Suggested Meditation on
the Sorrowful Mysteries
Commonly said on Tuesday and Friday
The First Sorrowful Mystery
The Agony in the Garden
In this mystery we contemplate Our Divine Redeemer praying in the
Garden of Olives and sweating blood as He foresees the Passion He is to suffer.
His apostles sleep! Let us ask our dauntless Mother to remove from our souls
all the cowardly optimism that invites us to sleep when we should be watching
and praying, and to give us the virtue of seriousness so that we will
courageously embrace suffering every time it comes our way.
OUR LADY’S SIXTH PROMISE
Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the
consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered
by misfortune: if he be a sinner, he shall not perish by an
unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God.
He shall become worthy of Eternal Life.
but as thou wilt”. (Matt 26,36-39).
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22,44)
The Second Sorrowful Mystery
The Scourging at the Pillar
In this mystery we contemplate Our Lord Jesus Christ bound to the pillar
and mercilessly flogged at the order of Pilate, who wanted to please the crowd.
Let us ask the Mother of Divine Grace to give us, whenever we are beset by tribulation,
the strength and perseverance shown by Her Son as the blows of the
lash tore into His undefiled flesh for our sins.
OUR LADY’S SEVENTH PROMISE
Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary
shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified. (Mark 15,15)
The Third Sorrowful Mystery
The Crowning with Thorns
In this mystery we contemplate the King of kings despoiled of His garments
and clothed in a scarlet cloak. He is crowned with thorns, crushed with blows,
overwhelmed with affronts and outrages by the procurator’s brutal soldiers.
Let us ask Mary Immaculate for an unshakable faith and at least a drop of
the infinite dignity of Jesus when the wicked, with their laughter,
mock our faithfulness to the morality of Holy Church.
OUR LADY’S EIGHTH PROMISE
Those who are faithful to the recitation of the Rosary
shall have during their life and at the hour of their death
the Light of God and the plenitude of His graces. At the moment of
death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in Paradise.
The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery
The Carrying of the Cross
In this mystery we contemplate our Divine Master —“the reproach of men
and the Man of Sorrows” (Isaiah 53) — bearing the crushing burden of the Cross,
which tears His Flesh and lays bare His bones. By the shoulder wound of Christ,
let us ask the Mother of Sorrows for the grace to proceed with supernatural
determination in our spiritual lives and in our apostolate even when we
fall under the weight of the cross.
OUR LADY’S NINTH PROMISE
I shall deliver from purgatory
those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery
The Crucifixion
In this mystery we contemplate our Divine Saviour nailed to the Cross
and raised aloft between two thieves. He is plunged into an ocean of bitterness;
He is abandoned by the Father Himself. Let us ask the Blessed Mother, who stands
at the foot of the Cross, to grant us the grace of taking our vocation to its last
consequences and of loving the sacrifices it entails.
OUR LADY’S TENTH PROMISE
The faithful children of the Rosary
shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.