Separate and distinct images and meditations for each single prayer in The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy. Background music masterworks in separate settings of the ancient hymn Ave Verum Corpus, “Hail True Body” (Pope Innocent VI).
How to Use the Prayers, Music and Images on this page
| Introduction | Fourth Decade |
| First Decade | Fifth Decade |
| Second Decade | Conclusion |
| Third Decade |
About the Introductory Prayer Section, Background Music
Click the ▶ button Ave Verum Corpus, Josquin des Prez
Thou didst expire, Jesus,
but the source of life
gushed forth for souls,
and the ocean of mercy
opened up for the whole world.
unfathomable Divine Mercy,
envelop the whole world
and empty Thyself out upon us.
which gushed forth
from the Heart of Jesus
as a fountain of Mercy for us,
I trust in Thee!
About background music for the First Decade of prayers of The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
Click the ▶ button Ave Verum Corpus, William Byrd
His soul becoming saddened, unto death.
So great was the desire of Jesus to suffer for us,
that in the night preceding His death
He not only went of His own will into the garden,
where He knew that the Jews would come and take Him,
but, knowing that Judas the traitor
was already near at hand with the company of soldiers,
He said to his disciples,
Arise, let us go;
behold he that will betray Me is at hand.
He would even go Himself to meet them,
as if they came to conduct Him,
not to the punishment of death,
but to the crown of a great kingdom.
He fell flat on the ground; and He prayed,
that if it might be, the hour might pass from Him.
And He said: Abba, Father,
all things are possible to Thee:
remove this chalice from Me;
but not what I will, but what Thou will.
It was less the thought of His sufferings in His bitter Passion,
than of the sins of men that afflicted Him,
which caused Him this great dread of death.
trickling down upon the ground.
“God put Jesus forward as a propitiation
for forgiveness of sins by His blood,
by the sacrifice of Himself.”
(— Romans 3; Hebrews 9)
Jesus was tormented in all
the members and senses of His body,
and was still more bitterly afflicted
in all the powers of His soul;
so that the internal pains which He endured
infinitely surpassed His external sufferings.
He foresaw all the sufferings that He would undergo.
(In the Visitation, St. John the Baptist kneels within the womb of his mother,
St. Elizabeth, adoring the Lord Jesus enthroned within the womb of His mother,
the Blessed Virgin Mary.)
“From the first moment I was in my Mother’s womb,
I suffered in my Heart all that I afterwards endured on the Cross.”
“My sorrow is continually before Me.” —Psalm 37:18
that we might be made the justice of God in Him. …
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. …
And among the wicked he was reputed.
He came to die for love of us, that we might come to love Him.
How is it possible for us to meditate on His Passion
without being wounded, as by so many darts of love,
by those sufferings and agonies which
so greatly afflicted His body and Soul,
without needing to love Him who loved us so much?
an angel from heaven, strengthening Him.
I die of love! … Come near and sustain Me in My mystic agony …
Will you this evening be angels of consolation to me for one hour?
– Fr. Mateo, January Holy Hour
His greatest sorrow was that He saw how
His Passion and death, offered with supreme love,
would be of no avail to many souls.
His infinitely meritorious Sacrifice,
the power to save men from all their sins,
would be received with indifference and ingratitude.
“Souls do not want to accept My mercy.”
and found them asleep;
and He said to Peter: What?
Could you not watch one hour with me?
do you betray the Son of man with a kiss?
Thy almighty Word
leapt down from heaven
from Thy royal throne,
as a Fierce Conqueror
into the midst of the land of destruction.
– Wisdom 18:15
Whom are you seeking?
They answered Him: Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus said to them:
I AM
(Ἐγώ εἰμι – Ego Eimi – I, I AM).
As soon therefore as He had said to them:
I Am,
they went backward,
and fell to the ground.
— John 18:5-6
Moses said to God: Lo, I shall go to
the children of Israel, and say to them:
The God of your fathers hath sent me to you.
If they should say to me: What is His name?
what shall I say to them?
God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. (YHWH)
He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel:
HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you.
And God said again to Moses:
Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel:
The Lord God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
hath sent me to you:
This is My Name for ever,
and this is My memorial unto all generations.
– Exodus 3: 13-15
About background music for the Second Decade of prayers of The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
Click the ▶ button Ave Verum Corpus, Marc-Antoine Charpentier
and the servants of the Jews,
took Jesus, and bound Him,
and they led Him away.
Greater love than this no man has,
that He lay down His life for His friends.
—John 15: 13
But He laid down His life for us,
when we were not His friends,
but enemies and rebels against Him.
And immediately, as he was yet speaking,
the cock crowed.
And the Lord turning looked on Peter.
Jesus’ sufferings were greatly increased by
Peter’s denial by that he even knew Him,
after he had proclaimed his willingness to die with Him.
Jesus saith to Simon Peter:
Simon son of John, lovest thou Me more than these?
He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love Thee.
He saith to him: Feed My lambs.
He saith to him again:
Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?
He saith to Him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love Thee.
He saith to him: Feed My lambs.
He said to him the third time:
Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?
Peter was grieved, because He had said to him
the third time: Lovest thou Me?
And he said to Him: Lord, thou knowest all things:
thou knowest that I love Thee.
He said to him: Feed My sheep.
and all the priests and the scribes
and the ancients assembled together.
The ignominies and cruelties
which our Lord suffered on that night
were so manifold that they shall not all be known
till the day of judgment.
the Son of the blessed God?
And Jesus said to him: I am.
And you shall see the Son of man
sitting on the right hand of the power of God,
and coming with the clouds of heaven.
For this was I born,
and for this came I into the world;
that I should give testimony to the truth.
Every one that is of the truth,
hears My voice.
to be delivered from death,
and because wicked Herod
was not worthy of His answers,
He was silent, and answered him not.
He was offered because it was His own will,
and He opened not His mouth:
He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and shall be dumb as a lamb before His shearer,
and He shall not open His mouth.
in those things wherein you accuse Him,
nor Herod neither.
Nothing worthy of death is done to Him.
I will chastise Him therefore,
and release Him.
He was beaten,
the chastisement inflicted on slaves only,
to take on Himself the punishment due to us,
of the slaves of sin.
they made long their furrows.
– Psalm 129:3
and My cheeks to them that plucked them:
I have not turned away My face
from them that rebuked me,
and spit upon Me.
– Isaiah 50:6
He was bruised for our iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement
that made us whole,
and with His stripes we are healed.
– Isaiah 53:5
About background music for the Third Decade of prayers of The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
Click the ▶ button Ave Verum Corpus, Father Peter Philips
taking Jesus into the hall,
gathered together unto Him
the whole band.
and put a scarlet cloak about Him;
and platting a crown of thorns,
they put it upon His head,
and a reed in His hand.
and they spit on Him.
And bowing the knee before Him,
they mocked Him, saying:
Hail, King of the Jews;
and they gave Him blows.
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
He was despised,
and we esteemed Him not.
– Isaiah 53:3
and carried our sorrows:
and we have thought Him as it were
a leper, and as one struck by God
and afflicted.
– Isaiah 53:4
painful and long-lasting of all,
compressed His eyes together.
Everywhere the thorns
pierced into His head,
the most sensitive part,
every time they were touched,
the anguish was renewed afresh.
Our sins, our evil thoughts,
were the wicked thorns
which afflicted His sacred head.
and look on the face of Thy Christ.
— Psalm 83:10
bearing the crown of thorns
and the purple garment.
And he saith to them:
Behold the Man.
But they cried out:
Away with Him; away with Him;
crucify Him!
Meditate on the condemnation of Jesus
and on the ignominy that He endured
when He was treated as a madman,
a mystery of love and suffering
which is perpetuated in the Sacrament of the Altar.
The sublime crime of loving man with divine passion,
to rescue us from Satan’s clutches,
to love us into eternal life.
to them to be crucified.
And they took Jesus,
and led Him forth.
About background music for the Fourth Decade of prayers of The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
Click the ▶ button Ave Verum Corpus, Albinoni–Giazotto
with the Cross on His shoulders, thought of us,
and offered for us, to His Father,
the death He was about to undergo.
His flesh was torn by the scourges,
His Head crowned with thorns,
and He had lost a great quantity of blood.
He was so weakened that
He could scarcely walk;
and yet He had to carry
this great load upon His shoulders.
The soldiers struck Him rudely,
and thus He fell several times in His journey.
In the midst of condemned criminals
there moves forward to death the King of heaven,
the only-begotten Son of God,
laden with His cross,
to be executed, together with the malefactors,
upon a gibbet of infamy.
The face of Jesus, once the most beautiful of the sons of men, became so disfigured by blows, spittle, blood, and bruises, that He no longer appeared as a man. “As many were astonished at Thee, so marred was His appearance beyond that of men, and His form beyond the sons of men.” (Isaiah 52:14)
They have numbered all My bones.
I lay down My life; no one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
About background music for the Fifth Decade of prayers of The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
Click the ▶ button Ave Verum Corpus, Gregorian
O Son, Divine Lord, made man, draw me entirely to Thyself, detach me from earth, crucify me with Thyself that I may become, in union with Thee, a sacrifice of praise for the glory of Thy Father.
And the dragon was angry against the woman: and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. – Revelation 12:17
Jesus was abandoned in His passion in order that we might not remain abandoned in the sins which we have committed.
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For the sake of His sorrowful passion,
have mercy on us, and on the whole world.
About background music for the Ending Prayers of The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy
Click the ▶ button Ave Verum Corpus, Edward Elgar
May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in heaven, on earth, and under the earth by all the creatures of God and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
How the Several Main Traditional Catholic Groups, the SSPX, the FSSP and ICKSP, regard the Orthodoxy of The Chaplet of the Divine Mercy