Meditations during Divine Mercy Chaplet

  • Thread starter Thread starter mVitus
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

mVitus

Guest
So I’m trying to make the Chaplet a daily thing and one thing I’m having trouble with are meditations. When I did the rosary, need to get back to that too, I found the mysteries helpful in trying to stay focused. (Though a little bit of drowsiness and all bets were off.) So I was wondering if there are any common meditations during the Chaplet since right now my mind wanders and when I can focus, it feels empty. Like I’m just saying words. So any ideas are appreciated.
 
Last edited:
I am either one of the worst or one of the best to comment on this, as repetitive prayers don’t at all come naturally for me, with my industrious imagination.

When I say the Chaplet I mostly just focus on the actual words. I might also visualize a particular person for each “Sorrowful Passion” prayer, even if I haven’t talked to them in years.

For example:

visualizes a professor from 5 years ago “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”

visualizes an acquaintance in the choir “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”

visualizes a friend from high school “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”

visualizes an attractive lady I met at the gym “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”

visualizes an angry parent from school “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”

visualizes my deceased grandma “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”

Etc. etc. etc. Focusing on that person’s interior conversion, salvation, and eternal happiness. That may or may not work for you.

Peace.
 
Last edited:
Do you plan out who you’ll think of at all? Or does it just come to you? I’ve tried a little something like that so any tips are aplreciated.
 
Personally, I just let it come to me. The next person that comes to mind. I might purposely go back quite a ways, since thinking about certain people from the past will naturally move my thoughts towards other more obscure people from the past.

Or you might likewise focus on better-known friends & family.

And then change it around.
 
Last edited:
And ever anything particular with them? As in a specific thing to pray for them about, or just a general sense?
 
The individual prayers are short enough that I generally just think of that person, and my desire for that person to make it to Heaven & be united with God for eternity. I might visualize the rays of mercy from the Image of Divine Mercy flowing over them.
 
Last edited:
Five decades of the Divine Mercy Chaplet so I’ve always found it helpful to focus on the five wounds of Christ.
His hands that gave blessings and healed the sick, His feet which carried the Good News and trod the way to Calvary, His pierced heart from which flowed blood and water. You may also want to contemplate His head crowned with thorns.
 
I don’t meditate during the Divine Mercy. I generally say my Divine Mercy chaplets for a specific person or group of people. I ask certain saints to pray along with me for the person or persons. When I pray the chaplet, I think of the person I am praying for. Sometimes I pause during it and talk to the saint or saints. Like “All of you Saints, especially St. X and St. Y who have a feast day today, please pray along with me and send grace to Z, whose husband just died and I know she could use some grace” etc.

Also I often put the person’s name in the prayer, like “For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on Z, and on the whole world” or “…on the whole world, especially Z for whom this chaplet is being offered.”

I frequently say this prayer while driving or doing housework because it does not require meditation, so I can combine it more easily with another activity.
 
Amy readings on those? As in, what exactly are neditatated on? I know what the five wounds are, but I don’t know how one would meditate on them.
 
No readings (although you could use the Gospels). I just try to picture them in my mind or focus on a crucifix.
 
I said The Divine Mercy prayers for the deceased,
like at the deathbed of my late wife, other than that
I rarely say it.
 
Last edited:
So I want to say I tried what you do last night and my mind did wander less. Not to mention it felt more like a prayer than empty recitation.

I guess the next thing for me to find a way to not have judgemental thoughts while doing so. (Example: Visualize Person X and a voice in my head wanted to go “they’re a BIG sinner” at times.) So I guess, any tips on how to silence that voice? It adds a bit if a battle.
 
@mVitus

Well, you’ve opened a whole can of worms and there’s a ton that could be said about this. My reply will only scratch the surface.

If judgmental and/or agitated feelings are coming to you, I’d say you’re definitely on the right track. This is a good sign and it even demonstrates a maturity in conscience and you shouldn’t be surprised by it. There is suppose to be some resistance. That’s how athletic training works and spiritual training isn’t all that different.

Our spirit longs for God and godly things, but our human nature withdraws from it and wants to be evil. Doing the right thing is always about our will, never our feelings or our mood. So your feelings might tell you how so and so did such and such, and if a person hurt you in the past some of those feelings might boil up inside either a little or a lot, but you can still will for their conversion, salvation, and eternal happiness. St Thomas Aquinas says that loving is to will the good of the other. Also, remember that conversion is a lifelong struggle of getting closer to God, and it’s something we all pray for and not just for the so-called great sinners.

It is also helpful to reflect on your own sinfulness and inadequacy before beginning your prayers for other people. This is something I do and it’s strongly recommended, especially in Ignatian spirituality. Also, I think about all of the advantages or benefits I’ve been given that I haven’t earned: a healthy body, a healthy mind, my material benefits, my support networks growing up, my academic & spiritual education, etc., and then I reflect on where I would be if I had none of those things. Think about how much more weak I would be, or how ignorant, or how confused/lost. How utterly incapable I’d be without God supporting me every day and every second. Once we do this, it can soften our view towards others and incline us towards compassion.

Peace.

(If you don’t mind me throwing a book suggestion at you, I think St Alphonsus Liguori’s “A Short Treatise on Prayer” might be very helpful for you. It was for me. Bear in mind it’s an 18th century book so the language is a little thick sometimes, and he is a man of his time and culture just like anybody, but over 95% of it still applies today.)
 
Last edited:
I have found that praying it like a Rosary, and using the Sorrowful mysteries is helpful.
 
mVitus said:
(Example: Visualize Person X and a voice in my head wanted to go “they’re a BIG sinner” at times.) So I guess, any tips on how to silence that voice? It adds a bit if a battle.
Click to expand...
If the voice says “They’re a big sinner” then you can add onto that, “and I’m a big sinner too.”
it’s the truth.
We’re all big sinners.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top