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Mass Schedule

St. Polycarp, Smyrna DE
(302) 653-8279
Saturday – 4:00 pm
Sunday – 10:30 am
Weekday Mass – 8:30 am, Tuesday & Wednesday
Confessions – Saturdays, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

St. Dennis, Galena MD
https://www.stdennischurch.org/
(410) 648-5145
Sunday – 8:00 am
Sunday – 11:00 am (Spanish)
Weekday Mass – 8:30 am, Thursday & Friday
Confessions – Sundays, 7:00-7:30 am

 

DE Home for the Chronically Ill (DHCI):
Communion Service – 3rd Tuesday at 10:30 am
Pinnacle:
Communion Service – 1st Wednesday at 1:15 pm

Parish Contact

55 Ransom Lane,
Smyrna, Delaware 19977

Parish Office : (302) 653-8279
Email: office@saintpolycarp.org

Religious Education: (302)653-4101
Email: dre@saintpolycarp.org

Divine Mercy

Mission Statement

The mission of Divine Mercy is a Roman Catholic religious community with a prophetic charism. The Divine Mercy is an extraordinary power given a Christian by the Holy Spirit for the good of the Church. We feel that God has called all of us to spread His mercy throughout the world. We humble ourselves before God, in order to act through faith and spread His Word. From the diary of St. Faustina: The Lord’s Promise: “ the souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by My mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death.”

Divine Mercy Prayer Group meets Fridays at 3 pm in the Chapel.  For information, Contact Janet Hovis at (302) 399 – 9066. 


How to Recite the Chaplet: The Chaplet of Mercy is recited using ordinary Rosary beads of five decades. 

1. Make the Sign of the Cross
2. Optional Opening Prayers

St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners
O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equalled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God’s mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 72).

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

(Repeat three times)
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!

3. Our Father
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.

4. Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

5. The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

6. The Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

7. On the 10 Small Beads of Each Decade
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

8. Repeat for the remaining decades
Saying the “Eternal Father” (6) on the “Our Father” bead and then 10 “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion” (7) on the following “Hail Mary” beads.

9. Conclude with Holy God (Repeat three times)
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

10. Optional Closing Prayers

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.

O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to Your mercy — to Your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth’s exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to You, we implore You: anticipate us with Your grace and keep on increasing Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will all through our life and at death’s hour. Let the omnipotence of Your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as Your children, await Your [Son’s] final coming — that day known to You alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to heaven (Diary, 1570).


Saint Faustina: Who Is She and what is her message?
Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Most Blessed Sacrament lived in Poland during the early 20th century.  She was born on August 25, 1905.  She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy on August 1, 1925.  There she performed the humblest of tasks (cook, gardener, and doorkeeper) but she performed all of her tasks out of love for Jesus (a lesson for all of us).  She wrote a Diary, Divine Mercy In My Soul.  What is remarkable about this diary is that Saint Faustina did not have much schooling (less than three years) and yet she wrote a masterpiece describing and conveying to the world the awesomeness, the fullness, and the depth of Jesus’ mercy and love.  She was a nun for 13 years.  She died of tuberculosis, at the age of 33, on October 5, 1938.

Pope John Paul II beatified her on April 18, 1993.  Pope John Paul II canonized her Saint Faustina on April 30, 2000 – the First Sunday after Easter.  Her feast day is October 5th.

Jesus entrusted to her care the task of spreading the message of His Divine Mercy with the world.  Jesus ordered Saint Faustina to paint an image of what she saw and with the inscription “Jesus, I trust in You”.  This image (see above) is known as the Divine Mercy image (two rays, red and pale, coming from Jesus’ breast).

The Marians of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. carry on the work of spreading St. Faustina’s Diary (Divine Mercy In My Soul), the message of Divine Mercy, the Divine Mercy Novena, and devotion to the Divine Mercy Image.  The Diary is available in many formats (book, ebook, and audiobook) and languages.

According to John Paul, Divine Mercy is the limit imposed by God on evil.  The Chaplet of Divine Mercy offers atonement and implores mercy for our sins and those of the whole world. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-410S9wP0s to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. To hear the prayer in song, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSVvBQtSqFM


Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter.  This day is also the last day of the Octave of Easter (the eighth day of the feast of Easter).

The feast of Divine Mercy is “a day of extraordinary graces – a complete outpouring of His mercy upon all who approach Him with great trust and expectant faith” (How to Prepare for Mercy Sunday by Fr. George Kosicki, CSB and Vinny Flynn).

To Learn More About Divine Mercy 
~ visit the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. website:
www.thedivinemercy.org/divine-mercy-matters/