"...meaning, origin and fulfilment of man... found in Christ..." St. JPII

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we continue in St. JPII’s Letter, “On the Most Holy Rosary”:

The Sorrowful Mysteries

1. The Gospels give great prominence to the sorrowful mysteries of Christ. From the beginning, Christian piety, especially during the Lenten devotion of the Way of the Cross, has focused on the individual moments of the Passion, realizing that here is found the culmination of the revelation of God’s love and the source of our salvation. The Rosary selects certain moments from the Passion, inviting the faithful to contemplate them in their hearts and to relive them. The sequence of meditations begins with Gethsemane, where Christ experiences a moment of great anguish before the will of the Father, against which the weakness of the flesh would be tempted to rebel. There Jesus encounters all the temptations and confronts all the sins of humanity, in order to say to the Father: “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42 and parallels). This “Yes” of Christ reverses the “No” of our first parents in the Garden of Eden. And the cost of this faithfulness to the Father’s will is made clear in the following mysteries; by his scourging, his crowning with thorns, his carrying the Cross and his death on the Cross, the Lord is cast into the most abject suffering: Ecce homo!

This abject suffering reveals not only the love of God but also the meaning of man himself.

Ecce homo: the meaning, origin and fulfilment of man is to be found in Christ, the God who humbles himself out of love “even unto death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). The sorrowful mysteries help the believer to relive the death of Jesus, to stand at the foot of the Cross beside Mary, to enter with her into the depths of God’s love for man and to experience all its life-giving power.

There is so much to be pondered in what St. JPII has written. How many are willing to say our “Yes” to God’s Will? How many are truly seeking to hear and do the Truth He has revealed?

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful; kindle in us the Fire of Your Love.
Jesus, Meek and Humble of Heart, make our hearts like Yours. We trust in You!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Faithful heart of St. Joseph, pray for us.