The Message
Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ! Welcome to the website of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. You may notice some recent upgrades of our web pages. More pages will be updated throughout the summer.
Speaking of summer, I invite you to visit us at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, here in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Every day we offer Holy Mass, opportunities for confessions, the Rosary, a Holy Hour, the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, a blessing for religious articles, and a blessing with the first-class relic of St. Maria Faustina. Through the daily spiritual activities, a pilgrim can leave here with an experience of Divine Mercy.
Also at the Shrine, we have a program called Spiritual Renewal Opportunities, which gives pilgrims an opportunity to stay overnight at our John Paul II Guest House. To make a reservation, call us at 413-298-3931 or email us at shrine@marian.org.
Since this is the 150th anniversary year of Our Lady's appearance to St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France, we encourage pilgrims to visit Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto and light a candle there. To honor the Jubilee Year of Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope Benedict XVI has approved a plenary indulgence. The special dispensation is being granted to pilgrims who visit either the apparition site in France or a dedicated Lourdes shrine such as our Lourdes Grotto and Immaculate Conception Candle Shrine.
In addition, please take advantage of several memorial opportunities while you are here. This is one way of giving back to God what he has given to you. The memorials and other offerings help to cover our numerous expenses at the Shrine.
Finally, we need your prayers and financial assistance to help us complete our new outdoor Mother of Mercy Shrine. Please consider making a contribution. We also wish to build in the lower section of the building The Shrine of the Holy Innocents. It will be a memorial and candle shrine dedicated to all deceased children. The shrine will honor all deceased children whether they passed away at conception, in the womb, at birth, infancy, or childhood. This memorial shrine will help to heal those who are grieving over the loss of a little one.
We hope you have a chance to visit the National Shrine. May the grace of Divine Mercy be with you always!
Peace,
Fr. Anthony Gramlich, MIC
Shrine Rector