“Before starting your activities, offer Jesus a few words of your choosing. Then, during your work often lift up your mind to God. You will benefit much and there will be no detriment to your job. First and foremost, watch how anything concerning yourself or others is begun. Direct it first to God with any short prayer with which he may inspire you, mentally or also in words that express your thoughts and wishes. Then, while working, thinking, or planning, frequently lift up your mind to God. Should your activity continue, break it up, perhaps, for the time it takes to say a “Hail Mary,” or as it may seem convenient to you. If you follow this practice, you will get used to praying easily and without detriment to your work or to your health; you will be praying incessantly, even while drinking, eating, acting, talking, studying, writing, etc.” –Saint Anthony Zaccaria (+ 1539)
Intention: Lord, please make of America a nation that becomes like a shining city on a hill for the rest of the world, and inspires the world to become more just, kind, peaceful, free, and resistant of Communism. I thank You God ahead of time for this.
Wednesday: Message to Jesus
1st Glorious Mystery: The Resurrection of Our Lord
Scripture:
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the
mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might
go and anoint him.
—Mark 16:1
Reflection:
When the women came to anoint Jesus’s body with the spices,
they were astonished and sad to see that the tomb was empty.
But, a young man there in white told them, “He has risen.”
Prayer:
Jesus, I try to imagine what the women must have felt like
when the youth told them that You had risen. They must have
thought they were in a dream. And then You appeared to them
later! Receive my message to You, as if I was there with them:
____________________. Amen.
Wednesday: Orphan
2nd Glorious Mystery: The Ascension of Our Lord
Scripture:
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while
the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because
I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am
in my Father and you are in me and I in you.
—John 14:18–20
Reflection:
Jesus taught His disciples for forty days and showed them how
the scriptures applied to Him. Then He assigned them the task
of witnessing to others about Him, and teaching them about His
saving mercy. He then ascended back to the heights of heaven.
Prayer:
Do I feel a little bit like an orphan when I think about Christ’s
leaving the earth to return to heaven? I sing to Him, Father of
the World to Come, chant His praises and ask Mary, Refuge of
Sinners, to be a mother to me, now – through her intercession.
Amen.
Wednesday: Love and Joy Flow
3rd Glorious Mystery: The Descent of the
Holy Spirit on Our Lady and the Apostles
Scripture:
[Peter] testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting
them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those
who accepted his message were baptized, and about three
thousand persons were added that day. They devoted themselves
to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the
breaking of the bread and to the prayers.
—Acts 2:40–42
Reflection:
The apostles and Mary became filled with the Holy Spirit in the
upper room, and then went out into the streets and proclaimed
Christ to everyone there, speaking in different languages to all
the peoples from different lands. Three thousand people were
converted and baptized as a result.
Prayer:
I imagine what it must have been like to hear the apostles
talking to me in my native tongue. How astonishing! And,
what a feeling, almost of drunkenness, to have felt the Holy
Spirit flowing through me as a result of their witness to me!
Holy Spirit, please allow Your love and joy to flow through me
in this way today. Amen.
Wednesday: Hope of Heaven
4th Glorious Mystery: The Assumption
of Our Blessed Mother
Scripture:
[Be] imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are
inheriting the promises.
—Hebrews 6:12
Reflection:
Tradition says that when Mary’s time had come, the apostles
gathered around her bed to pray for her, she fell asleep, and then
went up into heaven—body and soul.
Prayer:
I imagine following Mary up into heaven and seeing the angels
and saints honoring her, clapping for her and shouting for her
so loudly that the sounds of jubilation are tremendous; the joy
is palpable. They are thrilled to have her with them. Blessed
Mother, Holy Mother of God, pray for me to be able to imitate
you, and to help others like you did while you were on Earth,
and pray for me to inherit my hope of heaven. Amen.
Wednesday: Cheer Our
Blessed Mother
5th Glorious Mystery: The Coronation of Our
Blessed Mother as Queen of Heaven and Earth
Scripture:
Raise your eyes and look about;/ they all gather and come to
you:/ Your sons come from afar,/ and your daughters in the
arms of their nurses.
—Isaiah 60:4
Reflection:
Mary has been crowned Queen of Heaven by the Father, by
Jesus and by the Holy Spirit. It is her rightful place, because she
is the chosen one. Immense honor and immense responsibility
are hers.
Prayer:
Blessed Mother, Queen of Patriarchs and Prophets, I imagine
being in heaven as one of your loyal subjects when you were
crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. All the angels, all the
saints, all those in Purgatory—we all gather to cheer you and
to commend your virtue and beauty. Let me stay close to you.
Amen.
