family went to the hospital, which was about ten minutes away. When we arrived Aunt Mary was a little bit restless. Her granddaughter took my aunt’s ever present rosary beads and placed them in her hands. We began praying the rosary and her spirit quieted. Then the family members one by one went up to her, spoke words of love and gratitude to her, and kissed her. My mother and I then explained the Chaplet of Divine Mercy to my cousins and the powerful intercession of St. Faustina. We began to pray the Chaplet together with me and her granddaughter, Edna, holding my Aunt Mary’s hands. At the moment we came to the end of the prayer she breathed her last and slipped peacefully away.

Words could never do justice to the experience of power in that room. God had put everything and everyone in place so that we could pray a great and saintly prayer warrior right into heaven. I know that if Aunt Mary had written a script it would have been exactly what happened. When I shared this testimony with Sr. Saula the Mother Superior of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy she almost scolded me that I seemed to express surprise: “What do you expect? Saint Faustina is your friend! Of course, she would be with you in these hours!”

How true! Saint Faustina is our friend. We, however inadequate we are, are vessels of grace and mercy for others. God uses us to bring this devotion and its peace to others. Yesterday my great aunt had her funeral. It was a beautiful celebration of a life of great faith. How many times in her life had she prayed “...now and at the hour of our death?” And the Blessed Mother and our Lord were so present to her in her hour of death. It should bring great hope and trust to all of us too.

As a footnote, one of the nurses told me at the wake that she had walked in at 3:00 p.m. and had seen my aunt in prayer with her arms extended praying, but she could not discern what she was saying. I think we understand what was happening.

I wish you this year the fullness of joy as you celebrate the feast of Jesus’ Divine Mercy! Do not be anxious. Do not be afraid. “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His faithful ones.”

+ Jesus I Trust in You

Sincerely in Christ’s Divine Mercy,

Rev. Richard F. Clancy