“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” (“Diary,” 811).
“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), Jesus promised.
3. It’s a personal and community prayer.
The chaplet is intended to be prayed both in community and individually.
Thus “saying ‘we’ refers both to the person who prays the chaplet and to all those for whom it is prayed; by saying the ‘whole world’ we mean that we pray for both the living and the dead,” Mery explained.
When reciting the Divine Mercy Chaplet, “Jesus asks us to implore mercy ‘for us,’ thus teaching us to combat selfishness in prayer (not praying for oneself only) and thus making the divine mercy prayer an act of sacrificial love,” Mery said.
When we pray the chaplet, she explained, “we join Christ’s sacrifice on the cross in which he offered himself for our salvation. When reciting the words ‘Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ,’ we do so by virtue of the love that God the Father has for his Son, and in him, for all men. Thus, we have recourse to the greatest reason to be heard by God.”
4. It only takes five minutes.
The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed with a rosary. It begins with the sign of the cross and then by praying an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed.
Then at the beginning of each decade, you 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.”
On the Hail Mary beads, instead of reciting this prayer, you say 10 times: “For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
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At the end of the five decades, you pray three times “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” You can also add “O Blood and Water that gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us, I trust in you,” “St. Faustina, pray for us,” and “St. John Paul II, pray for us.”
5. You can pray at any time.
The chaplet can be prayed at any time. “Sometimes people mistakenly believe that you have to pray it at 3 p.m., but Jesus did not ask for that,” Mery clarified.
“Three in the afternoon, which is the hour of great mercy, is directed to the Son, Jesus Christ, to contemplate him in his passion.” On the other hand, she explained, “the chaplet is directed to God the Father.”
“What can be done and is done in various divine mercy shrines is that at three in the afternoon, the passion of Christ is contemplated for a moment and then the chaplet is prayed,” she explained.
“At whatever time the chaplet is prayed, the important thing,” Mery noted, “is to understand that in this prayer we ask the Father to look at us through the wounds of his Son, Jesus, and so that by looking at us through the wounds of his Son, he won’t treat us as our sins deserve but treat us according to his great goodness and mercy.”