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This past Sunday, April 23, 2017, was the first Sunday after Easter and the first Sunday after Easter is designated as Divine Mercy Sunday.   To learn more about this beautiful feast day be sure to read 7 Facts about St. Faustina and Divine Mercy.  And from my blog's archives you can read 7 Ways to Celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday with Children (and Adults too!).


We had a busy weekend so we actually celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday on the Friday before Divine Mercy Sunday before our family went in different directions.  We prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet as a family while we ate our sweet treats. On Sunday, my husband did take some of our children (I was out of town at one child's soccer tournament) to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and say prayers in front of the image.  The photo above was taken at my parish. 

As in year's past I made homemade whipped cream (an easy and delicious recipe) with strawberry and blueberry "rays".  We also had Divine Mercy "Sundaes".


Here's our sundaes with red and blue sprinkles and I read part from The Divine Mercy Image Explained.  






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Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter Sunday.  So this year Divine Mercy Sunday was celebrated on Sunday, April 3, 2016.  Last year I wrote a post on 7 Ways to Celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday with Children (and Adults too!)  Don't know much about Divine Mercy Sunday?  No worries!  I'm still learning about this devotion myself with our family and we just started celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday in 2014 and 2015 and now this year.

To read more about Divine Mercy Sunday, this Jesus and the Divine Mercy post is a great post to read. 

On Divine Mercy Sunday this year, we went to our parish at 3:00 PM to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and then the priest offered confession and then there was a closing prayer.  After praying the chaplet, I went to a baby shower for one of my friends who is expecting her 2nd baby.  2 of my daughters came to celebrate this new life too! I brought my Divine Mercy fruit platter I've made in the past and this year I added homemade whipped cream to the fruit "rays".  My daughter made the whipped cream which is really easy and fast to make.  I don't think I'll every buy Cool Whip again!

Here's the recipe for homemade whipped cream that we like to use:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put all ingredients in a mixer until cream thickens.

My friend, Karen, who hosted the baby shower, made this adorable baby shower cake and cupcakes that had the Divine Mercy theme as she made pink and blue feet "rays" with chocolate red hearts.  The inside of the cake was pink and blue.


Later in the evening when we came home my children that didn't have delicious cake at the baby shower made themselves some Divine Mercy "Sundaes", a tradition we started a few years ago.  I like to make the heart out of strawberries by cutting a strawberry in half and then take a paring knife to cut a "V" out of the top of the berry. 

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Yesterday, Oct. 5, was the feast day of Saint Faustina Kowalska.


Our family reads about the Saints' lives each morning during our Couch Catechism time and sometimes we recognize certain Saints in the liturgical calendar with a gathering of friends and a special activity.  There is no way our family could celebrate all the Saints and feast days since there are soooo many great Saints and feast days in the liturgical calendar and celebrating all of them would be a monumental feat.  But, this year we decided to have a small gathering and do an activity with a few friends to remember Saint Faustina.  This was the first time we celebrated Saint Faustina with friends.   

I'm just beginning to learn more about Saint Faustina and I'm learning to appreciate her love for the Lord and the message of Divine Mercy that Jesus Himself gave to her starting on February 22, 1931.  Saint Faustina had only 3 years of simple education, so the fact that she was able to write down all that Jesus told her was  miraculous in and of itself for this simple Polish nun.  She wrote down all of Jesus' mercy messages in Diary: Divine Mercy in a Soul.


After the movie was over the girls gathered around our kitchen table and they glued the Divine Mercy image onto construction paper.  The image is from a 2010 Divine Mercy Calendar that is no longer being sold.  Each month had the same image of Divine Mercy and my friend Karen called the company several years ago and had about 100 calendars sent to her so the Divine Mercy image could be shared.  On the back of the construction paper the girls glued information typed out by Karen about the Divine Mercy devotion.
The images are now going to be given to local priests to share with people they visit in prison, to Eucharistic ministers who visit the sick in the hospital, and to nursing homes where they can display the image in their rooms.

After the movie and quick craft we then had our Divine Mercy snack of strawberries and blueberries, which I made the past few years on Divine Mercy Sunday.  And I didn't realize I was wearing the Divine Mercy colors of red and blue until one of my daughters took the photo. :) 


It was another fun feast day!

And coming up tomorrow, October 7th, is the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary.   We will be making these edible rosaries to celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary.


 
I have organized all the posts I've done for the liturgical seasons and feast days on my page A Slice of Liturgical Life.  This page helps me organize the liturgical calendar and our celebrations and I can now easily refer to this page for future feast day celebrations vs. me having to search all over my blog for each post.  Maybe it will useful for my blog visitors too!  Hope so!


And have you entered the The Story of the Bible giveaway I'm hosting on my blog this week?  If not, go read all the details and enter!  Giveaway ends this Friday, Oct. 9!

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Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter Sunday.  So this year Divine Mercy Sunday will be celebrated on Sunday, April 12, 2015.

Last year on Divine Mercy Sunday, it was an extra special day for many reasons, including the great canonization of two Popes: Saint John XXII and Saint John Paul II, pray for us. 

Here is a list of 7 ways to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday.  Don't know much about Divine Mercy Sunday?  No worries!  I'm still learning about this devotion myself with our family and I hope my list here will help our family and others learn more about this beautiful story and devotion.

Today is one of those days that our home, our domestic church, and our universal Church will remember like the day that Pope Francis was chosen.

This day is historic in so many faith-filled ways and I wanted our family to celebrate it and remember it. 

Today is an historic day of 4 Popes. As stated in the link, "Never before have a reigning pope and a retired pope celebrated Mass together in public."

Today we celebrate the canonization of two Popes.  Jessica over at Shower of Roses has a great list of 7 ways to commemorate this joyous day with children.

HERE is a link to miraculous stories by two women who were healed through the intercession of these two popes.   Fascinating for sure!

Today is also Divine Mercy Sunday.  Find out more about Divine Mercy devotion HERE.  In this list of 21 Awesome Fact You Didn't Know about JP2, on fact #7 it tells the connection between JP2 and Sister Faustina and the devotion to the Divine Mercy image.
We also had some fruit from our "Divine Mercy fruit platter" filled with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.

And for dessert we colored Divine Mercy images that I printed out on card stock and put on top of our Divine Mercy "Sundaes".  Thank you Lacy at Catholic Icing for this fun and festive idea!


After our dessert, my husband led our family in The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy.

It has been a blessed day filled with a deeper love and understanding of Christ's universal Church and Jesus' infinite love and mercy!