Today, April 8th, is Divine Mercy Sunday, and in honor of the Feast of Divine Mercy, I am sharing with you instructions on how to pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy. This chaplet can be done with a standard-sized Rosary, and my instructions requires a basic understanding of what the traditional prayers of the Rosary are, and what beads are where. Please see my post on How to Pray the Rosary, if you need a refresher.
How to Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy
Begin with the “Sign of the Cross”.
Say an “Our Father”, a “Hail Mary”, and the “Apostles Creed”.
Proceed to the five decades of the Rosary. On each of the “Our Father” beads, pray the following prayer:
“Eternal Father, I offer You, the Body and the Blood,
Soul and Divinity, of Your dearly beloved Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
in atonement of our sins, and those of the whole world.”
On each of the “Hail Mary” beads, pray the following prayer:
“For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
At the conclusion of the five decades of prayers, pray this prayer:
“Holy God,
Holy Mighty One,
Holy Immortal One,
have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
(Repeat 3x)
Finish with the “Sign of the Cross.”
Most of these prayers I’ve been able to memorize over a number of years so I’m quoting here from memory. There are also optional opening and closing prayers for the chaplet you can pray, and if you’re interested in those, I recommend checking out the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website, for more information.
Special thanks to an observant Catholic (you know who you are!) who shared this chaplet with me a number of years ago.
Have trouble memorizing prayer? What about song lyrics? I’ve found in my own experience that it’s usually easier to memorize song lyrics than it is prayers. If you enjoy music, you may wish to try praying/singing along with the following video:
It begins immediately with the five decades of prayer, so, be sure to follow all of the steps preceding it before you begin listening (“Sign of the Cross”, “Our Father”, “Hail Mary”, and the “Apostles Creed”). The video is approximately 18:15 minutes in length.
God bless you as you explore the depths of God’s divine mercy.
Lauren Miller 