VATICAN - Devotion to the Divine Mercy

Vatican City (Fides Service) - The forms of worship of the Divine Mercy transmitted through Blessed Sister Faustina by John Paul II are the following:
- the image of the Merciful Jesus;
- the little rosary of the Divine Mercy;
- the feast of Mercy;
- the prayer hour of Mercy;
- the diffusion of the worship of the Divine Mercy

The image of the merciful Jesus
The image occupies a key position in all the devotion to the Divine Mercy. It portrays the figure of the risen, blessing Christ, according to the description by Sister Faustina after the vision she had 22 February 1931 in which the Lord asked her “to depict an image according to the model you see with the inscription below “Jesus I confide in you!” I desire that this image be venerated first in your chapel and then in the entire world.”
The most characteristic elements of the image are the two rays. Jesus thus explains their meaning: “The pale ray represents the Water that justifies souls, the red ray represents the Blood which is the life of souls. Blessed is he who will live in their shadow.”
The image is called “the recipient.” “I offer to men and women the recipient with which they must come to obtain graces at the source of my Mercy.”
The Lord promises many graces to those who will venerate it with confidence: “Through this image I will grant many graces to souls, therefore every soul must be able to approach it;” “the soul that will venerate this image will not perish;” “I promise already on this earth...victory over the enemies.” “I myself will defend the soul as my own glory in the hour of death.” The image must bring to mind “the demands of My Mercy, because even the strongest faith is useless without the works.”

The little Rosary of the Divine Mercy
Along with the image a prayer was revealed as a further and essential element in the worship of the Divine Mercy. Jesus dictated the text to Sister Faustina in 1935. Then, about fourteen times Jesus spoke about it explaining its scope, the promises connected with its recitation and revealing its particular efficacy
“Exhort souls to recite the little rosary.”... “For the recitation of this little rosary I will grant all that they will ask me. Whoever will recite it will obtain much Mercy in the hour of death.” “Priests will counsel sinners to say it as a life saver; even if the most hardened sinner recites it only once, he will obtain the grace of my infinite Mercy.”… “With the recitation of the little rosary the human race draws near to me.”

How is this little rosary to be said? One may use an ordinary rosary. In the beginning the Our Father is said, then the Hail Mary and the Creed, and then on the beads of the Our Father the following words are to be said: “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, the Soul and Divinity of your most beloved Son and our Lord Jesus Christ in expiation for our sins and for those of the entire world.” On the beads of the Hail Mary the following is to be recited: “For his painful Passion have mercy on us and all the world.” At the end this invocation is said three times: “Holy God, powerful God, immortal God, have mercy on us and on all the world.”

The feast of the Divine Mercy
Jesus requested that the feast of the Divine Mercy be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter and pointed out the scope and motive of this institution, the way to prepare and celebrate it. It is to be prepared with a novena beginning Good Friday with the daily recitation of the little Rosary of the Divine Mercy. The promises attached to the celebration of this feast are exceptional.
“I desire that the feast of the Divine Mercy be one of reparation and refuge for all souls and especially for poor sinners.” “On that day whoever approaches the source of life will obtain the total remission of sins and punishments.”... “On that day will be open all the canals through which divine graces flow. No soul need fear to come to me, even if his sins are as scarlet.’
“No soul will find justification unless it will with confidence have recourse to My Mercy—Jesus said—“and therefore the first Sunday after Easter must be the feast of Mercy and the priests must talk to souls about my great and boundless Mercy.”
In 1997, on pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Merciful Jesus at Krakow, before the tomb of Blessed Faustina Kowalska, John Paul II gave thanks for having been able “to contribute personally to the fulfilment of the will of Christ through the institution of the feast of the Divine Mercy,” which from the diocese of Krakow where he was Archbishop the devotion spread to many other dioceses in the world. It is difficult to estimate how many millions of the faithful celebrate every year in the universal Church, under the guidance of their Pastors the feast of the Divine Mercy the first Sunday after Easter. Really, this devotion to the Divine Mercy spread rapidly under a divine impulse, as John Paul II said on the day of the beatification of Sister Faustina 18 April 1993. “Marvellous indeed is the way in which the devotion to the Merciful Jesus has progressed in the contemporary world and has captured so many souls! This is undoubtedly a sign of the times—a sign of our XX century.”
In the general audience of 12 January 1994 the Holy Father said again “that the message of the Mercy of God is a strong reminder to have more lively trust ‘Jesus I trust in you’ It is difficult to find more eloquent words than those transmitted by Sister Faustina. For this reason the Church rereads the Message of the Mercy to bring more efficaciously to the generation of this end of the century and to those of the future the light of hope” (John Paul II at Krakow 7 June 1997).
For the hour of Mercy it is sufficient to recall what the Lord said to Sister Faustina: “Every time you hear the clock strike three, remember to immerse yourself in my Mercy, adoring it, praising it, invoking its omnipotence for the entire world and especially for poor sinners, because it was in that hour that it was opened wide for every soul.” For the spread of the devotion to the Divine Mercy, Jesus always confided “that the souls who spread this devotion in worship of my Divine Mercy I will protect them during their entire life as a loving mother (protects) her baby she still nurses and in the hour of death I will not be their Judge but their merciful Redeemer.” “In that hour I will obtain everything for you and for the others; in that hour a grace was given the entire world; mercy overcome justice.” (Agenzia Fides 2/4/2005)