Day 22: Reciting the Chaplet of Divine Mercy daily.

Twenty-two days into Lent and our twenty-second resolution is Reciting the Chaplet of Divine Mercy daily. Today's Gospel from Matthew 18:21–22 (NABRE) beautifully aligns with this devotion: “Then Peter approaching asked him, ‘Lord, if my brother sins [against me], how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.’”

After replying to Peter, Jesus tells the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, illustrating God's boundless mercy and our call to mirror it. The servant owed his master a “huge amount”—literally “ten thousand talents” in Greek, an unimaginable debt equivalent to about 200,000 years of wages for a day laborer, or roughly 24 billion U.S. dollars in modern terms for a worker making $50 an hour. When the king decided to settle accounts, he initially ordered the man and his family sold into slavery. The servant pleaded for time, promising repayment, and the king, moved with compassion, forgave the entire debt. What a life-changing moment of mercy!

But the story turns starkly: The forgiven servant then encountered a fellow servant who owed him a mere 100 denarii (about 100 days' wages, or $40,000 today). Despite pleas for mercy, he refused and had the man imprisoned. The contrast is shocking the king (representing God) lavishes infinite mercy, yet the servant withholds it for a tiny debt.

Jesus uses this parable to respond to Peter's question about forgiveness limits. “Seventy-seven times” is symbolic of infinity, no limits to forgiveness. The king, upon learning of the servant's refusal, “handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.” Jesus warns: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from his heart” (Matthew 18:35, NABRE).

This teaching echoes the heart of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, given by Jesus to St. Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s. In her Diary, she describes how the Chaplet was revealed amid her prayers for mercy offering Christ's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity “in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” Jesus promised extraordinary graces through it, especially for sinners: it pleads for mercy on ourselves and others, atones for sins, and opens the floodgates of divine forgiveness. Reciting it daily unites us to Christ's Passion, implores mercy for the world, and helps us live out the Gospel call to forgive “seventy-seven times” without measure.

The Chaplet reminds us that God's mercy is unfathomable: He forgives our “huge debt” of sin through Christ's sacrifice. But that mercy comes with a condition we must extend it to others. If forgiveness feels impossible, recall the parable's warning: withholding it blocks us from fully receiving God's pardon. The Chaplet fosters this mercy: as we pray “have mercy on us and on the whole world,” we beg for the grace to forgive from the heart, even when hurt lingers or the offender shows no remorse.

Overcoming anger is hard, we crave justice when wronged. But Jesus calls us to forgive from the heart: sincere, complete, without reservation. If someone refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing, forgive anyway. This is difficult, but the Chaplet provides strength, Jesus promised it would fill souls with peace, convert sinners, and obtain mercy for the dying. Pray it daily (at 3 PM if possible, the hour of mercy) to soften your heart, release resentment, and imitate God's infinite compassion.

Reflect today on two key things. First, grasp the unfathomable mercy God has given you through Christ's Passion, let it fill your heart with deep gratitude. Second, call to mind anyone against whom you harbor anger or resentment. Even the smallest trace of unforgiveness must be confronted. Make an act of your will to forgive, and continue doing so until forgiveness flows sincerely from your heart. Let the daily Chaplet be your tool: offering Christ's mercy for your sins and those who have hurt you, trusting in His promise that mercy received overflows in mercy given.

Most merciful God, Your mercy is unfathomable, revealed supremely in Your Son's Passion and poured out through the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I beg for Your forgiveness for my sins, there is no way I can ever repay You. I acknowledge that Your forgiveness is contingent upon me offering the same mercy to everyone who has sinned against me. Please soften my heart, Lord, so that I may offer others the same boundless mercy You have granted me. Through daily recitation of the Chaplet, fill me with Your grace to forgive “seventy-seven times,” release all resentment, and become an instrument of Your Divine Mercy in the world. Jesus, I trust in You.