Prayer Segment #8: Mercy

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday.  It's a very new feast, in terms of the Church: JP II declared the feast for the 2nd Sunday of Easter in 2000.  There is a novena leading up to the day.  If I had been on top of things last week, I would have posted it then.  Keep this in your back pocket for next Good Friday.  Although you can pray the novena any time.  So maybe keep it in your front pocket too.

The Chaplet, given by Christ to St. Faustina, is one of my favorite prayers.  It begs God for mercy with two short prayers (said on rosary beads):

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 for those of the whole world.

For the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

It speaks to me in the simplicity of the way it unites self-accusation and intercession... and brings them before the Cross.  I am a sinner in need of mercy; I recognize that the world is in need of mercy; Jesus' death and life overflow with mercy.

Christ also gave St. Faustina an image to meditate: rays of light and red, water and blood, flowing from his heart. As the wounds of Christ grow more meaningful to my prayer life (I've mentioned this before, yes?), so does this image of his wounded Heart.

Finally, as a less spiritual note, St. Faustina unites my heritage.  She is Polish, which makes me feel united with my dad's mother, and she was baptized Helen, my mom's mother's name.