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Meditating on the
Rosary Aves

This bead-by-bead commentary on the mysteries of the Rosary serves to enhance our awareness of the powerful events involving Our Lord and Our Lady during His mission of salvation among us. Reciting one thought before each Hail Mary in every decade gives just another small aid in concentrating on the great wonder of the Messianic story.

THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

The Annunciation

1. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her to be the mother of the Messiah.
2. She said yes. Mary had such faith! She always complied with the Father's will.
3. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
4. There was such a bond between Jesus and Mary from the very moment of conception!
5. She felt His life grow within her womb. His Most Sacred Heart was formed in her womb through the Holy Spirit.
6. Jesus wants to be alive in our hearts. We should carry His life with great joy in our being.
7. The Spirit wants to be alive in our very being with the fire of His love.
8. We are children of God. Mary mothers us as she mothered Jesus.
9. It is through Mary that we are led to intense love in His most precious Heart.
10. It is truly the love of these Two Hearts that will lead us to union with God.

The Visitation

1. Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
2. When she arrived, the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy at the presence of Mary with Jesus in her womb.
3. Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out, with a loud voice, the Magnificat.
4. "My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior."
5. "Because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid, from all generations they will call me blessed."
6. God Who is mighty has done great things to us in His name.
7. Jesus is no less present in our hearts after Communion than He was in Mary's womb.
8. Should we not jump up and cry out that we truly receive the one, true God in our hearts?
9. Are we open to the Holy Spirit to fill us with the love of the one, true God and Mary in our hearts?
10. It is through her pure and tender Heart that we will love God more closely.

The Birth of Jesus

1. Joseph was filled with joy to see the splendor of the night, but with sorrow to see Jesus born in such poverty.
2. Not a place for Jesus to lay His head-in a manger at birth, His head on a cross at His death-both bare wood.
3. He showed us the way, in total submission to the will of the Father. He loved us so much that He was born a human, God-made-man.
4. What the birth of this baby, the child Jesus, did to change the world for all time!
5. This is Jesus, the Son of God, come to free the world of its sins.
6. He came as a little baby. He was born of Mary in the little town of Bethlehem.
7. This is how it is with Jesus today: there is no blare of trumpets, no roll of drums. Jesus comes quietly at every Mass.
8. The only blare of trumpets and roll of drums are in our hearts.
9. If you are not aware of Christ truly present in the Eucharist, you miss the big event.
10. Jesus, the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, comes to us in our hearts.

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

1. Mary took Jesus to the temple to be presented to the Father.
2. Simeon told Mary of the future sufferings of Jesus and Mary.
3. Joseph, in his sorrow at hearing of the sufferings, was comforted by the joy that so many souls would be redeemed.
4. They returned to Galilee to the town of Nazareth and Jesus grew in wisdom and strength.
5. Mary, with such love, beheld her precious Son!
6. She gazed into His precious baby eyes.
7. Simeon predicted that her heart would be pierced with a sword.
8. Her heart would be pierced with a sword for, just as she held His baby body at birth, she would hold his lifeless body under the cross.
9. How well Mary would know the Heart of Jesus! She would ponder all the events of His life in her Heart.
10. It is through her most loving Heart that we grow in fervent love for His Heart.

The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

1. When Jesus was twelve years old, the Holy Family went to Jerusalem for Passover.
2. When it was over Mary and Joseph had traveled a day's journey before they realized Jesus was not with them.
3. With sorrow in their hearts they returned to Jerusalem to find Him.
4. After searching for Him for three days, they found Him in the temple talking to the doctors.
5. The doctors were astounded at His wisdom.
6. He said He had to be about His Father's business.
7. Jesus teaches us today through His word.
8. He went down and was subject to them.
9. Mary, if we ever lose Jesus, lead us back to His tender Heart.
10. Jesus, help us to love Mary more.

THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

The Agony in the Garden

1. Be with Jesus in the garden. Kneel beside Him and feel the pain in His Heart.
2. How tenderly He loves us, that God came to this earth and gave Himself for love of us.
3. Jesus is a Person. He loves each one of us with a most personal love.
4. He is a Divine Person. He loves us more than any human person could love us.
5. Jesus saw before Him all His suffering.
6. He knew the sins of all men from all time.
7. Because of His great love for us and for all men His Heart was in such pain.
8. He knows and loves us more than we know and love ourselves.
9. He is alive this day and He lives in our hearts.
10. He wants us to love Him at every moment and He is forgotten and ignored and He is God.

The Scourging at the Pillar

1. Jesus saw in the garden all the events that would happen and He suffered so He sweat blood.
2. They led Jesus away as a criminal and they tied Him to a pillar.
3. At any moment Jesus could have stopped the men, but. because of His great love for us, He allowed them to whip Him.
4. Jesus did this, allowed them to whip Him, for me.
5. Many times, when others are cruel to us, we feel alone and very hurt.
6. Hail Mary...
7. Many times, when we pray and talk about God in the world today, others treat us cruelly.
8. God is almighty, He controls everything. Our every breath and heart beat depend on God.
9. God first loved us and commands us to love Him.
10. The greatest commandment of all is to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind.

The Crowning with Thorns

1. God commands us to love Him first and to love our neighbors.
2. He suffered for us and paid for our sins with the price of His blood.
3. Why are men so willful, so full of pride that they ignore the Almighty God who gives them their very breath?
4. Look at Jesus, crowned with thorns, His face covered with blood. He suffered because He loves me.
5. God is offended by the willfulness of men today.
6. Whether we go to heaven or hell depends on whether we love God and love one another.
7. Jesus shows us how to love by giving Himself for love of us.
8. Jesus was crowned with thorns. He was whipped, His body was torn. He suffered this that we would share in His life and go to heaven some day.
9. Our life here will end soon and we will be somewhere forever and ever. Let us love God and love one another that we will share in the great gift He gives us, the gift of eternal life in heaven.
10. Think of the men that whipped Jesus and crowned Him with thorns. Think how cold their hearts were.

The Carrying of the Cross

1. They stood around Jesus and they hollered at Him, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
2. They gave to Jesus a heavy cross laden with all the sins from all time and they put it on His shoulder and made Him carry the cross.
3. It was so heavy that Jesus could not carry it any longer. He collapsed and fell to the ground.
4. He got up and tried to move. He saw the tear covered face of His beloved mother.
5. She looked into His tender gentle, eyes covered with blood.
6. This was the little baby that she carried and now she saw Him covered with blood and wounds.
7. Mary loves Jesus with the most tender love.
8. It is in going to the heart of Mary that we will learn to love our beloved Jesus.
9. The Holy Spirit is the spouse of Mary.
10. The Holy Spirit works within the heart of Mary to make us more holy, more like our beloved Jesus.

The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus

1. Jesus was nailed to the cross.
2. Jesus hung on the cross for three hours.
3. His mother, in excruciating pain, stood beneath the cross and watched, watched her Son die.
4. Before He died He gave His mother, Mary, to us as our mother.
5. Our mother, Mary, loves us.
6. She saw Jesus hang and die on the cross. She knows the great love that Jesus has for us.
7. She wants to mother us and help us to love Jesus so much more.
8. As her little children, it is important that we give ourselves to her and her motherly care.
9. If we want peace and joy in our life we must give ourselves to Mary and to her Son.
10. Mary said at Fatima that she wants us to give our hearts to her and to the Heart of her Son. She also said at Fatima that she wants us to pray the rosary every day. If we do this, we will have peace in the world.

THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

The Resurrection

1. On the third day He arose as he foretold.
2. When Mary Magdalen and some other women arrived at the tomb, they saw that the entry stone had been rolled away.
3. There appeared two men in dazzling garments where Jesus had been laid.
4. The two angels told the women He had risen as He had foretold.
5. He went to Emmaus and accounted for them all the scriptures, from Moses through the prophets, which referred to Him.
6. When He had seated Himself with them to eat, He took bread, pronounced the blessing, then broke the bread and began to distribute it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, whereupon He vanished from their sight.
7. He appeared several times to the apostles over the course of 40 days and gave them the power to baptize and forgive sins.
8. Christ died to bring us to new life.
9. He came that we might have life to the full.
10. The good news is that Jesus has died and that He has risen.

The Ascension

1. They went out of the town of Bethany and Jesus gave them his final blessing.
2. He raised His arms and ascended into heaven.
3. They stood below in utter amazement at what had happened.
4. Think of what it would be like to see Jesus ascend bodily into heaven.
5. Imagine the grief in Mary's and the apostles' hearts to see Him go!
6. Jesus has not left. He remains with us in His divinity and humanity in the Eucharist today.
7. He longs for us to come and receive Him. He waits for us to come and be with Him in front of the tabernacle.
8. He gave Himself on the cross. He gives Himself this very day in the Eucharist.
9. He loved us so much He died for us. He rose to give us new life. As He ascended into heaven he left behind the most precious gift of all-Himself!
10. He said, "For John baptized with water but, in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

1. The apostles were full of fear and locked themselves in the upper room.
2. When the Holy Spirit descended on Mary and the apostles, what joy for Mary's Heart!
3. Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit. A great wind blew and over their heads appeared parted tongues of fire.
4. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign tongues.
5. What joy for Mary to see the apostles transformed from fear to fearlessness!
6. Oh, Holy Spirit, come to us and fill our hearts with the fire of Your love.
7. Where we are full of fear, make us fearless.
8. We long to have the courage to do all God asks of us. Oh, Holy Spirit, give us this courage.
9. Holy Spirit, lead us to intimate oneness with You, the Father, the Son and Mary.
10. Oh, Holy Spirit, set us on fire for love of God.

The Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven

1. Many years after Jesus' death Mary was taken up to heaven.
2. Imagine her delight to be forever united with her most precious Son.
3. Imagine her joy to be united with the Father and the Holy Spirit. She beheld the face of God.
4. She had lived her whole life in service of Him. Now she was taken up to her eternal dwelling place.
5. Mary has not left. She remains forever with us. She is wherever Jesus is. She is our spiritual mother. She is forever by our side. She loves us. She mothers us with such motherly love!
6. Who are we to have Mary as our mother?
7. Mary watched it all. A young Mary, an older Mary, a sad Mary, a joyful Mary-Mary, the reflection of Christ's life!
8. To know Christ is to see Him through Mary's eyes, to feel Him through Mary's motherhood, to love Him through Mary's Heart.
9. She forever intercedes for her beloved children. She cares for our every need.
10. Heaven is our true home.

The Coronation of Our Lady

1. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2. Mary was crowned queen of heaven and earth. Our most beloved mother now reigns in the court of heaven!
3. Imagine her joy to hear the choirs of angelic voices! Imagine her joy to see the angels and saints praising God!
4. She-who carried the baby Jesus in her womb, who held Him in her arms, who walked by His side during the Passion, who stood under His cross, who held His lifeless body and watched Him locked in the tomb-was now crowned Queen of Heaven, forever to reign in the court of heaven with her beloved Son.
5. If we remain faithful to the Lord until death, we too will receive a crown of life. In heaven shall be found every good.
6. Such treasures for us in heaven! The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard the glories that await him who serves the Lord!
7. Heaven is the kingdom of God. We are His heirs.
8. There is no more thirsting for union with God, no more longing for Him. We will experience such intense union with Him forever.
9. We will never want for love again. We will know His love.
10. We will see the face of God and live.

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Copyright © 1997 Shepherds of Christ Publications
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. For information contact Shepherds of Christ Publications
First Printing: August, 1997