Though hardly perceptible, the moon is just beginning to edge in front of the bottom right of the sun in this photo taken at the beginning of the solar eclipse on April 8 in Metamora. The Catholic Post Online/Paul Thomas Moore

By Paul Thomas Moore
of The Catholic Post Online

WARSAW — On Monday, April 8, the moon blocked out the sun’s light for a few minutes along North America’s “path of totality,” and millions were impressed.

The day before was Divine Mercy Sunday, and the message being proclaimed in Catholic churches far and wide was even more impressive: nothing can come between us and the loving mercy of Christ.

Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated annually across the Diocese of Peoria. This year, The Catholic Post Online visited Sacred Heart Parish in Warsaw, Hancock County.

It was in another Warsaw  — in Poland — that Helena Kowalski, who later took the name of Sister Maria Faustina, entered the congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925. As she relates in her “Diary,” Jesus told her, “You are the secretary of My Mercy.”

Father Tony Trosley is the pastor of the Hancock County parishes: Sts. Peter and Paul, Nauvoo; St. Mary, Hamilton; Immaculate Conception, Carthage; Sacred Heart, Warsaw; and Sacred Heart, Dallas City.
“Thanks to former priests that have been here, the Divine Mercy Chaplet has really taken a strong hold for a lot of people here in the county,” he said.

TWO RAYS ILLUMINATE WORLD

Deacon Dan Moffitt introduces Divine Mercy Hour at Sacred Heart Church in Warsaw on Sunday, April 7. “Great graces are with us today,” he said. The Catholic Post Online/Paul Thomas Moore

Father Trosley added that they usually hold a Divine Mercy Hour at Sacred Heart in Dallas City which is attended by people from all five parishes, but this year, in honor of the Sacred Heart, they held an hour in Warsaw as well.

As Saint John Paul II indicated in his Divine Mercy homily in 2001, Jesus’ Sacred Heart is very much a part of the devotion. “St. Faustina Kowalska saw coming from this heart that was overflowing with generous love, two rays of light which illuminated the world.”

While Father Trosley was hearing confessions at Sacred Heart in Warsaw, Deacon Dan Moffitt presided over the recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which was followed by Eucharistic adoration.

“Great graces are with us today,” said Deacon Moffitt, as he introduced the 3 p.m. devotional hour. He recalled Jesus’ promise to St. Faustina, “I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of me in virtue of my Passion.” (Diary, 1320)