Seeking Divine Mercy

The Second Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday. Unfortunately my home parish was not doing anything special so I decided to go to Mass at another parish nearby. They have a Divine Mercy devotion every first Sunday, usually beginning at 3pm. Today the devotion began after their 12 Noon Mass.
I have to say, I do enjoy going to Mass at a different parish every now and then; it is a bit of a divergence from the comfortable and routine. I have attended Mass and the Divine Mercy devotion at this parish before and have always come away feeling quite "fed". Mass today was beautiful, and they even had two candidates who were receiving the sacrament of confirmation~ always good to see the Church growing in number.
When the divine Mercy devotion began, I thought things were moving a bit fast. The organist, I think may have set a record for the quickest Chaplet ever sung! About the time Benediction was coming to a close I figured out the reason for the express version of the devotion~ there was a Baptism about to take place. The back of the church was getting full and noisy.
It was at about that moment, I started to feel the "whiny brat" in me begin to surface. I whined/prayed" Lord, this is not exactly what I had in mind. Then I thought, well at least this parish made an effort to make this feast special. That right there was a touch of Divine Mercy, my whining stopped there.
On the way home, Our Lord reminded me of how this day began~ with Him in the Adoration Chapel at midnight. It was ten years ago on this feast that I began my midnight hours with Jesus each Sunday. This year He gave me an  anniversary gift~ the hour alone with Him. (a rare occurrence)There in that quiet chapel, alone with my Lord, I did not have to seek anywhere for Divine Mercy; He was right in front of me.
So while the communal devotion may have been a little spiritually lackluster, my hour with Him was not.
I know Jesus appreciates the effort I made in praying the communal devotion as reverently as possible, and I know He poured out His grace on all who stayed after Mass to pray it.
What I also realized is that I don't have to search far and wide for Jesus and His mercy. All I need to do is put myself in His presence either before the Blessed Sacrament, or in that quiet place deep within my soul where He also waits.

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