Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
(for recitation on ordinary rosary beads)
Begin with:
Our Father
Hail Mary
Apostles' Creed
On the five large beads:
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 the ten small beads:
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Conclude with (3 times):
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Imprimatur:
Franciszek Cardinal Macharski
Cracow, August 1, 1994
Promises
The Lord Jesus attached great promises to this prayer provided that the conditions of the correct devotion to the Divine Mercy are met, that is, the spirit of trusting God and being merciful towards neighbour is required. Perseverance in praying is an expression of this trust; the greater the trust is, the greater the perseverance in saying the Chaplet is. The Lord Jesus said to Sister Faustina that by saying the Chaplet one can obtain everything. However, apart from the grace of a good death, He has never claimed that everything can be obtained immediately, having said the prayer once. In her ‚Diary’ Sister Faustina describes situations, for instance, calming of a storm (Diary 1731), when her request had been granted after she had said the Chaplet once. She also writes about situations when she had been saying this prayer without interruption for many hours, for example, praying for rain (Diary 1128). When she prayed by the bedside of the dying, sometimes it was enough when she said the Chaplet once in order to obtain the grace of a happy and peaceful death and some other time, when a soul needed a lot of prayer, it was necessary for her to say the Chaplet many times (Diary 1035).
The Lord Jesus attached a promise of obtaining all graces to the Chaplet to the Divine Mercy said with trust – He said: It pleases Me to grant everything they [people] ask of Me by saying the chaplet (Diary 1541), adding: if (…) [it] is compatible with My will (Diary 1731). God’s will is an expression of His love for man, thus everything that is not compatible with it is either bad or harmful. Therefore, it cannot be given by the best Father, who desires only man’s good – from the perspective of eternity. This general promise pertains not only to supernatural graces but also to rewards in this world.
Apart from the general promise, there are promises that concern the hour of death, and to be more precise: the grace of a happy and peaceful death, in other words, death in the state of grace and without experiencing fear and terror. These graces can be obtained not only by those who say the Chaplet with trust themselves but also the dying by whose bedside others will say this prayer. The Lord Jesus promised: At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or [if] the Chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, then the indulgence [for the dying] is the same. When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated and unfathomable mercy envelops the soul (Diary 811). The Lord Jesus promises to grant the grace of a good death, that is, of conversion and remission of sins, even if the whole Chaplet has been said once – it needs to be said in the spirit of the Divine Mercy devotion, thus, the attitude of trusting God (faith, hope, love, humility, sincere and deep contrition) and being merciful towards neighbour is required. He said: Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy (Diary 687).
What the Lord Jesus said to Sister Faustina shows how great the graces attached to this prayer are: By saying the chaplet you are bringing humankind closer to Me (Diary 929). Priests are to recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation (cf. Diary 687).
