By Barb Ernster –
The story of the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:1-20, is a fascinating read about the length and depth of God’s mercy and grace. Consumed with “murderous threats” against the disciples of Jesus after encouraging the stoning of Stephen, he longed to round them up – man, woman and child – and bring them to Jerusalem in chains. Here was one of the most hardened of souls, a zealous anti-Christian, the “foremost” sinner in the world, he later wrote of himself, “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man.” (c.f. 1 Tm 1:13-15).
There are many of these such people in our world today. Many of them we call the “elites” who control the media, the government, the educational and financial institutions. It is hard to pray for them and have hope for their conversion, when you see and hear the evil they do. Their sinister plots against people of faith, against the family, against life, against the Church are very much out in the open today.
But God’s mercy for them is greater than our capacity to fathom it. Jesus told St. Faustina, “Were a soul like a decaying corpse, so that from a human standpoint, there would be no hope of restoration and everything would already be lost, it is not so with God. The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full.” (Diary, 1448) And, “The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy.” (Diary, 723) He gave us the Divine Mercy Chaplet to say for sinners and demanded of us deeds of mercy.
The message of Fatima also asks us to have a great capacity of hope in God’s mercy, to pray and make sacrifices for souls who might otherwise perish in hell for eternity. The Angel of Peace told the Fatima children, “Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God” in reparation and for the conversion of sinners. He taught them several profound prayers of adoration and reparation to say for this intention.
When you are especially concerned about the conversion of a loved one or feel called to pray for people in our world who seem incapable of ever converting, it is very comforting to pray the Fatima Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation, which recites the prayers that the Angel taught. It is particularly comforting to pray this before the Blessed Sacrament. Your hope will increase in God’s immeasurable capacity to show mercy and answer your prayer.
Here’s how to say The Fatima Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation
(Pray on your rosary beads):
The Creed
(1) Our Father
(3) Hail Mary’s
(1) Glory Be
(On the large bead of each decade):
The Angel Prayer
O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore you profoundly. I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. And throught the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.
(On each of the ten beads for each decade):
The Pardon Prayer
My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You; I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You.
(After each decade):
Glory Be to the Father…
The Eucharistic Prayer
O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament!
(At the end of the chaplet):
Hail, Holy Queen
Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen
For a PDF copy of the Fatima Chaplet, click here:
