Chaplet Meditations for the Sick

On the 4^th and 5^th, I wrote reflections for praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for self examination and for the dying. Today I have written them for the sick.

When I consider the lacerations made by the crown of thorns, I recognize how illness can wear us down. Not only physically but mentally. We can easily become despondent, even wishing for a hastened death.  I pray for the gift of hope.

I consider his torn right hand, used to lay his hands on the sick and heal them. I pray for the gift of his blessing and restoration.

I venerate the wound in his pierced left hand, reflecting on the need to set things right, not because death may be imminent – it’s always imminent - but because it’s the new commandment, to love God and our neighbour. I pray for the grace to forgive.

While meditating on the holes in his feet, I think of those who have walked away from Jesus. I pray for the grace of conversion and reconciliation.

And finally, I look to where the spear penetrated his side, where Blood and Water poured out from his Sacred Heart. May the sick be covered, filled, and made clean by that outpouring of love and mercy.