Meditation on the Sorrowful Mysteries

for the sick

Sorrow builds a bridge to the world beyond. It leads us to the Garden of sorrows and
bids us share in the Agony of Jesus. Sooner or later we find our own Gethsemane. But
as we ponder these mysteries of the Rosary, we learn that we are never alone. Uniting
our pain with that of Jesus, nothing will be lost. Nothing will be wasted. As the Divine
Master commanded the disciples to gather up the fragments of bread in the wilderness,
so he will send his angels to gather up the fragments of our broken lives. In the
consoling words of the prophet Joel: The Lord, our God will restore to us the years
which the locusts have eaten.

The Agony in the Garden

Father if it be possible let this chalice pass. Yet not my will but yours be done

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus poured out his agonising heart to the Father. It is
a cry that echoes still, in the bodies and souls of those who are in pain. We read that
Jesus was afraid of what lay ahead and that he prayed so hard, that his sweat became
like drops of blood.

Lord, an angel came to comfort and to strengthen you for the struggle, so that you
could drink the chalice to the dregs. I thank you for the angels of mercy --- the nurses
and attendants who minister to me in my own agony. I thank you for the drugs and
other medications that soothe my pain. I honour the physicians, the dieticians, the
therapy people who are constantly there to help all who suffer. I pray for the many who
linger in pain. I offer up my own distress, that in some way it may help to alleviate their
agony.

The Scourging at the Pillar

We are healed by the punishment, he suffered, made whole by the blows he received.

Sin has covered the whole earth, and with it, has come pain and punishment. I may be
an innocent victim myself. I may never have sinned or I may have truly repented. It is
simply, that we are all part of the sinful race of Adam, and stand in need of redemption
and divine healing.

Lord, I believe that your passion is a wondrous wealth of heavenly medication stored up
in the reservoir of these Rosary mysteries. As I press my lips to your precious wounds I
claim the promise of the Prophet Isaiah, that I am being healed by the punishment you
suffered and made whole by the blows you received.
The Crowning with Thorns

He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly. He never said a word.

In this mystery we think of those who suffer in the mind and whose spirits are troubled.

Jesus was King and yet he was mocked and made little of. They spat on his lovely face
and cursed him, that we might be saved from the curse of the evil one.

We pray in this mystery for those who suffer torture, persecution and imprisonment,
especially those who suffer for their beliefs and for the rights of others.

We pray for the outcasts of society, for all who live on the margins of life, that through
your scourging they may find dignity.

Lord Jesus, I offer the pains and the personal hurts I experience as some small service
to fellow sufferers others along the way. Through your crowning with thorns grant to all
of us, peace of mind and heart.

The Carrying of the Cross

Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, he never said a word.

Lord, help me to be silent when I want to grumble and complain. Every one around me
has a cross to carry. I am not alone. I walk alongside friends and companions in pain.
And you walk ahead of all of us, in the long procession of those who suffer. Faith tells
us, that it a march to glory and to victory.

In this mystery, we weep for you as did the women of Jerusalem. We meet you face to
face, as your Mother must have met you. Like Simon who helped to carry your cross,
we offer the humble tribute of our own personal scourging and suffering. As St. Paul so
mysteriously expressed it, we fill up in our own bodies what is wanting to your passion.

The Crucifixion

Despised and rejected, he endured suffering and pain, No one would even look at him.

Pain and drugs can shut out the light, and we experience something of the darkness
which covered the earth on the day of Crucifixion. We cry in the darkness of our own
desolation, as Jesus did: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”
Dear Jesus we see you lifted up on the Cross with your Mother and the disciple whom
you loved standing silently below. We listen to your dying words: “Behold you
mother...”

In this mystery we accept the gift of your mother to be mother to us in our time of trial
and trouble. O Mary, Nurse of the wounded Lamb of God, we draw strength from the
continued care and consolation you bring us.

Meditation on the Glorious Mysteries for

the sick
Let’s not think of the Glorious mysteries as simply for the future. We are already living
them.

The graces that Jesus won by his rising in glory are availabe to us in this present time.
We are an Easter people, and however cast down we may be at times, grace enables us
to rise again and again. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are still being poured out on all
God’s people.

As we turn to turn to Mary assumed into heaven we say: ‘I am all thine, my Queen and
my Mother and all I have is thine.’

“ Beloved,” she replies: ‘I am all yours, and all I have is yours.”

The Resurrection

Woman, why are you weeping? Who is it that your are looking for?

Tears are never far from the sick and the suffering. Lord, it is comforting to know that
you see our tears, as you saw those of Mary Magdalen on the morning of the
Resurrection.

We worry about the future. At times, there is nothing to look forward to, but doubt,
difficulty and despair. But this mystery gives hope. You call each one of us by name, as
you called Mary.

If you ask who I am looking for, I will answer: You Lord, are the end of all my
searching. O Risen Saviour, you see my tears. You know my fears. Place in my heart a
spirit of resurrection. so that I may walk out of the tomb of darkness into the light of
your love.

Lord, I thank you for every step on the way to recovery. I give thanks for the healing
power that flows from your glorious risen body.
The Ascension

I go to my father and to your father. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am,
you also my be.

Lord, you go before me. While I lie here on a bed of pain worrying about home and
family and personal security, you are preparing an eternal dwelling place for me, where
all tears will be wiped away, and there will be no more pain or sorrow.

I believe that the great secret of living is knowing how to welcome death itself. Let that
final moment of my life be an offering, a fragrant sacrifice before the face of the Father.

For you, dear Lord, death was the final offering, the hour to which you looked forward.
In that hour evil was overcome and the kingdom of darkness defeated. Through your
wounds , may we be healed, and come to know the final healing of your victorious
ascension into heaven. May those sacred and glorious wounds “plead for the whole
world, like stars before the face of the Father.”

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Wait for the promise of the Father. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes
upon you.

St. Paul tells us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness. The very weakness that we
experience in our bodies, may well be the situation which allows God to work powerfully
within us, and through us. This is the time when like the disciples, we follow the
command of Jesus, to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the fulfilment of his promise.
Our very isolation, is the opportunity to go to the Upper Room of the heart, there, to
wait with Mary and disciples until filled with the gifts of the Spirit.

O Mary, lovely Bride of the Spirit, reveal to us in this mystery, the secrets of Jesus
which you loved to ponder in your heart.

The Assumption

We know that when this tent we live in, our body here on earth, is torn down, God will
have a house in heaven for us.

This is the mystery which tells of the lifting up of Mary not only in spirit, but in her very
flesh and blood. The Church speaks of the bodily assumption of Our Lady. It reminds us
that God is Lord of all creation and that he is concerned not only with the saving of our
souls, but with the lifting up of the whole person, body soul and spirit.
Heavenly Father, we come into your presence in the totality of our lives--all that we are
and all that we have. We praise you for the wonder of our being, for the faculties of
mind and body and for the gift health and healing. While our weary hearts still cry in
this vale of tears, may our spirits be lifted up, in hope of sharing one day in the glorious
assumption of our Blessed Mother into heaven.

The Coronation of Our Lady

A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her
feet, and on her head, a crown of twelve stars.

O Virgin Mother, you have gone before us on our patient pilgrim way. You are the star
that leads us home. We pray for all who are sick and away from home. Dearest Mother
we salute you as Beloved Daughter of the Father, First Lady of Heaven, Housekeeper of
the Trinity, Queen of the New Creation and Mother of the Church. But we know that you
have not forgotten the dear familiar things of the little home in Nazareth. You do not
cease to care for those who still struggle with difficulties, their lips pressed against life’s
bitter cup of sorrow. Have pity on those who weep, on those who fear. Grant peace to
our minds and hope to our hearts and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit
of your womb, Jesus.