My relationship with prayer: it’s complicated. I struggle with finding time to pray, struggle with not even wanting to find time to pray, struggle with what to say when I finally DO pray, struggle with how to say it, struggle, struggle, struggle.
My friend, Amber, reminded me recently that an opportunity to pray falls into our mama laps daily: the Divine Mercy chaplet & the carline.
Let’s Learn Something!
Let me backup, so, there was this Polish gal named St. Faustina. Well, in 1935 she had a vision from God. She saw an angel reprimanding a city for the bad they’d done. So, she started pleading with the Lord for mercy (outloud). As she was talking to Him, the following prayer entered her mind: “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 those of the whole world; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us.”
This St. Faustina was outta-control-holy and in later revelations, she felt the Lord calling her to say that prayer and to share it with others. She went on to have other visions. In one of them Jesus told her, “Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death.” and “When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the Merciful Savior.”
That’s also where the image above comes from. St. Faustina had a vision of Jesus like this and he instructed her to share it with others (so, she had it painted). When she saw the final drawing she cried A LOT (relate, girl, relate) because she felt like the painting didn’t do Jesus justice. Jesus told her to chill because the greatness lies in his grace, not the actual image. So, even if this image is not particularly attractive to your eye, it’s a great reminder that God is mercy and love above all else.
Put it into Action
So, that’s a little background on the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Now, what does this have to do with us? Well, all of us mamas are in our minivans (you’ve been reduced to a minivan by now, right?) inching forward in a never ending car line at 3:00. Why don’t we use that time more wisely? Why don’t we put our phones down and spend 8 minutes in prayer? I can spare 8 minutes! I bet you can, too! I invite you to use the dreaded carline as an opportunity to grow in love of Christ!❤️ Look at us, making lemonade and stuff!
Tune the radio to your local Catholic station if you don’t know how to pray the chaplet or check out this handy dandy print out!
Think about how much it would please Him (and how fruitful it would be) if we all banded together in prayer! Strength in numbers, yo. Strength in numbers!!!
Diana Divulges 