The Divine Mercy novena is a nine-day devotion associated with St. Faustina Kowalska. Its customary preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday runs from Good Friday to the following Saturday. The Marian Fathers publish the full novena and its daily intentions.
The devotion is addressed to Jesus Himself. It invites prayer for other people as well as your own needs: people struggling with sin, those serving the Church, those distant from faith, and those who have died.
This page is an Ordo companion to the devotion. The daily reflections and prayers below are original Ordo Digitalis writing, not quotations from the Diary or the complete traditional novena. For the complete prayers, open the Marian Fathers’ official Divine Mercy novena. You can use our reflections before or after praying from that source.
How to pray this novena
Choose nine consecutive days and set aside a regular time for prayer. Open the Marian Fathers’ complete novena and select the current day. Pray its prayers and the Chaplet for that day’s intention; our reflection and original prayer can help you consider how the devotion touches your own life.
The Chaplet uses an ordinary five-decade rosary. Its sequence begins with the Sign of the Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary and Apostles’ Creed. Each decade has a prayer on the large bead and a repeated response on its ten small beads; a threefold conclusion follows the fifth decade. Use the Marian Fathers’ complete Chaplet instructions and prayers for the words to pray. Their additional opening and closing prayers are optional.
If you miss a day, continue praying. Treat the novena as a way to make time for God and to pray for others, rather than as a guarantee that a request will be granted.
The nine days
Each day’s reflection and prayer is original writing by Ordo Digitalis.
Day 1 — Humanity and people struggling with sin
The novena begins at Good Friday’s foot of the cross with the widest possible net: everyone. Including the person you are most tempted to leave off the list, and including you. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 1.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Most merciful Jesus, I bring before You today the whole human race, and every sinner — the ones I love, the ones I resent, and myself among them. Immerse us all in the ocean of Your mercy. Amen.
Day 2 — Priests and consecrated people
Some priests and religious have baptized you, absolved you, or buried your dead. Some have failed gravely. Both facts belong in this prayer: the channels of mercy need mercy themselves. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 2.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You every priest and every consecrated soul — the holy, the tired, the tempted, and the fallen. Strengthen them, purify them, and make Your mercy flow through them to the whole world. Amen.
Day 3 — People living their faith
Faithfulness is not the finish line of mercy but one of its works; even the devout live entirely on it. Pray today for the quietly faithful people who have held your own faith up. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 3.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You the faithful — the grandmothers with worn rosaries, the steady givers, the ones who never missed a Sunday. Keep them in Your Heart, and let them never mistake their faithfulness for anything but Your gift. Amen.
Day 4 — People distant from Christian faith
A person’s distance from faith is not a reason to withdraw your care. Listen before you argue, and ask God to make you a patient witness. Pray today for the atheist you love and the people who have never heard Christ’s name spoken with love. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 4.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You everyone who does not believe in God and everyone who does not yet know You. Draw them into the light of Your mercy, and let my own life never be the reason someone doubted You. Amen.
Day 5 — Unity among Christians
This is a day to pray without a trace of superiority. Division among Christians is a shared tear in the seamless garment; ask God for reconciliation, and consider where your own conduct can serve it. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 5.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You all Christians separated from the unity of Your Church. Heal what history and sin have torn, gather Your flock into one, and begin the mending in me. Amen.
Day 6 — Children and the humble
Pray for the children in your life by name, and ask for a place among the little ones. Humility begins when we stop treating our importance as something that other people must protect. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 6.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You the meek, the humble, and the little children. Guard their trust, let nothing in me ever scandalize them, and give me the small, unguarded heart You love. Amen.
Day 7 — Witnesses to God’s mercy
Pray for the people who help others discover God’s mercy through patient service. Ask for the courage to forgive someone today, and for the humility to receive forgiveness yourself. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 7.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You all the souls who glorify Your mercy — every hand on a chaplet today, every heart that has learned to say “Jesus, I trust in You.” Keep us faithful to that trust until we see Your mercy face to face. Amen.
Day 8 — The dead undergoing purification
The Church teaches that the dead undergoing purification can be helped by our prayer (CCC 1032). Name your own dead today, and remember people whose names you do not know; no prayer for them is wasted. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 8.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You the souls in purgatory — my own beloved dead, and the forgotten ones no one prays for. Let the Blood and Water that gushed from Your Heart bring them quickly home. Amen.
Day 9 — Renewal when faith grows cold
Routine can make prayer feel automatic. Bring your distractions and fatigue to God rather than pretending they are not there; ask for a renewed desire to love Him and serve your neighbor. Read the Marian Fathers’ complete prayers for day 9.
Daily prayer · Ordo Digitalis
Merciful Jesus, I bring You every lukewarm soul — those who once loved You and drifted, those numbed by routine, and every cooling ember in my own heart. Set us on fire with the love that could not stay in the tomb. Amen.
Common Questions
When does the Divine Mercy novena start?
Traditionally on Good Friday, ending on the Saturday before Divine Mercy Sunday — nine days that carry you from the cross to the feast. In 2027 that means Good Friday, March 26, through Saturday, April 3, with Divine Mercy Sunday on April 4.
Can I pray it at another time of year, or if I started late?
Yes. The Good Friday start is the traditional novena Jesus described to St. Faustina in preparation for the feast, but the nine days of intentions and chaplets may be prayed during any nine consecutive days, for any intention. If you started late in Holy Week, simply continue your nine days — do not abandon it.
What is the Chaplet of Divine Mercy?
A devotion associated with St. Faustina, prayed using the five decades of an ordinary rosary. It asks for God’s mercy through Christ’s saving Passion. During the novena, pray a Chaplet for the current day’s intention. Follow the Marian Fathers’ complete instructions and prayer text; this Ordo guide does not reproduce the formulas.
What is Divine Mercy Sunday?
The Second Sunday of Easter, established as the Feast of Divine Mercy for the whole Church by St. John Paul II in 2000, the day he canonized St. Faustina. In her Diary, Jesus attached extraordinary graces to receiving Him worthily on this feast, and the Church grants a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, for keeping the day devoutly.
Is the novena required to receive the graces of Divine Mercy Sunday?
No. The graces of the feast are tied to the feast itself — the Diary speaks of Confession and worthy reception of Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday with trust in God’s mercy, and the Church’s indulgence carries the usual conditions. The novena is a preparation Jesus asked for and the Church warmly encourages, not a prerequisite. Skipping it forfeits nothing except nine days spent close to His mercy.
Is this novena worship or intercession?
Worship. It is addressed to Jesus Himself, the Divine Mercy incarnate — the adoration owed to God alone — while its content is intercession of a different kind: you interceding, with Jesus, for every category of soul He named. St. Faustina is honored as the messenger of the devotion, but the novena’s prayers are made directly to the Lord.
Sources & Church Teaching
- Marian Fathers: complete Divine Mercy novena and daily prayers — primary devotional resource; the thematic headings here are Ordo reading aids, not Diary quotations.
- Marian Fathers: how to recite the Chaplet — complete prayer text and sequence, including optional additional opening and closing prayers.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1032 (prayer for the dead), 1846–1848 (God’s mercy and sin)
- St. John Paul II, homily for the canonization of St. Faustina and institution of Divine Mercy Sunday (April 30, 2000); Apostolic Penitentiary decree on the Divine Mercy Sunday indulgence (2002)