Help Meditating on the 3rd Joyous Mystery

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Please suggest some ideas for meditating upon the 3rd Joyous Mystery - The Nativity ( poverty).

When I pray the rosary, I like to envision being at the actual scene and then upon the fuirt of that mystery. But I always get stuck on this one - which my rosary guide says is poverty.

I have no problem envisioning the whole Nativity - but help me with the poverty, please.

Thanks
jrabs
 
You know the story of the little drummer boy? All he had was his drum to play for him? Pa Rum Pa Pa Pum.

I always liked that story because it doesn’t matter if we have very little to give the Lord, as long as we bring our best (whatever that may be).
 
When I meditate on this mystery and think of the poverty of the Holy Family, I think about how they had no place to stay and this reminds me to pray for all of those who are homeless, or for some reason (fire, flood, tornado) are forced out of their homes. I also like to go a little further in the Christmas story to when they were forced to flee Herod which reminds me to play for refugees and those forced to flee due to war or violence. Hope this helps.
:blessyou:
 
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jrabs:
Please suggest some ideas for meditating upon the 3rd Joyous Mystery - The Nativity ( poverty).
  • which my rosary guide says is poverty.
Click to expand...
Different guides have different focuses.

Imagine you being born in a dirty stable and placed in a feed manger without even a midwife, no hospital, no people to help. It was a birth in very poor circumstances and how rich we are for it.
 
MeditationWhat poverty in the stable of Bethlehem! A handful of straw; swaddling clothes, which give the Child but little protection against the cold; poor shepherds to form the entire retinue of the King.

Admire this state of destitution which marks but the beginning of all that Jesus is to suffer till He is entirely stripped on Calvary. Become more and more detached from earthly things and with a firm confidence ask of Mary to obtain for you the grace of being poor in spirit.

We offer Thee, O Lord Jesus, this third decade in honor of Thy Nativity in the stable of Bethlehem, and we ask of Thee, through this Mystery and through the intercession of Thy holy Mother, detachment from the things of the world, contempt of riches and love of poverty. Amen

This is The method of St. Louis de Montfort - if any would like to know the rest, I will be happy to provide.
 
Mother Teresa (Blessed Teresa of Calcutta) often used this phrase…

It is a poverty that… (fill in the blank).

For example: It is a poverty that a child must die so that you can live as you wish.

I meditate on all the horrific suffering that babies go through when they’re aborted. And I pray for the mothers and all others involved with that baby’s tortuous death.

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The word “poverty” shows up twice in this Web page that lists some of the quotes of which Blessed Terese of Calcutta is famous. Perhaps this may help for you in your prayer on that mystery.

ewtn.com/motherteresa/words.htm

The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not mortification, a penance.
It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.

Make us worthy, Lord, to serve those people throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands, this day, their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give them peace and joy.
 
Mandi,

I would LOVE to know the rest. This was soooo helpful.
And everyone else, thanks. Great advice in helping me visualize.

jrabs
 
Since we’re all talking about poverty, I would just like to add that poverty (IMHO) is a gift. It teaches us to work hard, persevere and appreciate the small things we have.
 
I sometimes think about the bitter cold of that stable. Mary and Joseph were poor, and their clothing might have been thin and worn out. Joseph may not have had materials for a fire, and the only warmth would have come from the barn animals. I imagine those animals pressing close to warm the Blessed Mother and her Infant with their breath and their presence.

I don’t know why I keep coming back to that, except that I went into shock during childbirth once. I lost a lot of blood, and don’t think I will ever forget that sensation of cold. It was like nothing I’ve experienced before or since.
 
Mary and Joseph had no power to influence the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. We too had no power over ours; we could not choose when, by whom, where, with how much or little. We should be able to relate to the Holy Family by this lack of power (a type of poverty) which we all share.

However, we have the richness of our and Jesus’ LIFE, the richness of God’s love. This is the ultimate LACK or obverse of poverty…our TREASURE, our PEARL.

Without Jesus’ birth (and subsequent death and resurrection, for which he was born), we would have no share in his GLORY. How truly poor we would have been without HIM.

Therefore, material wealth should mean nothing. Look at him. Did he need it? Do we?

What was and continues to be poverty is that so many did not/do not know him, then and now.

Have these insights been of any help?
 
Another way to look at it is to meditate on our giving birth to Jesus in our hearts, in our minds, and in our every day lives.

God bless you for your devotion to the Rosary!
Deacon Tony SFO
 
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Mary3:
I sometimes think about the bitter cold of that stable. Mary and Joseph were poor, and their clothing might have been thin and worn out. Joseph may not have had materials for a fire, and the only warmth would have come from the barn animals. I imagine those animals pressing close to warm the Blessed Mother and her Infant with their breath and their presence.

I** don’t know why I keep coming back to that,** except that I went into shock during childbirth once. I lost a lot of blood, and don’t think I will ever forget that sensation of cold. It was like nothing I’ve experienced before or since.
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Um… maybe why you “keep coming back to that” is because of grace from the Holy Spirit Who is helping you to meditate on those moments our Savior’s life when he was cold, even as a baby, to begin with.

He, too, lost a lot of blood on Calvary.

Hmmm… their breath. Like God’s breath by which he gives to us His very life, in the first place? by which he gives to us the Gifts of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost – like the wind? The softness of our God Who is so very close to us. The maternal-ness of our God, Himself.

There’s lots of times when even as an adult I just need to be held by my Mother. Jesus gave her to me from the cross. So I can take comfort in my suffering that she is holding me, too, when I need it the most… some consolation… some encouragement… some “there there, little baby, don’t you cry” lullaby tune from her to me, as she gave to her Son.
 
Hmmm… how’s this?

The name of the city – Bethlehem – means “bread.”

A cradle is where the food for the animals is put so that they can eat from it.

Our Savior tells us that unless we eat His flesh, we shall not have life within us.
 
Thanks, everyone for your wonderful, helpful suggestions.

I love to see so many people who adore Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother through devotion to the rosary.

God Bless you all! God is, indeed, great!
 
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