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| Rev. Fr. Angelo Casimiro putting on a Chasuble with the Divine Mercy image on it |
Divine Mercy has been something that’s been very near and dear to my heart for over twenty years now. And it’s one of the reasons why I am a Religious
Rev. Fr. Angelo Casimiro is a Catholic Priest working at the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Steubenville, Ohio. According as posted on his Facebook Profile, he said the Divine Mercy is the reason why he became a Priest and a Religious, coupled with the aid of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Here's the story of his inner conversion...
In 1997, I visited my Aunt in the Philippines and had to attend Sunday Mass there in her parish, which just happened to be the Catch do of was Shrine of The Divine Mercy, in Mandaluyong City, in Metro Manila. That Sunday happened to be the Divine Mercy Sunday, though it was insignificant to me at the time. I knew nothing about the Divine Mercy or Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy but, I do remember being fascinated with the image of Jesus as The Divine Mercy, coupled with the red and pale rays coming from His Heart. After that, it just left my mind.
Three years later, it was year 2000, the Great Jubilee Year in the Church. My best friend was listening to the Radio in his car one day and he stumbled upon a Catholic Radio Station. He was intrigued by what he heard. They were talking about a man from the Philippines who had allegedly come back to life after being clinically dead for three days. The man claimed to have seen Jesus and He told him that his mission would be to spread the message of Divine Mercy after he came back to life, which he did. Afterwards, they talked about the Divine Mercy message and devotion, as revealed to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska.
After my friend listened to this Radio interview, he experienced a spiritual reawakening inside and he renewed his Catholic faith. At the time, I was just a lukewarm Catholic and so I was surprised that my friend was suddenly on fire for Jesus and His Church. I really didn’t know what to make of it. All he could talk about was Jesus, Divine Mercy, St. Faustina, Our Lady, the Angels and Saints, and everything about the Catholic Church.
To tell you the truth, I was kind of afraid that my friend was starting to turn into some sort of religious fanatic. He kept giving me religious books to read. I halfheartedly went along with it but at the time I was also searching for something more in my life because the material things I was chasing just left me empty. I knew there had to be something more in life. And so, a few months later, my friend invited me to attend a Catholic conference and it was there that I had an encounter with Our Eucharistic Lord, which ignited a spiritual awakening in me as well. I always tell people that I attribute my spiritual conversion or reversion and my priestly and religious vocation to two things – The Divine Mercy and the intercession of the Blessed Mother.
That was how I fell in love with Divine Mercy, with Jesus, with Mary, with the Angels and Saints, and with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. That’s why I ended up joining the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception – because of their devotion to Mary Immaculate and because they are the religious congregation that’s been entrusted with the spreading of The Divine Mercy message and devotion. Because of my love for Divine Mercy, it was at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts where I was ordained a priest on July 2nd, 2011. And by sheer God-incidence, it was seven years earlier in 2004 on the same day that I visited the Shrine for the first time.
So, as you can see, Divine Mercy has been something that’s been very near and dear to my heart for over twenty years now. And it’s one of the reasons why I am now a Religious Priest. That’s why this Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday, which ends the Octave of Easter, is such a magnificent feast day in the calendar of the Church, because the Lord just wants to shower down the graces of His mercy upon us.
Happy Feast of Divine Mercy!
Jesus, I trust in You!
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