I'm sure some of you wonder what exactly is Divine Mercy! Well, it's mercy and help that comes to us directly from Jesus Christ. You may ask, "How do I get this mercy?" Well, it's there for the taking. Jesus wants nothing more than for everyone of us to open our hearts up and receive His Divine Mercy into ourselves. You may also ask, "How can it help me?" Well the answer to that is simply, "You can't even imagine!"
When Jesus appeared to Maria Faustina Kowalska, back in the thirties, He wanted her to share everything He taught her regarding His Divine Mercy. He told her to write down everything He told her. She entered all of His words into her diary, daily. At one point He instructed her to have a professional painter paint a portrait of Him as He appeared before her, which she did. She loved Jesus and she trusted Him in everything.
He shared what is known as "The Divine Mercy Chaplet" with her, telling her to spread this prayer to everyone, so everyone can share in His Mercy. He asked that she tell everyone to pray this Chaplet daily, during the afternoon hours, but if that doesn't work for you, you should pray it whenever it is convenient and you have some alone and quiet time to pray.
You may ask, "How can it help me?" Well, it pours out oceans of mercy, forgiveness and love into everyone who prays it. It helps us to trust in the Lord and to change our lives for the better. In other words, it makes us closer to God and makes us better human beings. Who doesn't want this?
He also promised that anyone who prays the Chaplet for a dying person (preferably by their bedside),He will pour His mercy into their soul and intercede with His Father to have that person taken directly into Heaven when they die. I truly believe in this and I have prayed for one or two people who were very close to me, right before they passed away. I do trust in Jesus' promise and because of this, I know that they are now in heaven.
Jesus also asked Faustina to tell everyone that praying the Chaplet daily, will help them to be good and faithful Christians, but will also be restitution for their past sins. Remember, Jesus loves us all. We are all His children, even when we do something very bad. But, forgiveness will always be there for us, provided we make amends and are truly sorry and repentant for our sins. We, also, need to change our lives so we don't commit these sins again.
If you don't know how to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, I am going to explain everything for you now. (You can use your rosary, if you have one, and if you don't, just use another way.)
1. Make the sign of the cross
2. Say the Our Father
3. Say the Hail Mary
4. Say the Apostles Creed
5. (on each in-between bead) say: Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.
6. (on each of the ten small beads) say: For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and
on the whole world.
7. Repeat #5 and 6 on each of the five decades of the rosary.
8. Conclude with: Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
9. Conclusion: "Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion is in- exhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy upon 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. Amen
I can't believe that anyone can't take fifteen minutes out of their busy day to pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy. I will tell you that it has changed my life, in so far as how I look at my ill health and everything that I do. It's helped me to find a way to "give back" for not dying in 2006. I very seldom ever skip a day of praying the Chaplet. It's that important to me!
Here is a photo of the Divine Mercy Image:
I hope you will start praying the Chaplet every day, just as I do. It truly has brought peace and contentment into my life and has helped me to accept my illness, along with all the many, many changes that have happened within my life. May God bless each of you.
Susan
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