Saint Doubting Thomas

Over the next several weeks, the grade nine classes of St. Thomas Aquinas are having retreats here at St. Andrew's Church, to help get the freshmen off to a great spiritual start to their high school careers. I was asked to be a part of the retreat, and as the theme was how Jesus meets us in the challenges of high school, and overcomes them, I thought I'd offer a meditation on one of my heroes of faith, St. Thomas the Apostle.

I want to read a passage of Scripture to you, about a fairly famous fellow in the Bible, though, sometimes not one with the greatest of reputations. He's one of my heroes though, particularly because of this story--and I think his story will provide some encouragement for you as well, as you begin your journey through high school. But you'll see what I mean.

John 20:19-29

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you,' and, after saying this, He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and He said to them again, 'Peace be with you.

'As the Father has sent Me,
so I am sending you.'

After saying this He breathed on them and said:

'Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive anyone's sins,
they are forgiven;
if you retain anyone's sins,
they are retained.'

Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, 'We have seen the Lord,' but he answered, 'Unless I see the holes that the nails made in His hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into His side, I refuse to believe.' Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. 'Peace be with you,' He said. Then He spoke to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; look, here are My hands. Give Me your hand; put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving any more but believe.' Thomas replied, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him:

'You believe because you can see Me.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.'

I love St. Thomas the Apostle. I have to say, he's definitely one of my favourite disciples of Jesus (if I had to rank them, I'd put him probably at number 2, behind John). He is definitely one of my heroes of faith. Hold up, what? A hero of your faith?! We are talkin' about Doubting Thomas, right? Like, the one that doubted. How can he be a hero of faith?! Yes, Doubting Thomas is one of my heroes. He's gotten a bit of a bad rap throughout history. He's that poor excuse for an Apostle. "That's the doubter!" "He didn't have faith!" "He had to see to believe!" "What kinda weak, wishy-washy, lameoid disciple is that?!"

See, I like Doubting Thomas 'cause he's real. He's human, like me. Here's a guy who spent the last three years of his life following Jesus around, firmly believing that Jesus is this big ol' Messiah come to save the world. He's the greatest guy who ever lived. He's travellin' around, preaching about God and His Kingdom, and healing people, doing all kinds of miracles, and really just blowing people away. Then things got nasty, and Jesus' wonderful preaching, healing, miracle-working Messiah-tour got cut short. He was arrested and then Crucified! Thomas' teacher, his best friend, his hero--and they killed Him!

So I figure Thomas is rather shaken up by all of this. His whole identity and sense of purpose just got pinned to a big nasty tree. He's probably wandering around in a depressed stupor, and totally misses the next three days. When he finally gets it together, he's probably thinking, "What the heck am I doing?! If they killed Jesus, they're probably comin' after me next! I gotta find the guys! Safety in numbers and all!" So he heads back to the Upper Room, seeing if maybe Peter or John are hanging around still. When they unlock the door, Thomas walks in on what seems to be some kinda crazy celebration, and he's like, "What on earth are you guys doing?! Jesus is dead, and you're partying! What's the matter with you?!" So Peter probably says, "Thomas! Guess what! He's alive! He was here!"

Now, if I was Thomas, here's what I would have said: "Are you off your nut? Pete, that is probably the sickest joke you could pull on someone!" I mean, seriously, if you knew my best friend had just died, and I came up to you excited as all get out, saying, "Dude! You're never gonna believe this! My best friend is alive! He just came to visit me today!" You're gonna be thinking I'm ready to check into the funny farm! You're gonna want proof. I mean, if you believed me, your picture would be beside "gullible" in the dictionary!

I think Thomas handled it pretty well, though. I mean, he didn't hit Peter or nothing. "Yeeeeaaaaah, ooookay. Petey, here's the deal. If I can put my fingers in the scars on his hands, and poke the hole in his side, I'll believe you." And so, Thomas goes down in history as the weak-faithed disciple.

But wait, that's not the end of the story! Eight days later, our buddy Thomas is still hanging out with the other disciples (because really, where else is he going to go?), and they're still insisting that they saw Jesus ('cause you just don't drop that kind of thing!).

So get this, they're all together in one room, the doors are shut, and the place is locked up tighter than Fort Knox for fear of the Jewish authorities, when BAM! Jesus is right there in the middle of the room! No doors open or nothing! I tend to picture the scene like this:

Peter: Tommy! I'm telling you, He was here!
Thomas: Look Pete, I said it before, and I'll say it again! Give it up!
Peter: Tom, I'm not.......
Awkward silence, wide eyed stares at something behind Thomas.
Voice: Peace be with you!
Thomas, jumping nearly out of his skin and spinning around: GAH! I mean, uh...GAH!
Jesus: Hey Tom, I can see you're having a little trouble with all this.
Thomas: Bluh...
Jesus: Look, here's My hands and My side. Don't be unbelieving anymore!

And Thomas, who was formerly doubting, drops to his knees and gives the greatest statement of who Jesus Christ is, in all of Scripture: "My Lord and my God!"

So I want to encourage you tonight. You're at a point in your life where doubts are coming at you, left, right and centre. Of all the things grabbing for your attention--popularity, sex, drugs, sports, teams, homework, and whatever else--very little will be encouraging you to actually seek Jesus, or give a rip about Church or religion. Most things that will come up in your high school life will actually seek to pull you away from your faith. But last year you were confirmed into your faith. You chose to stand up and be anointed, to say, yeah, I want that Jesus thing! But now, a year later, you're like, yeah. I'm an adult Christian. I got the oil of the Spirit...but I don't really feel all that different. What was the point? Was it all just kids stuff? "I can't be a missionary! I don't even believe in Jebus!"

But let me tell you, Jebus...I mean, Jesus believes in you! He loves you! He doesn't sit up in Heaven saying, "Oh oh, that kid's doubting again! Man I've had it with them! Pfft!" Rather, just like He did for Thomas, He's willing to do for you--to come down to your own level and meet you where you're at, if you simply ask Him! But if you hold on to your doubts, if you hide them inside, they'll fester inside you and eventually swallow you up. Jesus wants you to give them to Him. That's why He's given you your teachers, your chaplain, me, the priests at St. Andrew's, and the other wonderful and wise saints in your life. We're here to support you, not kick you when you're down! We aren't perfect. We each have our own doubts and struggles, too. Show me a person who never doubts his faith, and I'll show you a person who never thinks about his faith.

And ultimately, Jesus is right there with you. Don't be afraid to trust Him. He's a lot bigger than your doubts. He's a lot bigger than your problems! Give Him your doubts, and He'll give you a faith that's stronger than ever!

God bless.

The Sign of the Cross

Last night was the first meeting of the St. Andrew's gym night at St. Vincent school. We had a great time playing dodgeball and soccer! If you're interested in coming out, it's from 7 until 9, every Tuesday night, at St. Vincent's elementary school. As part of the night, I give a brief talk about our faith and how it applies to our lives. I'll post those talks here, since the Sunday meeting is now a drama team, and doesn't have a formal message anymore.

"The message of the cross is folly for those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God." - 1 Corninthians 1:18
"I was resolved that the only knowledge I would have while I was with you was the knowledge of Jesus, and of Him as the crucified Christ." - 1 Corinthians 2:2
"'Just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.'" - Matthew 20:28

When we opened our meeting in prayer, we finished by crossing ourselves--touching our foreheads, our chests, and then our left shoulders and our right shoulders. Not everyone at the meeting was a Christian, and one girl asked me afterwards, "What was that?" I told her, "Stay tuned, it's the subject of tonight's talk!"

So what exactly is it when we make that motion, or when we see basketball players or football players or people in movies make that sign? What is its significance? It is not just a superstitious gesture, like crossing our fingers. It is not some glib joke like Austin Powers seems to think ("Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch"). It is something far more powerful than a superstition, and far more meaningful than glib jokes.

The Sign of the Cross is a prayer. It's a prayer in which we dedicate ourselves to God, and a prayer that expresses our belief in God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one being. When we cross ourselves we pray, "In the Name of the Father (touching our forehead), of the Son (touching our heart), and of the Holy Spirit (touching first our left, then our right shoulder)."

Through this prayer, we offer ourselves to God, desiring that everything we are be in Him. By touching our heads, our hearts, and shoulders, we demonstrate that we desire our minds, our hearts, and our entire selves to be given to Him. And we recognise in this same action, the very means of how we are in Him: The Cross.

Because, you see, we didn't start off in Him. We are all born without Him in our lives. This is because, when, many thousands of years ago, God created the first people, He created them so He could know and love them, and so they would know and to love Him. But love is only genuine when it is freely chosen, and so He gave them a choice: obey and love Him, or disobey Him and be excluded from His life of love. They were tempted by the Devil to believe that God was keeping them from their true potential by serving Him, and told them that by disobeying Him, they would become gods themselves! Well, who can pass up an offer like that?

I learned recently, buying furniture, what "Too good to be true" means. And that offer of the devil, my friends, is too good to be true. But Adam and Eve bought it--and many people today buy it as well--and were cast out of God's presence. And we inherited that state. And while many people today are "happy" living apart from God, and many don't even believe in Him, He is not content to let us live apart from Him. He knows that we are only complete with Him, and He still believes in us and loves us. The problem is, though, that our sin (that flipping God off and wanting to do it our own way) has serious and unpleasant consequences. The Bible says that the reward for sin is death--and that death winds us up in a place that we affectionately refer to as Hell. And Hell is a place you don't want to be!

Notably, God doesn't want us to be there, either. And so He put a plan into motion to bring us back to Him, and to cancel out the terrible reward for our sin. God the Son came to earth as a human being, 2000-odd years ago, named Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ lived and taught us about God. And if that was all He did, that would be pretty amazing. But there's more.

This Jesus Christ who taught us about God, demonstrated God's incredible love and power through many miraculous signs--healing people from incurable sicknesses, raising people from the dead, feeding multitudes with very little food, walking on water, calming the storm, and many others! And if that was all He did, that would be incredible! But there's more.

This Jesus came for one reason, and one reason alone. His teaching and His miracles were "side effects" of God walking around on earth as a Man. But the true purpose wasn't to teach or to heal. It was to die. His teachings enraged a lot of people who didn't want to surrender their lives to God, and so they tried to silence this Man by killing Him. But that was the plan all along. Jesus was flogged, beaten, and finally nailed to a Cross. What seemed like the Devil's ultimate victory was really his absolute defeat--and what seemed like Jesus' total failure was His absolute glory. Because it was on that cross that Jesus forgave that penalty that we owed because of our sins! And to top it all off, to complete the story, three days later Jesus rose from the dead! 'Cause you can't keep the God-Man down!

This is why Catholics cross themselves. We realise that we are "In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" because our sins are forgiven through the Cross. That forgiveness, that love relationship with God that surpasses all other relationships that we could hope to have, is available to all of us if we would just ask.

† "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

I Shall Not Walk Alone

In the recent open forum (That's still open, by the way!) many Protestants (among them a minister) made the point that Jesus is the main thing for us as Christians. And they are absolutely right. In fact, the aim of the Open Forum was intended to demonstrate that everything that we believe as Catholics focusses on and orbits around Jesus, as the earth orbits the sun.

Focused on Christ

We must remain focused on Christ, and remain in Christ. He is our Salvation. Last Sunday, there was a large rally at St. Joseph's here in Oakville, and the different youth groups from the different Catholic parishes in and around Oakville came out to worship Jesus (with the kickin' music ministry of Critical Mass!). The theme was about coming together to worship Christ--and in fact, we got the opportunity to meet with Him in a powerful way, for those who took the opportunity for the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. For an hour in the Church, we had a time of quiet to come and pray before the altar, on which the Eucharist was displayed, so that we could spend time with Jesus, and meet with Him.

After that, we had Mass, where we had the opportunity to actually have Communion with Jesus, to receive Him, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, into ourselves in the Eucharist!

Experiencing the Presence of Christ again at that rally really reminded me that He is Present in His Church, and He is our ultimate and absolute focus!

Mary leads us to Christ

But there are many, many doctrines in the Church, and not all of them obviously teach about Christ at first glance. Among those doctrines are the Church's beliefs about His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Open Forum (which seems to have petered out at 180 comments), the first half of the discussion is focussed on Mary, and her role in the Church. For many, especially Protestants, she seems to be a stumbling block and a hinderance to a full relationship with Jesus Christ. But this is not the truth!

Christ has given us His Mother as our Mother (John 19:26-27; Revelation 12:17). She helps us to know Christ even more intimately. And through her prayers for us, we can find strength in Christ to live for Him. For her whole raison d'?tre is to give glory to God, and to bring people to her Son, Jesus Christ (Luke 1:46-47; John 2:5).

I have a cd by the Blind Boys of Alabama, called Higher Ground. On it they sing a song called "I Shall Not Walk Alone", that talks about how this relationship with Mary strengthens us in our pilgrimage on earth.

I Shall Not Walk Alone
Ben Harper

Battered and torn still I can see the light
Tattered and worn but I must kneel to fight
Friend of mine what can't you spare
I know sometimes it gets cold in there

When my legs no longer carry
and the cold wind chills my bones
I just reach for Mother Mary
and I shall not walk alone

Hope is alive while we're apart
Only tears speak from my heart
Break the chains that hold us down
And we shall be forever bound

When I'm tired and weary
and a long, long way from home
I reach for Mother Mary
and I shall not walk alone

Beauty that we left behind
How shall we tomorrow find
Set aside our weight in sin
So that we can live again

When my legs no longer carry
and the cold wind chills my bones
I reach for Mother Mary
and I shall not walk alone

Just as you or I might pray for each other, in the hard times, when we don't know how to continue, our Mother, who loves us, prays for us and brings us to Christ, her Son and our Older Brother, who walks with us. We truly will never walk alone!

The Rosary

This issue of Marian beliefs and Marian devotion was one that I struggled with right up until even shortly after I became a Catholic. I couldn't understand, as many Protestants can't, how she leads us to Christ without somehow getting in the way. Since becoming a Catholic, I have begun to understand her better, and certainly to love her more. This really began when I took up what is possibly the most famous Catholic devotion: The Rosary. In this series of prayers and meditations, John Paul the Great tells us, "We meditate with Mary on the life of her Son." We ponder with Mary the mysteries of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and come to a fuller and greater understanding of Him--and at the same time, pray perseveringly for our needs and the needs of others!

John Paul 2, on March 8th, 2003, said to us,

My Dear Young People! Today, I am handing you the Rosary beads. Through prayer and meditation on the mysteries, Mary leads you safely towards her Son! Do not be ashamed to recite the Rosary alone, while you walk along the streets to school, to the university, or to work, or as you commute by public transport. Adopt the habit of reciting it among yourselves, in your groups, movements and associations.

With these words from our late Holy Father in mind, we will begin to do just that at our Sunday meetings starting this fall, as our group switches over to a drama team. So come prepared!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Rosary, here is a simple guide for praying it:

How to Pray the Rosary

The Rosary beads are a chain of many beads that form a loop. Trailing from the loop is a small stretch of 5 beads ending with a Crucifix. Where the tail connects to the loop, there is a medal, usually of Mary, or Jesus, or a saint. The one hanging from my rearview mirror has the Eucharistic Chalice with a Host above it. From the medal are ten beads, a slight space, a single bead, another space, ten more beads, etc. In all, there are five groups of ten beads, with a single bead between each group of ten, making four (plus the medal).

Beginning with the Crucifix, we pray the Apostles' Creed (See the prayers below). Then, while fingering the first of the five beads, we pray the Our Father. For the next three beads, we pray a Hail Mary each. On the fifth bead, we pray a Glory Be.

When we get to the medal, we announce the first mystery that we intend to meditate on (the mysteries will be explained below as well). Then we pray another Our Father. For the next 10 beads we pray a Hail Mary each, while meditating and praying about the mystery that we have just announced. When we come to the space between the tenth bead and the single bead, we pray a Glory Be, and then a Fatima Prayer. At the single bead, we announce the next mystery, and start the process over. This continues until all five mysteries are prayed through and meditated upon, and we arrive at the medal again. In the space after the final tenth bead and the medal, we again pray a Glory Be, and a Fatima Prayer, as we have done. Then, at the Medal, we pray a Marian prayer such as the Hail, Holy Queen (which is my preference) or another prayer to Mary of our choice. Then we cross ourselves and go on our way, knowing that we are not walking alone!

The Prayers of the Rosary
The Apostles' Creed
This prayer is a brief summary of our beliefs. It is called "The Apostles' Creed" because it was a summary of their teachings, passed on by the early Church.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty
Creator of Heaven and Earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into Heaven.
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 the life everlasting.
Amen.

The Our Father
This is the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples, when they asked Him how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13.

Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed by 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.
Amen.

The Hail Mary
This prayer is also taken from Scripture--at least the first half. The first two lines are Gabriel's greeting to Mary in Luke 1:28, and the second two are Elizabeth's greeting to Mary in Luke 1:42. The second half is a simple prayer asking Mary to pray for us.

Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us sinners,
Now, and at the hour of our death.

The Glory Be
This is a simple doxology glorifying the Trinity.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and forever will be,
World without end. Amen.

The Fatima Prayer
This prayer was given to the three children of Fatima, Portugal, when Mary appeared to them in a series of visions. She asked them to pray it when they prayed the Rosary. In my mind, it proves the desire of Mary to lead us to Jesus:

O my Jesus,
Forgive us our sins,
Save us from the fires of hell,
And lead all souls to heaven--
Especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
Amen.

The Hail, Holy Queen
This poetic prayer to Mary can cause concern to Protestants, but we must understand that everything that we hold in this prayer is only because of Jesus, and because she brought Jesus into the world in order to be our salvation.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To thee we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee we lift up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us,
And show unto us the Most Blessed Fruit of thy womb, Jesus--
O clement, o loving, o sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us, most holy Mother of God,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Amen.

Those are the prayers of the Rosary. Many Protestants claim that the Rosary violates Jesus' condemnation of "vain repetition" in our prayers, since we repeat each prayer several times (Matthew 6:7-8). However, it is important to understand two things here:

1. Not all repetition is vain. Otherwise, many of the Psalms would fall under Jesus' condemnation, making Jesus a contradiction, since the Psalms are the inspired word of God. See, for example, Psalm 136, where the second line of each of its 26 verses is "For His faithful love endures forever." Now that's repetitious!

2. The focus of the prayer isn't on the words being said. They form a prayerful backdrop for the key part of the prayer--meditating on the life of Christ with Mary. Without this exercise of meditating on Christ, then yes, the Rosary would be vain repetition! The mysteries are the entire point of the Rosary! So what are they?

The Mysteries of the Rosary
By "mystery" it is meant an aspect of our faith that is miraculous, that we cannot comprehend. When it comes to the life of Christ, we will never comprehend how the Infinite, Almighty God could become a Man and live among us. Thus, everything that Christ did is a "mystery". In the Rosary, there are 20 mysteries, divided into four sets of five. One "rosary" is the praying of a set of 5, thus going around the loop.

The mysteries focus on Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection. When we meditate on each mystery, it is important to focus on it as if we ourselves were there, witnessing the event. How would we have felt, or reacted, in that situation? When we do this, we go right into the pages of the Gospels with Mary, as she shows us her Son more clearly. As such, it is important that we read and learn the stories from the Bible itself. Therefore, I will include the place in the Bible where the story is found.

When we undertake to meditate on a mystery, it is helpful to offer a prayer intention. One will be suggested for furthering virtues in your life, as we discussed in the Seven Deadlies post.

Let us look at each mystery.

The Joyful Mysteries
These five mysteries focus on Jesus' birth and early childhood.

The Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary--Luke 1:26-38
Intention: When meditating on this mystery, pray for the humility of Mary when she responded to God's plan, saying, "You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said" (Luke 1:38).

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth--Luke 1:39-56
Intention: When meditating on this mystery, pray that you would have a greater love for your neighbour (Matthew 22:39). Think of Mary, visiting her pregnant cousin, and helping her to keep house, while she herself is pregnant with the Saviour!

The Nativity of Jesus--Luke 2:1-21
Intention: Pray that Jesus would help you to be poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3), as He Himself was: The King of the Universe born in a barnyard feeding trough! If He would do this for us, what should we do for Him?

The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple--Luke 2:22-38
Intention: The Jewish people had to offer sacrifices of purification for every first-born child. When Mary and Joseph went to offer these sacrifices, two prophets, Simeon and Anna, give testimony to who Jesus is. If Mary and Joseph had not been obedient to even the seemingly minor points of the Law, Simeon would never have seen the Lord's promise fulfilled (Luke 2:26). Let us then pray for willingness to be obedient to Christ's laws.

Finding Jesus in the Temple at the age of 12--Luke 2:41-50
Intention: Jesus' parents lose track of Him on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. In their worry they look everywhere, and finally find Him, a 12-year-old, teaching scribes and teachers of the Law! When they find Him, Mary and Joseph are filled with joy and relief. Let us pray that we would also be filled with joy at finding Christ working in our own lives--even in the places we least expect to see Him!

The Luminous Mysteries
These new mysteries, given by Pope John Paul 2 in 2002, highlight key events in the life and ministry of Jesus.

Jesus' Baptism--Matthew 3:1-17; Mark 1:1-11; Luke 3:1-22; John 1:29-34
Intention: At His baptism, the heavens were opened, and God proclaimed His love for Jesus, and sent the Holy Spirit to empower His ministry. Let us pray that we would have a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Jesus Turning Water into Wine at the Wedding in Cana--John 2:1-12
Intention: In this story, we see Mary bringing the servants to Jesus so that He could meet their need, and she tells them the most important piece of advice ever: "Do whatever He tells you" (John 2:5). Let us pray and ask Mary to lead us into a deeper relationship with her Son.

The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God--Matthew 4:23; 5:1-7:29
Intention: Let us pray that we would be willing to proclaim Jesus' Kingdom as He sends us out. Let us pray that we are never too worried about what others think that we would deny Jesus!

The Transfiguration of Jesus--Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8
Intention: When Jesus was transfigured, He displayed His true glory for a moment, to Peter, James and John. Let us pray that He would reveal His glory in our own lives.

The Last Supper--Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:7-20
Intention: Let us pray that we would come to know Jesus truly as He gives Himself to us in the Eucharist.

The Sorrowful Mysteries
These mysteries focus on Jesus' suffering and death, which brings us forgiveness for our sins.

Jesus' Agony in the Garden--Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46
Intention: As we meditate on Jesus praying and sweating blood for us, let us pray for true sorrow and true repentance for our sins which brought Him here.

Jesus' Arrest and Scourging--Matthew 26:47-27:26; Mark 14:43-15:15; Luke 22:47-23:25; John 18:1-19:16
Intention: As we meditate on Jesus' suffering, let us realise that it brought us our redemption: "He was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on Him, and we have been healed by His bruises" (Isaiah 53:5). Let us pray and thank Him for His salvation, and pray that we would understand the value of suffering in our own lives.

The Crowning with Thorns--Matthew 27:27-31; Mark 15:16-20
Intention: Let us pray, as we meditate on Jesus' humiliation, that we will have the strength to stand up for Him, even in the face of ridicule and death.

Jesus' Carrying His Cross--Matthew 27:32-33; Mark 15:20-22; Luke 23:26-32; John 19:17-18
Intention: As we meditate on Christ carrying His Cross, let us pray for the patience that He had in enduring this torture.

Jesus' Crucifixion and Death--Matthew 27:32-56; Mark 15:23-39; Luke 23:33-49; John 19:18-37
Intention: As we meditate on Jesus' death, let us reflect on the care He had for those around Him, even in His agony. Let us pray that we would persevere in our walk with Him always, so that we would inherit the crown of life.

The Glorious Mysteries
These mysteries focus on Jesus' resurrection and His power in the Church

The Resurrection--Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-13; Luke 24:1-42; John 20:1-21:25
Intention: As we meditate on Jesus' Resurrection, pray that He would increase our faith in Him.

The Ascension--Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-20; Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11
Intention: As we meditate on Jesus' Ascension into heaven, let us pray that He would fill us with hope in the angels' words, "Why are you...standing here looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you will come back in the same way as you have seen Him go to heaven" (Acts 1:11).

The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost--Acts 2:1-36
Intention: As we meditate, let us pray that the Holy Spirit would fill us with a greater love and zeal for God.

Mary's Assumption into Heaven--Revelation 11:19-12:1
Intention: At the end of her life, Mary was assumed bodily into Jesus' presence in heaven so that she who had been graced to be without sin, would not suffer the unltimate consiquence of sin: death. Let us pray for the desire to join Mary and her Son, Jesus, in heaven, so that we would not stray from following Him here on earth.

Mary's Coronation as Queen of Heaven--Revelation 12:1
Intention: Let us pray and ask Mary to increase our trust in her intercession for us, and for the entire Church, of which she is the Mother (Revelation 12:17).

These mysteries of the Rosary, when we pray them, and meditate on them, will lead us to a greater knowledge of Christ, and a deeper relationship with Him. Let us take our cue from Mary herself, and ponder all these things in our hearts (Luke 2:51).

God bless!