Divine Mercy or the Rosary?

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Divine Mercy or the Rosary? Which one is better for us to pray? I personally LOVE the Divine Mercy and have prayed it everyday for over a year and a half. It is probably the biggest contributer of me coming home to the Church. But all I hear is we have to pray the Rosary everyday. I do pray it but not everyday for that matter not that much at all. I will confess I did pray the Rosary everyday during last Advent and i found a new peace i didn’t feel before. But since then I have went back to only praying the Divine Mercy. Is there something wrong with picking one over the other?
 
Kirk_O said:
Divine Mercy or the Rosary? Which one is better for us to pray? I personally LOVE the Divine Mercy and have prayed it everyday for over a year and a half. It is probably the biggest contributer of me coming home to the Church. But all I hear is we have to pray the Rosary everyday. I do pray it but not everyday for that matter not that much at all. I will confess I did pray the Rosary everyday during last Advent and i found a new peace i didn’t feel before. But since then I have went back to only praying the Divine Mercy. Is there something wrong with picking one over the other?
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Do what sustains your faith and feeds you.

However if you don’t mind I would like to recommend you trying to get started with the Breviary/Liturgy of the Hours though. At least investigate it. It is the official formal prayer cycle of the church that goes back to the desert fathers if not to the apostles. After the Mass itself it is the preeminent prayer life of the church, used in cathedrals and monasteries and mandated for most priests to say every day. It is the prayer rule of countless saints, Popes and Patriarchs back into the early church and shared by all of the old Apostolic churches in one style or another. It is a real instrument of growth in a class by itself.

The rosary chaplet, the divine mercy chaplet and Taize prayer and that sort of thing are actually private devotions.
 
Although there are benefits to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, I prefer the Rosary. I just feel it is deeper and far more traditional.

One of my sons likes the Chaplet better as he dosen’t need to concentrate, (his words). He is a school teacher and has 5 kids of his own, a part time farmer and very active in the church.
 
This is how I look at it: I pray the rosary FOR the Blessed Virgin, as she has asked us to do for peace and salvation. I like to please her, which helps me to make the effort to pray the rosary and spend that time with her, as she has asked. I also love to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which to me is different, as it is specifically for the conversion of sinners. I pray the Chaplet with Faith that it will win many souls to God. Since the Chaplet can be done in five minutes or less I feel it is a worthwhile endeavor, and the least I can do each day for the salvation of mankind. If I could only choose one, I would choose the rosary on behalf of our Blessed Mother, but thankfully I can do both.
 
Kirk_O said:
Divine Mercy or the Rosary? Which one is better for us to pray? I personally LOVE the Divine Mercy and have prayed it everyday for over a year and a half. It is probably the biggest contributer of me coming home to the Church. But all I hear is we have to pray the Rosary everyday. I do pray it but not everyday for that matter not that much at all. I will confess I did pray the Rosary everyday during last Advent and i found a new peace i didn’t feel before. But since then I have went back to only praying the Divine Mercy. Is there something wrong with picking one over the other?
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Objectively, neither is better. A simple matter of personal preference. Thought the rosary of course has hundreds of years of tradition behind it which is significant for many.
 
Dave_B said:
Its all good. ‘Pray without ceasing’ 🙂
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I agree with the above poster. However, I love praying the Divine Mercy. I also pray the rosary at times, but the Divine Mercy most often.
 
If it brings you closer to our dear, blessed Lord without the stain of sin… do it! 😃 As an example, the Rosary’s ‘joyous’ mysteries do not incite devotion for me. I simply don’t feel connected there; so, I pray the sorrowful mysteries every day. The glorious mysteries are ‘tolerable’ from my viewpoint ;), but I prefer to focus on the darker aspects of what our Lord had to go through for us. It convicts me of my sins… but if you are of a different personality, pray those Rosary mysteries which most move you to devotion and holiness. You are not obliged to pray all 3/4 mysteries, since it’s hardly a dogma. 🙂
 
The Rosary requires meditation on the mysteries, like the Way of the Cross which is also is indulgenced prayer. These pious practices combine devotional prayer with public witness, and meditation on the mysteries and makes them superior forms of penance.

A plenary indulgence is granted when 5 decades of the rosary is recited in a church or oratory or when it is recited in a family, a religious community, or a pious association. A partial indulgence is granted for its recitation in all other circumstances.

But a partial indulgence is granted for those that pray with humble confidence or that give of themselves with faith and mercy or that penitentially forgo what is licit or that make pubilc witness of their faith. So the Divine Mercy Chaplet combines some of these, more so in a group or in a church.

Since partial indulgence is proportional to the perfection by which it is done, then the Divine Mercy Chaplet could be superior to the Rosary for an individual that prefers it and so may be more perfect it piety and charity.
 
There really should be no conflict here. It’s not the Rosary vs. the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I think this idea stems from the fact that they are both said on Rosary beads. They are both private devotions and quite different. You should feel free to pray as you feel the Lord wants you to. No one should be telling you what you “should” pray, or how often.

Do what your heart tells you to, and listen to the Holy Spirit. Any true prayer is pleasing to God.
 
Oh! I am sure I am going to get some flack for this but nevertheless here is my opinion and thoughts on this matter.
I personally know several Catholics who have stopped praying their Rosary and pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet instead,having asked why the majority have informed me that the chaplet is easier to say because it takes less time!
For some it is difficult to pray the holy rosary by themselves and this can tend to put them off but in many apparitions of Our Lady,She emplores Her children to pray the rosary,think of little humble St.Bernadette and the little children of Fatima.
So it is never a question of either/or but one of fidelity to the rosary which as we well know is the Gospel in miniature and well beloved of many Saints and Popes.
Surely it is simply a matter of praying the rosary as normal and also praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy on Fridays as Jesus directed through Saint Faustina,remembering that God cannot be outdone in generousity.
 
I was taught that the Rosary and the DI\ivine Mercy Chaplet are private devotions. I love praying the Rosary, but also the Divine Mercy because it is soothing.

The Rosary itself is really a strong devotional for the Dominicans. The Rosary really brings the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary (for she was with him through his whole ministry). The Divine Mercy really focus on the Passion.

But, like I mentioned it is private devotions, so allow the Holy Spirit to show you how you should pray. But, I have also started reciting the chaplet of the Sorrowful Mother. A beautiful chaplet.

God Bless,
Nikita
 
From what I understand, and I may be wrong, in simple terms the Holy Rosary is to help us become more conformed to Christ while the Divine Mercy Chaplet is to be prayed for the conversion of sinners. Different prayers said in a similar way but very, very different. You can’t go wrong praying either one but to substitute the Divine Mercy Chaplet for the Rosary because it’s “easier” and “faster” seems to be counter intuitive to the reasons we pray.
 
Conversion of sinners and what recitation of prayer you pray makes no difference. Now if your involving yourself in the first saturday of the month reparation. Then thats a Rosary based devotion.

Many sinners have no-one to pray for them and perish as a result. Those converstions that happen to sinners by Miracle? Thats the result of others prayers. They didn’t happen by chance.

There is no right or wrong with this. Pray and listen to what your told.

These devotions require 15-minutes or less. I can’t tell you how God will work in your life. I can only tell you whats worked for me, and I pray the Rosary.
 
I do both and more.

Ideally I do the DMC(Divine Mercy Chaplet) 3 times a day, morning noon and night. DMC takes on avg. 7 or 8 minutes, I end it with the 30sec. St Michaels Prayers. On my knees in front of a crucifix and painting of the crucifixtion of Virgin Mary and St John at the foot of the cross. Helps to emote!

Then usually in the nighttime I take a walk and do the Rosary , plus whatever I’m in the mood for. Rosary takes 25 minutes but can vary as to how much you talk to God at certain stages.

I also add St Therese of Lisieux Chaplet of 24 Glory Be’s during my night walk whenever the fancy hits me.

What all three of these prayers have in common is that they can be prayed on the Rosary Beads, with the St Therese Chaplet you pick a starting bead off the circle and on the leading thread, so that you finish on an Our Father bead(larger bead) 24 beads in.

My discipline for all these things vary, but I always pray the Rosary daily with rare exceptions.
 
Both prayers are good and you should not worry about which is better. There is no better prayer than the one that comes from the heart. Only worry about communicating to God and spending a good amount of time in intimacy with him.
 
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