JMJ + OBT
PRAYER
God bless you and Our Lady and St. Joseph and all the Holy Angels and Saints smile upon you. Welcome again to the Lay Formation Program of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. We are rejoiced that you have responded to God’s call to Our Blessed Mother’s love for you to come here and continue your formation into the life of Jesus Christ in whom you are baptized. Jesus desires to reveal to us the meaning of life. We spoke about that last month, the meaning of life- why we are here and where we are going.
This month we will speak about prayer. Because to understand how the meaning of life is to blossom in your life, we need prayer. Prayer is communication with God, who is the meaning of our lives and so this month we will talk about prayer as we begin with prayer.
Our Father
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, pray for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Introduction to Prayer
As we continue this formation program we recognize that there are always some consistent graces coming to us. We begin each session with a little introduction but then we move into prayer. Prayer is very important. It opens up our minds, but more importantly our hearts, to the will of God so He may reveal His plan of life- His plan of Love to us and fill us with the graces and the blessings to be happy, holy, and reach heaven (which is His plan for us). Prayer is so important. We begin each session of this first year of the Formation Program with the Our Father prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer that Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, the only Son of God taught us; the perfect prayer. We begin with this prayer because the object of this first year of formation is that you know that you are children of God; that God is Our Father and we are His children; He loves us, we belong to Him; and everything else in life is incidental. We pray and we come to that reality of knowing that God is Our Father. We know that it is through the gift of the Holy Spirit that we can cry out, “Abba, Father!” It’s in the Holy Spirit that we can cry out, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”
We come before our Father and trust Him. The first year of formation is about coming to know God is your Father. You learn this and how to do God’s will from Our Blessed Mother, who is the Daughter of the Father. Mary always did God’s will perfectly, perfectly does His will.
The God of the living, Our Blessed Mother will teach us how to live and move as God’s children. This first year of formation is all about knowing that God is our Father. We will be formed. Our Blessed Mother teaches us this way of life as our Father’s family. In the first year of formation the second area of teaching is prayer. Our Lady prayed always. Our Lord instructed us to pray always and Our Lady, being the first and perfect disciple of Jesus Christ, prayed always and prayed without ceasing. You may say, “how do I do that?” Good question. Today, we are going to help you. We wish to share with you some basics about prayer.
Basics about Prayer
One way to pray without ceasing is to rise in the morning and say from your heart- because prayer is from the heart- the first and greatest of all the commandments:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with your whole mind and with all your strength. And the second is like it:
you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And then, after stating from your heart the two great commandments you say your morning offering. By saying a morning offering, you’re going to make everything in your day a prayer. There are many good morning offerings out there. There is one I would suggest- one I say myself.
“Oh Jesus, in union with Your most precious blood poured out on the cross and offered at every Mass, I offer You today my prayers, works, joys, sorrows and sufferings for the praise of Your Holy Name and all the desires of your Sacred Heart, the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the just heart of Joseph in reparation for sin, for the conversion of sinners, the union of all Christians and our final union with You in Heaven.”
If you offer your whole day, everything, every beat of your heart, every breath you take, every step you make, everything to God- you are praying without ceasing. This prayer you are doing in the united hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. You are united with them and so this prayer is an offering that’s holy and acceptable to God. Would you like your whole day to be a prayer? It’s simple. Start your day this way. Don’t become so busy that you just rush out into life and forget to pray. Prayer brings you the graces you need to fulfill the plan of God for your life and that is what’s necessary. We do not want to go out into our day trying to fulfill our own plan for ourselves- that is vain and empty and meaningless and boring at the end of the day. Whereas, you make your day a prayer you’ll find graces and blessings and the strength to go through trials that arise in the day, but it is a beautiful way of life. Prayer opens you up to the presence of God in your life, keeping the presence of God throughout your day. Prayer, in His presence, helps you to know that your Father in Heaven is looking upon you with love, and that you are responding to His plan. Prayer reveals this to you. We need to pray. Throughout the day we can pray unceasingly.
You can pray and say from the heart:
- the “ Jesus prayer”
- Lord Jesus Christ Son of the living God Have mercy on me a sinner
- Jesus I trust in You
- Jesus I love you possess me
- Sacred Heart of Jesus I place my trust in Thee
- Jesus meek and humble of heart make my heart like unto Thine
- Jesus , Mary and Joseph I love you save souls
- Heart of Jesus burning with love for me inflame my heart with love for Thee
- Eternal Father I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of your dearly beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. For the sake of His sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.
These great prayers lift up our heart, our mind, our soul, our spirit. They are like arrows aimed at the heart of Jesus and from this heart flows forth love and blessings and graces. As we see from the crucifix, when His heart is pierced blood and water pour forth, His love and mercy flow forth, the sacraments in the Catholic Church flow forth.
God is so generous. God can not resist humility. When we pray with a humble heart, God comes to us. If we take one step toward God He takes 1000 towards us. Pray. Do you want God to take 1000 steps toward you? Know, of course, this is just an analogy; God is present everywhere and He dwells in us. We must communicate with Him. That is what prayer is. An ancient definition of prayer is “keeping company with God.” You know how it is when you have a good friend and you can just be in the same room with them not saying many words, you’re just in their presence, but you know that your hearts are connected? That is what prayer is. That is what you experience in Eucharistic Adoration when you come to the nearest Catholic Church where Jesus is present in the tabernacle. He is there Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, really, truly and substantially present for you and for me. He did not leave us orphans. He promised He would be with us till the end of time and He is. You go into His presence and you cast your cares on Him because He cares for you. That is what it says right in Sacred Scripture. Before the Lord we pray Sacred Scripture. Remember we talked about how our lives are contained in Sacred Scripture the living word of God? You go before our Lord in the Eucharist and He reveals to you the meaning of your life that is contained in the Word.
God created the mouth- certainly He can speak; God created the ear- certainly He can hear. God created the heart and He wants that union of heart with you and with me. Prayer comes from the heart. We must realize that everything starts with prayer. Now when we humble ourselves as we go before the Almighty God who created us, desiring that He reveal this plan of life for us, we humble ourselves and we say, “Lord teach us to pray.” As a matter of fact, when the the Lord gave the Our Father, the
Lord’s Prayer, it was in response to His disciple’s request, “Lord, teach us how to pray.” The Lord desires that we pray. He will teach us how to pray. We must pray to pray. I realize that as a priest I admit I used to think ‘I know how to pray’- that was pretty presumptuous. I need to pray to pray and then, I find that my prayer becomes so much more fruitful. When I pray to pray- when I humble myself and I say, “Lord, I do not even know how to pray. Teach me, Lord.” And then, I watch Him pray. You know in the Gospels He went out in the evening and He would have communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit because HE is the One God. He taught us how to pray- He would go into that Communion confirming the will of God to be manifested in that day.
As He served the Father’s family, Jesus witnessed to us the importance of prayer and His disciples watched Him pray. They were in awe. Have you ever wanted to watch Jesus pray? Ask Him. Go there with Him in prayer and watch how He comes into Communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit, that we have received, who lives in us, prays for us with groans beyond our understanding, because we do not even know what to pray for. I find many people limit themselves in prayer. The Almighty God- the King of Kings and Lord of Lords- desires to bestow His Kingdom upon us. He says, “My loving child, ask for whatever you need.” Sometimes I feel as if people come before the Lord and say, “Lord may I have a piece of bubble gum? May I have a piece of candy?” when the Lord is offering you His vey life. Don’t sell yourself short. Ask for the Holy Spirit. He is the Gift of gifts- the Giver of all gifts- God Himself. Ask to live the life of Jesus. Pray the life of Jesus. That brings us to the Holy Rosary.
The Holy Rosary
The Holy Rosary was given to us by Our Blessed Mother. In the Holy Rosary we pray the life of Jesus. We look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of Our Blessed Mother, who knows Jesus the best of any human person. Our Lady responds perfectly to God’s plan and she teaches us as Our Mother how to respond to God’s plan. God’s plan is that we live the life of Jesus that we received in baptism. It’s that simple. Now, certainly the highest form of prayer is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In the Mass, we have readings from the Word of God. In readings from the Word of God our life is revealed to us and graces that will be available that week or that day will be revealed to us. Then, by the gift of God, His Mercy and His Love, we receive Our Lord in the Eucharist if we are in a state of grace, [if we are not in a state of grace then we go to the sacrament of Peace and Reconciliation]. We receive Our Lord and He gives us the strength to live His life. We are in communion with God physically because the Eucharist is Jesus Christ. We will have a teaching and facilitations during this first year of Lay Formation on the power of the Eucharist and an explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Today, we are going to talk about the Holy Rosary- a very, very powerful prayer. It’s our life because in the Holy Rosary we contemplate the face of Christ in the school of Mary. Christ reveals man to himself. We go to the Joyful Mysteries of the life of Christ, the Luminous Mysteries of the life of Christ, the Sorrowful Mysteries of the life of Christ and the Glorious Mysteries of the life of Christ. They are all connected and that is why the Rosary is connected. It’s all connected- our joys, our lights, our sorrows, our glories all have meaning. They are all connected. They are one in Christ. If, in your life, you feel that you are crushed under sorrow it maybe because you have not been praying the Rosary. The Rosary shows that your sorrows are connected to glory. We cannot separate the joys from the sorrows. Certainly, it’s nice when the joys come, no doubt, but sorrows inevitably come. But they all have meaning- a great significance.
We pray the Rosary. The word Rosary relates to roses. We are giving our Blessed Mother a bouquet of roses when we pray the Holy Rosary. Our Mother receives these roses and then goes and presents them before the throne of God and says, “Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit look at what your children have brought to you. They have brought these roses.” You know how a Mother can make the roses look so beautiful? She arranges this bouquet, and she magnifies everything we do, and she wins graces for us to live the plan of God in our life. The Rosary is a perfect prayer.
The Rosary has a body, a soul and a spirit just like we have a body, a soul and a spirit. The body of the prayer is the words. To begin, we make the sign of the cross and kiss the crucifix. We pray the Apostles Creed on the crucifix when we begin. The Apostles Creed contains the Twelve Articles of our Faith. You can read about them in the first section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We look upon the crucifix with love and gratitude. The crucifix reveals to us is the love of Jesus, the mercy of the Father, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Our Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross.
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.
The Twelve Articles of Faith are given to us by Jesus Christ who establishes the one holy Catholic Apostolic Church. We pray these articles in union with peoples all around the world. When we pray these words we are lifted up. It starts out with, “I believe in God”. Right away we have proper ordering in our prayer. Everything is to center in God. It does not center in ourselves. We don’t start off by saying, “I believe in myself.” I believe in God and His love for me and His plan for me. When I have faith in God, He will give me the graces in Jesus Christ through Our Lady. I will receive the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill His will. The Apostles Creed is powerful. Pray it everyday. It will strengthen you. We move to the next bead on the Holy Rosary, the Our Father bead.
The Our Father
We pray that perfect prayer of Jesus, the Lords prayer. It has seven petitions which contain everything we need in our life in our relationship with God. You can read the fourth section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to understand more about prayer and the perfect prayer the Our Father prayer. Also, you can go to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It explains much about prayer and it is very very beautiful. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a gift from God to us. This is part of our Lay Formation Program. Understanding our Faith, we move to the Our Father bead that we offer for our Holy Father’s intentions and his mental, physical and spiritual welfare. Then, we move to the three Hail Mary beads.
The Three Hail Mary’s
We pray for the gift of the supernatural virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity which we need to live our life in relationship to God. A life of Faith, Hope and Charity is a beautiful way to live. Our Lady also teaches us how to relate to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit because she is the daughter of the Father, the Mother and perfect disciple of the Son, the spouse and sanctuary of the Holy Spirit; and we gift you with these relationships. She will help you deepen those relationships. Remember, everything is about relationships. Prayer comes from the heart. Yes, we use our minds. God wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, might and mind. Remember how we started the day? We pray the three Hail Mary’s and then we go and pray the Gloria.
The Gloria
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen. Our whole life is to give honor and glory to God, to exalt His majesty and manifest His greatness.
The Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary
We move into the mysteries. There are twenty mysteries in the Holy Rosary or twenty decades. They are called decades because there are ten Hail Mary beads, ten per decade. There are five sets of decades in the Mysteries of the Rosary known as Joyful Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries, Sorrowful Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries. The Holy Rosary contains twenty decades in all, with four sets of five decades.
To pray the Rosary you make the Sign of the Cross and pray the Apostles Creed on the crucifix as we kiss the crucifix. We pray the Our Father, the three Hail Marys, and the Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, and then we announce the Mystery. We proceed to pray the Our Father which is the first bead beginning each decade. We have ten Hail Mary’s in a decade and then we pray another Gloria- Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen.
I find it beautiful to proclaim glory to God at the end of each Mystery because as the Mysteries of Jesus’ life unfold in my life, I give glory to God. That is what prayer is all about with Our Blessed Mother. We give glory to God for His plan of Love that is unfolding in our lives and He is giving us the grace to live the life of Jesus Christ, the God-man, to live a Divine way of life. To live a Divine way of life, we need Divine grace. We are humans, right? God is Divine. We are asked to do things beyond ourselves, but with God everything is possible. In prayer you will find that everything is possible with God, and you embrace that, and you receive the graces to live that and make it fruitful.
Our Lady holds you by the hand as you pray the Rosary and she walks you through the Mysteries of the life of Christ. I’ll walk through the twenty mysteries and briefly describe the graces that are available in each mystery. we will see how our Blessed Mother says “yes” to God’s plan in her life, in each mystery, as she is contemplating the face of Christ; and how we learn to say yes to the plan of God in our life, as we contemplate the face of Christ in the school of Mary. Now contemplating the face of Christ is very, very important because Christ is the God-man who came all the way from heaven. When you look upon the face of Christ in the school of Mary what do you see? You see the human face of God and the divine face of man; you see yourself in the fullness of your Baptism; you see yourself as God sees you. The reason you are baptized is to live the life of Christ— to live the Trinitarian-Marian way of life of Jesus Christ. That is what this formation program is all about: learning to live His way of life. The life of Jesus is always in communion with the Trinity because He is the Second Person of the Trinity and He shares that with us that life, that communion of the Trinity.
Prayer brings us to the plan of communion for which we are created. The prayer of the Most Holy Rosary is where Our Blessed Mother will teach us in her school how to find the purpose and meaning of our lives in Christ. When we pray the Most Holy Rosary of Our Lady, we enter into the mysteries of the life of Christ, which means we enter into the mysteries of our life, because we’re baptized into Christ, the God-man. We’re called to live a divine life in our human existence. That’s amazing. We need a teacher. Jesus came all the way from heaven to reveal God’s life and light and love to us. To help us, He gave us Our Blessed Mother, who lived this plan of communion so perfectly that now she’s in heaven. She’s with God and in God and can see all of us because that’s what happens when we go to heaven. She teaches us how to contemplate the face of Christ, the human face of God and the divine face of man.
The Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary
As we pray the mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary, there are four major sets of mysteries. There are the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries. The Luminous mysteries follow the Joyful mysteries. Luminous means light and so, as you pray the Rosary, you are going to be enlightened. Remember that the first thing you enter into is the joy of saying “yes” to God’s plan. The first set of mysteries is the Joyful mysteries. They bring you to the Luminous mysteries. With that light you can move into the Sorrowful mysteries. From there you follow through to the Glorious mysteries. They’re all connected. All of our lives, our joys, and lights, and sorrows, and glories; they’re all connected. That’s why the Rosary is connected. As we pray the Rosary we are giving Our Blessed Mother roses, a bouquet of roses that she presents to God. God gives us graces through Our Blessed Mother as we pray the Most Holy Rosary. We come to understand our life in Christ. The Rosary has vocal prayer in it. The Rosary has meditations that we’ll teach you about in other teachings that augment this teaching. We’ll provide you reflections on the Rosary. In Our Lady’s Society we have the Spiritual Exercises of the Most Holy Rosary, written by Fr. James Flanagan, Our Lady’s instrument. We will also provide you with teachings on the Rosary.
Contemplation in the Most Holy Rosary
The Rosary will also bring you into contemplation. Contemplating the meaning of life, the life of God. We come to understand why we are here, where we are from, where we are going, so you can be Saints. The Rosary has every type of prayer in it. It’s the perfect prayer. It has a body and a soul and a spirit. The body of the prayer is the vocal prayers we pray. As talked about, the Apostle’s Creed, we kiss the cross. The Our Father. The Hail Mary. The Glory be. These prayers we pray verbally in the vocal pray are the body of the prayer. The soul of the prayer is the meditations, where we reflect on what’s happening, what does this mean, how can I live this? We place ourselves right in the scene, as we look at Jesus in the school of Mary. This brings us to contemplation, to a deep understanding of God and ourselves in union with God. Archbishop Fulton Sheen says the Rosary is the perfect prayer for our psychology as well, because five decades of the Rosary which make up one of the major sets of mysteries, whether this be the Joyful or the Luminous or the Sorrowful or the Glorious, it takes about seventeen minutes to pray. That’s the perfect attention span for a human person. God’s so good; He thinks of everything. The Rosary has a body and a soul and a spirit. The spirit in which we pray is the Holy Spirit. Our Lady holds us by the hand and she invokes her Heavenly Spouse, the Holy Spirit to guide our lives, to help us see. That’s why I talked about the Luminous mysteries first, because we want lights to be illumined. We know light follows from the joys connected to the sorrows and the glories. God is so good. The mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary come from Sacred Scriptures. They’re contained right in Sacred Scripture. Eighteen of the twenty mysteries are directly from Scripture. You can pray what’s called a Scriptural Rosary. You can go right to the Scripture passage and say aloud one line, pray the Our Father, then pray the next line and say the Hail Mary, the next line another Hail Mary, the next line another Hail Mary, all the way through the decade, and then the Glory Be. It’s amazing how you can pray the Scripture line by line, the Scriptural Rosary.
I’d like to give you the Scripture citations of the Rosary. While I said that eighteen of them are directly from Sacred Scripture, in fact, the last two are referenced in Scripture, and flow form God’s promises. The Assumption of Our Blessed Mother body and soul into heaven, is essentially the fulfillment of God’s promise to one who lives his life faithfully like Our Blessed Mother. If we are faithful, God will take us to heaven. We rejoice that God fulfills His promises. That’s our destiny. One of us made it; Our Blessed Mother made it. God said “Come higher.” The Father said “Come higher, my daughter”. Jesus said, “Come higher, my Mother.” The Holy Spirit said, “Come higher, my spouse.” And He says come higher to you—in prayer. Then we see Our Lady’s crowned queen of heaven and earth. God wants to bestow His glory on us. We participate in His life for all eternity. If you live His life now, if you stay in this Lay Formation Program and you are faithful to it, you will learn how to live the life of a Catholic faithfully, earning merit. We know, that God gives us the gift of Faith, but He wants us to respond to this gift by serving the way He serves. Then, He bestows merit on us. We do not earn our way into heaven, but He desires that we earn merit so that we participate in His glory for all eternity as He shares His life. Don’t settle for just skating into heaven. Be a great Saint. Be close to the Trinity, and be close to Mary, for all eternity. That’s your destiny. The last two mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary flow directly from the eighteen that are contained in Sacred Scripture. In fact, Sacred Scripture refers to these last two mysteries.
The Most Holy Rosary and Sacred Scripture- The Joyful Mysteries
There are five Joyful Mysteries. The first Joyful Mystery is the Annunciation. That is when the plan of God is announced. The word annunciation and announcement all relate. Gabriel, the messenger of the Trinity, comes to Mary, the humble handmaid of the Lord, and announces God’s plan, and she says “yes” to this plan. Even though what she asked is impossible for man, when you say yes to God every thing is possible. We realize that we must be humble to fulfill God’s plan. This Mystery is contained in St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 1: 26-38.
The second Joyful Mystery, the Visitation, where Mary makes haste to the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah. John the Baptist leaps in the womb (life begins at conception we know). John the Baptist recognizes the presence of Jesus and leaps in the womb. The Messiah is among us, Immanuel, God with us. Mary sings the Magnificat. You can turn to St. Luke’s Gospel
Chapter 1: 39 to 56. It follows right from the first Joyful Mystery.
The third Joyful Mystery is the Nativity of our Lord, His birth in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means the “house of bread.” Jesus is born right into the Eucharist. You can go to St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 2: 1 -20.
The fourth Joyful Mystery is the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. Forty days after Jesus’ birth He is presented in the Temple to fulfill the law. We see how God fulfills the law. You can go to St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 2: 22-38.
Then the fifth Joyful Mystery, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. The joy of finding Jesus in the Temple as we watch Him teach the elders and listen to them, we learn to listen. Then He teaches about the fulfillment of God’s plan by His going to the cross. We go to St. Luke’s Gospel Chapter 2: 41–52. You can pray the Scriptures. Some people say to me, “Do you read the Scriptures?” I say, “Oh, yes, we wouldn’t have the Scriptures unless it was for the Catholic Church, preserved for us at the Council of Carthage.” We talk about that in Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, Magisterium of the Church, the eighth teaching in this program. We should pray the Scriptures as Catholics. We don’t just read them, we pray them. And you pray them in the Rosary.
The Luminous Mysteries
We come to the Luminous Mysteries- the Mysteries of Light. The First Luminous Mystery is the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. Jesus did not need to be baptized. He’s God. He was baptized for us. There is one Baptism: Jesus’ Baptism. We are baptized into Him. We find this in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 3: 13-17 and St. Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 1: 4-11. You hear the Father say, “This is my beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.” The Holy Spirit comes from heaven in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit leads our lives.
The second Luminous Mystery, the Manifestation of Christ at the Wedding Feast at Cana. Our Blessed Mother intercedes. She’s attentive to all the details. She sees the newlyweds will be sad because they are running out of wine, which represents the Holy Spirit. She goes to Jesus and Jesus performs His first miracle. You can find that in St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 2: 1-11. Jesus says to Our Blessed Mother Mary, “What is to you is to me” and she says, “Do whatever He tells you.” There’s great instruction in praying this Luminous Mystery.
The third Luminous Mystery is the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God with Jesus’ call to conversion. You can review the many parables about the Kingdom of God that will help you live as faithful servants of the Kingdom, a Kingdom of Truth and Light, grace and holiness, justice and Love and peace. I urge you to go to St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 4: 12-25 and St. Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 1: 15 and Chapter 2: 3-13, and St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 7: 47-48 and St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 20: 22-23. The Kingdom of God is described in all four Gospels. Learn about the Kingdom that Jesus won for you.
The fourth Luminous Mystery the Transfiguration. We go to the mountaintop and we see the glory of our destiny: Jesus, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. We draw strength to go to the cross. We hear the Father say, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” And He says go to the cross. You can go to St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 17: 1-9 and St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 9: 28-36.
The fifth Luminous Mystery is the Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist. That’s the ninth teaching in this program, the first year. You’ll learn more about the Eucharist, the gift of the Eucharist, where Jesus is present body, blood, soul, and divinity, really truly and substantially present. The gift of love in the Eucharist. We also see Jesus instituting the holy priesthood. If there’s no priesthood, there’s no Eucharist. We must love our priests. Please pray for me, a priest in Christ, a priest son of Mary. You can go to St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 22: 14-20 and St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 13: 1.
The Sorrowful Mysteries
The five Sorrowful Mysteries. The first Sorrowful Mystery is the Agony in the Garden. Jesus says, “Can you not watch with me for one hour?” Learn to pray with Him. Watch Him in agony in the garden, be with Him. Be attentive. Learn how He prays. He sweats blood, because He fears that souls will be lost. We must pray that souls will be saved by God’s goodness and grace. You can go to St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 26: 36-56.
The second Sorrowful Mystery, the Scourging at the Pillar. By Jesus’ stripes we are healed. He is brutally scourged, but He goes forward for us. You can go to the prophet Isaiah,
Chapter 53: 1-12 and St. Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 15: 1-15.
The third Sorrowful Mystery, the Crowning with Thorns. We know Jesus deserves crowns of gold and precious jewels, but He takes a crown of thorns for us. Some people reject God, and those are the thorns in His head. He wants us to put on His mind. You can learn about this in St. Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 15: 16-20 and St. Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 27: 27-31.
The fourth Sorrowful Mystery: the Carrying of the Cross. Jesus carries His heavy cross to Calvary. The time has arrived. He directs us, “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” I urge you to pray the Way of the Cross, the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross. It’s a blessed prayer. You’ll learn more about His Passion. A path to holiness is by meditating on the Sacred Passion of Christ, daily. Pray the Way of the Cross. Learn to carry your cross. Know that Our Blessed Mother is on the way of the cross there for you. You can look to my side you see the fourth station, Our Blessed Mother meets Jesus on the Way of the Cross and the sixth station, Veronica wipes the face of Jesus with her veil. You can go to St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 23: 26-32 and St. Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 10: 17-21.
The Crucifixion, the fifth Sorrowful Mystery. Jesus is lifted high on the cross. He prays the seven last words. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. This day thou shall be with me in paradise. Woman behold thy son, son behold thy Mother.” He gives us the gift of His Mother, our Mother at the foot of the cross. Receive her. Enter in to her way of life in this program. Jesus says, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me.” Then He says, “I thirst,” He thirsts for souls. He proclaims, “It is consummated” and “Into Thy hands I commend my Spirit.” A summary of all the gospels, those seven last words. You hear them on Good Friday. I hope you pray them regularly. For the Crucifixion, you can go to St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 19: 17-30 and
St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 27: 35-56.
The Glorious Mysteries
The fourth set of mysteries is the Glorious Mysteries. Remember they’re all connected. The joys, the lights, the sorrows, the glories. The first Glorious Mystery is the Resurrection. He is risen. And He comes forth giving us His victories over sin, Satan, death, the flesh and the world. He hands us a new life. That’s what you’re learning to live in the Resurrection. You can go to St. Matthew’s Gospel: Chapter 28: 1-15 and St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 24: 1-49 and St. Mark’s Gospel Chapter 16: 1-18.
The second Glorious Mystery: the Ascension. Forty days after His Resurrection Jesus ascends into Heaven on His own power. He gives us a missionary mandate: “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them all I taught you.” We look at the face of Christ in the school of Mary. Mary received a blessing from Jesus before Jesus ascended. Now it’s time to move forth to go make disciples of all nations. You can go to the Acts of the Apostles: Chapter 1: 3-11.
The third Glorious Mystery: the Holy Spirit Descends upon the Blessed Mother and The Apostles at Pentecost. We need a new Pentecost in the Church. Let the Spirit move and renew the face of the earth. Let Him move in your life. Pray with Our Blessed Mother to receive the seven gifts and the twelve fruits of the Spirit, to live in the Holy Spirit. That’s the third year of this program, but start now! You can go to the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2: 1-21.
The fourth Glorious Mystery: the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother, body and soul, into Heaven. It flows from the other mysteries because God has promised- if we are faithful to Him; if we live as faithful Catholics fulfilling His commandments, living the sacramental life, living pure as Our Lady lives, then He will take us to Heaven. Our Lady is taken body and soul into Heaven. You can go to the book of Revelation, Chapter 12: 1. See the woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon with twelve stars around her head, and trust Our Lady.
The fifth Glorious Mystery: the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth and Our Hearts. She’s our Mother, you can trust her, run to her. She’s Queen of Heaven and Earth. God gave her everything we need. Go to St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 1: 46-55.
Fruits of the Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary
I want to share with you that each of these Mysteries has a fruit attached to it. Fruits are very important gifts from God. I’ll go through them briefly.
In the first Joyful Mystery- The Annunciation- the fruit of that mystery is humility. We start off prayer with humility. The second Joyful Mystery- the Visitation- the fruit of that mystery is love of neighbor. The third Joyful Mystery- The birth of Our Lord, His Nativity- the fruit of that mystery is poverty and detachment. These three fruits are the fruits necessary for a true prayer life according to St. Theresa of Avila: humility, love of neighbor and detachment. The fourth Joyful Mystery- the Presentation in the Temple- the fruit of that mystery is obedience. Obedience is a blessing. The fifth Joyful Mystery, the fruit of the mystery of the Finding of Jesus in the Temple, is the joy of finding Jesus. You can find Him in every Catholic Church in the Eucharist.
The five Luminous Mysteries. The first Luminous Mystery- the Baptism of Our Lord in the Jordan- the fruit of that mystery is openness to the Holy Spirit. The second Luminous Mystery- the Wedding Feast at Cana- the fruit of that Mystery is to Jesus through Mary. The third Luminous Mystery- the Proclamation of the Kingdom- the fruit of that mystery is trust in God. The fourth Luminous Mystery- the Transfiguration- the fruit of that mystery is desire for holiness. The fifth Luminous Mystery- the Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist- the fruit of that mystery is adoration.
The five Sorrowful Mysteries. The first Sorrowful Mystery- the Agony in the Garden- the fruit of that mystery is contrition for sins. The second Sorrowful Mystery- the Scourging at the Pillar- the fruit of that mystery is purity. We need purity in our day and age. The third Sorrowful Mystery- the Crowning with Thorns- the fruit of that mystery is courage. The fourth Sorrowful Mystery- the Carrying of the Cross—the fruit of that mystery is patience. The fifth Sorrowful Mystery- the Crucifixion- the fruit of that mystery is perseverance in love.
The five Glorious Mysteries. The first Glorious Mystery- The Resurrection- the fruit of that mystery is Faith. The second Glorious Mystery- the Ascension- the fruit of that mystery is Hope. The third Glorious Mystery- the Holy Spirit descends upon Our Blessed Mother and the Apostles- the fruit of that mystery is Love of God. Faith, Hope and Charity are the first three Glorious Mysteries. The fourth Glorious Mystery- the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother body and soul into heaven- the fruit of that mystery is union with God. The fifth Glorious Mystery- the Coronation of Our Blessed Mother as queen of heaven and earth and our hearts –the fruit of that mystery is trust in Mary. Pray for these fruits.
What are the three most important points of this teaching? The three most important points: pray, pray, and pray. We need to pray to pray. We need to be humble to pray. We pray to pray. As I priest I learned I need to pray to pray. Prayer is conversation with God, but remember who you’re speaking with: God almighty. Be humble and be grateful. Go before the throne of God with Our Blessed Mother. I urge you to stay faithful to prayer. The challenges of this month in fact are staying faithful to prayer. Remember, we talked about a prayer plan in your life, waking up with two great commandments, then making a daily offering, a morning offering, making the whole day a prayer. At the end of the day, you examine your conscience. Make an Act of Contrition, go to bed in peace, sleep with the angels. Remember, your soul doesn’t sleep, so let your soul stay with Jesus all night. Our Lady will teach you how to do this. Pray the daily Rosary. Try to make daily Mass. Over time, make daily Mass. Make these changes in your life that will bring blessing to your life. Spend time in mediation. Prayer is a blessing; you will find God’s plan for your life. You will find that plan of communion. Your life has purpose and meaning. Stay faithful to this program. Live this program. Be open to the formation. See how God is working in your life. Formation is not just about learning this information, but living it and letting God work in your life.
To do this I will give you a blessing. The Lord be with you. May Almighty God Bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.