Marrying the Rosary to the Divine Mercy Chaplet

by Shane Kapler

Discover the rewards of uniting two of the Catholic Church’s most beloved devotions. In this new book, Shane Kapler provides 20 reflections – paired with 40 classic works of art – demonstrating the riches that flow from interspersing our praying of the decades of the Rosary with the Divine Mercy Chaplet. By marrying the two together in this way, the mysteries of the Rosary reveal the Cross’s relationship to every aspect of our Lord’s life, and the Chaplet becomes a means for joining Mary at the foot of her Son’s Cross and invoking God’s mercy upon ourselves and our world.

For more on Shane Kapler, please visit his website at http://www.explainingchristianity.com/index.html

Read the Foreword by Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, STL

Paperback $14.95 | Hardback Gift Edition $21.95 | Kindle $4.99

(includes a downloadable audio mp3 of Shane Kapler praying the four mysteries with the divine mercy chaplet).

INTERVIEW

Shelf-Talker: Selling the book and need a shelf-talker? Print this one!


 

Download the audio companion to the book!

  1. The Introduction
  2. The Joyful Mysteries
  3. The Luminous Mysteries
  4. The Sorrowful Mysteries
  5. The Glorious Mysteries
  6. The Conclusion
    To save these files on your computer, simply right click and “save target as.” To save them on your phone, email them to yourself. To download a sample of the book itself, click here.

Article on Catholic Exchange entitled “‘Marrying’ the Rosary to the Divine Mercy Chaplet” and Interview: http://catholicexchange.com/marrying-rosary-divine-mercy-chaplet


Check out this Zenit.org article by Kathleen Naab entitled, “The Rosary is Synthesis of History of God’s Mercy, Says Pope.” 

TESTIMONIALS

“What better union could there be?  What incredible fruit will come from this form of devotion! I’m quite certain that St. Faustina Kowalska and St. John Paul II would both be very pleased to witness the marriage presented in this book. ” Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC, author of Champions of the Rosary

“Shane Kapler’s book is an inspired work that I highly recommend! In Marrying the Rosary to the Divine MercyChaplet we discover a gift of prayer that is profound and practical. Daily, for twenty-five years, I’ve prayed the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, one following the other, and received amazing grace. Shane now presents an exquisite way of marrying two proven, powerful means of contemplation and intercession. I greatly appreciate the scriptural reflections for lectio divina. May the Holy Spirit who inspired this work, spread it far and wide, igniting a fire in the soul of every chosen reader.” Kathleen Beckman, L.H.S., Author: God’s Healing Mercy: Finding Your Path to Peace, Forgiveness and Joy and Praying for Priests: A Mission for the New Evangelization and President, “Foundation of Prayer for Priests”


“With beautiful language, penetrating theological insights, and palpable reverence, Shane Kapler’s Marrying the Rosary to the Divine Mercy Chaplet brings Mary to the foot of the cross with us as we gaze upon her son, meditate upon his life, death, and resurrection, and, together with his Blessed Mother, pray for Christ’s divine mercies. This booklet provides a clear, step-by-step guide to combining these prayers in a manner so deep that I have begun the practice myself and can hardly recommend it highly enough. Marrying the Rosary to the Divine Mercy Chaplet is a mini-masterpiece, not just to be read and re-read, but to be prayed and re-prayed.”  Kevin Vost, Psy.D., author of Memorize the Mass!


“Throughout this unique devotional, which combines the prayers of the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet, Shane Kapler encourages the reader to gaze upon Jesus through the eyes and heart of Mother Mary, while also petitioning God the Father for His mercy and grace. Kapler skillfully prompts the reader to prayerful contemplation—in essence, to allow Jesus to unfold the Scriptures and the Blessed Mother to meditate with you as she did on her journey to visit Elizabeth when her Son Jesus resided in her womb. This book will surely help one to grow in holiness. Highly recommended!”  – Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, EWTN TV Host, speaker, and award-winning author of more than twenty books, including her memoir The Kiss of Jesus, and Feeding Your Family’s Soul: Dinner Table Spirituality. Learn more: www.donnacooperoboyle.com

Learning the Power of the Rosary - Long Pham, alumnus of Holy Apostles in Cromwell, CT
Family is the first place where a child learns how to pray. When I was little, my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, uncles, and aunts always made sure that I prayed after I woke up, before and after meals, before and after studying, before bedtime, and even before taking a nap. As a child, I did not understand deeply why I should pray. It took time for me to recognize the power of prayer.
The event that taught me the power of prayer occurred when I was staying at my grandparents’ house during the summer time. I was an only child, so I was always joyful when my cousins would come to play with me at our grandparents’ house. Each day, they would leave around five and after that I would feel lonely again. I would pull out all my toys and play with them, but I still felt something was missing. It was a feeling of missing someone to share with.
During those times, I often noticed my great grandmother praying with her rosary. I asked myself how she could stay at one place to pray constantly. I came to sit next to her and imitate her out of my own curiosity about how she could sit at one place for a long time with the rosary in her hands. She kissed my head and told me: “I will teach you how to pray the Rosary, and you will not get bored again.”
I wondered what the feeling was that I experienced during my prayer with my great grandmother. The feeling was a dynamic combination of happiness, joy and peace. It felt like I had a butterfly in my stomach. I felt like I just received my desired toy without expecting it. Was the feeling coming from the gentle kiss of my great grandmother on my head or from the beautiful rosary beads which she gave me? I did not know. I knew one thing that: after learning how to pray the Rosary, I enjoyed praying with my grandmother’s rosary more than playing with my cousins. When I played with my cousins, I felt the absence of something I had when I would pray.
When school-time came, my mother brought me back home. I forgot to bring with me the rosary beads which my grandmother had given to me. I felt so sad because I thought I could not pray without those rosary beads. My mother taught me how to use my fingers to pray the Rosary. Even though I did not have the rosary beads, I still had the same feeling as when I prayed with my great grandmother. It did not come from the kiss of my great grandmother or from the beautiful rosary beads which I had received, but the prayer itself made me feel that dynamic combination of happiness, joy, and peace.
Prayers are not something that come only from our lips or the rosary in our hands, but rather, prayer necessarily comes from the heart. If prayer is just something external, we will not be able to reach the feeling of that dynamic combination within our heart. We should not limit our prayer to specific times but we can make our daily prayer the way my family taught me. When we pray constantly each day before sleeping and after waking up, before and after each meal, and even before and after work, we will not be able to be conscious of loneliness or the lack of companionship because prayers, especially the Rosary, will remind us that we are not truly alone.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shane Kapler has been active in the evangelism and catechesis of youth and adults in the Archdiocese of St. Louis for thirty years. A long-time member of the Archdiocese’s Retreat, Evangelization, and Prayer (REAP) Team, Shane has coordinated RCIA and parish adult faith formation as well as serving on the core teams of a youth prayer group and LifeTeen program. He is a frequent guest of Catholic radio and contributes articles to a number of websites. He holds an M.A. in speech-language pathology and is engaged in clinical practice.

In addition to Marrying the Rosary to the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Shane Kapler has authored the following:

Find out more at http://www.explainingchristianity.com/

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