The Sorrowful Mysteries
Feast of St. Casimer
First Saturday — Season of Lent

Meditate on the Blood and Passion of Jesus
 

                The Agony in the Garden

1. R. Be with Jesus as He kneels in the Garden. Be there! See the dark night and see Jesus. Put yourself right there so that you can experience this mystery so deeply in your heart, so that you can be drawn closer to Jesus as you meditate on this mystery.

2. Jesus: My greatest agonies were not the agonies that I experienced to My Body, the wounds that I would receive, but My greatest agonies were the agonies that I experienced to My Most Sacred Heart.

3. R. Jesus saw before Him all the souls from all time, the souls that He loved dearly and would neglect Him and treat Him indifferently.

4. R. He saw His entire Passion before His eyes: all the battering, all the wounding, the carrying of the cross, the crowning with thorns. He knew of His death on the cross. He saw this clearly before His eyes and He saw the souls that would be condemned to eternal damnation despite all of His suffering.

5. R. The natural fear of death came into play. He went to the Apostles and He said to them: "Can you not watch one hour with Me?" But they slept! Peter, who had vowed to remain always faithful, slept. And Jesus went away!

6. R. He loves us so dearly that He remains with us this day in the Eucharist, in His Divinity and humanity, no less present than the day that He knelt in the Garden, waiting and longing and thirsting for our love. He saw before Him the endless hours that He would remain in the Tabernacle and so few souls would come to be with Him.

7. R. His agonies were so great that His sweat became as great drops of blood on the ground!

8. R. Lately when we pray the rosary, there is a red filter throughout the room. Frequently everything in the room is blocked out and all that remains is Jesus' face. He wants us to meditate on the blood that He shed for each one of us. His red blood! In meditating on this blood, you will realize more and more the immensity of His on-fire love, His burning love that He has for us. He truly shed His blood because He loves us so much!

9. Jesus: I call out to you, My beloved ones. How dearly I love each one of you that is here this evening. I want to be ever closer to your heart. Meditating on My passion you will realize more and more the immensity of the love that I have for you.

10. Jesus: Meditate deeply on My passion all through this Lenten season for My Heart longs and thirsts to be drawn ever closer to you for I truly shed My blood for love of you, My dear, dear beloved ones.

(Song between decades: I come to you with greatest love, I am your loving Savior. I am your God, I died for you. I come to you this day.)

  

Jesus is Scourged at the Pillar

1. R. We speak about His love as we speak about our laundry — the love of God! This is not the way that He speaks of the love that He has for each one of us. He truly was scourged at the pillar. Tied! Beaten! To their own exhaustion with their angry hearts, they scourged Him with sharp instruments that tore His flesh and made Him bleed. This is the love that He has. When we speak of His love, when we read His Word, speak and read from the heart. He wants us to read every word, to know how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit love us. Out of greatest love, the Father sent His only begotten Son into this world, Jesus, that He shed His blood, Father, Son and Holy Spirit love us so much. The Spirit wants to move inside of each one of us to transform us more and more into the image of Jesus and lead us to the bosom of the Father.

2. R. If we realized for one second the immensity of the love of God, we would be in such tears. Their love is beyond our comprehension. They want us to experience this love penetrating in our being — to become one in us! Focus on His blood that He shed during this mystery of the scourging. See Jesus, with His unblemished back and then see His back torn, the blood pouring from His back. They stand there with their angry faces beating Jesus, tearing His flesh! This is the love that He has for us. It is not a little lip service love. It is the love He had when he was scourged at the pillar.

3. R. He asks us for two things: love of God and love of one another. He does not ask us to have a lot of money. He asks us to love one another. He came to show us the way. He was scourged at the pillar. Put yourself at the pillar. In the dim light, see the men as they beat His back. See them as they angrily hit Him. Then stop. Listen to the blows!

4. R. If you stop and listen to the blows that they gave to Jesus, listen in silence. He did not holler back. He complied always to the Father's Will. Not My Will but Thine be done! Hear Him scourged at the pillar and then know that He was scourged for each one of us because He loves us so dearly.

5. R. He was scourged for our brothers! How can I not like my brother when Jesus stood at the pillar and they tore His flesh because He loved my brother! How can I not love my brother when God the Father created my brother and he is a creation of the Father? When I hear the blows that Jesus received and think of the blood and His torn flesh and know He suffered this for love of my brother, how can I not like my brother?

6. R. His greatest agonies were not the wounds that they gave to His body, the tearing of His flesh, the crowning of thorns. His greatest agonies were the agonies He experienced to His Most Sacred Heart. He, Who is Love, loves each one of us so much that He gave His flesh and blood for us. He loves us! We can not even comprehend. To say that His love is a burning furnace of endless love are such flimsy little words. There are no words to describe the love that He has for us.

7. R. How we whimper when we have a splinter in our hand or when we cut ourselves and we bleed! Jesus wants us to focus on the blood that He shed because in focusing on this blood we will realize the immensity of His love. God the Father truly sent His Son into this world. God came into this world out of greatest love for us. His creatures! Who are we that God comes into this world and takes on a human nature? We are His beloved chosen ones! The more we focus on this blood that He shed and it becomes real to us, the more we will realize the immensity of the love of God.

8. R. Jesus gave Himself on the cross, His body and His blood! He gives Himself to us this day in the Eucharist, truly present! God, gives Himself to us! He wants to be one with us. He wants to be united to us. We are human. Through Baptism we receive a sharing in His life, we are made children of God and heirs of Heaven. He gives to us this sharing in His life. He elevates our human nature to such heights when we are baptized and His grace He outpours to us.

9. R. Jesus outpours His grace abundantly in the Eucharist and when we sit in front of the tabernacle. He is there in His Divinity and humanity. We receive such abundant grace. He is there the same as the day He was scourged at the pillar. Grace is a sharing in His life and He wants to be close to us, to penetrate our being, to unite with us. He gives us Himself in the Eucharist.

10. R. He calls out to please stay with Him and pray with Him. After communion, we can be so one in Him. He gives us His body and His blood!

(Song between decades: I come to you with greatest love, I am your loving Savior. I am your God, I died for you. I come to you this day.)

    

Jesus is Crowned with a Crown of Thorns

1. R. They pounded into His head a sharp crown of piercing thorns. The blood ran down the side of His face into His eyes and into His ears. Blood ran from His mouth from the blows they had given to His head. Look at Jesus' face streaming with blood! This is the blood that He shed for love of each one of us! He calls out to us today to come ever closer to Him. He is outpouring His grace to us so we may be filled more and more with His life in us. He outpours His love. The soul searches this barren desert for so many things to fill it when only the love of God will satisfy the soul.

2. R. It is an endless search, over and over again, from one thing to the next thing. Jesus waits ever patiently, ever close to us. When we are in the state of grace, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, dwell within the graced baptized soul. Listen! Take time to listen! Be quiet with Him! Hear Him say second by second, moment by moment, "I love you!" There are so many distractions, so many hard times we go through every day, but Jesus is inside of each one of us, present at every second as we breathe and as our heart beats, He is in there. In all the trials and struggles that we go through, He turns them into such a gift if we open our hearts and hear Him whisper in our heart: "I love you, I love you, I love you."

3. R. When someone is persecuting you, when you are being attacked, when it seems like things are coming down on you, stop, listen, and hear His voice inside say to you: "I love you!"

4. R. You can not straddle the fence. This world has turned godless. He is here and in our midst this day. He is here inside of us. If we are in the state of grace, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell within our graced baptized soul in such a special way. He remains with us in His Divinity and humanity.

5. R. He talks to me and asks me to tell you that you must take a stand. Souls are at stake. You are His soldiers He is sending out into this world to spread His love. The world will persecute you as they persecuted Jesus but He is by your side. He knows what it is to suffer. He is calling out to you. The Father has a plan for you. He asks you to love God and love one another. It is in loving one another that we preach the Gospel to this world.

6. R. His body was covered with deep wounds, deep wounds that were bleeding, that were burning. His body was bruised and beaten. They put on His body a dirty purple robe that stuck to His bleeding wounds. He sat on a so called throne and they gave Him a scepter to hold. They spit on Him, they laughed at Him and they mocked Him! Sit there! Sit there as Jesus sat there streaming with blood with thorns on your head and think of people hollering at you and spitting at you! This is the love that He has for each one of us. This truly happened! He is asking you during this Lent to meditate on these mysteries often so you will be drawn close to His Heart. He longs, waits, and thirsts for your love. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who hung on the cross for three agonizing hours, Who gave His flesh and His blood because He loved you to His death!

7. Song: I come to you with greatest love, I am your loving Savior. I am your God, I died for you. I come to you this day.

8. Jesus: My dear sweet ones, I call out to you. I watch you, so close to you as you struggle on your way and you think I have forgotten. Should a mother forsake her child, I will never abandon you. I stand forever with you. I watch you struggle and I know that in this struggle you will be drawn closer to My Heart. Withstand your suffering. In all suffering there is life. I know what it is to suffer. My Mother knows what it is. As she walked by My side, she walks by your side this day. Surrender to the God that loves you. Everything that you are experiencing, I am allowing. It will lead you to such life if you accept your trials and turn to Me for there is a bed of roses beyond the thorns. Trust me! Open your heart and draw yourself ever closer to My Most Sacred Heart on fire for love of you.

9. Jesus: I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I wait for you. I wait to be ever closer to your heart. It is in meditating on the blood that I shed for you that you will know more and more the immensity of this love that I have for you.

10. Jesus: How do I make you understand how I truly love you and wait this day for you? I speak to you here so you will know that I am truly waiting and longing for you.

(Song between decades: I come to you with greatest love, I am your loving Savior. I am your God, I died for you. I come to you this day.)

  

Jesus Carries His Cross Up Calvary

1. Jesus: They gave to Me a heavy cross that they put on My shoulder. The cross was so heavy that I could scarcely move. The pain in My shoulder, it felt as if it would break! It would not go away. It just got worse and worse. As I carried My cross, I fell under the cross because I could not carry it.

2. Jesus: I saw My Mother in the crowd. My eyes peered into her eyes. Her face was reddened and streaming with tears. She looked into My eyes and she saw My face covered with blood. In that look, there was such intimacy between our Hearts. The peering look between Me and My Mother! The comfort and the pain!

3. R. See through the eyes of Mary! See her look at her Son at play. See her! See through her eyes as she now looks at her Son as He carries the cross on His back!

4. R. She appears to tell us to look through her eyes, to see her beloved Son, the cross on top of His body as He fell under it. She helplessly stood by and could not raise a hand to help Him. Her Heart torn deeply in her chest! She wants us to see through her eyes. It is in seeing through her eyes, we will realize the love that He has for us.

5. Song: I rocked Him as a baby. I fed Him as a child. I heard Him call my name out in the night...