Divine Mercy Sunday

This Sunday, one week after Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. The Divine Mercy image is one that is full of powerful symbolism of Our Lord's great mercy.

An explanation of the image of Divine Mercy (from Catholic Culture) :

Jesus appeared to Saint Faustina with rays of red and pale light streaming from the area around His heart. His right hand was raised in blessing, recalling the scene of Easter Sunday night (see Jn 20: 19-23).

He asked Blessed Faustina to have this vision painted signed with the words, Jesus, I trust in You!

I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy. That vessel is this image with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in you. (Diary, 327).

Jesus explained that the rays represented the blood and water which flowed from His pierced side, and He taught Saint Faustina the prayer:

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You (Diary, 84).

The image could be used to recall His mercy for us in the feast day meal celebrations. I had a couple different ideas I wanted to share. One idea is to incorporate the colors, so symbolic in the image, into a Divine Sunday meal - red and white. Jessica shares her menu from last year - pasta with red sauce, white grape/cranberry juice, and rolls, with Strawberry Shortcake for dessert! A perfectly colorful feast.

My twist on the strawberry shortcake idea is to arrange it like divergent rays as seen on the image.

I also thought the image would make a great decorated cake for dessert. Because the rays are so promiment and meaningful in the image, there are some ideas for making them stand out. My original idea was to make a full sized sheet cake and layer a printed image of the Divine Mercy on it. It could be done with regular paper and removed for cutting and eating (like Anne did for her creative scapular cake) or if you have the availablity of a bakery that will produce an edible image from a picture (or time to order one) go that route. After the image is on the cake I would add rays of colored frosting radiating from the heart in the image - either piped on or spread flat. You could use red and white or red and pale blue since that is how it appears in many images. That pale water color could go either way.

After seeing Jessica's festive Pope Cakes Thursday, I thought of another cake modification which probably is much easier to pull off - and that is Divine Mercy cupcakes with printed images inserted in the back of the cupcake. Then pipe or spread frosting in desired ray colors from the paper image forward.

And remember, these treat ideas (shortcake, cupcakes) could also be used for an afternoon tea any day of the week following the recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the hour of Divine Mercy.

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