"The Divine Mercy Devotion"
by: Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. She received a series of revelations from our Lord in the 1930's during which He called on her to establish a special feast day to be celebrated the Sunday after Easter, dedicated to His Divine Mercy. Those revelations were written down and are recorded in her diary, which was published as a book titled: "Divine Mercy in My Soul". Pope St. John Paul II declared the Sunday following Easter as "Divine Mercy Sunday" at the canonization of St. Faustina on April 30, 2000.
The Image of Divine Mercy
Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: "Jesus, I trust in You". I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.
The two rays of light in the image represent the Blood and Water which by tradition flowed from the side of Jesus on the cross. The blue ray stands for the Water which "makes souls righteous". The red ray stands for "the Blood which is the life of souls". As our Lord revealed to St. Faustina: "These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized heart was opened by a lance on the Cross."
When we contemplate Jesus' Divine Mercy, we recall why He suffered and died for us: for the sake of our eternal salvation. He did this out of love. He gave Himself for us totally and freely, and asks of us to do the same: to give of ourselves in service to others, totally and freely.
Each of us is saved and forgiven in Baptism. We reengage this grace of mercy every time we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and every time we are shown mercy by our Lord, we are called to live out that mercy in our lives by offering others words and actions of mercy.
Praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
One way that we express our devotion to Divine Mercy is through praying the "Chaplet of Divine Mercy". This is a relatively easy prayer to pray. We can pray the Chaplet using a standard Rosary, but the prayers are different:
Begin by making the Sign of the Cross.
Next, pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed.
Then, on each large bead pray the following prayer: "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 small bead pray the words: "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world." Repeat on each small bead (10 times per "decade").
Then, for the remaining decades, Pray the "Eternal Father" on the "Our Father" bead and then 10 "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion" on the following "Hail Mary" beads.
Finally, after the 5th decade, conclude with the following prayer: "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world." Pray this three times.
