AUGUST 20, 1996
ROSARY MEDITATIONS FOR
THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

The Agony in the Garden

1. Messenger: Always in compliance to the Father’s will, we see this as we mediate on all the mysteries of the rosary, how Jesus and Mary always complied to the will of the Father. To have peace and joy in our lives, we must always comply to the will of the Father. We see Jesus in the garden, His face covered with a bloody sweat, and at any moment He could have stopped everything. He could have withdrawn. He, the Almighty God, all powerful and almighty, about to undergo the cruel Passion and His death, and He sees this before Him. He sees all the sins of men and all the men that would reject the grace that He merited for them, but what did He think of? He saw us. He saw us here this night praying, and it filled His Heart with immense joy. It gave Him so much pleasure in His Heart to know that we would love Him so much, for He is a Person and He longs to be loved by His beloved creatures. We do not comprehend and we do not understand how much Jesus is waiting and longing for our love. Let us, in this rosary, give our love to Him by giving our complete attention to Him and listening to the words that He speaks to our hearts. Let us hear Jesus as He outpours His love to us and teaches us about Himself.
2. How many times have we felt like we have gone through this Passion too in our lives? Have we felt buckled over and filled with pain? It is so hard sometimes. We are trying so hard in this world, that does not recognize God as it should, to please the Almighty God, and it seems like we are pressed on and pressed on, and we say, "God please help us. Take this cross away." But He allows us to continue to suffer, and we do not understand. It is in the death that there is the resurrection. Constantly in our lives, we live this Paschal mystery of death - resurrection. Let us mediate on the mysteries of this rosary, His suffering and His death, and let us think all through these mysteries how He rose victorious on the third day, how it is through His death that we share in His Divine life. Let us think of how it is to know God and to love Him. It is because of Jesus, because of His Passion and His death, that we are able to partake in His Divine life. Through our little deaths, there is always the resurrection. As we go through our lives, we grow more and more in this life in Him. Mary, the Mother of our Christ-life, is there with us, is leading us deeply into the Heart of her Son.
3. Treasure beyond all treasures is the Heart of Jesus. The Heart filled with endless, Divine love, the Heart from which the life of God flows. They pierced His Heart with a lance and what came forth was Blood and water. Water - a symbol of Baptism whereby we partake in His Divine life. Blood - a symbol of the Eucharist by which we are fed with the Bread of Life. Oh God, how we love You! Let our hearts be focused only on You in this rosary. As we see Your face covered with Blood, as we see the Blood drop to the ground, as we know the immense mental agony that You suffered in the garden, the suffering to know how You would be rejected and forgotten by those that You gave Your life for, may we know a little bit, just a little, of how much You truly love us. We love You. We love You. We love You, Jesus Christ the Savior of the world.
4. 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."
   Messenger: He has come to set brother against brother, mother against son, husband against wife. He is Jesus Christ the Son of God. He gives us His life, and He gives us His love. We must focus totally on His love for us. We must come to Him and give Him our love and give love to one another. This is the commandment that He gives to us - that we love God with our whole hearts, our whole souls, and our whole beings, and we love one another as we love ourselves.
5. Mental torment, how He suffered mental torment in the garden, but His thoughts were comforted by the love that we give to Him this evening. Put aside all of the thoughts in our hearts that do not pertain to Him, and focus totally on our beloved Savior. He gave His life for us. Will we give Him our minds and our hearts at this moment, and let Him fill us with His grace that we will share more and more in His life? He is giving to us a great treasure at this moment. We must open our hearts and let Him pour His grace into our hearts and into our souls. He is Jesus. He loves us with the most burning love we do not even comprehend. Our souls are thirsty for the love of God. We were created for this love. Nothing on this earth will satisfy this craving, this appetite within. We must put aside all of the thoughts in our minds, in our hearts and focus on Him, for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is Jesus the Son of God, our Savior, our Redeemer, our King, our Lover. Open our hearts, and He will fill our hearts with Divine love. He loves us. He loves us. He loves us.
6. Hail Mary…
7. Much of the world is asleep. They are walking in darkness. They are covered with a cloud. Their eyes do not see, and their ears do not hear. He has lifted the veil for us, His chosen ones, and He is giving to us a great grace that we will see with eyes unveiled and hear with ears that are open to His Word. We have been called, and we have been chosen. We will walk into the dark night as lights shining, and His light will radiate from our hearts and from our souls. We must go to Him and let Him bathe us in His love, in His most Sacred Heart.
8. He is alive. He is alive. He is alive and He lives in our hearts, and He lives in this world as we walk the streets. It is through us that His grace will touch many hearts. We must surrender totally and give ourselves to Him. Give ourselves. Give our hearts to His Mother for she will turn our cold hearts into warm hearts that will unite with His Heart. He loves us, His dear ones. He is telling us the secrets of His Heart, that we will know the true treasure, the treasure that this world has cast aside and is suffering for its ignorance and neglect. See with eyes unveiled He is giving to us great graces. We are His apostles that will carry the flag across this earth, that will carry His flag, full of love, to the world that is hurting and in pain.
9. And He saw it all. He saw the whole Passion before Him. He knew vividly every pain. He knew every beating, every thorn prick. He knew all that He would suffer. He knew the pain on the cross and three agonizing hours that He would suffer. He knew all the souls that would go to hell despite His suffering. But despite all of this, He gave Himself. He gave Himself for me and He gave Himself for you, knowing full well everything that He would suffer, because of His great love for us, that we would be saved, that we would share in His Divine life, that we might be with Him forever and ever in heaven.
10. Oh Heart of Jesus, Treasure beyond all treasures, give me the grace to dwell forever in Your Heart.
    Song: Oh Burning Heart, Oh Love divine, how sweet You are to me. I see the Host, I know You’re here to love and care for me.

The Scourging at the Pillar

1. Messenger: They took Him away and they tied Him to the pillar, and they began to beat Him. They took turns beating our beloved Savior. Stand there. Let us picture ourselves tied to the pillar. Picture us. How is the love in our hearts? Would we stand at the pillar and allow men that we loved to tear our flesh, knowing full well that we could stop it at any moment? He stood at the pillar and they tore His Flesh, and His Blood fell to the ground. He withstood this for our sins. Do we know how He suffered for our sins, the sins that we commit towards our brothers, when we talk about our brothers, those that He loves? His way is love. We are His apostles of love. We must be holy. Our hearts must be filled with holiness. We must go into the world and always show others how to love. We cannot talk about others. We must have hearts filled with love. Only in love will our hearts unite to His Heart. People are watching us. We are the stars against the darkest night. Will we shine or will we be dull? In order to shine, our hearts must be likened to His Heart. We must give Him our hearts, and He will turn our hearts to hearts of love.
2. How we insist and insist to do it our way and try and try and try. Do we know that He is with us at every moment? We must admit our dependency on Him. We must surrender and say, "Jesus, I am totally dependent on You. I want to be loving, but I fall. I am a little baby. I need You to help me to love like You. I cannot do it on my own." We must go to confession, and tell the priest of the times when we talked about our beloved brothers, for He stood at the pillar and He was beaten for our sins, and He was beaten for our brothers that He loves. He is teaching us in the Shepherds of Christ Movement to be of one mind and one heart. Our hearts will unite in the deepest union with His Heart, but we must surrender. We must not let thoughts of bitterness and hatred toward one another creep into our hearts. He is allowing us to suffer, and He is allowing us to watch ourselves fall, for we will come crawling on our knees and beg Him, "to help me." "Help me, God," you will say. "Help me. I want to love like You, but I cannot do it myself."
3. He was beaten for us. We do not know how sins against our brothers offend Him and hurt Him. How He was beaten for those words that we speak in hatred toward one another. We are the stars that will shine against the darkness. We are His apostles, but our hearts must be pure. We must come to Him for we cannot do this on our own. He will give us the grace to love, to love as He loved, as He loved each and every soul. We are dependent on Him. Watch ourselves fall on our faces and know that we need Him to help us.
4. Hearts that are haughty and prideful cannot unite to His Heart. There are many this day that are in control, that continue to control with proud hearts. He gives to many authority and power. It is to be used only according to the Father’s will. Our hearts must be soft and gentle as His Heart. We must not let power and control go to our heads. We have authority only as the Father gives us authority.
   This is from the reading today:
       "Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, 
       ‘The Lord Yahweh says this:
       Because your heart has grown proud,
       you thought: I am a god;
       I am divinely enthroned
       far out to sea.
       Though you are human, not divine,
       you have allowed yourself
       to think like God.
       So, you are wiser than Daniel;
       no sage as wise as you!
       By your wisdom and your intelligence
       you have made yourself a fortune,
       you have put gold and silver
       into your treasuries.
       Such is your skill in trading,
       your fortune has continued to increase,
       and your fortune has made your heart
       grow prouder.
       ‘And so, the Lord Yahweh says this:
       Since you have allowed yourself
       to think like God,
       very well, I am going to bring foreigners
       against you,
       the most barbarous of the nations.
       They will draw sword against
       your fine wisdom,
       they will desecrate your splendour,
       they will throw you down into the grave
       and you will die a violent death
       far out to sea.
       Will you still think: I am a god,
       when your slaughterers confront you?
       But you will be human, not divine,
       in the clutches of the ones
       who strike you down!
       You will die like the uncircumcised at the hand of foreigners.
       ‘For I have spoken-declares the Lord Yahweh.’" (Ezk. 28:2-10)
5. He is gentle, and He is kind of heart. He has made men the head of their homes. He has given to the priests authority and a great gift to be called a priest and to offer sacrifice. He has bestowed on men great honor, but within the heart of every man that is given power must be the heart of gentleness and love. He stood at the pillar, and He was beaten and His skin was torn because of the haughty hearts, because of the pride, because of men that wanted their will and not the will of the Father. Everything that we do must be in accordance with the Father’s will. He showed us the way. He stood at the pillar and was beaten because it was the Father’s will. We must strive always to do the will of the Father with love. Love is our primary purpose, to love God above all things and love one another as we love ourselves.
6. We have been called here. He teaches us. We are called to live the Scriptures and we must answer this call. He is giving to us His grace. Praise and thank our God for the gifts that we are given.
7. We carry His word into the world. We will be the lights that shine in the darkest night. He stood at the pillar, and He was beaten. He was beaten because of the haughty hearts. Our hearts must be likened to His. We are His apostles that will carry this message into this world. We do not comprehend this great mission. Each one of us have been called here. We must respond to the call for He is asking us to help in the salvation of many souls. What we do will help many souls to be saved. He stood at the pillar, and they tore His flesh. He loves each soul with the most burning love that He allowed them to put Him to death. Will you go into this world? Will we walk fearlessly ahead despite the persecution and the verbal battering that we receive? Will we say to this world, "This is the Almighty God. He is alive this day, and He loves us. He loves us. He loves us. Come. Come to Him, and He will give to us what our hearts desire."?
8. 1 Co. 12:12-26:
   For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts-all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body-so it is with Christ. We were baptized into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink. And indeed the body consists not of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, "I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body," it does not belong to the body any the less for that. Or if the ear were to say, "I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body," that would not stop its belonging to the body. If the whole body were just an eye, how would there be any hearing? If the whole body were hearing, how would there be any smelling?
   
   As it is, God has put all the separate parts into the body as he chose. If they were all the same part, how could it be a body? As it is, the parts are many but the body is one. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," and nor can the head say to the feet, "I have no need of you."
   
   What is more, it is precisely the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest which are the indispensable ones. It is the parts of the body which we consider least dignified that we surround with the greatest dignity; and our less presentable parts are given greater presentability which our presentable parts do not need. God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others. If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy.
9. Messenger: We cannot be divided with any person and have peace in our hearts. Our hearts must be hearts of love. We must give up any bitterness and division in our hearts towards any person, for He is God and in His Heart there is not division. He is calling us His apostles of love, His little army that He has called and brought to this room this evening. We must be as the brightest stars shining against the darkened night, for He is Jesus; He is the Almighty God, and He has called us to carry the messages of His burning love to this world, to the priests, to the sisters, to all those that are hurting and in pain. As He stood at the pillar and He was whipped for the sins of men, He knew that we would answer this call. And it was joy to His Heart as the Blood ran down His body. His Heart was comforted, and He was filled with such pleasure because of the work and love that we would give to others, because of the souls that we would help to be saved. We are His stars that will shine in the darkest night. We have been called. We have been chosen, and He has given to us such grace that we can carry out this mission. We can say "no" to Him, but it was there when He was scourged that our "yes" comforted Him. In His greatest agony, He saw us as He hung on the cross. His Body withered and in pain, He saw us, and He saw the love that would go forth from our hearts into this world. He loves us with such love. He gave Himself for love of us and for all souls. Will we help our brothers to know His love?
10. There will be peace and joy in our hearts when we comply always to the Father’s will. The Father has a plan for us. Jesus is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life. We have been called. We have been chosen. Will we answer His call, His apostles of love?

The Crowning with Thorns

1. Messenger: Think of the minds of men, and think of how Satan presses on the minds of men. Think of how our thoughts can be so influenced by the evil one, how we can worry about what other people think, how we can think others are talking about us, how we can make ourselves miserable by giving in to our thoughts. Jesus showed us His head crowned with thorns. How He suffered such pain to His head, yet we cannot discipline our thoughts. Let us pray for the grace to ask God to help us to keep our thoughts always thoughts of love, of harmony, of oneness with one another.
2. We must not give in to the seeds of division that Satan plants in our minds. We must say, "I love that person. I love that person." But do we know that we cannot do this on our own? Do we know that we depend totally on Him? He has allowed us to fall on our faces many times. We would be wretched if it was not for His grace. We are dependent on His grace. If we are holy, it is because of the grace that He is giving to us. He is Jesus. We are dependent on Him, His loved ones. We must come to Him and ask for the grace to love. He wants to love through us in this world.
3. We must come to the Father as the little, dependent child. We must tell Him of our love and tell Him of our needs.
4. I picture myself in a chair surrounded by those people that I love the most. Do I see all the people I love? And then watch, as those I love the most come to me and pound a crown of thorns into my head, and I feel the blood come from my head and fall on my body.
5. How many times have we crowned Him with thorns by our thoughts of hatred and anger toward one another. He suffered immense pain because of the thoughts of men. We are His chosen ones. Pray that we do not wound His Heart with thoughts of hatred and bitterness for He loves us. He loves us so much, and it wounds His Heart when we hate one another.
6. We must model our lives after our Mother. We must look at our Mother, her Heart pure and sinless. It is only in purity that we will unite to Their Hearts.
7. I go to the Heart of His Mother and mine, and ask the Holy Spirit to sanctify me that I may unite in the deepest union in His Heart.
8. We do not know the hatred and the bitterness, the thoughts in the hearts and minds of some men. How He suffered so much pain to His head for the ugly, horrible thoughts of mankind. God is offended by the acts of man this day. Help make reparation to Him for our sins and the sins of mankind. Reparation given to His Heart delights Him, His dear ones. God is offended by sinful men.
9. Song: "Oh Burning Heart, Oh Love divine, how sweet You are to me. I see the Host, I know You’re here to love and care for me."
   Messenger: Jesus is alive. Jesus is alive. Jesus is alive, and He lives within our hearts.
10. Song: "Give me Your Heart Oh Jesus, Give me a heart like Yours. Teach me to love You with this new heart, Oh I know little of how to love You. Create in me Oh precious Saviour this special heart."
    Messenger: He loves you. He loves you. He loves you.

The Carrying of the Cross

1. Messenger: We must carry our crosses. He watches us as we walk, and He places that cross on our backs, but He knows that it is in carrying the cross that we will be given much life. We want to put the cross aside, but it is in carrying the cross that we will grow more and more in our knowledge and love of Him.
2. He watches us carry the cross, and He watches us move it from shoulder to shoulder. He watches as it slips down our arms and we fall to the ground, and He is so close to us. He stands beside us and He says, "Carry it a little while longer. Carry it a little longer." His dear ones, for we do not know the great gift that we will receive. At the end of the darkest tunnel, there is the brightest light. He is Jesus. He gives to us according to our needs. He gives to us suffering. We must learn to endure the suffering and realize that it is a gift in which we will grow more and more in our life in Him.
3. My Jesus, I carried the cross and carried the cross and the tunnel was so dark and so black, and I felt as if I would never smile again. But I remember those times, and it was so hard. It was so hard when I felt as if I was dying on the cross with You, and then the light began to steal across the sky, and the glory was beyond all suffering. For after the death, there is the resurrection, our lives, a constant dying and rising in Him.
4. Help me realize that we are given suffering and that we must endure the suffering until He lifts the suffering. When we are backed up against a wall, we must surrender and accept all that He gives to us and give ourselves to Him, for He is breathing on our necks when we are wrapped up in pain. He is looking in our eyes when we are down under the cross. He is holding our hands when we think He is so far away, and He knows all things. He knows of the great gifts that will come when we endure the sufferings that He is giving to us. There is always the life after the death when we stay rooted in Him. We must carry the cross on our backs, and remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
5. It’s a rocky road that He trod on the way to Calvary, and He knew that it would end in His death, but He knew of the Resurrection. He carried the cross and it bumped along, and He saw into the eyes of His Mother that comforted Him. Look into His eyes. Be wrapped in the embrace of the love of Their two Hearts. In the suffering, we must go to Their Hearts and know that we are never alone and He will never abandon us. He is almighty, all powerful. He is God, and He is with us to the end of time.
6. And there will come the day when we are lifted into heaven, and we will be wrapped in the Divine embrace, that we will know the embrace of the Almighty God. We must carry our crosses on our backs. Each day, carry the cross and share in the Resurrection. Our lives are this dying and rising, each day.
7. The world tells us that we should not suffer, but He shows us the way. Look at Him, His face covered with Blood, His head crowned with thorns, the cross bearing down on His back. He could barely move and He fell to the ground, but on the third day He rose victorious.
8. Thump. Thump. Thump. Hear the cross of Jesus. See the stress on His face. See the Blood as it pours from His Body. See Him fall under the cross. Do you hear the crowd? Do you hear them holler at our beloved Savior? He withstood all of this in silence. Mary, knowing that He was the Almighty God, stood by, her Heart torn within her chest watching her Son suffer. And They are appearing to us this day. They are appearing to tell us of Their love. This is love that Jesus carried the cross, that He gave His Body and His Blood, that He wants the world to know that He is alive and that He loves and wants to be loved by man.
9. Song: "Give me Your Heart Oh Jesus, Give me a heart like Yours. Teach me to love You with this new heart, Oh I know little of how to love You. Create in me Oh precious Saviour this special heart."
10. Hail Mary…

The Crucifixion

1. Messenger: The greatest Sacrifice of all, the Son of God comes to this earth, and He gives Himself as a sacrifice for love of us that we will be saved.
2. The Sacrifice is sacramentally made present at every Mass, the priest offers this Sacrifice. We must unite in this Sacrifice and give ourselves. As Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross, we sacrifice ourselves in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in union with Him. It is in uniting in this oneness with Christ that the grace will be released on this earth and that many souls will be saved. This is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We are not there as spectators. We are there to offer sacrifice, to give ourselves. It is when we give ourselves that grace is outpoured on the earth.
3. We must pray for holy priests, that priests will be holy in their hearts and unite in such oneness with the Heart of Jesus, that as they celebrate the Mass and offer sacrifice, that they too offer themselves as a sacrifice in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Sacrifice of Calvary is sacramentally made present at every Mass.
4. The grace that was merited by Christ through His life and death on the cross is released in abundant proportion in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The more we unite in this oneness with the Mass, the more this grace is released. Our world is in a desperate state. We must unite in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in our morning offering, every morning, uniting each one of our activities with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
5. Our actions are magnified, and immense amount of grace is released on us and on this world when we unite to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in all of our actions.
6. All of our actions, when performed in accordance with the Father’s will with love, are heroic actions when we unite them to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, for grace rains on the earth and the people on this earth. Many will be saved as we unite to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in all of our actions and as we become one in Their Hearts. This is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the fountain of God’s life outpoured on the earth. Jesus gave Himself. "This is My Body. This is My Blood." Let us tap into this fountain of His life at every second as we unite every action to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
7. And they pierced His Heart, and the sacramental life of the Church was born.
8. His life is a fountain of life pouring out on the earth from the side of Christ.
9. We must pray for grace. We must unite every morning, in the morning offering, to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that all our actions are magnified, for His grace will spill upon this earth and it will be lighted with the brightest light. We are His fervent souls that He has called and that He is joining to His Heart. In this oneness, the grace will be released on the earth, and many souls will be saved. Do not underestimate the value of every action we perform when we unite to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the morning offering. He is Jesus. He came to this world to save each and every soul. Bring Him souls! Bring Him souls! We are His apostles. We will help save many souls. Many will know the fire of His burning love. We cannot underestimate the importance of our lives. We will struggle, and we will suffer. Look at Him as He hung on the cross. He showed us the way. He showed us His way. But in the death there is the resurrection, and His life will spill out on the earth. We must give Him ourselves. He wants our love. He wants us to talk to Him all through the day. When we are worried and troubled, He wants us to say in our hearts, "Jesus, I love You. Jesus, I love You." We must put aside the thoughts that Satan is planting in our heads, the seeds of doubt and division, and say, "Jesus, I love You." Take that moment to spend time with Him, loving Him, and He will strengthen us. He wants our love. He wants us to long and to thirst for His love. He wants us to tell Him we love Him. He is a Person. He wants us to love Him. He gave His life for us. Will we give our hearts to Him?
10. It is in complying to the will of the Father that we will have peace and joy in our lives. We see Jesus in the arms of His Mother. Jesus complied to the will of His Father to His death, and Mary complied to the will of the Father. She did not shout all through the Passion and holler, "This is God! What is the matter with you?" She was silent and she accepted the suffering, for she knew the Father had a plan, and she knew that she must endure the suffering. She knew that Jesus must die. She complied always to the will of the Father. Jesus complied to the will of the Father to His death. He shows us the way. His way is suffering and life. The world shows us another way. They show us a way that leads our hearts to hunger and to pain. His way is the way to joy, peace, and love. He loves us. He loves us. He loves us. He is Jesus. He gives Himself to us. It is in giving ourselves to Him that we will unite. He gives Himself to us in love, but to become one with Him, we must give ourselves to Him. We will share in His Divine love. Nothing on the face of this earth can compare to this love relationship with His Divine Heart. Love is relationship. He gives Himself to us. We will share in accordance to how much of ourselves we give to Him. He wants our all. He will give us peace, love, and joy in our hearts when we give our hearts to Him. He loves us. To His death, He loved us. He would die for us this day. Will we give Him our hearts?