Lovely, Padraig. Just lovely. Chewing on the mysteries but never getting to where you can swallow them. Great. Sometimes I feel as if the Rosary is a great river and I am being swept along in a gentle current observing the mysteries as I go. I read a post on spirit daily today that talked about praying the last Hail Mary of every decade very very slowly and meditatively focusing in on the mystery at hand. (this person had trouble meditating as do we all I bet) I liked that idea.
It's funny Mario. It used to be for me the Agony in the Garden and then something shifted in my soul. I began to love love love the Glorious Mysteries, especially the Resurrection and the Crowning of Mary Queen of Heaven and Earth. The Sorrowful Mysteries have become very painful for me. I don't know if I "get it" now when before I didn't, but it's almost too much to contemplate. I pray them of course but it's sometimes very very painful.
Yes, Andy! I used to say sometimes when I would come to make my Hour of Adoration, "Could you know at that moment in the garden my Jesus that I'm here now keeping you company?" The thought of Him knowing this --that so many of us through the centuries would make those Hours of Reparation--just brought me so much joy. I really have felt that in the eternal now of the Father, Jesus in the garden knows we are with Him.
On retreat many years ago a priest told us that although the divine nature of Jesus was firm "like flint" to do the Father's will, the human nature of Jesus--even though His will was set to do the Father's will, caved under the horror of taking on our sins and what was required to pay our ransom. I don't think it was the physical suffering He recoiled against although that was bad enough, I think it was the spiritual anguish. Just my 2 cents.
Clare I always think of the Ascension is one more goodbye to her Son for the Blessed Mother. And so it seems painful to me for she remains behind "in exile" for a bit. But then there's the Assumption and that always gives me joy to imagine their reunion.
Our Lady taught me to say the rosary like this, to pray like this. Meaning every single word we say. It fairly slows you down. Eventually it slows you down to a point where you stop. But when you stop, it is then that you are just starting. 'This people honuors me with their lips , but their hearts are far from me'.
Jesus goes so that Jesus may come. He left the Mountaintop so that He might land in our hearts. John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
But as Our Lady carries her in her arms through the rosary of all our lives, recall this. She seeks to carry us to a point where the rosary is no more , because we ourselves are the rosary, every breath an Ave, all our days a decade , all our lives an evocation of the Mystery of the Incarnation. Prayer stops because all is prayer. A homecoming. 'God became man, that we might become God.' St Athanasius.
Yes, in the Divine Mercy Novena Jesus said: Ninth Day "Today bring to Me the Souls who have become Lukewarm, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy."
His love, driving Him crazy with a Divine care causes Him to plunge like an Eagle from Heaven to save those in the deepest abyss. Those who are in Most need of His Mercy are those who receive His mercy First. Thus human order is reversed and God gives the greatest of His mercy to the greatest sinners. Matthew 18:12 "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? That those who are in most need of His Mercy ; have the Greatest Claim upon it.
Padraig I think Jesus's main suffering in the garden would have been an agonising feeling of abandonment by God the Father and in His humaness a feeling horror of what lay ahead because, we know He asked His Father for the cup of suffering to pass...................(Father, if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but Your will be done. And this great suffering was coupled with seeing so much injustice and inhumanity of man to man, and in great anguish He prayed even more and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground!
Often times when I read the sufferings of ordinary people on the forum I am just stunned to silence. I just cannot think. When at night times I go to the Garden I am just left speechless, thoughtless. All I can do is be there. It is like giving a big hug. Just being there. I cannot even begin to comprehend. All I can do is be there and look. Just be there. Keep company and look. I find it so overwhelming. My mind kind of closes down. But my heart is there. Even in ordinary human suffering I find this, but in the case of Jesus and Mary my mind kind of stops. Baffled. Lost. Beyond tears. Frozen with sadness. Too much. Just too, too much.
The agony in the garden is the mystery that resonates most with me. Had I been there, I would have been asleep like the apostles, intending to stay awake but nodding off anyway. When I recall Jesus asking the Father to let the cup pass, I feel ashamed of all the times I ask God to ease my burdens which are so trivial in comparison to the burdens borne by so many others. And very often my burdens are self-inflicted whereas Jesus' sacrifice was a manifestation of what pure love is. That mystery is also a lesson to us that God the Father expects atonement for sin - that He is just as well as merciful. I'm very grateful to Andy for posting that picture of the angel consoling Jesus. It gives me a new perspective - from now on I will dedicate that decade to simply making atonement to Jesus for my contribution to His agony, giving me an opportunity to comfort Him.
Yes. I nailed Him to the Cross many times..and continue to do so. Maybe that's what keeps me awake at nights...in the Garden. ...knowing this. Knowing I put Him there. But no, I must admit , I never even think of this my sins. I don't. I should , perhaps. I am just here and He is there. I am not even sure if I am doing any good by being there. I just feel the calling to be there. Just to be with Him. So no , I don''t think of all my sins. My many, many sins. I just stay with Him . To be honest I never think of anything much at all. Just the long, long night watching..and the sadness of it all. Sharing in it. Nor do I think I console the Lord in any way. I just join Him. No consolation for me, maybe none for Him. Just together. Like some old soldier standing guard. Thoughtless and grey. I have found this in life, great sorrow stops all thought. You just exist in sorrow.
One thing does and has consoled me in the watches of the night as I looked around the Garden. I have seen many others there with me in the Garden. Many, many people like me who join Him in the watch, of all ages and from all times from His death who have joined Him on the Night and stayed awake with Him. I have seen the stories of their lives whilst on Earth and the stories of their suffering.. too. The suffering drawing ever closer to the Cross.
I think being there stops thought. We are just there. With Him. There are no thoughts. No tears. We're just there. Our tears frozen. Our thoughts turned to ice. Nor even sorrow. Dead cold hearts. Waiting. Just there. Does it do any good? But called, we wait. Just there. No more than this. Just there.
Actually AED, It was Mother Teresa's writings on Mary at the Crucifixion and St. Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity commenting on the same subject that has helped me hone in more so on the Jesus' death. Safe in the Flames of the Passion of Jesus!
My special decades are 'crowning with thorns', presentation, and assumption. I offer the crowning in reperation for sin of pride. In the presentation I place all those in my 'territory of soul's in Our Lady's arms. In the Assumption I rejoice with my Heavenly Mother that her exile is over and I think of the incredible joy in Heaven when she entered through the ancient gates.
