I listened to the Divine Mercy chaplet on EWTN for the first time probably a little over five years ago. I didn't know much of anything about it, I just knew that I liked what I was hearing. I went to the Catholic bookstore and asked if there was a 'Divine Mercy' chaplet in the collections of other chaplets - dumb me, didn't know that it was said on ordinary rosary beads, had never heard of St.Faustina, knew nothing except that I had heard this prayer on EWTN and that is hit a chord in my heart.
The Catholic bookstore had a packaged trifold and a one decade rosary that it sold as a "Divine Mercy Chaplet". I think that it was around Easter of 2002 that I bought it. I took it with me to Atlanta for the ACNM conference and ended up losing it (along with a favorite suit coat) at the hotel or possibly in a taxicab. I was so very bummed. But somewhere along the way, I realized that I really didn't need that crutch to pray the chaplet. And I remember that eventually I saw in the missalette that the Sunday after Easter was to be celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. I also remember my disappointment that little or nothing was said about this from the pulpit or in the bulletin.
I love the rosary, but I have also developed a love for saying the prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I can say them, I can chant them, I can sing them. It helps me a lot to meditate on the great gift that God gave us in His Mercy.
Almighty Father, I offer you, the body and the blood, soul and divinity, of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins, and those of the whole world.
For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Holy God, Holy Mighty God, Holy Immortal God, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Four out of five of us in my family are prayer the DMC novena that began on Good Friday.
You can get a audio copy of Divine Mercy Chaplet over at www.CatholicMusicNetwork.com
I love the contemporary rendition also, our 'Praise' music ministry sang it one evening in Lent otherwise we never get to hear it here, what a shame. Did you know that the closing strophes are an ancient anthem, called the 'Trisagion' or Thrice Holy or The Blessed Trinity (as in 'Hagia Sophia' meaning Holy Wisdom, the name of the Basilica in Constantinople now used as a mosque, in fact so familiar we think moslems design all their mosques that way - nope wrong! they copied it) and used in the Eastern liturgies - I think its a powerful prayer for unity in the Body of Christ and reconciliation/evangelisation of the East, keep praying!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisagion