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In a small living room, my mom and dad’s closest friends from their “Marriage Encounter” days back in the ’80s gathered to pray a Rosary like they had every Monday night for years. But this night, it was different.

Traditionally, Saturdays are dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. As we conclude our meditations on the Fruits of the Sorrowful Mysteries, we can ask Our Lady of Sorrows for the grace to give ourselves—mind, will, and heart—to God.

The saints have said that at the end of our lives, we will be judged on how we have loved, especially how we have loved the most underprivileged among us. The Lord allowed Himself to be nailed to the Cross, to be humiliated and abused beyond our imagining.

Many of us have had seasons in our lives when we were not sure how we would get through the day. Faced with life’s inexplicable and sudden burdens, our legs buckle and hearts tremble. Our Lord also knew the crushing weight of darkness, of sin. He bore all of it, carrying the Holy Cross up Mount Calvary. 

In the previous Mystery, we reflected on the purity of Our Lord and Our Lady’s intention: their singleheartedness. In the Crowning with Thorns we see the truth: “He was tested as we are in every way but did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

The Saints and mystics recount the tremendous love with which Our Lord embraced His Passion and Death. Imagine the unflinching, resolute love that kept Jesus tied to that pillar, lash after agonizing lash. The vastness of His love is unfathomable. He endured it all to win salvation for each person—it was for you, dear sister in Christ. 

The First Sorrowful Mystery // The Agony in the Garden Fruit of the Mystery // Conformity to the Will of God Reflect The night before my perpetual vows, in my family home, I had prayed in my room. My Sisters,…

As human beings, we naturally run from suffering—because we are made for perfect goodness, truth, and beauty. We are made for union with God.

Each of the Fruits of the Luminous Mysteries—The Baptism in the Jordan, The Wedding at Cana, The Proclamation the Kingdom, The Transfiguration, and The Institution of the Eucharist—give us a moment in Jesus’ public ministry to reflect on and see how the work He performed 2,000 years ago is present to us today in our own circumstances. 

I didn’t exactly understand what we were doing at the chapel during Eucharistic Adoration as a pre-teen, but I knew it had to be something really special because it was so quiet and peaceful.