Day 46, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Feast of St. Patrick, Tuesday March 17

Feast Day of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland
from Dom Gueranger's Liturgical Year

"Thy life, great saint [Patrick], was spent in the arduous toils of an apostle; but how rich was the harvest thou dist reap! Every fatigue seemed to thee light, if only thou couldst give to men the precious gift of faith; and the people to whom thou didst leave it have kept it with a constancy which is one of thy greatest glories. Pray for us, that this faith, without which it is impossible to please God [Heb. xi. 6], may take possession of our hearts and minds. It is by faith that the just man liveth, says the prophet [Hab. ii. 4], and it is faith that, during this holy season of Lent, is showing us the justice and mercy of God, in order that we may be converted, and offer to our offended Lord the tribute of our penance."

"We are afraid of what the Church imposes on us, simply because our faith is weak. If our principles were those of faith, we should soon be mortified men. Thy life, though so innocent, and so rich in good works, was one of extraordinary penance: gain for us thy spirit, and help us to follow thee, at least at a humble distance."

"Pray for Erin, that dear country of thine, which loves and honours thee so fervently. She is threatened with danger even now, and many of her children have left the faith thou didst teach. An odious system of proselytism has disturbed thy flock; protect it, and suffer not the children of martyrs to be apostates. Let thy fatherly care follow them that have been driven by suffering to emigrate from their native land: may they keep true to the faith, be witnesses of the true religion in the countries to which they have fled, and ever show themselves to be the obedient children of the Church. May their misfortunes thus serve to advance the kingdom of God."

"Holy pontiff! intercede for England; pardon her injustice she has shown to thy children; and by thy powerful prayers, hasten the happy day of her return to Catholic unity. Pray, too, for the whole Church; thy prayer, being that of an apostle, easily finds access to Him that sent thee."

Day 45, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Monday March 16

Pope Pius XII ~ MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS

DEFINING THE DOGMA OF THE ASSUMPTION

November 1, 1950

39. We must remember especially that, since the second century, the Virgin Mary has been designated by the holy Fathers as the new Eve, who, although subject to the new Adam, is most intimately associated with him in that struggle against the infernal foe which, as foretold in the protoevangelium, would finally result in that most complete victory over the sin and death which are always mentioned together in the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Consequently, just as the glorious resurrection of Christ was an essential part and the final sign of this victory, so that struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin and her divine Son should be brought to a close by the glorification of her virginal body, for the same Apostle says: "When this mortal thing hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory."

40. Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.

Day 44, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Sunday March 15

Feast of St. Longinus, March 15

The Holy Martyr Longinus the Centurion, a Roman soldier, served in Judea under the command of the Governor, Pontius Pilate. When our Savior Jesus Christ was crucified, it was the detachment of soldiers under the command of Longinus which stood watch on Golgotha, at the very foot of the holy Cross. Longinus and his soldiers were eyewitnesses of the final moments of the earthly life of the Lord, and of the great and awesome portents that appeared at His death. These events shook the centurion’s soul. Longinus believed in Christ and confessed before everyone, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Mt. 27:54).

According to Church Tradition, Longinus was the soldier who pierced the side of the Crucified Savior with a spear, and received healing from an eye affliction when blood and water poured forth from the wound.

After the Crucifixion and Burial of the Savior, Longinus stood watch with his company at the Sepulchre of the Lord. These soldiers were present at the All-Radiant Resurrection of Christ. The Jews bribed them to lie and say that His disciples had stolen away the Body of Christ, but Longinus and two of his comrades refused to be seduced by the Jewish gold. They also refused to remain silent about the miracle of the Resurrection.

Having come to believe in the Savior, the soldiers received Baptism from the apostles and decided to leave military service. St Longinus left Judea to preach about Jesus Christ the Son of God in his native land (Cappadocia), and his two comrades followed him.

Day 43, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Saturday March 14

Fourth Joyful Mystery ~ Presentation in the Temple

St Alphonsus de Liguori:

St. Thomas teaches that the very office of motherhood gives mothers a special right over their children. Thus, inasmuch as Jesus Himself was innocent and did not deserve punishment, it seemed only fitting that He should not be condemned to the Cross as a victim for the sins of the world without the consent of His Mother. Now while Mary consented to His death from the moment that she became the Mother of Jesus, God nevertheless wished that she should make a solemn sacrifice of herself in the Temple on this day by making a solemn offering of the life of her Son.

We begin to see now how much this sacrifice cost Mary in the way of sorrow, and what heroic virtue she had to practice in order to assent to the sentence of death passed on her Son. Imagine, for instance, Mary on the road to Jerusalem on the first Presentation Day. She hurries toward the place of sacrifice and holds the beloved Victim in Her arms. She enters the Temple, approaches the altar, and there, unassumingly, humbly and devoutly presents Him to the Most High. Meanwhile holy Simeon, who had been promised by God that he should not die without first having seen the expected Messias, takes the Divine Child from the hands of the Blessed Virgin and, inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells her how much the sacrifice of her Son will cost her. He tells her too that together with Him her own blessed soul will also be sacrificed.

Yes, Mary was to suffer in her heart. Her compassion for her most beloved Son was the sword which was destined to pierce her motherly heart, as St. Simeon accurately foretold: And thy own soul a sword shall pierce [Lk. 2: 35].

St. Jerome assures us that the Blessed Virgin was well versed in the Sacred Scriptures and therefore was aware what the Redeemer would have to suffer during His life, and even more at the time of His death. She fully understood from the Prophets that He was to be betrayed by one of His own disciples: Even My friend who had My trust and partook of My bread, has raised his heel against Me [Ps. 40, 10]. And that He would be abandoned by them: Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered [Zach. 13: 7]. She knew all about the contempt, the spitting, the blows, the scorn that He would be made to suffer at the hands of the people: I have given My body to the strikers, and My cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away My face from them that rebuked Me and that spit upon Me [Isa. 50: 6]. She knew that He was to become the reproach of the vilest men and the outcast of the people, and would be overwhelmed with insults and injuries: But I am a worm, not a man: the scorn of men, despised by the people [Ps. 21, 7]; And that finally, hanging on a Cross, He would die for the salvation of mankind: And they shall look upon Me, Whom they have pierced [Zach. 12: 10].

Mary, I say, was already well aware of all these tortures that Jesus would have to suffer, but Simeon's words, And Thy own soul a sword shall pierce, revealed to her all the details of those sufferings, internal and external, that were to torment Him, as Our Lord Himself revealed to St. Teresa. She consented to everything, however, with a steadfastness that filled even the Angels with astonishment. She pronounced the sentence that condemned Her Son to death------a death so ignominious and painful------when She said: "Eternal Father, since You will that it should be so, not my will, but Thine be done [Lk. 22: 42]. I unite my will to Your most holy will, and I sacrifice my Son to You. I am happy to have Him lose His life for Your glory and the salvation of the world. At the same time I sacrifice my heart to You so that it may be pierced with sorrow as much as You please. It is enough for Me, O My God, that You be glorified and content with my offering: Not my will, but Thine be done."

O immeasurable charity! O unparalleled constancy! O victory deserving the eternal admiration of Heaven and earth!

Day 42, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Friday March 13

First Glorious Mystery ~ The Resurrection

GOSPEL: Jn. 11:21-27

At that time: Martha said to Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died; but now also I know that whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith to him: I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day.

Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live; and every one that liveth, and believeth in me, shall not die for ever. Believest thou this? She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world.

Day 41, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Thursday March 12

Meditating on the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We should cling to [Jesus] as a child clings to its mother. We should hang about Him as a Friend whose absence we cannot bear. We should keep Him fondly in our thoughts, as men sometimes do with a sweet grief, which has become to them the soft and restful light of their whole lives.

Now, the way in which Our Lady’s dolors keep His Passion continually before us has a special virtue to produce this tenderness in us. We love Him, who is infinitely to be loved in all ways, in a peculiar manner when He is reflected in His Mother’s heart. Although it is absolutely necessary for us perpetually to contemplate His Passion in all the nakedness of its harrowing circumstances and revolting shame, for else we shall never have a true idea of the sinfulness of sin , yet there is something in the Passion, seen through Mary, which makes us forget ourselves, and tranquilly engrosses us in the most melting tenderness and endearing sympathy toward our Blessed Lord. The emotions which are awakened by the Passion in itself are manifold and exciting, whereas the spirit of tenderness presides over Mary’s sorrows with one exclusive, constraining presence. But out of this tenderness comes also a great hatred of sin. If God were to let us choose which of the great and extraordinary gifts that He has given to His Saints should be conferred upon ourselves, we could not do better than ask for that piercing and overwhelming hatred of sin which some have had. It is a gift which lies at the root of all perfection, and is the supernatural vigor of all perseverance. It is at once the safest and the most operative of all singular graces. Devotion to Our Lady’s dolors is a great help both to acquiring the hatred of sin as a habit, and to meriting it as a grace. The desolation wrought by sin in the heart of the sinless Mother, and the reflection that her sorrows were not, like those of Jesus, the redemption of the world, fill us with horror, with pity, with indignation , with self -reproach.

There is nothing to distract us from this thought, as there is in the sacrifice of Our Lord, who was thus accomplishing His own great work, satisfying the justice of His Father, earning the exaltation of His Sacred Humanity, and becoming the Father Himself of a countless multitude of the elect. The Mother’s heart bleeds, simply because she is His Mother; and it is our sins which are making it bleed so cruelly. We are ourselves part of the shadow of that eclipse which is passing so darkly over her spotless life. We can never help thinking of sin, so long as we see those seven swords, springing, like a dreadful sheaf, from the very inmost sanctuary of her broken heart.

Faber, Fr. Frederick William (2015-02-14). The Foot of the Cross with Mary: or The Sorrows of Mary (Kindle Locations 1053-1073). KIC. Kindle Edition.

Day 39, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Tuesday March 10

Third Joyful Mystery ~ The Nativity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ

From Christmas Morning Sermon by St. John Chrysostom

What shall I say! And how shall I describe this Birth to you? For this wonder fills me with astonishment. The Ancient of days has become an infant. He Who sits upon the sublime and heavenly Throne, now lies in a manger. And He Who cannot be touched, Who is simple, without complexity, and incorporeal, now lies subject to the hands of men. He Who has broken the bonds of sinners, is now bound by an infant’s bands. But He has decreed that ignominy shall become honor, infamy be clothed with glory, and total humiliation the measure of His Goodness.

For this He assumed my body, that I may become capable of His Word; taking my flesh, He gives me His spirit; and so He bestowing and I receiving, He prepares for me the treasure of Life. He takes my flesh, to sanctify me; He gives me His Spirit, that He may save me.

Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been planted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now speak with angels.

Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive. He was placed in a manger, so that He, by whom all things arc nourished, may receive an infant’s food from His Virgin Mother. So, the Father of all ages, as an infant at the breast, nestles in the virginal arms, that the Magi may more easily see Him. Since this day the Magi too have come, and made a beginning of withstanding tyranny; and the heavens give glory, as the Lord is revealed by a star.

To Him, then, Who out of confusion has wrought a clear path, to Christ, to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost, we offer all praise, now and forever. Amen.