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Chaplet of the Blessed Sacrament

Writer's picture: Fr. Ave MariaFr. Ave Maria

Chaplet of the Blessed Sacrament
Blessed Sacrament Chaplet (Photo credit: Anne at totapulchabeads.blogspot.com).

The Holy Eucharist is so rich that the Church has a myriad of ways of praying to honour the Presence of Jesus Christ in this great Sacrament. One of these "Blessed Sacrament Prayers" that many Catholics are not familiar with (unfortunately) is the prayer known as the Chaplet of the Blessed Sacrament. This chaplet is comprised of a central medal (usually with an image depicting the Host in a monstrance) and 33 beads which are prayed upon in honour of the 33 years of the life of Our Blessed Lord here on earth. This chaplet was given to the Church through the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, a religious congregation devoted to promoting devotion to, and love for, Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The Congregation was founded by St. Peter Julian Eymard in Paris, France in 1956. Saint Peter Julian is known as the Apostle of the Blessed Sacrament. This chaplet was approved by Pope St. Pius X in 1911.


Praying the Blessed Sacrament Chaplet is very easy. One begins on the medal by praying a Spiritual Act of Communion such as the one below:


My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things. I desire to receive Thee into my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace Thee, and I unite myself entirely to Thee, as if Thou hadst already come; do not permit me ever to be separated from Thee.

On each of the 33 beads, the following invocation is then made:

Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, have mercy on us.

After the 33rd invocation, the following prayer may be said to conclude the chaplet. It is known as an Act of Faith in the Holy Eucharist:


O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art really and corporally present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. I adore Thee here present from the depths of my heart, and I worship Thy Sacred Presence with all possible humility. O my soul, what joy to have Jesus Christ always with me, and to be able to speak to Him, heart to Heart, with all confidence! Grant, O Lord, that I, having adored Thy Divine Majesty here on earth in this Wonderful Sacrament, may be able to adore It eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven.

That's it! That's all there is to praying the Chaplet of the Blessed Sacrament! You can see that it is a very simple prayer; and yet, sometimes the simplest of prayers are also the most profound. The focus of the chaplet is on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Both the prayer prayed on the medal at the beginning of the chaplet (the Spiritual Act of Communion) and the prayer prayed at the end (the Act of Faith in the Holy Eucharist) focus on Christ's Real Presence. The 33 invocations made on the beads of the chaplet are both an act of faith in Our Lord's Real Presence ("Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament") and a supplication to His mercy ("have mercy on us").


The beauty of this prayer is that it can be used to meditate quietly in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in order to focus one's thoughts on the Real Presence of Jesus. The simplicity of the repetition "have mercy on us" reminds us of the Kyrie eleison that is prayed over and over by the faithful in the Eastern Catholic tradition, like a litany of supplication. It is commonly known in the Catholic East as "The Jesus Prayer":

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.

It is said that the Jesus Prayer has its power in the invocation of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. The Blessed Sacrament Chaplet, on the other hand, gets its power from the invocation of the Real Presence of Our Lord, united to His Holy Name: "Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament...."


The Holy Name and the Eucharistic Presence of Christ are, in fact, just different sides of the same coin. One invokes the Name while the other invokes the Presence of the Son of God. And in fact, whenever we invoke Jesus by Name, we are in fact invoking His Presence as well since, from a biblical perspective, the name represents and invokes the presence of the person.


So there is a very great similarity between the Jesus Prayer in the Catholic East and the Prayer of Eucharistic Adoration (and the Blessed Sacrament Chaplet) in the Western Catholic Church. They are two beautiful ways of remaining in the Presence of Our Lord throughout the day, and of focusing on His Presence when one is before the Tabernacle or a Monstrance.


© AD MMXXV  Hostiam Immaculatam

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