To celebrate the kindness and mercy of God which offers salvation and forgiveness to each one by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The divine mercy is very present in the Bible. Book of Deuteronomy says for example:
" for the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them" (Deuteronomy 4,31).
The frist Sunday after Easter is henceforth called "second Sunday of Easter or the divine Mercy ".
The choice of this date testifys that the mercy is the main fruit of the Passover of Jesus : his passion, his death on the cross and his resurrection of the deaths).
The liturgy of the Church thus celebrates what was up to here only a private worship, following upon the revelations to Maria Faustyna (moreover after her Canonization, on April 30th, 2000).
A passage of its "diary" states a demand of Jesus: " I want that it (the mercy of Jesus) is solemnly celebrated on first Sunday after Easter. The mankind will not find peace as long as he will not turn to the source of my mercy ".
On February 2nd, 1931, Faustyna also had a vision at the origin of " the icon of the merciful Christ ".
Jesus says to Faustyna:
"Paint a picture according to the image which you see, with the inscription:
"Jesus, I trust in you".
