Holy Week a time for special prayers

For Shannon Marsyada and her “little army of prayer warriors” who connect through Facebook, every day is a day to pray.

But at this time of year, she feels an added intensity.

“I’m looking forward to walking with Jesus through Easter Week,” she said.

For many Christians, Thursday was the day to commemorate Jesus’ Last Supper; Friday is the day to remember his death; Saturday evening and Sunday will be days to celebrate his resurrection.

But for some devout followers, the Sunday after Easter — April 11 — is the day the Catholic church calls Divine Mercy Sunday, and it’s also a time for special prayer.

Marsyada expects she’ll attend Divine Mercy services at Holy Annunciation Church in Hazleton that day.

Her friend Lori Singer expects to participate in similar services at St. Lucy Church in Scranton.

And in Nanticoke, people will gather for the Feast of Divine Mercy at St. Faustina Parish, which is named after the saint whose writings provided the basis for the feast.

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who lived in the early 20th century and described visions in which she believed Jesus Christ told her he wanted to “pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of my mercy.”

In her diary St. Faustina listed prayers that she believed Jesus wanted people to pray during a 9-day Novena that would begin on Good Friday and culminate on the Feast of Divine Mercy.

At St. Faustina Church in Nanticoke, church pastor the Rev. James Nash said, people will gather at 3 p.m. each day starting on Good Friday to say those novena prayers together.

Other people might pray the prayers in their homes, or wherever they happen to be, not necessarily with a group.

“I like to pray for family members who live far away,” said Janine Evanish, who sells religious items at Heaven & Earth, a gift shop she runs on Wyoming Avenue in Scranton. “It comforts me to ‘cover them’ in prayer.”

“When we’re driving and taking a road trip, my mother will pull out the rosary,” said Marsyada, who is part of a Hazleton-based prayer group that connects through the Messenger app on Facebook. “She has a list of intentions that’s pages long, with people who have gone through hardships.”

“It gives me such a feeling of peace,” Singer said, “and I really want to spread the word about praying the rosary and praying the Divine Mercy chaplet and about Divine Mercy Sunday.”

The rosary includes such traditional prayers as the Our Father, the Glory Be, and five decades of 10 Hail Marys, counted out on 50 beads.

Some people use the same rosary beads to help them count the prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which has a different arrangement of short prayers, including the meditative repetition of the sentence, “For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

The 9-day novena contains longer prayers that can be found online, including at thedivinemercy.org/.

Concerned about people who don’t have internet access, Singer said they are welcome to call her at 570-814-3051 and she will find a way to share the prayers, dictating them if necessary.

The people who gather at area churches to pray together, meanwhile, will probably read the prayers from booklets.

On April 11 at St. Lucy Church, 949 Scranton St., Scranton the session will open at noon with praying the rosary, reviewing the life of St. Faustina, Mass and the opportunity for confessions. The Divine Mercy Novena will be prayed at 3 p.m.

At Holy Annunciation Parish at the Church of St. Gabriel, 122 S. Wyoming St., Hazleton, confessions start at 2:30 p.m. and praying the Divine Mercy service begins at 3 p.m., followed by a Sunday Mass at 5 p.m.

At St. Faustina Church, 520 Hanover St., Nanticoke, the day begins wth exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 1 p.m., adoration and confessions, followed by the Divine Mercy chaplet, to be sung at 3 p.m.

“If you read anything about it, about the idea of Divine Mercy Sunday and the promises made to St. Faustina, you know you do specific things like going to confession and attending Mass,” said Carol Matz, who coordinates the Divine Mercy Sunday activities at Holy Annunciation Church. “Then if you were to die you would go straight to heaven. It’s almost like you’ve just been baptized; your soul is clean and sparkling.”

“It’s important to bring the idea of divine mercy to whoever wants to hear about it,” Matz said, explaining she coordinated the services at Holy Annunciation Parish for the first time about 14 years ago “because I was asked. I’ve been doing it ever since, because I feel moved.”