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Eighteenth Southern California Congress of Divine Mercy 2024

Divine Mercy Congress Archive

 

Teach us to Pray

Living the Year of Prayer in Preparation for the Jubilee 2025

Christ the King Roman Catholic Church
Divine Mercy Shrine of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
617 N. Arden Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90004


 
 


 

CONGRESS SCHEDULE

Saturday – October 19, 2024

8:00 A.M
Congress Registration

9:00 A.M
Opening/Welcome Remarks & Invocation (Bilingual) Fr. Justin Oh

9:30 A.M – 10:30 AM
Conference: Sister Faustina’s Faithfulness to Prayer.

Saint Faustina Teaches us to Speak God's Language.
Jesus said to Saint Faustina: "Do whatever you wish, distribute graces as you will, to whom you will and when you will." (Diary 31). Let us take advantage of it!
“Prayer. – A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which is striving after this purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a soul which is newly converted must pray, or else it will fall again; a sinful soul, plunged in sins, must pray so that it might rise again. There is no soul which is not bound to pray, for every single grace comes to the soul through prayer.” (Diary 146)
Speaker: Fr. Leo Ortega

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Conference: Lessons on Prayer from Pope Francis
“For a Christian, prayer should be the spiritual «breath of life», that never ceases, «not even while we sleep» and without which that vital act that puts us in relationship with the Father would be lacking. Lived in this way, the life of prayer is not an alternative to the work and commitments to which we are called during the day, but rather that which accompanies every action of life, “even in the moments when it is not explicit”. (Pope Francis)
Speaker: Fr. Chidi Ekpendu

12:00 PM LUNCH

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Conference: Now is the Time of Mercy.
Divine Mercy Shrine of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Speaker: Fr. Juan Ochoa

2:30PM – 3:00 PM
Mercy in Deeds and Offertory.
Misericordia en Obras y Ofertorio (Bilingual)
Facilitators: Fr. George J. Bobowski and Fr. John-Paul Gonzalez

3:00 PM
The Hour of Great Mercy – 3:00 O’clock Prayer (Bilingual)
Presider: Fr. Juan J. Ochoa

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Conference: “Lord, Teach us to Pray” (Lk 11:1)
The Our Father – The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. To pray for the reverencing and uplifting of the Father’s name is to pray that this welcoming, forgiving Father — the Father whose hands gently rest on his lost son’s shoulders — be more widely known, seen for the compassionate Father that he is, and worshiped as the giver of extravagant mercy. To pray for this Father’s name to be hallowed is to pray that more lost sons and daughters find themselves kneeling under that gracious gaze.
Speaker: His Excellency Bishop Slawomir Szkredka

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Penance Service and Individual Confessions

5:30 PM Solemn Mass (Bilingual)
Main Celebrant: His Excellency Bishop Slawomir Szkredka

All Day Music by Saint Joseph the Worker Choir

CONGRESS SCHEDULE

Sunday – October 20, 2024

10:30 AM
Solemn Holy Mass (English)
Main Celebrant: Fr. Parker Sandoval, Vice-Chancellor & Senior Director of Ministerial Services

12:00 PM Lunch for 10:30 Mass Attendees

12:30 PM
Solemn Holy Mass (Spanish)

1:15 PM Testimonies of the Pilgrims to Divine Mercy Shrines in Poland and Lithuania (Hall)

1:30 PM Lunch for 12:30 Mass Attendees

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Conference: Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
A Prayer full of confidence and Trust
Among the rich contents of Sister Faustina's Diary there is also the following story: “Today I was awakened by a great storm. The wind was raging, and it was raining in torrents, thunderbolts striking again and again. I began to pray that the storm would do no harm, when I heard the words: Say the chaplet I have taught you, and the storm will cease. I began immediately to say the chaplet and had not even finished it when the storm suddenly ceased, and I heard the words: Through the chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My will.” (Diary 1731)
Speaker: Fr. Mark Mannion, Opus Dei

3:00 PM
The Hour of Great Mercy (Bilingual)
•Chaplet of Divine Mercy
•Reflection - “The Prayer, Source and Summit of Christian Life”
•Stations of the Cross with the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
• Veneration of the Relics of St. Faustina, Saint John Paul II, Blessed Michael Sopoćko and Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe
Presider: Msgr. Paul M. Montoya

Choir: One Heart and Mind in Christ Community

4:30 PM
Closing Remarks: Personal Experiences and Testimonies. Conclusion.
Facilitators: Fr. John-Paul Gonzalez and Fr. George J. Bobowski

INDIVIDUAL CONFESSIONS WILL BE AVAILABLE DURING THE TWO DAYS OF THE CONGRESS

The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. (Diary 699).

“The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a Sacrament of healing. When I go to confession, it is in order to be healed, to heal my soul, to heal my heart and to be healed of some wrongdoing.” (Pope Francis, General Audience Feb. 2014)

“I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do our best. A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties. Everyone needs to be touched by the comfort and attraction of God’s saving love, which is mysteriously at work in each person, above and beyond their faults and failings.” (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium 44)