The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Saint Faustina was born in the village of Glogowiec, Poland on August 25, 1905.  She was the third of ten children.  When she was almost twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, whose members devote themselves to the care and education of troubled young women.

In the 1930s, Sister Faustina received a vision of Jesus during which she was given a message of mercy to spread throughout the world.  She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world.

Her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to The Divine Mercy.  Through Saint Faustina, Jesus also revealed special ways to live out the response to His mercy – one of which is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, as both a novena and a prayer for the three o'clock hour – the hour of His death.

According to Saint Faustina's visions of Jesus, the chaplet's prayers for mercy are threefold: to

obtain mercy, to trust in Christ's mercy, and to show mercy to others.  Jesus also told her: "Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You.  I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.  I also promise victory over its enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death.  I, myself will defend it as my own glory…I am offering people a vessel with which they are to keep coming for grace to the Fountain of Mercy.  That vessel is this image with the signature Jesus, I Trust in You."  To the right is the image Saint Faustina depicted.  An explanation of the colors of the rays was given to Sister Faustina by Jesus himself: "The two rays represent blood and water."

Jesus said later to Saint Faustina: "Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you.  Anyone who says it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death.  Priests will recommend it to sinners as the last hope.  Even the most hardened sinner, if he recites this Chaplet even once, will  receive grace from My Infinite Mercy.  I want the whole world to know My Infinite Mercy.  I want to give unimaginable graces to those who trust in My Mercy...."

Jesus made it very clear that we are to trust in His Mercy, and this mercy is available at any time in the Sacrament of Penance.  All we need to do is ask for it, then trust that God desires to have mercy on us, and on the whole world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnE9z7gwows

How to Recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Optional Opening Prayers
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.  O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!

Begin with the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Apostle's Creed.

On the large bead before each decade:
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 sinsand those of the whole world.

On the ten small beads of each decade, say:

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

Conclude with (Say 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.