Pray the Divine Mercy Novena
Divine Mercy Novena offers nine days of prayer, starts Good Friday
The Divine Mercy novena is prayed between Good Friday and the Sunday of Divine Mercy, which is the Sunday following Easter. Those praying the novena are to pray for the special intentions of each day followed by the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
St. Faustina wrote that Jesus told her, "On each day of the novena you will bring to My heart a different group of souls and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy ... On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My passion, for the graces for these souls.†(Diary of Faustina, 1209)
Special intentions for souls during the Divine Mercy Novena:
Day 1 (Good Friday) – All mankind, especially sinners
Day 2 (Holy Saturday) – The souls of priests and religious
Day 3 (Easter Sunday) – All devout and faithful souls
Day 4 (Easter Monday) – Those who do not believe in Jesus and those who do not yet know Him
Day 5 (Easter Tuesday) – The souls of separated brethren
Day 6 (Easter Wednesday) – The meek and humble souls and the souls of children
Day 7 (Easter Thursday) – The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus' mercy
Day 8 (Easter Friday) – The souls who are detained in purgatory
Day 9 (Easter Saturday) – The souls who have become lukewarm.
For a list of these prayers in its entirety, please visit www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/novena.htm or visit the nearest Catholic bookstore to purchase the Divine Mercy Novena prayers.
The Sunday of Divine Mercy is a new feast that was instituted on May 5, 2000 by Pope John Paul II. A Polish nun, Sister Faustina Kowalska, now a saint, heard Jesus telling her, "Say always the Chaplet I have taught you. He (she) who says it, shall experience My Mercy, during his (her) life, and mostly at the hour of his (her) death.â€
How to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet:
You may begin with the optional opening prayers:
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
(Repeat three times) O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
Using rosary beads, begin with the Sign of the Cross. Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.
On each of the five decades (Our Father bead of the rosary) 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 each of the 10 Hail Mary beads, pray:
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
For the concluding prayer, repeat 3 times:
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
You may also add this optional closing prayer:
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.