JACKSON – Laura Hernández and Orlando Marín led the Divine Mercy Chaplet on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, at the Cathedral of St. Peter after the 2 p.m. Mass. The chaplet was also prayed at 7:30 a.m. (Photo by Elsa Baughman)

JACKSON – Several parishes in the Diocese of Jackson observed Divine Mercy Sunday on the Second Sunday of the Easter Season. This celebration was first established on April 30, 2000, the day of the canonization of Saint Faustina, the apostle of Divine Mercy.

The recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet is relatively recent but it has become a popular devotion revealed by God to Saint Faustina Kowalska. On Good Friday 1930, Christ appeared to Saint Faustina and asked her to recite this chaplet for nine days, starting on Good Friday and ending on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), now known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

The novena can be recited at any time of the year, however, and it is often accompanied by the Divine Mercy Chaplet.