By Joannie Watson, Integrated Catholic - In the octave of Easter, the Church simultaneously celebrates the Divine Mercy novena. This wasn’t the idea of the Church, but the request of Jesus. “I desire that the First Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy” (Diary 299). He asked that the feast be preceded by a novena that would grant great graces – “By this novena, I will grant every possible grace to souls” (Diary 796). The Feast of Divine Mercy was purposely linked to Good Friday – the day we call good precisely because of the mercy poured out on us that day – and Easter.