Help me Test Out the Rosary Pages!

[Shin]

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.

[Patricia]

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 ?

[Shin]

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.

[Patricia]

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.

[martin]

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.

[Shin]

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. 

[Patricia]

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.

[martin]

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.

[Brigid]

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.

[Brigid]

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.

[Patricia]

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'

[Shin]

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

[Brigid]

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.

[Shin]

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

[Patricia]

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

[martin]

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.