Catholic middle school students delve into Divine Mercy devotion through poetry

HOUSTON — Many Catholic churches depict the portrait of Jesus as The Divine Mercy, but a current sacred poetry contest is encouraging Archdiocesan Catholic middle school students to write about the revelations.

Hosted by the Catholic Literary Arts, the contest is now open for submissions through March 1, with an awards ceremony scheduled for April at the University of St. Thomas. 

Sarah Cortez, president and founder of Catholic Literary Arts, a nonprofit that supports writing programs for those from third grade through adulthood, said the organization receives more than 1,000 poems submitted for this contest. That number is then whittled down by professional judges to 30 finalists, she said. 

“Then we choose nine poems — first, second and third place winners — for each of the grades sixth through eighth. And of those first-place winners, an overall poet laureate is selected,” Cortez said. 

A cash prize and free tuition to a summer writing program are among the prizes, she said. This year’s theme for the poetry contest of The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish mystic who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary recording the revelations she received about God’s mercy.  

Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had spread. Through St. Faustina, the merciful Savior gave the world new outlets for the outpouring of His grace.

These new channels include the Image of The Divine Mercy, with Jesus raising His right hand in peace and His left lifting open the top of His robe at His chest with red and white beams of light streaming from His Sacred Heart. Also springing from the revelations came the Feast of Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday), the Chaplet, the Novena to The Divine Mercy, and prayer at 3 p.m., the Hour of Great Mercy. 

Jesus told St. Faustina: “My heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners... It is for them that the blood and water flowed from My heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy. For them, I dwell in the tabernacle as King of Mercy. (Diary, 367) Many decades later, St. John Paul II, who was a major promoter of the devotion, established the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in 2000 during his canonization of St. Maria Faustina.

This past year’s poet laureate is Nefellie Frankel, first-place winner for eighth grade at St. Theresa Catholic School in Sugar Land with the Latin title “Facie Dei” (Face of God).  

Her mother, Julie Griffin, also credited St. Theresa’s classical curriculum and her teachers, including Samuel Klumpenhouwer, Ph.D.

Klumpenhouwer, who studied medieval Latin and Church history, now holds the record for one of his students being selected as poet laureate three years in a row in this annual contest. He, in turn, points to fifth- and sixth-grade teachers such as Benjamin George, who works on the foundation of even the youngest students reciting poetry for their oration skills and “poetic turn of mind.” 

Starting with the classic “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in 1855, students get familiar with iambic pentameter before moving on to Shakespeare. But not all work is so difficult, George said. 

“We also go outside and find images that hypnotize or interest them to write about, whether it’s ants crawling or the sun shining through clouds, patterns in nature,” he said. 

Published poet and professor James Matthew Wilson, director and creator of the University of St. Thomas MFA program in creative writing and poetry editor, also volunteers his time and guidance to the Catholic Literary Arts program. During summers, he is a guest author and teacher at Catholic Literary Arts’ High School Writers Institute, held June 10 to 14 this year. 

“Reading a poem is wonderful. Learning how to respond to that poem by learning the techniques necessary to write one of one’s own is even better,” Wilson said. “In this way, we come to participate in the culture of mankind… who can pass good things on to our children, things worth loving because they teach us who we are.” 

Part of the prize for the contest’s winning poets is free tuition sponsored by the Scanlan Foundation, the Strake Foundation, the Charity Guild of Catholic Women, many Knights of Columbus councils and the Archdiocese to attend the Fearless Catholic Writing Camps for third to eighth grades.

For more information on the contests and the writing programs, visit www.catholicliteraryarts.org.