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What is equally striking is the boldness of this preaching. The apostles speak not as men relying on their own strength, but as witnesses empowered by the Holy Spirit. Even in the face of persecution, they cannot remain silent: “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

The Holy Triduum invites us not merely to remember these events, but to enter into them. Through the sacraments — especially the Eucharist — we participate in Christ’s saving death and Resurrection and receive the grace that flows from them.

The message entrusted to St. Faustina gradually spread throughout the Church and the world. One of its most important promoters was Pope St. John Paul II, who had a deep personal devotion to Divine Mercy from his youth in Poland. In 2000, he canonized St. Faustina and established the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday for the universal Church, recognizing the profound spiritual importance of the message of mercy for our time.

Lent is ordered toward repentance, conversion and a more profound participation in Christ’s Paschal Mystery (CCC 540; 1095). It is a season in which the Church accompanies the Lord into the desert—not to escape the world, but to be strengthened for mission within it.