Saints' Discussion Forums

I am currently working on a sub-section of the Saints' Prayers (http://www.saintsprayers.net) website devoted to the Holy Rosary.

Thank you Martin for the inspiration.

For those of you who are curious this is your chance for a glimpse at work in progress behind the scenes.

The pages currently being worked on can be accessed here (http://www.saintsprayers.net/The Holy Rosary.htm).

These pages are not yet available to the public because they do not work yet! All the mysteries do not have any quotations put in for meditation yet except for the 3rd and 4th Joyful Mystery.

If people would please just generally surf through the pages and try out the 3rd and 4th mysteries, any blatant errors, suggestions, etc. I am all welcome to hear about.

I rather swiftly did at all so there are probably some huge slip ups I haven't noticed, it's no good being your own editor.

They're a little spartan yet Brigid! No pictures yet! When I've gathered enough I'll try to add that!

I didn't see any blatant errors. I also think it's Providential that you provided the Latin of the Rosary since just this morning I was thinking of looking that up. I feel that the Latin impresses on me the communion of saints of the Church Triumphant.

I spotted two a second after I posted and fixed 'em quick! Posting to the public has that effect somehow!  :o

Looks like I got to them in time!

I added the Latin for the final closing prayer zippity quick.

Try out the beads!

I always try to include Latin when I can find it!  :D

When I clicked on the beads with my mouse they didn't do anything. Did I misunderstand what you wanted me to do?

Uh-oh. Maybe I should've tested them in a different browser. I mean the beads in the mysteries, not on the main page?

Ohh.......  :-[

Oh good!  :D

Hmm, maybe I should try to do something with that one too!  ;D

Oh, I see now. That's cute!

It's a cute little triumph! And maybe someone will actually click a decade that way someday!

Hey Shin this is a great layout (beads worked first time) :)
This is gonna be worth the effort. The saints can give us the very words we're struggling to find ourselves.
That St Alphonsus quote PERFECT !!

Borrowed glory can shine pretty brightly!  :D

The Rosary page is looking really good, Shin. Meditations are awesome :) :littlewings:

Just a few suggestions and doubts...

Is it necessary to put the Fatima prayer as optional ? Unsure about that. You will know better of course. I'm not sure about it.

In the Presentation of Our Lord, could you also add in,  if possible, Simeon's prophecy. Mystical  City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda could be a good source if you have it.

Thanks. O:)

The Fatima thing is iffy for me too, I'll keep thinking on it!

I do need to do a Fatima page one of these days too, and that might help -- there's so much I need to do. Forums have distracted a bit from my other work on the websites, but it's a good distraction. :D

I'll add Simeon's prophecy!

I'm going to mine St. Louis Marie de Montfort and St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori's works for meditation material, as well as the main quote archives, and then move on to others, thanks for the suggestion!  :D

When you have a chance, I second Patricia's request for using material from Ven. Mary of Agreda's Mystical City of God. :)

Let us know if we can pitch in some way. :)

Feel free to suggest any quotes for meditation or pictures for meditation. :)

Otherwise I am doing fine!

Quotes can be broadly applicable, because we say the rosary so often, so I am very likely including a number of quotes on subject matter key to the mysteries but not directly of the mysteries. Such as about the Temple, when we do the Presentation, not just about the Presentation.

So that there is a good deal of food for thought.

Okay I'll have to think hard about it, because I've never thought about anything far beyond the Mystery itself ???

For e.g. if we are talking about the Agony in the garden, what would you think about ?

The bloody sweat, Judas, the foreknowledge of Christ of all the sins of mankind.. In the fifteen prayers of St. Bridget, there is a part of a prayer, "O Jesus! Mirror of Eternal Splendor, remember the sadness which Thou experienced, when, contemplating in the light of Thy Divinity the predestination of those who would be saved by the merits of Thy Sacred Passion, Thou didst see at the same time the great multitude of reprobates who would be damned for their sins, and Thou didst complain bitterly of those hopeless, lost and unfortunate sinners."

The sleeping apostles.. the example of the Lord of submission to the will of the Father..

Well, you will see how I do these things as I add more and more quotes.

But you need not go far afield, if you find any meditations directly pertinent that's fine.. Or none at all.. Just pray for the whole work to go well is enough. I need prayers.

I am very poor at saying the rosary, though I love the devotion. It is very difficult for me, and I'm not one to go to for advice on how to say it well -- but, yet again, by relying on the saints, I escape my own lack of ability to a certain degree.

I understand now. I'll contribute when I find something related to the Mystery. Thanks. :)

Yes, the Saints have a wealth of information in their quotes and writings.

Quote:  For e.g. if we are talking about the Agony in the garden, what would you think about ?

The kiss of Judas must have been one of our Lords greatest sorrows.
Despite his treachery Judas was loved by the Lord no less than the other apostles.
It probabily could br compared to your own child betaying you and seeing the consequences of their action still having no sorroqw.

Yes, actually, if you just tell me about each of your thoughts on the different mysteries and what you meditate upon that might help a lot.  :D

Martinfegan, You're right about the kiss of Judas. Saddest for Our Lord.

 If I may continue with the Agony of Our Lord....This is what I think about
His extreme loneliness, here He is facing torture and death and His Apostles are fast asleep. He will not see His Mother again except on the Way of the Cross...Even God seems to have turned away from His Plight as it seems.....
The weight of the sins of the world on His Shoulders...
His bravery to go ahead with the ordeal and torture that now awaits Him, He will not turn back, our salvation is uppermost in His Mind...

Mother Mary is surely with Him at this moment in prayer.... She knows what awaits, but will not impede the salvation of mankind in any way by thoughts or words.

I'll share more of my thoughts on the Mysteries as I remember them. :)

Yes,  the voluntary nature of what our dear Lord was doing makes His love for us even more clear.
In John 18 where the soldiers come to arrest Him, -at the words of Jesus, “I am He,” they all fall to the ground.
I’ve read a comment on this many years ago by one of the saints who said that the demons that possessed the soldiers where struck by terror at these words and if our Lord had not freed them to do their evil they would not have been able to touch Him.
Then He says, “If it is I you seek then let these others go.”
These words touch me the most when I consider that my dear Lord was thinking of me also when He uttered them.

For me I meditate on the extreme anxiety and downright fear that even He had and that He went ahead doing it anyway. He knew better than any of us 'moderns' how excruciating crucifixion was, but also knew ahead of time how much additional pain would be inflicted on Him for all of our sins. How much we would suffer if we knew ahead of time what suffering we would have in the future and how important it is to leave this knowledge only in Hands of the One Who knows what is best for us, along with how much we'll be able to take at the time.

Today, of all days, we could put down what we meditate on in the mystery of The Ascension.

For myself, I meditate on how He took to His Father not only Himself, but all the knowledge of all the possible temptations and joys and hurts and sufferings of humans in this world. It soothes me to think that He truly understands what I'm feeling and to know, first hand, the temptations and attachments of this world.

For the Mystery of Ascension and Resurrection I also tend to meditate on all that happened during the 40 days He met with his Apostles:
So I remember the breakfast He prepares for them while they are fishing, Thomas' doubt and how Our Lord patiently allays those doubts , also how He asks Peter three times if he loved Him...I read somewhere that He asked him this three times in order  to cancel his previous three denials of ever having known Him during the Passion.

Also very touching to me and that I meditate on are the words 'Take care of my sheep'

This is all very good and inspiring. :) It gives me many ideas for different kinds of quotes to look up for meditations.

Today's meditation on the Annuncation leads me to meditate on Mary's humility to God's Will, totally giving up her own plans and trusting in Him as her Lord. Trusting in Him and recognizing her abject dependence on Him, even though she knew the human consequences that she would very likely face (stoning for adultery, loss of Joseph's love and trust in her, etc.) This leads me to try to imitate her virtues of complete humility and total trust in His Will.

Trust in God's will is the epitome of Mary!  :D

Found this quote on the Ascension...

By justice, Jesus Christ once risen should have ascended at once to the glory of the right hand of the Father. . .And yet we know very well that for 40 days He wanted to be seen as risen. And why? To affirm, as St. Leo says, by such an excellent mystery, the good news of our faith. . .These 40 days before our ascent to Heaven will pass for us too. Perhaps they will not be days, but months and years. I wish you, my brothers and sisters, a long and prosperous life full of heavenly and material blessings. But finally this life will come to an end. And then we will be happy, if we have assured for ourselves the joy of a happy transit to eternity. Then our resurrection will be complete. There will be no more danger of losing the grace of God. There will no longer be any suffering, no more death, but instead everlasting life with our Savior Jesus Christ in Heaven. May our Lord bless these wishes of mine which I am happy to have demonstrated to show how much I have your happiness at heart, how much I worry and unceasingly pray for it.

~~ Padre Pio

On the Agony in the garden....

Whenever you are seized by melancholy, let your thoughts dwell on that fateful night on which the Son of God began the work of redemption in the solitude of Gethsemane and offer your own sufferings to the Divine Father, along with the sufferings of Jesus.

~~ Padre Pio

But let us take heart. . .Let us glance at the Divine Master who prayed in the Garden and we will discover the true ladder which unites the earth to Heaven. We will discover that humility, contrition and prayer make the distance between man and God disappear, and act in such a way that God descends to man, and man ascends to God, so that they end up understanding, loving and possessing one another.

~~ Padre Pio

O Jesus, how many generous souls. . .have kept Thee company in the Garden, sharing Thy bitterness and Thy mortal anguish. . .How many hearts in the course of the centuries have responded generously to Thy invitation. . .May this multitude of souls, then, in this supreme hour, be a comfort to Thee, who, better than the disciples, share with Thee the distress of Thy heart, and cooperate with Thee for their own salvation and that of others. And grant that I also may be of their number, that I also may offer Thee some relief.

~~ Padre Pio


Consider Jesus' act of acceptance in the Garden and how much it cost Him, making Him sweat blood. Make this act yourself when things are going well and also when they go against you. . .We know that nature shrinks from the cross when things are hard, but we cannot say the soul is not submissive to God's will when we see it carrying out that will, in spite of the strong pull it feels in the opposite direction.
~~Padre Pio

I send you this fervent aspiration from my heart. . .'O Lord, for the incomparable sadness and great desolation Your heart felt on the Mount of Olives and on the cross; and for the great affliction Your dear Mother felt when deprived of Your presence, may You be the joy or at least the strength of this daughter, when the passion and cross are perfectly joined to your soul.'
~~Padre Pio

Carrying of the cross to Mt. Calvary

We must keep the eye of faith fixed on Jesus Christ who climbs the hill of Calvary loaded with his Cross, and as he toils painfully up the steep slope of Golgotha we should see him followed by an immense throng of souls carrying their own crosses and treading the same path. Oh, what a beautiful sight this is. Let us fix our mental gaze firmly on it. We see close behind Jesus our most holy Mother, who follows him perfectly, loaded with her own cross. Then comes the Apostles, Martyrs, Doctors, Virgins and Confessors. . .Jesus himself, despite all our unworthiness, has associated us with this beautiful company. We must make every effort to merge ourselves increasingly in these ranks and hasten with them along the road to Calvary. We should look to the end of the journey and not separate ourselves from this fine company; we must refuse to follow any other way than the one they tread.

~~Padre Pio

Birth of Our Lord

The Heavenly Child suffers and cries in the crib so as to make His suffering for us loveable, meritorious and sought after. He lacked everything so that we might learn from Him to renounce earthly goods. He was pleased with humble and poor adorers so that we might love poverty and prefer the company of the little and simple ones to those of the great of the world. . .With His birth, He indicated our mission, namely to despise what the world loves and seeks.

~~Padre Pio

Carrying of the cross to Mt. Calvary

We must keep the eye of faith fixed on Jesus Christ who climbs the hill of Calvary loaded with his Cross, and as he toils painfully up the steep slope of Golgotha we should see him followed by an immense throng of souls carrying their own crosses and treading the same path. Oh, what a beautiful sight this is. Let us fix our mental gaze firmly on it. We see close behind Jesus our most holy Mother, who follows him perfectly, loaded with her own cross. Then comes the Apostles, Martyrs, Doctors, Virgins and Confessors. . .Jesus himself, despite all our unworthiness, has associated us with this beautiful company. We must make every effort to merge ourselves increasingly in these ranks and hasten with them along the road to Calvary. We should look to the end of the journey and not separate ourselves from this fine company; we must refuse to follow any other way than the one they tread.

~~Padre Pio

While I was meditating on the sorrowful mysteries, the thought came to me that through our own sufferings we can merit a higher degree of perfection in heaven.
Therefore our sufferings are of immense benefit to our souls and not only that but they can be offered up for others also without detracting from our own reward.
But then the thought came regarding the sufferings of Our Lord.
His sufferings had absolutely no benefit for Himself. He as God the Son already enjoyed the fullness of eternal glory with the Father and His perfection could not be increased. By suffering   He had no extra reward to claim at the end of it all.
The only sense I can make of it is that because of this terrible suffering He endured there is no one on earth who can say, “God doesn’t love me.” And even when we do love Him back, this too can add nothing to His Glory, Happiness or Perfection, it can only contribute to our own.
It was all for us dear Lord. It was all for us.

Martinfegan, that was so touching to read. A new thought for me to meditate on while saying the Sorrowful mysteries. That He suffered everything for us, that He laid down His Crown for us, to come dwell with us ungrateful creatures. I will never be able to fathom it in my lifetime.

Patricia the most shameful part for me is when I reflect that if I were the only one in the world who needed redemption, the good Lord would have went and done it all just for me.
Even with the meagre sense of justice and conscience I have, what a shame on me if I couldn’t find it in my heart to respond to such love. And indeed the shame still remains when I see plainly how little I do respond and how can I love so little all my dear brothers and sisters who share His very same humanity and He would go to the cross again for each single one of them if it could bring them to love Him.
These thoughts just burn me up to the point where I would just give up but for the knowledge that He still loves me and what He endured leaves me that I cannot doubt this without causing Him even more offense.

So true, Martinfegan.  How patient He must be with us inspite of our constant failings.

Martin, this puzzles me that He do this for each person, that He could give up heaven and living with His Father all for the Love of us. Then to choose to suffer so incredibly. The only people I could imagine giving up and suffering for so completely are my child and grandchildren, but probably all mothers would and that's an instinct for even some animal mothers.
His Glory and Awesomeness is so all-encompassing!

Hmm.. I've been working on other things, think it's time I get back to this. On the other hand.. I may hit the sack early today. Well, first opportunity I get!

Back to work!

It's the variety that makes it good! One day it's new buttons, the next its editing the next book, then back to the quotes! :D

And all the while with our little family here. :D

Thanks for everything!  :D :D :D

By the way, Shin. I just found something for saying a Rosary. It has the mystery and then the fruit of it.

The Annunciation = humility
The Visitation = charity
The Nativity = poverty
The Presentation = obedience
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple = Joy in Jesus (This one I, as a convert, thought of the finding Real Presence in the Temple)

The Agony in the Garden = trust in God
The Scouring at the Pillar = purity
The Crowning with Thorns = humility
The Carrying of the Cross = patience
The Crucifixion = perseverance

The Resurrection = faith
The Ascension = hope
The Descent of the Holy Spirit = courage
The Assumption of Mary into Heaven = Mary's Help
The Coronation of Mary = Queen of Heaven

I don't know that you need anymore thoughts, but I posted this just in case it might help.

Oh, I always need more. :) Never could have enough. Not possible.

Thank you, this is good stuff!

Work has progressed to the point where now we have at least a few meditations for the Sorrowful Mysteries, and more technical corrections have been made to the pages.  :crucifix:

The rosary pages are nearly ready for public release.

Only some minor editing is left, along with additional quotations for each of the pages, but we have at least a small number of quotes for each mystery, and the main work is to expand these so that there are sufficient variety and then the release.

If you have any quotations on the rosary mysteries to share please suggest them. :D

Thank you Patricia for the St. Padre Pio quotes!

The work in progress can be viewed in here:

The Holy Rosary pages (http://www.saintsprayers.net/The Holy Rosary.htm).

Feel free to try them out folks and make any suggestions and report any difficulties! This will be a help!

Excellent job, Shin and so helpful during meditation !  :littlewings: I liked the picture of Mother Mary too and is that St. Simon or Dominic?

It's St. Dominic!  ;D It would be good to have an image of St. Simon receiving the scapular too I am thinking and a brown scapular page someday!  ;D

Help with rosary meditation is what I've always needed, and so I'm very happy how this has gone!  :D

The pages are truly close to being launched, but there aren't enough quotes for the Fifth Glorious Mystery.

So I'd like to encourage folks, if you have quotes from the saints relating to Our Lady's coronation..

Please post them.  :D

'Then all the angels came to salute her, and she, the great queen, thanked all for the assistance they had given her on earth, especially thanking the Archangel St. Gabriel, who was the happy ambassador of all her glories, when he came to announce to her that she was to be made mother of God. Then the humble and holy Virgin, kneeling, adores the divine majesty, and wholly lost in the consciousness of her nothingness, thanks him for all the graces bestowed upon her solely by his goodness, and especially for having made her mother of the eternal Word. Let those who can, comprehend with what love the most holy Trinity blessed her. Let them comprehend what a welcome the eternal Father gave to his daughter, the Son to his mother, the Holy Spirit to his spouse. The Father crowns her by sharing with her his power, the Son his wisdom, the Holy spirit his love. And all the three divine persons establishing her throne at the right hand of Jesus, declare her universal queen of heaven and of earth, and command angels and all other creatures to recognize her for their queen, and as queen to serve and obey her.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Ok I'll share if I find any. :)

Me too.

Thanks!  ;D

I found reading the Birth of Our Lord meditations helpful during Christmas. O:)  A suggestion....Shin, would it be possible to add the fruits of each mystery to the Rosary page?