Vatican, 13 April, 2023 / 12:28 pm (ACI Africa).
Mary Makuc will be one of an estimated 15,000 pilgrims expected to descend on the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, this weekend for the first in-person celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday there in three years.
“I think it’s a foretaste of heaven,” the 60-year-old resident of nearby Monterey, Massachusetts, said of the free event, which has been held at the 350-acre shrine on the western edge of the Bay State since the 1980s.
EWTN will air live coverage of the celebration at the shrine beginning at noon EST. Bishop Bernard Shlesinger of the Archdiocese of Atlanta will be the main celebrant at the outdoor Mass, which begins at 1 p.m. EST.
The weekend schedule also includes eucharistic adoration, confession, and a Saturday conference on the Eucharist co-hosted by Father Donald Calloway, author of “Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father” (Marian Press, 2020), and Father Chris Alar, author of “Understanding Divine Mercy” (Marian Press, 2021.) Both priests are members of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, or Marian Fathers, the order that operates the shrine and promotes devotion to God’s divine mercy.
The eucharistic conference, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST, will be livestreamed here.