“It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater.” –Pope Benedict XVI (+ 2022)
Intention: Father, thank You that every part of my day can be exciting when I allow Jesus to step in and be a part of it!
Sunday: Changed the World
1st Glorious Mystery: The Resurrection
Scripture:
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples
that are not written in this book. But these are written that you
may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.
—John 20:30–31
Reflection:
At the crucifixion the apostles feared punishment for being
Jesus’s associates. But after the resurrection and Pentecost, they
boldly proclaimed the truth that He had risen from the dead.
Because of their tireless work to proclaim the gospel, Jesus was
able to change the world.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Your message transformed men’s and women’s
hearts, and that, in turn, changed the world into a much better
place. Thank You, because I am living in a much better world
now than I would have lived in without Your coming. Amen.
Sunday: Pray Unceasingly
2nd Glorious Mystery: The Ascension
Scripture:
[The disciples] did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem
with great joy, and they were continually in the temple
praising God.
—Luke 24:52–53
Reflection:
Jesus’s ascension into the cloud of glory in the sky signified that
He was returning to heaven.
Prayer:
Dear Father, I know that this world is an uncertain place and
that the timing of my death and judgment are uncertain too,
so I will strive to pray always. And understanding that I cannot
do anything without You, I ask for Your grace to help me to
pray unceasingly, so that I will be prepared, no matter what
happens. Amen.
Sunday: Mary, Symbol of the Church
3rd Glorious Mystery: The Descent of the
Holy Spirit on Our Lady and the Apostles
Scripture:
God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba,
Father!”
—Galatians 4:6
Reflection:
Christian imagery casts Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant,
and the one upon whom Divine Wisdom (Christ) sits enthroned.
Christianity also believes that the Holy Spirit came to live in
Mary in a unique way at Pentecost.
Prayer:
Dear Mother Mary, you are the symbol of the church, and
Pentecost was the church’s day of birth. Watch over your church
and continually guide Her to Christ, through your intercession.
Amen.
Sunday: Jesus Helped
Mary Into Heaven
4th Glorious Mystery: The Assumption
Scripture:
The Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of
an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down
from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we
who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
—1 Thessalonians 4:16–17
Reflection:
Jesus was able to ascend into heaven on His own “power.” Mary
was sinless her whole life, and her soul would have been able to
go to heaven without waiting. But she had to have help from
Jesus to travel to heaven in both soul and body, which we call
her being “assumed.”
Prayer:
Jesus, when my time comes, please give me a peaceful, easy and
happy death, and please help me to attain entrance into heaven
quickly and easily. If I need to be purified in Purgatory, please
make the time short, and sweeten it with the love of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Sunday: Mary is the Ark
5th Glorious Mystery: The Coronation of our
Blessed Mother as Queen of Heaven and Earth
Scripture:
The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its
place beneath the wings of the cherubim in the sanctuary, the
holy of holies of the temple. The cherubim had their wings
spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its
poles from above.
—1 Kings 8:6–7
Reflection:
In John’s vision of heaven in Revelation, he saw the new temple
in the center of the city, which had as its center the Ark of the
Covenant. Then immediately that vision opened up to the
woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and
on her head a crown of twelve stars. John’s vision of the woman
has been interpreted to be Mary, the New Ark, the Queen of
Heaven, since the earliest days of the church.
Prayer:
I pray, Lord, for the repose of all the holy souls in Purgatory, as
I pray, “Out of the depths I call to you, Lord;/ Lord, hear my
cry!/ May your ears be attentive/ to my cry for mercy” (Psalm
130:1–2). Amen.
