Hello Easter!  Last month we were praying for Easter joy and I hope you’re practicing by remembering and celebrating the Resurrection every day!  One great way is to keep working through your Resurrection Appearances of Jesus booklet.  Isn’t it wonderful that He made His resurrection so very clear to the Apostles (and all of us)?  Another is to continue to pepper your conversation with lots of Alleluia’s and Christ is Risen (“Truly, He is risen!”).

This is also the month to remember God’s divine mercy in a special way and we suggest you pray a chaplet of Divine Mercy with your family.  You can use a rosary to count, but except for a few opening prayers it’s different – and shorter.

The condensed version goes in this order:

• Sign of the Cross
• Opening Prayer: “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.”
• “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!”  (3 times)
• Our Father
• Hail Mary
• Apostles’ Creed
• *(On the Our Father bead of your rosary pray) “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.”
• *(On the 10 beads of each decade) “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
• Repeat * 4 more times.
• Closing prayer: “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.  Amen.”

And if you want a really, really condensed version, just starting saying, “Jesus, I trust in You!”  over and over throughout your day and teach your children to do the same.