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abbycat
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| Joined: | Thu Jan 17th, 2008 |
| Location: | Maryland USA |
| Posts: | 221 |
| First Name: | abby | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Non-Denomational Charismatic, Lutheran, Orthodox Catechumate |
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Posted: Sat Jun 14th, 2008 08:29 pm |
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I often watch, on Saturday, the singing of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and it is so absolutely beautiful ... it often brings me to tears. To the extent I can, I understand the words, but can someone tell me exactly what this is for? why is it repeated so often? Thanks for your help.
abby
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Didi
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 3rd, 2008 |
| Location: | Oregon USA |
| Posts: | 252 |
| First Name: | Didi | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Catholic; almost left; Now an On-Fire Catholic! |
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Posted: Sat Jun 14th, 2008 09:25 pm |
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Hi Abby --
Here's some good info about the Chaplet: http://thedivinemercy.org/message/
We are calling upon God's mercy for ourselves and for the whole world. We need God's mercy, and He wants to give it to us, but we must ask Him because He has given us free will.
I see God's mercy and grace as being so abundant, but we don't ask for it often enough. In the chaplet, as Jesus directed St. Faustina, we repeat the prayer for mercy at least 50 times! Sometimes as I pray this prayer, I imagine Jesus' mercy starting in my home and then spreading throughout my neighborhood, my city, my state, my country, my continent and the whole world!
The other small prayer that Jesus directed St. Faustina to pray is simply: "Jesus, I trust in You." You often see these words at the bottom of the image of Jesus' Divine Mercy.
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David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 2522 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Sat Jun 14th, 2008 09:29 pm |
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I don’t know about you, Abby, but when I pray, I am often repetitious. The reason is that I typically have only one or two things on my mind, and I tend to dwell on them in a sort of spiral fashion, deeper and deeper. This is not primarily a vocal prayer, but a prayer of the heart: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…” is one way to understand it. A stark concentration, meditation style, is another. Or the depth of need in the soul: “He [Jesus] went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words” (Matthew 26:44). This accounts for the repetition: homing in on God, especially in his mercy toward us.
The meaning of the words is very important to the purpose of the Divine Mercy prayer. “Eternal Father, I offer you” — the act of sacrifice — “the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ ” — the victim, offered on the altar of the cross two millennia ago, and re-presented in our day on the altar of the Mass, in the form of the Eucharist — “in atonement of our sins and those of the whole world” — the redemption we all confess. So it is a Eucharistic prayer, kind of an extension of the Mass, making present through it the act of redemption and divine forgiveness. This sets the stage for the meditation on mercy which follows:
“For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” Why do we keep saying this over and over? It is not just for ourselves, but for “the whole world.” Each repetition can be for a different person or group of persons. How many people today need our prayer of intercession to receive the grace of repentance to be forgiven their sins, of fortitude and vigor to continue against the obstacles they face, of charity for all to reform the world? Or each repetition may be for a single intention, the succeeding choruses augmenting and intensifying our prayer, narrowing the gap between the soul and its divine lover.
These are a few ideas of how one can use the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Others can respond with their own approach, which will be just as legitimate. For prayer is what is in your heart, not just what is on your lips.
David
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Howard the Pilgrim
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| Joined: | Sun Dec 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | Lamar, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 128 |
| First Name: | Howard | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | United Presbyterian, non-denom, American Baptist, non-denom, Conservative Baptist, United Methodist ... |
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Posted: Sun Jun 15th, 2008 04:16 am |
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Hi Abby,
I think you are referring to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in Song where they have 3 beautiful singers. I have watched it and now have the video tape so I can play it over and over again at anytime. Like you, it often moves me to tears. I love the way the camera pans the images, statues and the faces of the people. The faces of the people show adoration, anxiety, sorrow, intercession, etc.
One thing that has occurred to me regarding the Chaplet and the Rosary is that they are aids to concentration in prayer. If you are like me, you can tend to drift and become distracted in prayer by a myriad of other thoughts that come into your mind. Things that you "ought" to be doing "now", thoughts about the day ahead, temptations, daydreams, etc. The words of these prayers are important but as we learn them by heart they also discipline our unruly hearts and minds to stay focused. They use up the excess capacity in our minds filling them with the backdrop of asking God to have mercy on us and the whole world as we pray and Mary to intercede for us as we meditate upon the mysteries. And the beads help us keep track of where we are in the prayers without having to use much of our minds.
Thanks be to God for you bringing this topic up and for the insights of Didi and David. May God bless you and keep you close to His heart.
Howard
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