Reflect
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.
Yet, the last year has brought all of us face to face with the mystery of suffering. And we are blessed this week to be reflecting on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary because Our Blessed Mother was intimately familiar with the mystery of suffering. So, let’s allow her to teach us how to pray these mysteries. May the Holy Spirit guide us.
Months ago, at the beginning of the first wave of the pandemic, the Blessed Mother taught me new ways to pray the Rosary. One day I called my younger brother just to say hello. My heart immediately sank because beneath his measured tone, I perceived his excruciating pain. He had suddenly fallen seriously ill.
He spent the next twenty-one days alone in the hospital as doctors performed test after test to discover the cause of his painful illness.
Our family wrapped him in our love and prayers—from a distance. We couldn’t visit him in the hospital during what must have been some of the scariest days of his life.
I prayed Rosary after Rosary for my brother daily. I prayed like the persistent widow in the Gospels whom Jesus commends for her perseverance. I told Jesus, “I’m not leaving until You do something; and You can do something.”
Eventually, my brother began to heal. Those Rosaries were like the waves of a turbulent ocean reaching out and tugging on God’s merciful Heart. Those Rosaries moved God’s Heart because they were moving with His Heart: He who had subjected Himself to suffering, mockery, betrayal, torture; He who persevered even to the death because of His fierce love for us. He journeyed through the darkest night and conquered it. And He journeys with us still through our very real valleys of pain to bring us His redemption.
Let Us Pray
Jesus, as we move through this week, reflecting on the Fruits of Your Sorrowful Mysteries, we ask You to bear those fruits in our lives in the midst of our own suffering. May we never cease turning to You over and over, especially when we encounter the trials of life. We know we find resurrection in You and Your love. Amen.
For Discussion
Look back over the last year or two. Share an experience of a heavy cross you bore. Where was the Lord? What fruit did He bear through that circumstance?
In what instances have you been like the persistent widow, unwilling to give up on an intention, particularly on behalf of someone else?
Praying the Rosary
Throughout the Prayer Pledge and beyond, we really encourage you to pray the Rosary! Since we will be looking at the fruits of the Mysteries of the Rosary, it only makes sense to actually pray it!
Here is a guide on how to pray the Rosary.
I like this podcast and this podcast for praying the Rosary.
Hallow also has a marvelous Rosary meditation.
And if you want to go even deeper in to the Rosary, check out Mystery!
By Their Fruits: The 2021 Prayer Pledge // Day 17 #BISblog #prayerpledge //Click to tweet
Maria Kim-Ngân Bùi, after twenty years in religious life, is discerning a call to found a community of consecrated religious women dedicated to Our Lady and who will pray reparation for sins against the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, pray for conversions, and work for the evangelization of those who have left the Church or feel furthest from the Church.
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