Thousands gather to celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday

STOCKBRIDGE – In a crowd rivaling that of a James Taylor Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy drew thousands of people to Mass last Sunday.

An estimated 17,000 people made the pilgrimage up Eden Hill to attend the shrine’s Divine Mercy Sunday Mass, which was presided over by Rev. Martin D. Holley, auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C.

In his homily, Rev. Holley spoke of the importance of the gift God gave people on the eighth day of Easter, “the power to forgive sins.”

The Mass was part of a weekend-long event that drew thousands of people from across the United States and beyond to Stockbridge. More than 300 chartered buses made the journey.

In addition to the Mass, various speakers gave presentations to the visitors, confessions were heard, the grounds (including the new life-size stations of the cross installed last year) were open to enjoy spring-like weather and various tents and stands were open to sell refreshments and religious artifacts.

Aside from local media outlets, the weekend was fully covered by EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network), including a broadcast of the Divine Mercy Sunday Mass around the world.

For more photos from Divine Mercy Sunday, check out The Beacon‘s Facebook page.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on April 11, 2013. Filed under Community Events,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry