“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”— Jn.1:5
“For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world, to condemn the world, but that the world by him may be saved.” —Jn. 3:16, 17
Manger and Cross
Related to this centrality of Wonder is our Catholic Rosary. The rosary prayer and meditation, with Him and never apart from Him, is a gift which recalls and celebrates the saving events directly related to and stemming from Christ’s coming into the world: — from the Joyful to the Sorrowful mysteries.
In each of these Mysteries of the God-Man we accompany Him on route to the Cross through the eyes of Mary His Mother, who was with Him from Conception to the bitter end.
And she was there three days later when even death itself could not hold Him.
In this particular sense the rosary
“is the book of the blind who see and thereby enact the greatest drama of love
the world has ever known.
It is the book of the simple which initiates them into mysteries more satisfying than the knowledge of other men.
It is the book of the aged who close their eyes
upon the shadows of this world and open them
upon the substance of the next. The power of
the Rosary is beyond description. Because it is related to Him.”
— Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
St. Luke Chapter 1: The words and truths we deeply ponder as we pray the rosary
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Hail, Full of Grace! the Lord is with you!” 29
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
The Visitation
“In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry,
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.
45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfilled what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
“…Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”—Luke 2:25
Pray for us
Mary and the Saints pray and intercede for us, just as we are called to pray and intercede for one another.
We all know the darkness in our time is all too real. But we are promised that it can never finally overcome His Light, however much we may be called to share in the sufferings of His Cross which is the most profound Light. What a comfort to know that Mary and the Saints are here, ever praying for us in our tribulations.
This is the love, light and mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ which is His Church, born in the darkness of Golgotha.
We pray for each other
St. Paul implores our prayers for his commission to spread this Gospel.
“Brothers and sisters, pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread quickly. Pray that others will honor it just as you did. 2 And pray that we will be saved from sinful and evil people. Not everyone is a believer.” — 2 Thessalonians 3
And under arrest for preaching the Gospel in Rome, St. Paul selflessly offered the Ephesians the Light of his own share in the Cross. This too is prayer.
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.” —Ephesians 4:1-6
And writing in chains to the Colossians, he nevertheless speaks of rejoicing:
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints.”
What a grace it is to know this One Mystical Body!
And St. Peter too wrote of sharing the sufferings of Christ.
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, and of God, rests upon you. 15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; 16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
The Good News is hard but everlastingly Redemptive.
“If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; 12 if we endure, we shall also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us“— 2 Tim. 2:11-12
The sufferings imposed by evil powers turns into a snare for the persecutors and increases the grace and glory of those who suffer with Christ. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”—Mt. 16:24
His Cross is our cross.
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magalene writes of this one Light alone which cannot be overcome,
“To reach this goal, we must, during our whole life, let ourselves be guided in everything by one light alone; we must rely on one power alone, and seek but one end: God.
“A soul who wishes to acquire holy simplicity accepts no light but that which comes from God, which is God Himself; Therefore, it puts aside its selfish and egoistic point of view; rejects the deceptive voice of the passions and the blinding but false maxims of the world, knowing that all is darkness and illusion except the light of truth which can come from God alone, from His law, from the Gospel. It judges all things in the light of faith, seeing the hand of God in every circumstance and happening, even the most painful.
“It makes use of everything to go to Him, without wasting time in reasoning about the conduct of creatures, for to do so would complicate its life and create obstacles to the practice of virtue. Nothing holds it back in its rapid pace, because it finds in God, not only the light by which to see the right
path, but also the strength to pursue it.”
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The Bride, Her Son, and the Dragon
“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” —Rev.12
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