The Don Newsletter

As we watch the situation in the Ukraine and see the rather confused state of leadership in our nation we can easily get filled with anxiety. We see gasoline prices skyrocket. We hear news about China and Russia and a potential world war. We experience the effects of sin in today’s world: pain, polarization and selfishness.

What can we do? We can pray! Please know that we all can pray – every day. Besides the rosary, the chaplet of the Divine Mercy is excellent. Some of you don’t usually do this devotion – but you could. It’s easy, and you can learn it fast.

How did this prayer begin, you may ask? In the 1930s, a Polish nun named Faustina Kowalska received several visions and messages from Jesus. During these private revelations a great emphasis was placed on the Divine Mercy of God.

One of the devotions that Jesus revealed to St. Faustina was the “Divine Mercy Chaplet”. He said to her, “At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet, or when others say it for a dying person, the indulgence is the same… When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul, and the very depths of My tender mercy are moved for the sake of the sorrowful Passion of My son.”

Jesus also said to her, “It pleases Me to grant everything they ask of Me by saying the chaplet.”

Here is a short beginner’s guide on how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Use an ordinary rosary. Begin by holding the crucifix and making the sign of the cross. At the start there is a brief set of optional prayers that can be prayed while holding the first large bead.

Optional Prayer 1: 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.

Optional Prayer 2: O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You! (Repeat 3 times.)

Next, moving your fingers to the three small beads, pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary and the Apostle’s Creed.

For the remainder of the chaplet, on each large bead that begins a decade, 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 of the ten small beads of the decade, pray:

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

After praying all five decades, pray this concluding prayer three times.

Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

You may also pray this optional prayer at the end:

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.

Close with the sign of the cross.

I hope you will try to do this devotion.