Confession time: up until last week I didn’t know what the Divine Mercy was.
I’ve seen the red and blue photo of Jesus everywhere. I’ve seen and heard the words “Jesus, I Trust in You” too many times to count. And yet I never knew what the photo symbolized or what the story behind it was.
“What? How did you not know this? You phony Catholic! You don’t even know about the Divine Mercy?!” (This is the judgmental side of my brain screaming at me. Rude, right?)
But the rational, nice side of my brain is giving me an understanding look, and reminding me that, of course, that’s totally ridiculous. The Catholic faith is so extensive. It would be impossible to know ALL THE THINGS.
Don’t feel like you’re less of a Catholic because you don’t know about a certain tradition or story that everyone else knows like the back of their hand.
I know I can’t be the only one that doesn’t know about this picture. Let me help you. Keep scrolling for a quick and simple Divine Mercy explanation, so you can finally learn about this amazing image!
The Divine Mercy of Jesus picture has a ray of red (symbolizing blood), and a ray of blue (symbolizing water), coming out from his heart. These rays are meant to show his “Fountain of Mercy”.
Jesus often appeared to St. Faustina Kowalska, a young polish nun, and had conversations with her. She wrote down every apparition and conversation with him in a diary (which you can actually BUY and READ). One day he appeared to her and requested she have the Divine Mercy image painted, with the signature “Jesus, I Trust in You” on it. St. Faustina hired a painter to create the image, and was extremely meticulous in making sure he conveyed her exact vision.
In her diary she wrote down the words Jesus spoke about the Divine Mercy image. He said “I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over enemies already here on Earth, especially at the hour of death.”
Apparently, the image had been hidden for many years and was only recently discovered. It currently hangs in the Cathedral in Vilnius, Lithuania.
And get this. You can take a pilgramage to visit the place where St. Faustina lived, the room where the Divine Mercy was painted, and churches where the painting was held throughout history. How neat would that be?!
My children are little, so my explanation went like this. “A saint named St. Faustina saw Jesus, and he told her to create a picture of him with red and blue coming out of his heart. This picture is meant to remind us to have mercy and always be kind to others, just like Jesus is so kind to us!” Simple. To the point.
Divine Mercy Chaplet
There is a set of prayers called the Divine Mercy Chaplet that you can pray on a Rosary (except it is much shorter and faster than praying the Rosary). The optimal time to pray this is at the 3:00 P.M. which is considered the Hour of Mercy, because it’s the hour Jesus died on the cross.
Here’s a nifty little graphic I made to help guide you and your children along the prayers.
Okay, so there you go! A simple and quick explanation of the Divine Mercy and Divine Mercy Chaplet! Now when you’re scrolling through Divine Mercy posts on Facebook today, you’ll feel a little more in the loop. 🙂
I hope this helped you feel a little more “Catholic” and a little more confident in your ability to teach others, especially your children.
Have a gorgeous Divine Mercy Sunday!
