If you are a cradle Catholic like me, you have probably heard a lot of Catholic prayers, but you may not know where they came from. When I first heard of the Divine Mercy chaplet, I was at Vacation Bible School and my aunt, who was the Vacation Bible School Director, was telling us about the prayer. She may have gone over the original story, but all I can remember was that the Divine Mercy prayer was said on the rosary beads and only took five minutes to say. The shortness of the ritualistic prayer was what drew me into the prayer, and I have been saying it ever since.

But I think before we go over how to say the prayer, it is important to know how the prayer came about. Here is a brief summary of the prayer.

In 1931 Sister Faustina, a Congregational Sister of Our Lady of Mercy with the education of a third grader, was visited by God in prayer. He appeared to her in a white garment with one pale and one red ray coming from His heart. Jesus asked her to paint this image with the words, “Jesus, I trust in You” beneath it. In 1934 she got Eugene Kazimierowski to paint the image we see today.

In 1935 Sister Faustina was praying for mercy and God gave her the words to pray, “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. (Diary, 475).”

The next time she was in prayer she heard God tell her to add the words “and on the whole world” after have mercy on us. God continuously revealed to her in prayer how He wanted the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy to be prayed. In Sister Faustina’s dairy, she wrote that the purpose of the Divine Mercy chaplet was threefold: to obtain mercy, to trust in Christ’s mercy, and to show mercy to others.

On April 30, 2000 Pope John Paul II canonized Sister Faustina and established Divine Mercy Sunday as the Sunday after Easter.

The definition of a Plenary Indulgence is:

A plenary indulgence that can remove all the temporal punishment due to forgiven sin. Only God knows for certain when a plenary indulgence is actually gained, because only He knows whether a person’s dispositions are adequate. One norm for such dispositions is that “all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent.” If these dispositions are in any way less than complete, the indulgence will only be partial. The same provision applies to the three external conditions necessary to gain a plenary indulgence: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Pope. If these conditions are not satisfied, an otherwise plenary indulgence becomes only partial. These conditions may be satisfied several days before or after the performance of the prescribed work, though preferably Communion should be received, and the prayers offered for the Pope on the same day as the indulgenced work. A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day.
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/
library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35607

Here is a link to find out about the Divine Mercy Plenary Indulgence from Pope Francis. Please look at this note, because the requirements to receive this plenary indulgence has changed this year based on the current world situation.
https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/vatican-grants-
emergency-plenary-indulgence-divine-mercy-chaplet

Links to receive more information on the Divine Mercy

For more information on the Divine Mercy visit this site:
https://www.thedivinemercy.org/

For more information on Sister Faustina watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLEN7gZ67F0

To purchase St. Faustina’s Diary here is an amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Soul-Diary-Sister-Faustina-
Kowalska/dp/0944203043/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OLCF02X3FXBC
&dchild=1&keywords=sister+faustina+diary+book&qid=
1586910880&sprefix=sister+faus%2Caps%2C304&sr=8-1

For more information on the Divine Mercy watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX-iNamyVNU

A guide on how to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet
https://www.thedivinemercy.org/
message/devotions/pray-the-chaplet

One way to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet is to say the words, but you can also sing the Divine Mercy. Here is a video of the Divine mercy being sung.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCWYlkxwolA

Stephen Williams
Religious Education Coordinator

It’s another edition of the Fr. Tom Q&A! Join him tonight on Zoom at 7:15 PM. Bring your questions and a positive attitude… you know that he will have one. Even if you don’t have a question come for a loving and informative night.

Email Stephen Williams at religioused@sacredheartob.org for the Zoom login credentials.

Hope to see you there!