Tuesday, July 01, 2008


Mary Vitamin for July 1st
Topic: The First Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary
(In honor of the month of the Precious Blood)
Quote:
“And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.”
Luke 22:43-4
Meditation:
Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich explains that Our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane “understood not only the consequence of every species of concupiscence, but also its own peculiar expiatory chastisement, the significance of all the instruments of torture connected with it; so that not only the thought of the instrument made Him shudder, but also the sinful rage of him that invented it, the fury and wickedness of all that had ever used it, and the impatience of all, whether innocent or guilty, who had been tortured with it. All these tortures and afflictions Jesus perceived in an interior contemplation, and the sight filled Him with such horror that a bloody sweat started from the pores of His sacred Body.”
The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, Volume 4, (Tan Books), 89
Does a mother suffer only when she witnesses the suffering of her child? Or does she suffer over and over again in her heart, anticipating the suffering of her child? Is Our Lady not aware of the avarice of Judas and the hatred of the leaders in the Temple towards her Son? A mother in her compassion cannot help but anticipate the pain and suffering of her child. It is not recorded in Holy Scripture that Our Lady was present in the Garden, but her heart was always unwaveringly united with God, and she would share in his agony on the eve of the great manifestation of God’s passionate love for mankind. She would share, the way a Mother shares in the suffering of her son: silently, meekly, heart breaking, full of love, yet accepting.
Resolution:
I will meditate in the Rosary what it cost Our Lady to accept the Will of God in the Redemption of humanity. Our Lady does not need to be present in the Garden of Gethsemane to share in the suffering of Her Son.
Marian Vow:
“The Immaculate was the universal Mediatrix of redemption, to wit, was the only Coredemptrix who has shared in person with the Redeemer - “under Him and with Him” (LG 56) - the work of universal redemption, cooperating actively with her tears, mixed in the Blood of Her Crucified Son, to rescue sinful mankind, from Adam to the last man who lives on the earth.”
Marian Seraphic Pathways, Statutes #51
I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Thanks be to God for graces received.


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