There is Something About Mary Series – How Well Do You Suffer?

Ponder:  Did you know that we love only to the degree that we are willing to suffer?

The Sorrowful Mysteries. The Sorrowful Mysteries are one of the four themed categories of the rosary when we enter Jesus’ passion.  Traditionally prayed on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Sorrowful Mysteries are taken mostly from the Gospels of Luke, John and Matthew in the New Testament.

The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary allow us to meditate on key moments in the passion and death of Jesus where we are brought deep into the five pains of humanity which Christ humbled himself to experience — desolation, mortification, humiliation, exhaustion, and death.  This abject suffering reveals not only the love of God but also the meaning of man himself. 

Ecce homo: the meaning, origin and fulfilment of man is to be found in Christ, the God who humbles himself out of love “even unto death, death on a cross”

Phil 2:8

As we relive the death of Jesus and stand at the foot of the Cross beside Mary, we enter with her into the depths of God’s love for man and experience all its life-giving power. For more than 2,000 years, the heroes, champions, and saints of Christianity have been meditating on the passion and death of Jesus Christ. How often do you explore the genius of the cross? The world changed at three o’clock on that Friday afternoon when Jesus laid down his life for us.

Pray:  The Sorrowful Mysteries

You, the unblemished lamb (Exodus 12:5), pure and undefiled and untainted, willingly offered Yourself as a sacrificial victim, suffering in our stead that which is our due. This is Your love written large on an unimaginable scale. You began in Gethsemane, experiencing a moment of great anguish before the will of the Father, against which the weakness of the flesh would be tempted to rebel. Your “yes” reverses the “no” of our first parents Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Your faithfulness to the Father’s will is made clear by the scourging, crowning with thorns, carrying the Cross and death on the Cross.

Amen

Reflect:  Lord, when I meditate upon these mysteries, I enter the deepest meaning of your love and mercy.  It is my natural tendency to recoil from times of uncertainty, suffering and pain as I always want to be in control and self-reliant.  Through the example of your passion, I am learning humility to accept my trials, your love, and your providential care.  It is hard for me to truly understand the depth of your love for me but in these mysteries, I see your love in action.  You experienced abandonment, shame, fear, pain, death, rejection, powerlessness, hopelessness, and confusion so I could live with You in the light.  Your suffering had purpose and meaning and shows the depth of your love.  A suffering with purpose that turned into the ultimate blessing.  You permit my suffering but it is not without meaning it is usually the way to healing and wholeness. The obstacle is the way you use everything for your good.

Act:  Take a few minutes to reflect on an area of suffering in your life.  Ask God to help you grow and mature in love through that situation. 

Inspire with your life. Words convince the mind, but actions change the heart.