“By your example, Lord Jesus, you have taught me to live close to reality and to value ordinary tasks: gathering leftover loaves and fish, fishing, cooking, buying oil, visiting the abandoned and sick, sharing food and clothes, loving, pardoning those who do me wrong… many completely ordinary responsibilities! Each of us carries out ordinary tasks every day, but the range of their influence is immense. Ordinary tasks can bring life and happiness to a person or even prepare a new society for the future.” –Venerable Francis Xavier Nguyên Văn Thuân (+ 2002)
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.
Sunday: Help My Unbelief
1st Glorious Mystery: The Resurrection
Scripture:
His disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their
midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas,
“Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand
and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you
have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have
believed.”
—John 20:26–29
Reflection:
St. Paul said that we who were baptized into Christ were
baptized into His death, that as Christ Jesus was raised, so too
will we all be raised into eternal life (see Romans 6:3–4).
Prayer:
We believe in the resurrection, that it will lead to each of us
having eternal life after we leave this world, not because we
have seen, as Thomas did, but because we have faith. Lord, I
do believe. Please help my unbelief, that I can have a confident
faith. Amen.
Sunday: Be Carried Into Heaven
2nd Glorious Mystery: The Ascension
Scripture:
Jesus answered [Nathaniel] and said to him, “Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will
see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen,
I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
—John 1:50–51
Reflection:
Christ’s ascension into heaven gives us the sure hope that we,
too, will be carried into heaven one day, following Him there.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, grant that I may be taken into heaven with as many
of my brothers and sisters here as possible. Amen.
Sunday: Share His Gifts and Fruits
3rd Glorious Mystery: The Descent of the
Holy Spirit on Our Lady and the Apostles
Scripture:
“And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your
servants to speak your word with all boldness, as you stretch
forth [your] hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done
through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” As they prayed,
the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all
filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of
God with boldness.
—Acts 4:29–31
Reflection:
Here, we are connected to the ascended Christ Jesus through
the Holy Spirit. Mary was connected to the Holy Spirit her
whole life, being full of grace, and then being overshadowed
by the same Spirit at the annunciation.
Prayer:
At the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Mary was the
mother of the church, assisting in praying for the Holy Spirit
for the entire group of Jesus’s followers, although the Spirit had
never left her. Dear Blessed Mother, please pray for me to allow
the Holy Spirit to have His way with me during my earthly
life, and bestow His gifts and fruits, so that I may share them
with others and do my own part in facilitating the creation of
a world at peace. Amen.
Sunday: Make it Into Heaven
4th Glorious Mystery: The Assumption
Scripture:
Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of
the Lamb.
—Revelation 19:9
Reflection:
Although the assumption of Mary was not recorded in the
gospels, it has been celebrated back to apostolic times.
Prayer:
The assumption of Mary is an anticipation of the resurrection
of other Christians (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
No. 966). Lord Jesus, please help all my brothers and sisters to
make it into heaven; encourage them to not choose hell. Amen.
Sunday: Perfect Reflection of Jesus
5th Glorious Mystery: The Coronation of our
Blessed Mother as Queen of Heaven and Earth
Scripture:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,
as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to
be holy and without blemish before him. In love, he destined
us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with
the favor of his will.
—Ephesians 1:3–5
Reflection:
The Queenship of Mary follows with the tradition of her lofty
position in the church since very early in the Christian religion;
she was the guide for the disciples in their prayer at Pentecost.
Prayer:
The Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of the Church, will assist in
guiding me to my blessed adoption by God the Father, through
her intercession. Christ Jesus, make me a perfect reflection of
You so that I can stand in Your holy presence. Amen.
