Confused by divine mercy chaplet

[Merrick]

I do not normally say this chaplet, but I have been prescribed it as a penance twice.

The Eternal Father prayer is an offering of Christ’s body, blood, soul, and divinity. To offer the divinity seems to imply that the divinity suffered and was offered on the cross.

Furthermore why offer the divinity that the whole Trinity already has? Jesus assumed human nature to offer it precisely because the Father has no human nature. He doesn’t need to be offered divinity.

I understand that Christ’s divinity is present in the Eucharist and was present on the cross. But that is not the same as to say that the divine nature is offered up. It is the body and blood that were offered up, Jesus’ humanity that suffered.

I cannot think of any way to interpret this prayer in an orthodox way. I’m looking for an orthodox way to interpret this prayer.

 

[Katherine438]

I don’t have an answer to your question … but I don’t let things like this stop me from receiving the many graces that the Divine Mercy Chaplet brings with it … so if you don’t get a suitable answer to your question here, I would try a priest … and hopefully you will get a suitable answer and be able to enjoy this devotion.

P.S. You could even try the Apologetics section of CAF … they usually can answer most questions.

 

[InOmnemTerram]

I cannot think of any way to interpret this prayer in an orthodox way.

In the first place, do you really believe that this chaplet has somehow escaped the scrutiny of highly educated and formed Bishops, Cardinals, and Popes, and that they have been approving it and promoting it despite it containing some obvious heresy that you can see but they can’t? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? I’m just making sure you’re humbly approaching this.

Merrick:

To offer the divinity seems to imply that the divinity suffered and was offered on the cross.

Are you alleging that God did NOT suffer and that He did NOT die on the cross?

Merrick:

Furthermore why offer the divinity that the whole Trinity already has? Jesus assumed human nature to offer it precisely because the Father has no human nature. He doesn’t need to be offered divinity.

God doesn’t need anything. He certainly didn’t need anything from the Incarnation.

Offering Christ’s divinity to the Father is not to meet a need, it’s simply presenting the sacrifice that Christ presented, which itself was rooted in His divinity. Christ’s sacrifice would have been worthless if He wasn’t divine.

Merrick:

I understand that Christ’s divinity is present in the Eucharist and was present on the cross. But that is not the same as to say that the divine nature is offered up. It is the body and blood that were offered up, Jesus’ humanity that suffered.

Christ is not present IN the Eucharist. Christ IS the Eucharist, which has the appearance of bread and wine. But He’s not co-mingled with it. He’s not “in there” somewhere. It IS Him.

Again, the humanity of Christ is not what made the sacrifice have an infinite value. The fact that He was God is what provided that.

 

[Merrick]

In the first place, do you really believe that this chaplet has somehow escaped the scrutiny of highly educated and formed Bishops, Cardinals, and Popes, and that they have been approving it and promoting it despite it containing some obvious heresy that you can see but they can’t? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? I’m just making sure you’re humbly approaching this.

Are you alleging that God did NOT suffer and that He did NOT die on the cross?

God doesn’t need anything. He certainly didn’t need anything from the Incarnation.

Offering Christ’s divinity to the Father is not to meet a need, it’s simply presenting the sacrifice that Christ presented, which itself was rooted in His divinity. Christ’s sacrifice would have been worthless if He wasn’t divine.

Christ is not present IN the Eucharist. Christ IS the Eucharist, which has the appearance of bread and wine. But He’s not co-mingled with it. He’s not “in there” somewhere. It IS Him.

Again, the humanity of Christ is not what made the sacrifice have an infinite value. The fact that He was God is what provided that.

Yes, they may very well have overlooked something. The devotion was once condemned if I remember correctly.

I did not say the Father needed anything, and I did not say Jesus was mingled with the sacrament. I said the divinity is present where Jesus is, but it was his humanity that was offered.

Yes, God the Son, the person died. That is not to say the divine nature suffered and died or was offered.

You have misunderstood very much of my post and your tone comes across as hostile. I find it unhelpful.

 

[asia53]

Yes, they may very well have overlooked something. The devotion was once condemned if I remember correctly.

Not condemned. It was banned, due to a translation errors.

The hardest blow, however, came in 1959, when the Vatican, having received erroneous and confusing translations of the Diary, forbade the spreading of the Mercy devotion in the forms proposed by Sr. Faustina. That ban would last a full 20 years. Father Sopocko, however, consoled himself with the knowledge that all this was in fulfilment of a prophecy made by Sr. Faustina.

The Divine Mercy

P.S.The best people to contact about the Divine Mercy Chaplet is the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception in Stockbridge, MA. They own the publishing rights to St. Faustina’s Diary.

 

[fred_conty]

Your question by the way is a good question.

St. Paul in one of his letters said that we should pray for all of us, and also for the whole world.

We know also that when the angel appeared at Fatima to the children, he told them to pray a certain prayer. And this prayer is very close to the prayers in the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

To understand the meaning and power of this prayer we just need to go to the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the Cross. It was this sacrifice that was offered to God for the sins of the world, and which allowed them to be forgiven. It was Jesus, the God-man, who did this. Jesus was the only Beloved Son of the Father. The Father loved his Son from all eternity and was one with his Son, so that when his Son pleaded with his Father, and offered himself to the Father, then how could the Father refuse? It is the most dynamic and powerful offering that the Father would not refuse. See St. John’s Gospel when Jesus prayed for all of us to the Father in the Garden.

In saying this Divine Mercy Prayer, we are asking the Father to look upon his only Son’s sacrifice and prayer for us and to fulfill his only Beloved Son’s wish. In addition, all those Masses in the world offering up Jesus, and all the Eucharistic devotions in adoration chapels all over the world, we ask that the Father accept Jesus from these to fulfill our request to “have mercy on us and on the whole world” just as St. Paul said in his letter. What could be more powerful and beautiful and acceptable than to offer his divine son’s love to the Father? By our baptism, we are all lay priests with the right to offer Jesus back to the Father in our prayers. And we make it at the very time when somewhere in the world Jesus is being offered in a Mass, and where a Eurcharistic devotion of his presence is being honored.

Looking at it from this line of thought, how could there be a more worthy and acceptable prayer? It is just beautiful and most acceptable to our Father in heaven. We are indeed very fortunate to be the chosen ones of Abraham.

We are actually saying, “Father accept your Son celebrated on earth on behalf of ourselves and everyone else for your mercy.” How could Our Father refuse the love of Jesus coming from our hearts?

 

[Merrick]

Your question by the way is a good question.

St. Paul in one of his letters said that we should pray for all of us, and also for the whole world.

We know also that when the angel appeared at Fatima to the children, he told them to pray a certain prayer. And this prayer is very close to the prayers in the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

To understand the meaning and power of this prayer we just need to go to the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the Cross. It was this sacrifice that was offered to God for the sins of the world, and which allowed them to be forgiven. It was Jesus, the God-man, who did this. Jesus was the only Beloved Son of the Father. The Father loved his Son from all eternity and was one with his Son, so that when his Son pleaded with his Father, and offered himself to the Father, then how could the Father refuse? It is the most dynamic and powerful offering that the Father would not refuse. See St. John’s Gospel when Jesus prayed for all of us to the Father in the Garden.

In saying this Divine Mercy Prayer, we are asking the Father to look upon his only Son’s sacrifice and prayer for us and to fulfill his only Beloved Son’s wish. In addition, all those Masses in the world offering up Jesus, and all the Eucharistic devotions in adoration chapels all over the world, we ask that the Father accept Jesus from these to fulfill our request to “have mercy on us and on the whole world” just as St. Paul said in his letter. What could be more powerful and beautiful and acceptable than to offer his divine son’s love to the Father? By our baptism, we are all lay priests with the right to offer Jesus back to the Father in our prayers. And we make it at the very time when somewhere in the world Jesus is being offered in a Mass, and where a Eurcharistic devotion of his presence is being honored.

Looking at it from this line of thought, how could there be a more worthy and acceptable prayer? It is just beautiful and most acceptable to our Father in heaven. We are indeed very fortunate to be the chosen ones of Abraham.

We are actually saying, “Father accept your Son celebrated on earth on behalf of ourselves and everyone else for your mercy.” How could Our Father refuse the love of Jesus coming from our hearts?

Yes, I agree with the reasoning of the above. But it is specifically in reference to rhe divine nature of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to which my concerns were referred.