On May 5, 2000, five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, the Vatican decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as Divine Mercy Sunday. In his second encyclical, “Rich in Mercy,” St. John Paul II offered an extended meditation on God’s mercy, which he calls “the greatest of the attributes and perfections of God.” He returned to this theme throughout his pontificate. John Paul II died in April 2005 on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, was beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, 2011, by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, and was canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014, by Pope Francis.
The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was given to St. Faustina with this promise: “Encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given you” (Diary, 1541). “Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. … Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I desire that the whole world know My infinite mercy” (Diary, 687). The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed using a rosary:
Step 1: Begin with the Sign of the Cross, then say one Our Father, one Hail Mary and the Apostles Creed. An optional opening prayer is: “You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.” Then repeat three times: “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!”
Step 2: Then on the beads where with the rosary you would pray an Our Father, say the following: “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.”
Step 3: On each of the 10 Hail Mary beads, say the following: “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all five decades.
Step 4: Conclude by saying the following three times: “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” An optional closing prayer is: “Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.”