The Painting of Divine Mercy by Adolf Hyla. The phrase at the bottom is Polish for "Jesus I trust in you." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
DISCLAIMER: This post is in NO way meant to endorse the New Age belief of “remote viewing.” I merely use it as an example of what prayer can do in our lives if we let it. Read on…
One of the many supposedly psychic phenomena quite in vogue today is the concept of “remote viewing.” The idea is, with certain mind control techniques carefully (and expensively, I might add) taught, one could learn to potentially see into the past, the future, and to view other parts of the world in present tense besides. For example you might live in Idaho and see your mother in Oklahoma doing her laundry, cooking dinner—or robbing the local bank, depending on your mother’s particular moral character obviously!
If remote viewing actually worked with any kind of consistency, it would likely be taught in all of our schools from kindergarten to post-grad, certainly to government intelligence agents on every level, and issues or questions such as “where is that darn gold hidden” or “when is the next terrorist attack” could actually become things of the past. The TSA screenings we argue so much about too would be eliminated, because the machines would no longer be needed to discover illegal substances or items being secretly whisked into airplanes. One might also shudder a bit when realizing how little good it would do to get dressed, even modestly, in the morning, since nothing would be virtually “hidden” to those adept at these techniques. For some of us that prospect alone is nearly as frightening as a terrorist or two. Tracking back to the original point, however…
Aside from being unrestricted geographically, it has become yet another form of divination (foretelling the future) or ESP (Extra Sensory Perception), and those who claim to have this working in their lives often attempt to predict events as well as describe past ones which they have no normal access to. In other words it is seemingly omnipresent and works outside of the element of time. Starting to sound familiar?
Saint Faustina Polski: Św. Faustyna Kowalska (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Well I am here to tell you that it works—but in ways that you may never have thought of. A wonderful gift was given to the Church in this last century by a now-canonized Saint—Sister Faustina Kowalska of Poland. Besides actually having such experiences that actually did take her out of the limited realms of time and space, at times seeing Jesus on the Cross and other times in His glorified state, just for starters, and living to tell about it and write down her experiences with the help of a godly priest who was her spiritual director, she was given from Jesus a set of prayers now called the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.
Divine Mercy Shrine (Photo credit: justDONQUE.images)
What I love about this prayer is that it is a wonderful gateway to the Holy Rosary, a long-held Tradition in the Church for over 1000 years and counting. It is prayed in fact on ordinary rosary beads, and, other than one initial “Hail Mary” at the beginning, is totally and directly centered on the Passion of Christ. Because of its simplicity, it can easily be learned by anyone, and because of its potential depth, it can keep a person occupied for many hours if so desired. The Marians of the Immaculate Conception (MIC), a Catholic religious order who are the keepers of this Apostolate and who established the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy here in the United States, have given clear instructions on how to pray this prayer on their website, so rather than repeating those here I will refer you to a link which gives the “nuts and bolts (or “crucifix, beads and chains” if you prefer!) of the method used to pray this Eucharist—inspired set of prayers. The link is directly below:
http://thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/praythechaplet.php
The chaplet is often recited on beads as a rosary-based prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
AND here are some videos of this beautiful prayer as seen on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network):
SPECIAL NOTE: Although the first video below is labeled as “part 3″ please watch it before viewing parts 1 and 2 as it is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL explanation of the DIVINE MERCY (starting at around 1:00 and onward). Then observe the actual CHAPLET OF THE DIVINE MERCY–and pray along if you like, with parts 1 and 2.
Finally come back to the very beginning of ”part 3″ for the last-minute of the actual Chaplet prayer, directly before the explanation just mentioned. For some reason the YouTube provider did these slightly out-of-order but it is all still there. Make sense? Hey I never said “remote viewing” was perfect…
AND for another version of this lovely prayer, also via EWTN, watch below:
AND FINALLY IN THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF THE CHURCH (LATIN)–Breathtaking I must add!
But I would take this discussion one or perhaps two steps further. Because of its direct centeredness on the Passion and Cross, it can be in good conscience prayed by any Christian, Catholic or Protestant, and is thus a prayer of amazing unity with the entire Christian world each time it is uttered with sincerity. If you have the slightest discomfort in praying the one Hail Mary, you might easily substitute it with a simple prayer to the Trinity such as the “Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” instead. The prayer will go to the same place, and I promise you that the Blessed Mother will not be offended.
As to how this fits with “remote viewing,” there is but one earthly event that took place—ever—beyond the realms of time and space and yet within them at the very same time. That of course was the sacrifice of Jesus our Lord on the ripped and rugged cross of Calvary. In the Divine Mercy chaplet, most of the prayer time spent is invoking that very sacrifice for the good of your loved ones and the souls of the entire world. The Chaplet can be prayed for the salvation of souls in general, for any given individual who comes to mind on each bead, for the dying, or just as a worshipful act of adoration to God for His Holy Sacrifice for you and me. And if you are one of those concerned with “vain repetitions” fear not. Every time you go to Mass or other worship services you in reality repeat many prayers, whether during worship choruses, times of individual prayer where you simply say again the name “Jesus” softly or loudly, and even when you utter an “Amen.” All or most of these are repeated numerous times at most Christian churches every Sunday and most Wednesday nights. It is not the repetition that is vain—it becomes vanity only when done with half-heartedness or while holding sin within your heart. And I guarantee that it is at least difficult to meditate on the Lord and His Passion, Death, and Resurrection while hanging on to wrongdoing. So the simple cadence of repetition on each bead, “For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world,” brings you to Calvary and Calvary to you. No time, space, or other barriers in sight. Literal remote viewing of His gift of salvation and invoking the Mercy from His Throne in Glory for those you love and care for. Powerful words and a potent prayer which connects us with eternity.
You might not have specific requests to offer God at the moment when you are praying the Chaplet and that too is okay. The very act of meditating on what Jesus did for each of humankind has the strong tendency to move us into an unexpected level of praise and thanksgiving—and bring equally unexpected answers to hitherto unplanned entreaties in the process. One MIC priest, Father Donald Calloway, who has done both extensive writing and produced CDs/DVDs on the topic of this devotion, has suggested that we take each “decade” (each set of 10 beads) and use it to imagine ourselves literally inside one of Christ’s five wounds. Obviously to do this you may need to slow it down a bit. Think of yourself literally in His wounded but healed hand, kissing and anointing His beautiful feet like the woman of old, or similar to St Thomas placing your fingers into the huge but healed wound on His holy side. Like Thomas you may find yourself saying, “My Lord and My God.” And again, note that you can, outside of time and space, vicariously experience some aspect of His earthly life as well as his Resurrection and even possibly peer towards His Glorified Body in heaven with Isaiah or maybe St John while he experienced his Revelation of that which “was, is, and is to be.”
http://www.fathercalloway.com/
We hear much today about the concept of Eucharistic Adoration, an ancient and time-tested form of worship which to be sure has had a Renaissance in the last 20 years or so. The notion is both simple and profound in that you sit, or kneel, in front of a consecrated (blessed by a Catholic or Orthodox priest) Host of the Holy Eucharist and adore the Jesus who shows Himself to you through it. But you may not be able to do this for one reason or another, perhaps due to time constraints, or possibly you are not sure of the validity of this practice. No worries—the Chaplet allows you to do so in a spiritual way without the deadly fear some non-Catholic Christians may have of “bread worship.” The purpose of both is identical—to adore, implore, and store in one’s heart the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ the Lord within us. The Chaplet allows you to do so remotely, though, and connects you with every other person in the entire world at any given moment who is also worshipping Jesus in this manner.
“Remote viewing” is alive and well—and exists within the Catholic Church (and beyond) and a simple set of rosary beads as divine binoculars. Why not try using them and see how far into heaven you can glimpse? I promise Jesus will NOT be “remote.” You will see Him clearly.
Related articles
- Chaplet of Divine Mercy – Diary (catholicglasses.com)
- 40 Reasons Why It’s Cool to be Catholic #24 The Rosary and Other “Catholic” Prayers (deaconcast.com)
- www.remoteviewing.com
- Second Sunday of Easter / Divine Mercy Sunday (prepareformass.wordpress.com)
