Ash Wednesday is on March 2nd this year, which means that Lent is fast approaching! Have you considered what you will be doing? In addition to fasting, the Church encourages building your prayer life. We wanted to give a quick guide of which products would be great in helping you delve deeper into the season of Lent this year.
1. The Lenten Rosary
Our Lenten Rosary is made with Black onyx to represent the darkness of our sins. Purple Mountain Jade is used in the decade accent to represent the traditional color of Lent. The Ecce Homo center is used along with the Pardon Crucifix. When blessed with a simple blessing of the cross, indulgences can be received by kissing this crucifix and by other actions.
See also our Lenten Tenner Rosary, our Lenten Single Decade Rosary, and our Lenten Rosary Bracelet that follow the same theme.
2. The Seven Sorrows Chaplet
The Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows is made up of seven groups of seven beads, with a medal for each grouping depicting each of Mary’s Seven Sorrows. It originated in the thirteenth century with the Seven Founders of the Servite Order and is also known as the Servite Rosary. The mysteries include:
- The Prophecy of Simeon
- The Flight into Egypt
- The Three Day Separation from Jesus in Jerusalem
- Mary Meeting Christ on the Road to Calvary
- The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus
- The Removal of Jesus from the Cross
- The Burial of Jesus
See our selection of Seven Sorrows Chaplets here.
3. The Stations of the Cross Chaplet
According to Tradition, the Stations of the Cross derived from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, year after year on Good Friday, would walk the route through Jerusalem that Jesus walked on the way to Golgotha, pausing to remember what happened at each station. Early Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land began walking this route and a desire to reproduce these holy places eventually led to the devotion of the Stations of the Cross in the 14th century. It is a well known devotion which is often conducted during Lent, but which can be prayed during any time of the year.
This chaplet is a wonderful way to take the Stations with you wherever you go. A medal representing each of the fourteen stations functions as the Our Father bead, while three beads in between each medal function as Hail Mary beads. The chaplet should be said in conjunction with a regular program for the stations of the Cross, which can be found online written by various authors.
Custom design a Stations Chaplet here.
4. The Divine Mercy Chaplet
In the early 1930’s a young nun and mystic in Poland named Sr. Faustina began experiencing visions of Jesus. In these visions, Jesus appeared to her dressed in white and indescribably beautiful, his left hand pulling aside the garment over his heart to reveal red and white rays coming from his side. His right hand was raised in blessing. He asked her to paint an image in that likeness with the inscription “Jesus, I Trust in You.” The rays, as he would later reveal to her, represented the blood and water which poured out of his side on the cross. They radiate out to and encompass the viewer of the image. The overall message of the image is that of Divine Mercy for the sinner. Jesus asked St. Faustina to spread word of his mercy. He asked her to invite others to his merciful love by praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which can be prayed with a normal 5 decade rosary and by celebrating the Feast of Divine Mercy, which is on the Sunday after Easter. One of his requests, the Divine Mercy Novena, begins on Good Friday and goes to Divine Mercy Sunday.
See our selection of Divine Mercy Chaplets and Rosaries here.
Order soon and you can have these beautiful rosaries and chaplets in time for Ash Wednesday!