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Divine Mercy

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy
 

Opening Prayer:
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls,
and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world.
O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, 

envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
 

(Repeat 3 times) O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from

the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
 

Our Father, Hail Mary and the Apostle's Creed

 

For each of the five decades (On each “Our Father” bead of the rosary, pray)

 

Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity

of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement

for our sins and those of the whole world.

 

(On each of the 10 “Hail Mary” beads, pray)
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

 

Concluding prayer (Repeat 3 times)
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

​

Optional Closing Prayer
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us
and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but
with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.

 

Copyright © 2012, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved.

What is Divine Mercy?
The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion (The 3 o’clock hour)
The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us – all of us. And, he wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy.


The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC:
A - Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking
Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

B - Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to
extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.
C - Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our
trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

 

This message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina
Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600
pages recording the revelations she received about God's mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion
to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.

 

Spend time to learn more about the mercy of God, learn to trust in Jesus, and live your life as merciful to
others, as Christ is merciful to you.

 

Forms of Devotion
The Hour of Great Mercy
In His revelations to St. Faustina, Our Lord asked for a special prayer and meditation on His Passion each
afternoon at the three o’clock hour, the hour that recalls His death on the cross.

 

At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself
in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy. In
this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion (Diary, 1320).

 

As often as you hear the clock strike the third hour, immerse yourself completely in My mercy, adoring and
glorifying it; invoke its omnipotence for the whole world, and particularly for poor sinners; for at that moment
mercy was opened wide for every soul. In this hour you can obtain everything for yourself and for
others for the asking; it was the hour of grace for the whole world — mercy triumphed over justice. (1572)

 

My daughter, try your best to make the Stations of the Cross in this hour, provided that your duties permit
it; and if you are not able to make the Stations of the Cross, then at least step into the chapel for a moment
and adore, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, My Heart, which is full of mercy; and should you be unable to
step into the chapel, immerse yourself in prayer there where you happen to be, if only for a very brief instant. (1572)

 

From these detailed instructions, it’s clear that Our Lord wants us to turn our attention to His Passion at
the three o’clock hour to whatever degree our duties allow, and He wants us to ask for His mercy.

 

In Genesis 18:16-32, Abraham begged God to reduce the conditions necessary for Him to be merciful to the
people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Here, Christ Himself offers a reduction of conditions because of the
varied demands of our life’s duties, and He begs us to ask, even in the smallest way, for His mercy, so that He
will be able to pour His mercy upon us all.

 

We may not all be able to make the Stations or adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament, but we can all mentally
pause for a "brief instant," think of His total abandonment at the hour of agony, and say a short prayer
such as "Jesus, Mercy," or "Jesus, for the sake of Your Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole
world."

 

This meditation, however brief, on Christ’s Passion brings us face-to-face with the cross, and, as Pope John
Paul II writes in Rich in Mercy, "It is in the cross that the revelation of merciful love attains its
culmination" (8). God invites us, the Holy Father continues, "to have ‘mercy’ on His only Son, the crucified
one" (8). Thus, our reflection on the Passion should lead to a type of love for Our Lord which is "not only an
act of solidarity with the suffering Son of man, but also a kind of ‘mercy’ shown by each one of us to the Son
of the Eternal Father."

 

For more information on The Divine Mercy check the website: www.thedivinemercy.org

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