The Divine Mercy in time of pandemic.

Especially if Mass is cancelled.

The prayers of the Divine Mercy chaplet as a means to unite to daily Mass when one can't attend in person or assist via television.

I've come to understand the chaplet as a liturgical prayer - that is, a prayer based upon the source and summit of the Liturgy, the Eucharist. I experience it as a prayer that is able to unite one deeply to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I believe the prayers of the Chaplet express what the priest does at Mass:

At Mass, the priest offers the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the Father in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. Holy Mass is the memorial of His sorrowful passion, in season and out of season as it were - that is in Lent and Eastertide, Advent and Christmastide, after Pentecost and Ordinary time - anytime.


It seems to me that the Chaplet is a form of prayer deeply uniting the soul to the liturgy - a sort of spiritual, active participation in the prayer of the Church, outside the celebration of the Mass or the Liturgy of the Hours. The prayers of the chaplet is a means that unites us to every Mass offered throughout the world, to the silent, loving action of Our Lord in the Eucharist - in other words, to the unceasing prayer of Christ before the Eternal Father. I'm convinced it can unite us so deeply to Christ that it can become a form of 'unceasing' spiritual communion - a means to habitual recollection.