Celebrate the Year of Mercy and
Host a Visitation of the Divine Mercy Image
Our apostolate is celebrating the Year of Mercy by coordinating Visitations of the Divine Mercy Image to parishes throughout the country for the congregation to celebrate a Prayer Service and to perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The Year of Mercy begins on December 8, 2015, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and ends on November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King.
Our apostolate has been doing a similar work for the past 24 years, with Visitations of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to parishes throughout the country.
Pope Francis said in his Angelus address on January 11, 2015, “There is so much need of mercy today, and it is important that the lay faithful live it and bring it into different social environments. Go forth! We are living in the age of mercy, this is the age of mercy.”
Then, in his 2015 Lenten Message, the Holy Father said, “How greatly I desire that all those places where the Church is present, especially our parishes and our communities, may become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference!”
Our apostolate is responding to Pope Francis’ call to “go forth!” to bring mercy to our parishes and communities so that they may become what Pope Francis calls, “islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference!”
We do this by training Parish Teams to prepare and plan their parish and community for mercy with the Visitations, in cooperation with their pastors. We support them with training and telephone support. We will ship them the image and religious goods and the booklets for the congregation entitled Eucharistic Celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy with a Visitation of the Divine Mercy Image.
The booklet was granted the Nihil Obstat by the Diocese of Burlington. This is a declaration that it contains nothing contrary to faith or morals. The booklet is a handbook to help the congregation to celebrate a Prayer Service consisting of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, with ongoing confessions, a talk, prayers for mercy, Benediction and the veneration of the image. The Visitations will also include the corporal and spiritual works of mercy by taking the image to visit the sick, the prisoners, and those in nursing homes, hospitals and schools, etc.
If you request to be a Guardian for a Visitation, you will be asked to commit yourself to it and then the Visitation will be confirmed. Then you need to form a Guardian Team to plan and implement the Visitation in cooperation with the pastor to schedule and prepare the Prayer Service. You will also need to schedule the Visitation sites for the works of mercy and prepare the publicity and the distribution of the religious goods.
Your only cost will be a $25 registration fee. You will also need to pay a $175 shipping fee for the Divine Mercy Image, unless your parish will supply its own Divine Mercy Image.
Free resources from the Visitation area are used as much as possible for publicity such as parish bulletin ads, reproductions of flyers and mailings and newspaper religion columns.
Our expenses are covered by free will offerings and donations received from Donation Baskets which are placed with Petition Baskets near the Image. Religious goods are sent by us on consignment for sale during the Visitation. The donations, free will offerings and sales proceeds support continued Visitations.
Please prayerfully consider hosting a Visitation of the Divine Mercy Image for these purposes. We expect many requests for Visitations so, if you would like to host a Visitation, please let us know as soon as possible by clicking here and emailing us your contact information with your complete mailing address. We will then send you two copies of the booklet, Eucharistic Celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy with a Visitation of the Divine Mercy Image, one for you and one for your Pastor.
After you receive the booklets:
- Tell your pastor that you would like to host a Visitation
- Explain the mission to him
- Give him a copy of this letter and print and give him a copy of the Request Form and the booklet
- Ask him to approve the Visitation and to
- Provide possible dates for the Prayer Service
Then please:
- Complete the Divine Mercy Image Request Form
- Submit it to us with your $25 registration fee
- We will then send you a Commitment Letter
- Sign the Commitment Letter and return it to us with your shipping fee of $175
- We will then send you a Visitation Training Package
If you have any questions please call us at 802 524-5350.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely in Christ,
Dan Lynch
