Divine Mercy

The other day while driving it occurred to me that I could fill pages with all of my sins.  Sometimes without any warning, a vivid memory of one of them crosses my mind and is actually physically painful.  I think to myself -- who was that horrible person?  And of course, why?  And then I'm flooded with embarrassment and shame.

Divine Mercy is God's gift to us in that He forgives us our sins, if we but only repent of them.  For Catholics, that means a trip to the confessional.  Honestly, it isn't as bad as you might think.  It is humbling but oh so cleansing!!  We have a choice to go either face-to-face or behind a curtain.  I prefer face-to-face because being inside the small cubicle is far worse for me.

After a recent memory of a sin, that's when I started thinking about the list of sins.  And then I thought about Divine Mercy and what God wants of us.  It is right that we remember our sins, even though they are forgiven.  The memory of our sins is what makes us appreciate His Divine Mercy in our lives.  But for that mercy for which Jesus paid such a high price, we would have no way to reconcile ourselves with God.  And without repenting of their sins, that's the weight that many people are carrying around with them all the time.

Divine Mercy Sunday is one way that Catholics commemorate this mysterious and precious mercy.  Another way is to say a series of prayers called the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  It is not hard to do at all, and you can use a rosary if you wish to follow along a little better.

The following is the Divine Mercy Chaplet -- a very powerful instrument of prayer:

1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, one Our Father, one Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.       2. Using your rosary beads (and see the illustration at the top of the blog), focus on the second bead by itself (after the cross) and say:    "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." 3. On the 10 Hail Mary beads say the following:   "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world." (Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades). 4. Conclude with (three times): Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen.