Divine Mercy Prayers
from various sources
Mercy Prayers
There are many
prayers invoking the Mercy of God. However, the two main prayers
of the Divine Mercy Message and Devotion are the Chaplet
of The Divine Mercy and the Divine Mercy Novena. Both are prayed
daily at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge,
MA.
The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy
In 1935, Saint Faustina received a vision of an angel
sent by God to chastise a certain city. She began to pray for mercy,
but her prayers were powerless. Suddenly she saw the Holy Trinity and
felt the power of Jesus' grace within her. At the same time, she found
herself pleading with God for mercy with words she heard
interiorly:
"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; for the sake of His
sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world" (Diary,
476).
As she continued saying this inspired prayer, the angel
became helpless and could not carry out the deserved punishment (see Diary, 474, 475).
The next day, as she was entering the chapel, she again heard
this interior voice, instructing her how to recite the prayer that Our Lord
later called "the Chaplet." From then on, she recited this form of prayer almost constantly,
offering it especially for the dying.
In subsequent revelations, the Lord made it
clear that the Chaplet was not just for her, but for the whole world. He
also attached extraordinary promises to its recitation:
 "Encourage
souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you" (Diary,
1541).
"Whoever
will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death" (Diary, 687).
"When
they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the
dying person, not as the just Judge but as the Merciful Savior" (Diary, 1541).
"Priests
will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner
most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My
infinite mercy" (Diary, 687).
"I desire to grant unimaginable
graces to those souls who trust in My mercy" (Diary,
687).
"Through
the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with My
will" (Diary, 1731).
Prayed on ordinary rosary beads, the Chaplet of
Divine Mercy is an intercessory prayer that extends the offering of the Eucharist,
so it is especially appropriate to use it after having received Holy Communion at
Holy Mass. It may be said at any time, but Our Lord specifically
told Saint Faustina to recite it during the nine
days before the Feast of Mercy
(the first Sunday after Easter). He then added:
"By
this Novena, [of Chaplets] I will grant every possible grace to souls" (Diary, 796).
It is likewise appropriate to pray the Chaplet
during the "Hour of Great Mercy" - three o'clock each afternoon (recalling the time of Christ's death on the cross). In His
revelations to Saint Faustina, Our Lord asked
for a special remembrance of His Passion at that hour.
The Novena to The Divine Mercy
On Good Friday, 1937, Jesus requested that Sister Faustina
make a special novena before the Feast of Mercy,
from Good Friday through the following Saturday. He,
Himself, dictated the intentions for each day. By means of a specific
prayer, she was to bring to His Heart a different group of souls
each day and thus immerse them in the ocean of His Mercy, begging the Father
- on the strength of Jesus' Passion - for graces for
them.
Note: A novena is a sequence of prayers
said each day for nine days. It can be seen as a response to Our Lord's teaching about the
persistence in prayer. It has been said that the first novena comprised the nine days
between the Lord's Ascension and Pentecost Sunday, when Our Lady and the other disciples
prayed for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Unlike the Novena of Chaplets, which Our
Lord clearly wants everyone to use, this second novena seems to
have been intended primarily for Saint Faustina's personal use. This can
be seen from Our Lord's instructions, which address her with the word
"you" in the
singular.
But, since Saint Faustina was commanded to write
it down, Our Lord must have intended the novena to be used by others,
too. Once published, it immediately became very popular, and people prayed the novena, not
only in preparation for the Feast of Divine Mercy, but at other
times as well.
The wide range of intentions, which do not include personal
needs, makes the great popularity of this novena all the more astounding. In this novena
we truly make the Lord's intentions for Mercy our own -
a beautiful expression of the Church's privilege and duty, as the Bride
of the Lord, to be the intercessor at Christ's side on
the throne of mercy.
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