In 1935, St. Maria Faustina, an uneducated Polish nun, received a vision of an angel sent by God to chastise an evil city. She began to pray for mercy, but her prayers were powerless. Suddenly she felt the power of Jesus' grace within her. At the same time she found herself pleading with God for mercy with these words:
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.
Prayed on ordinary rosary beads,
The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy is an intercessory prayer that invokes the mercy of God poured out for us on the cross. In prayer, Jesus told St. Faustina, "By this Novena, I will grant every possible grace to souls."
How to Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
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While holding the rosary crucifix make the Sign of the Cross and say In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Recite The Lord's Prayer followed by the Hail Mary and the Apostles' Creed on the three small beads.
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Move to the space before the first decade of small beads.
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Recite "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."
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On each of the adjacent ten small beads (or decade) recite "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us".
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After the decade move to the next large bead and repeat Steps 4 and 5. Each succeeding decade is prayed in a similar manner, repeating Steps 4 and 5.
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When the fifth decade is completed, conclude the Chaplet by reciting three times "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
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Then repeat three times "Jesus, I trust in you."
