JOYFUL MYSTERIES

The Archangel Gabriel announces to Mary that She will become the Mother of God through the operation of the Holy Spirit. The humble Virgin accepts, and the Saviour of men is incarnated in Her chaste womb.

God expected from the Virgin Mary a free consent. At His request, Mary, always perfectly conformed to the Will of God, answers: “Let it be done to Me according to your word!” God also leaves us free to obey Him. He does not for the human will. He wants to be served out of love. How do we use our freedom? Do we use it for our own good or for our own misfortune?

Let us ask for humble submission to God’s will.

I adore You, O eternal Word incarnate in the womb of Mary. I prostrate myself at Your feet with the Archangel Gabriel, O Virgin of Virgins, to honour Your august title of Mother of God. I beg You to unite Your prayers to those of Saint Joseph, Your chaste Spouse, to obtain for my greater good to always subject my will to the Will of God.

The Virgin Mary visits Her cousin Elizabeth, who will soon give birth to John the Baptist. At Mary’s voice, the child and his mother are sanctified. Praised by Elizabeth, Mary returns glory to the Most High with Her sublime canticle: the Magnificat.

All divine masterpieces are mysteries of humility. Mary replies to Her cousin that the honour bestowed on Her is wholly from God, and that She has no merit for it. Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God because of Her profound humility. Do we always understand that it is only by lowering ourselves in the most sincere humility that we grow in the eyes of God?

Let us ask for humility, the source and root of all virtues.

I adore You, O Jesus living in Mary and visiting John the Baptist to sanctify him. I prostrate myself at Your feet, like Saint Elizabeth, O admirable Mother, to proclaim that You are blessed among all women; and I beg You to unite Your prayers to those of Saint Joseph, Your faithful companion, in order to obtain for me authentic Christian humility.

Jesus, Son of God, is born in a stable! Mary wraps Him in swaddling clothes, lays Him in the manger between two animals. Shepherds from Bethlehem, then Magi from the East, come to adore their Saviour.

Jesus comes to save men. He must be born in a stable because there is no room in the houses of men. He wants to be born in our hearts to save us. Do we always give to God the place He should have in our lives?

Let us ask to love God above all things, and the removal of everything that separates us from Him.

I adore You, O Jesus, born for us in the stable and lying in a manger. I bow down at Your feet, O Mary, with the shepherds and the Magi, to thank You for having given us Jesus. I beg You to unite Your prayers to those of Saint Joseph, Your admirable protector, to obtain for me the grace to accept God in my life and to open my heart wide to His Love.

To obey the Law of Moses, Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and present Him to the Lord. The old man Simeon receives the Divine Child in his arms and celebrates His future glory. He tells Mary that She will suffer greatly: “A sword will pierce Your Heart…”

The Virgin Mary, Immaculate in Her conception, was not obliged to come to the temple “to be purified”. She went there, however, to lovingly obey God’s Law, happy to find in this gesture an opportunity for humility.

Let us ask for perfect obedience to God, the supreme proof of the love we have for Him.

I adore You, O Jesus, presented to the Temple by Mary Your Mother. I prostrate myself at Your feet, O holy Mother of my God, to honor and bless You as the old Simeon did. I beg You to unite Your prayers to those of Saint Joseph, Your angelic guardian, to obtain for me the grace to entrust with the greatest confidence all that I love to the protection of God.

Jesus, twelve years old, having accompanied His parents to Jerusalem, remained in the temple without their knowledge. After three days of anguish, Mary and Joseph find Him among the Doctors of the Law, who are delighted with His wisdom.

Mary is the Mother of sinners. On this painful occasion, She suffers the anguish, loneliness, and emptiness of the guilty. The sinner loses God. Without God, he has nothing left. Do we understand that mortal sin is the greatest misfortune of our souls?

Let us ask for the grace of sincere repentance for all sinners, our brothers and sisters.

I adore You, O Jesus, found in the Temple by Your divine Mother after three days of absence. I prostrate myself at Your feet, O Mary, refuge of sinners, to ask You forgiveness for having very often forsaken Your service. I beg You to unite Your prayers to those of Saint Joseph, Your dear Comforter, to obtain for me the grace of seeking God alone and of never abandoning Him.

SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

After the Last Supper, Jesus, withdrawn to the Garden of Olives with His Apostles, becomes sad to the point of death; He is bathed in a sweat of blood. Strengthened by an Angel, He prolongs His prayer and accepts the chalice of His Passion.

Jesus understands all the horrors, the consequences and the terrible debt of sin. His whole being revolts at the thought of what He will have to endure to pay this debt. Yet He is willing to take this burden on His shoulders. But we! We treat sin lightly, we do not understand its enormity. If we did, we would never dare to commit it.

Let us ask for the grace of a sincere conversion for ourselves and for all our brothers and sisters on earth.

I adore You, O Jesus, dying in the Garden of Olives, and I am filled with sorrow when I think that I have betrayed You like Judas and deserted You like the Apostles, instead of sharing Your sorrows.

Give me the grace, O God, to drink like Mary from Your bitter chalice, and grant me contrition for all my sins.

Convinced of Jesus’ innocence, Pilate nevertheless delivers Him to the executioners to be scourged. They bind Him to a pillar and beat Him so cruelly that His body is a living wound.

Jesus suffers in His body. He allows it to be torn to shreds. He sacrifices it totally. And us! We pamper our bodies. Often in our fear of suffering we offend God. Therefore, let us understand that if Jesus accepted the scourging it was largely to teach us that the body must be submitted to the soul and that it must be sacrificed sometimes for the good of the soul.

Let us ask to willingly accept daily privations.

I adore You, O Jesus attached to the pillar. I am penetrated with pain thinking that my sins of impurity have contributed to the horrible torment of Your scourging.

Give me the grace, O my Jesus, to weep like Mary at the sight of the cruel whips that tear Your sacred body, and grant me to overcome my evil inclinations.

The executioners put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, and beat Him with sticks, throw an old red cloak on His shoulders, give Him a reed for a scepter, salute Him as King of the Jews, and make Him suffer thousands of insults.

By the scourging Jesus pays for the sins of the flesh, by the crowning of thorns He wants to make atonement for the sins of the spirit, sins of pride, doubt, selfishness, and human respect. Let us therefore understand that if Jesus has accepted for us the insults of the soldiers, their mockery and contempt, we must likewise accept everything for Him, not be ashamed to be His disciples, and leave aside all human respect when it comes to Him and His teachings.

Let us ask to die to human respect.

I adore You, O Jesus crowned with thorns, and I am filled with pain thinking that I have often stripped You of Your mantle of glory and covered You with opprobrium.

Give me the grace, O my God, to imitate Mary, enduring the greatest humiliations as She did, without complaining. Grant me victory over pride and human respect.

Sentenced to death, Jesus carries the Cross, instrument of His torment, to Calvary. All the people are charging Him with insults. Only Mary, His Mother, a few pious women and a few disciples sympathize with His sufferings.

This man who staggers under the heavy Cross is the Son of God. The crowd ridicules Him. Only a few holy women are crying. Jesus tells them not to weep for Him, but for themselves and their children. Whether we like it or not, the Cross is in our lives. Let us understand that only Jesus can transform it into an instrument of happiness for us.

Let us ask for patience in trials.

I adore You, O Jesus, carrying the instrument of Your martyrdom, and I am filled with pain thinking that You are more burdened by the weight of my sins than by the load of Your heavy Cross.

Give me the grace, O my God, to follow You as Mary did to the summit of Calvary, and to accept in union with Your divine Son all the crosses You will please to send me.

Nailed to the cross, between two thieves, Jesus prays for His executioners, promises heaven to one of the criminals, entrusts His Mother to the apostle Saint John, and, crying out: “All is accomplished,” He expires. A soldier opens His side with a spear.

Jesus dies to give us life. Sin destroys God and causes us to die. To live and possess God, we must die to sin. Therefore, let us understand that we must destroy it to obtain eternal life, that without the Cross there can be no Resurrection.

Let us ask for the final perseverance, the conversion of sinners, the deliverance of souls from Purgatory.

I adore You, O Jesus, crucified for love of us, between two rebels. I am penetrated with pain thinking that I could drive nails into Your feet and hands and pierce Your Heart with a cruel spear.

Give me the grace, O my God, to imitate Mary, the Virgin of Seven Sorrows, immolating Herself with You at the foot of the Cross. May I finally die to myself and to all earthly things!

GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

On the third day after His death on the Cross, Jesus rose by His own power and came out of the tomb full of glory and immortality. He appeared to His Mother, Mary Magdalene, and the Apostles.

“If Jesus has not risen, our faith is in vain.” By this miracle we understand, like the Apostles, that Jesus is truly the Son of God and we know that the religion He taught is truly divine. To continue His work on earth, Jesus founded His Church and promised that “the gates of hell shall never prevail against it”, just as death did not defeat Christ. Let us therefore walk with confidence on the way marked out by Jesus.

Let us ask to recognize God’s action in every detail of our lives.

I adore You, O Jesus coming out of the tomb, triumphant over death and hell. I praise Your Divine Mother for having received Your first visit on the glorious day of Your Resurrection.

Deign, Lord, to grant me a living faith so that I may always walk without failure and without hesitation in the paths that You have traced out to lead me to God.

For forty days, Our Lord Jesus Christ confirmed the truth of His Resurrection, laid the foundations of His Church, promised the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and then, before His disciples gathered on the Mount of Olives, He ascended to heaven blessing them.

All life must be a continuous ascent to Heaven. Every step, every gesture, every day should bring us a little closer to our goal. But we will only succeed in ascending and reaching Heaven if we always, like the apostles, fix our eyes on Christ who makes us understand that only Heaven is worthy of our desires. On the condition also, that we take the means He indicates to us to attain it.

Let us ask for the grace to carry out the mission for which God created us.

I adore You, O Jesus, ascending into heaven to enter into possession of Your eternal glory. I praise Your divine Mother for having Her Son placed above the Angels and Saints, at the right hand of the Father.

Deign, Lord, to grant me the grace to endure the pains of exile and to long for heaven, my true Fatherland.

On the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles were gathered in the Upper Room to pray with Mary, a rushing wind rose and the Holy Spirit descended in tongues of fire on each of the Apostles; they spoke in various tongues. Saint Peter addresses the crowd and converts a large number of Jews.

There were only twelve of them, and they saved the world. Thanks to these twelve, the shadow of the Cross spreads over the whole earth. But these twelve poor sinners received the Holy Spirit in their souls. From being timid and cowardly, they became the fearless defenders of the Rights of God. What about us? We received the Holy Spirit at our confirmation. Why are we so cowardly in the service of God?

Let us ask for fidelity to God’s inspirations.

I adore You, O Jesus, pouring out Your divine Spirit upon the Apostles and the faithful gathered in the Upper Room. I praise Your divine Mother for having received on this day the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Deign, Lord, to give me the Spirit of light to better know my duties and the Spirit of strength to fulfill them.

Retreated near the apostle Saint John, Mary dies in an ecstasy of love. Her body, the tabernacle of the Son of God, could not see the corruption of the tomb. At the moment of Her death, Mary is taken up to Heaven in body and soul in the midst of angelic concerts.

From all eternity, the Blessed Virgin was chosen to be the temple of God. She opened this temple wide when She accepted Her vocation and all Her life She adorned it with the most beautiful virtues. It is in Mary and through Her that God comes to man; it is in Her and through Her that we must go to God. Do we have for Mary, our good Mother, the love and veneration of good children?

Let us ask to imitate the virtues of our good Mother.

I adore You, O Jesus, going to meet Mary to introduce Her into Your Heavenly Kingdom. I congratulate Your divine Mother on Her glorious Resurrection and triumphant Assumption above the angelic choirs. May I always find a place under the mantle of Your holy Mother, O God.

Placed by the adorable Trinity above all the angelic choirs, Mary, beloved Daughter of the Father, beloved Mother of the Son, Spotless Spouse of the Holy Spirit, is crowned Queen of heaven and earth.

This mystery represents the crowning of every Christian life. Mary was faithful to God. God gave Her the promised reward. The happiness we seek will be ours forever if we are also faithful. We must think about this. It is minute by minute, hour by hour that the final result is played out.

Let us ask for constancy in effort and perseverance in our good resolutions.

I adore You, O Jesus, crowning the virtues of Mary by making Her sit at Your right hand, on a throne of glory, in the presence of the whole heavenly court.

Deign, Lord, to make me share as Your divine Mother in Your sufferings here on earth, so that one day I may share Her crown in Heaven.