Yay! So Happy... it's annouced that the new church that is going to be built in Pasir Ris is called

The Church of the Divine Mercy!

Anyway, to all Catholics and Christians out there who has not heard about The Divine Mercy, here are some infomation:


Background of the Divine Mercy Devotion

From the diary of a young Polish nun, a special devotionbegan spreading throughout the world in the 1930s. Themessage is nothing new, but is a reminder of what theChurch has always taught through scripture and tradition:that God is merciful and forgiving and that we, too, mustshow mercy and forgiveness. But in the Divine Mercydevotion, the message takes on a powerful new focus,calling people to a deeper understanding that God’s love isunlimited and available to everyone — especially thegreatest sinners.
The message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, anuneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritualdirector, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording therevelations she received about God’s mercy. Even beforeher death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy hadbegun to spread.
The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us —no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognize thatHis mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call uponHim with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us toothers. Thus, all will come to share His joy. It is a messagewe can call to mind simply by remembering ABC.
A — Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approachHim in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins andasking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and uponthe whole world.
B — Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercyand let it flow through us to others. He wants us toextend love and forgiveness to others just as He doesto us.
C — Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to knowthat the graces of His mercy are dependent upon ourtrust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we willreceive.

The Divine Mercy Devotion
Devotion to The Divine Mercy involves a total commitment toGod as Mercy. It is a decision to trust completely in Him, toaccept His mercy with thanksgiving, and to be merciful asHe is merciful.
The devotional practices proposed in the diary of SaintFaustina and set forth in this website are completely inaccordance with the teachings of the Church and are firmlyrooted in the Gospel message of our Merciful Savior.Properly understood and implemented, they will help usgrow as genuine followers of Christ.
Merciful Heart
There are two scriptural verses that we should keep in mindas we involve ourselves in these devotional practices:
1. "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts arefar from me" (Is 29:13);
2. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Mt5:7).

It's an ironic and somewhat frightening fact that many of themost religious people of Christ's time (people who wereactively practicing their religion and eagerly awaiting thepromised Messiah) were not able to recognize Him whenHe came.

The Pharisees, to whom Christ was speaking in the firstquotation above, were very devoted to the prayers, rules,and rituals of their religion; but over the years, these outerobservances had become so important in themselves thattheir real meaning had been lost. The Pharisees performedall the prescribed sacrifices, said all the right prayers, fastedregularly, and talked a lot of about God, but none of it hadtouched their hearts. As a result, they had no relationshipwith God, they were not living the way He wanted them tolive, and they were not prepared for the coming of Jesus.

When we look at the image of the Merciful Savior, or pausefor prayer at three o'clock, or pray the Chaplet — are thesethings drawing us closer to the real sacramental life of theChurch and allowing Jesus to transform our hearts? Or havethey just become religious habits? In our daily lives are wegrowing more and more as people of mercy? Or are we justgiving "lip service" to God's mercy?

Living the Message of Mercy
The devotional practices revealed through Saint Faustinawere given to us as "vessels of mercy" through which God'slove can be poured out upon the world, but they are notsufficient unto themselves. It's not enough for us to hang TheDivine Mercy image in our homes, pray the Chaplet everyday at three o'clock, and receive Holy Communion on thefirst Sunday after Easter. We also have to show mercy to ourneighbors. Putting mercy into action is not an option of theDivine Mercy Devotion; it's a requirement!
Our Lord strongly speaks about this to SaintFaustina:
I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out oflove for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors alwaysand everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try toexcuse yourself from it (Diary, 742).
Like the gospel command, "Be merciful, just as your Fatheris merciful," this demand that we show mercy to ourneighbors "always and everywhere" seems impossible tofulfill. But the Lord assures us that it is possible. "When asoul approaches Me with trust," He explains, "I fill it with suchan abundance of graces that it cannot contain them withinitself, but radiates them to other souls" (Diary, 1074).
How do we "radiate" God's mercy to others? By our actions,our words, and our prayers. "In these three degrees," he tellsSister Faustina, "is contained the fullness of mercy" (Diary742). We have all been called to this threefold practice ofmercy, but we are not all called in the same way. We need toask the Lord, who understands our individual personalitiesand situation, to help us recognize the various ways we caneach show His mercy in our daily lives.
By asking for the Lord's mercy, trusting in His mercy, andsincerely trying to live His mercy in our lives, we can assurethat we will never hear Him say of us, "Their hearts are farfrom Me," but rather that wonderful promise, "Blessed arethe merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
It is our hope that you will continue to read and reread theinformation on this website and make the prayers, attitudes,and practices presented a real part of your life, so that youmay come to trust completely in God and live each dayimmersed in His merciful love — thus fulfilling the Lord'scommand to let your life "shine before people, so that theywill see the good things you do and praise your Father inHeaven" (Mt 5:16).


The Image of the Divine Mercy

The earliest element of the Devotion to the Divine Mercy revealed to St. Faustina was the Image. On February 22nd, 1931 Jesus appeared to her with rays radiating from His heart and said,
Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus I trust in You. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and throughout the world. (Diary 47)
I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I myself will defend it as My own glory. (Diary 48)
I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature" :Jesus, I trust in You." (Diary 327)
The two rays denote Blood and Water. the pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. (Diary 299)
Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the brush, lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace. (Diary 313)
By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works. (Diary 742)
In these texts the Church's doctrine on images, justification and grace are explained. First, by itself an image is merely a painting, no matter how beautiful and expressive. Yet, it can point us the mysteries of the faith and dispose us to grasp and receive what it represents, in this case the Divine Mercy. It is thus a vessel, not the source, a reminder, not the reality. The reality is the merciful fountain of grace flowing from the pierced Heart of Christ on the Cross, and flowing out visibly to represent the visible, that is the sacramental, signs of grace, Baptism and Eucharist, standing for all the sacraments of the Church. Thus, St. John in his first letter insists on the presence of the invisible with the visible, the Spirit with the water and the Blood.
The image also reminds us that salvation is not just by faith, but by works of charity also. It takes faith to see and believe in what the Image signifies, Divine Mercy poured out from Christ upon the Cross, but it takes mercy, love going beyond the strict requirements of justice, in order to draw down mercy on oneself. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" (Mt 6:12) and "the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you" (Mt 7:2) The Image of the pierced side of Christ pouring out blood and water reminds us that the Cross, love in action, is the price of mercy. "As I have loved you so also should you love one another." (Jn 13:34)