Divine Mercy Novena: yea or nay?

[hedgehog]

Beginning a novena on Holy Saturday and then continuing it to the Sunday after Easter reminds me of the cousin I had who passed up Thanksgiving dinner because he had some leftover KFC stashed away in the refrigerator. Granted, KFC was a very special treat for him back then, but still.

The notion that the celebration of the Resurrection should serve as a back drop to a minor devotional exercise strikes me as being in poor taste.

[rug]

1. I never could do novenas but the idea of a feast day focusing on mercy is not a bad idea.

To have it the week after the Passion and Resurrection is apt.

[hedgehog]

2. I don't have any problem with a Divine Mercy novena per se,

but having a novena that begins on Holy Saturday before the Easter Vigil seems out of step with the day's sense of anticipation and waiting.

[KitSileya]

3. I thought the second Sunday of Easter was Divine Mercy Sunday.

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the novena following this Sunday? I agree with you that nothing should bring our concentration off the story of the Passion - it is the most important feast in the liturgical year. Holy Saturday should ideally be as blank as Good Friday is wrought with sadness - an emptyness waiting to be filled with joy.

To be honest, I'm not at all enthused with the Divine Mercy, St. Faustina stuff. I think it's the fact that we have a replica of the picture in our church, and it just doesn't speak to me.

[hedgehog]

4. Would the rest of us have even heard of St. Faustina if John Paul II hadn't been Polish?

I'm all for patriotism, but not at the expense of disrupting the liturgical year. Right now it seems that if a parish emphasizes Divine Mercy Sunday, it's to indicate a higher level of orthodoxy/ adherence to the Vatican right wing. I was noodling around a few weeks ago and found that one of the 20th century Popes was big on (IIRC) the Sacred Heart, so for a long time there was a Sacred Heart Sunday that was quietly dropped.

[tjwmason]

5. Easter is the summit of the year.

The whole of Lent, and particularly the Sacred Triduum builds up to it - to throw in a minor feast distracts us from Easter and diminishes the feast of Divine Mercy.

I'm a fan of the older tradition of octaves - Easter is such a big deal it shouldn't be over and done with half an hour after Mass on Easter Day, stretch the festival out over a few days.

[KitSileya]

6. We're pretty lucky in Norway,

even tho' it's a (nominally) Lutheran country, it's still got most of its holidays on church feasts. Easter is a big vacation week - most people have Thursday to Monday off, and school's out the entire week plus Monday. Holy Saturday is a half day - the stores are open until 1500, but are closed on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, as well as Easter Sunday and Monday. We also have Ascencion Day off, and Pentecost Monday. That makes it easier for those of us who are religiously inclined to celebrate the big feasts.