Students Make Divine Mercy Pilgrimage

Taking advantage of the three-day weekend, some 30 students from Thomas Aquinas College, New England, made a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on Monday. It was a day of reflection and prayer, beginning with the drive some 75 miles southwest. “We didn’t take a bus,”  explains junior Casey Kirk, “which helped us grow closer during the road trip to the shrine.”

Shortly after their arrival, Chaplain Rev. Greg Markey offered Mass at the Shrine of the Divine Mercy Chapel, joined by a few members of the campus choir. “With Fr. Markey celebrating the Mass and the choir singing, I felt the entire chapel be at peace,” recalls freshman Ana Patricia Cardenas.

After Mass, Br. Stephen Murphy, MIC, presented a talk about the Marian Fathers, who oversee the Shrine, as well as their values and the importance of exercising works of mercy in our lives. Students then prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3:00 p.m. — the Hour of Divine Mercy — before returning to campus. “This trip helped me to see how my mundane acts can be recognized as corporal works of mercy,” reflects freshman Dominique Huckins. “I have a deeper desire to offer my work up as much as I can.”