The
Carrying Of The Cross
Fruit
Of The Mystery:
Patience
The
following meditations are provided to assist you
while praying the Holy Rosary. It is offered in a
format where a question is posed to lead the
meditation and then is followed by an answer below
it. It
may be more helpful to grow in your meditation
skills if you try to contemplate the question while
praying this decade of the Rosary, and view the
possible answer upon completing the prayers for the
Mystery.
The
meditations below offer possible answers to
questions regarding these Mysteries.
Because the Wisdom of God is infinite, there
are limitless insights that one may gain from
meditating repeatedly upon the questions surrounding
these Mysteries.
There are no wrong or right answers when
praying the Holy Rosary in this way.
We are simply seeking to be inspired in our
understanding of who Jesus is and how much He loves
us, as the Holy Spirit gently guides us through
reflective prayer.
For
many reasons it may be difficult to engage our minds
to enter into meditating on the Mysteries at hand.
An alternative option is to simply meditate
upon the meaning of the core prayers of the Holy
Rosary as you are praying them.
You may find these reflections on the Our
Father, the Hail
Mary and the Glory
Be prayers to be helpful during these times.
Patience
1.
How do we grow in the virtue of patience when
carrying our crosses?
We
grow in grace and patience in many ways when
carrying our crosses through life.
We learn from following Jesus that we when
are too weak to carry our cross we must patiently
accept the help of others.
Sometimes this comes from those who are
reluctant to help, like Simon of Cyrene initially
was in helping Jesus; sometimes it is not in words
or actions, but simply the presence of one we love,
like the Blessed Mother who meets Jesus after He
falls, that we are inspired to pick up our crosses
and continue; and sometimes it is through acts of
kindness that are bestowed upon us, like Veronica
who offered her veil to wipe the face of Jesus, that
we begin to outpour love and life again- just as
Jesus left the imprint of His Sacred Face upon
Veronica’s veil.
In all these cases we become shaped in the
likeness of Christ as we patiently accept the help
we need, while carrying our crosses which we cannot
bear alone.
2.
Does falling serve to help us in any way when we
carry our crosses in life?
When we consider the way of the Cross which Jesus
traveled, we see the continual patterns of falling
beneath the weight of the Cross and rising again
until He reached His final destination at Calvary.
Thus it is through falling and rising in our
own journey of life that we become more like our
Lord. Through
this pattern we grow in the virtue of patience, as
we are forced to accept our weaknesses and rely on
the help which He provides through others to see us
through. It is also through our falls that we learn patience through
hope provided by our past experiences in overcoming
the obstacles of life.
We must follow the master and continue to
humbly and patiently fall and rise until we reach
our eternal destination.
3.
How does the virtue of patience increase within
us?
Patience
is like a muscle in that it grows when it is
exercised against resistance.
Therefore, in order for our virtue of
patience to grow, by His grace we must carry the
weight of our cross.
This virtue of patience is powered by courage
and love, and rooted in faith in Christ alone.
Our faith gives rise to patience as it
assures us that our sufferings can and will be
united to Jesus’ sacrifice for the salvation of
souls, as we offer all things to Him through the
hands and prayers of His most Blessed Mother.
Thus it is through an intimate union with
Jesus through Mary that we become formed in His
likeness and grow in all virtues.
The
Immaculate Heart of Mary
1.
Why was the Immaculate Heart of Mary so
pained in seeing her Son carry the Cross?
Of
course it was treacherous for Mary to witness each
part of the Passion, but her Immaculate Heart was
most deeply wounded in witnessing Jesus carry the
Cross. Though
He suffered intensely in His Agony in the Garden, at
the Scourging, and when He was Crowned with Thorns,
this was the first time that Jesus has the chance to
act under His own power in the Passion.
Knowing that Jesus lived His whole life to
reach this ‘hour’ to glorify His Father, it was
heart wrenching for Mary to witness His repeated
failures and falls while carrying the Cross.
Because of the lack of sleep, and extreme
blood loss and unheard of tortures that Jesus
experienced up to this point, He was hardly able to
walk without the enormous weight of the Cross.
Not to mention the emotional pain that Jesus
bore as those He passed in the crowd surrounded Him
with gestures of hatred, hostility and rejection,
which was directed toward Him and His Blessed
Mother. It
was for this reason that Mary flew to the assistance
of her Son during this portion of His Passion.
2.
What sustained Jesus and gave Him the strength
to endure His journey with the Cross?
Jesus
was strengthened by the grace that was drawn down
from Heaven through the prayers of the one who loved
Him most. Knowing
His ultimate goal was to accomplish the Will of the
Father in dying on the Cross.
All of Mary’s prayers were directed toward
helping her Son accomplish what He set out to do-
what His sole desire and ultimate purpose on earth
was- to die on the Cross for our sins. In Jesus’
physical weakness, true sustenance to endure the
Passion, came from the Immaculate Heart of Mary who
lived for nothing else than to assist her Son in
completing His mission to save all of our souls.
Her compassion in all of His suffering
engulfed His fully human weakness and pain, as her
prayers drew down Mercy, grace and strength from the
Father. In
seeing her Son struggling to carry the Cross and
falling beneath its weight, she was compelled to
meet Him face to face. Without words, the power of love is exchanged through their
eyes, as she offers Him all of the love and strength
in her Immaculate Heart to remind Him of His mission
and see Him through to His end.
The Role of
the Blessed Mother
1.
What was the role of the Blessed Mother in the
Passion of Jesus?
What is her role in our lives?
The
Blessed Mother was not put on this earth to assist
the Divinity of Christ; there is nothing that she
could have done or said to add to or diminish His
Divinity, or what His Divinity would accomplish.
What she was created for, however, was to
impact His Humanity.
To impact His physical well-being, His
emotional well-being and His mental sharpness and
fortitude. When
these human components combine with His Spiritual
components (His Divinity), together they formed the
Person of Jesus.
And her contribution in these areas reached
its pinnacle during the Passion, especially when she
encountered Him carrying His Cross.
In like manner, Our Blessed Mother is given
to us by Jesus to strengthen us in our humanity. But her support also reaches beyond the physical needs and
assists our spiritual weaknesses as well.
Our Blessed Mother ministers God’s grace to
help us to conform our actions to the Divine Will,
by uniting all the powers of our soul (our will,
intellect and memory) to the power of the Most Holy
Trinity which dwells within us.
As with her Son, she is the catalyst in
uniting our humanity (the physical, mental and
emotional components) with His Divinity (the
spiritual component) within us.
This is ultimately how we grow in virtue and
holiness and are formed in the likeness of Christ.
2.
When comparing those who helped Jesus carry His
Cross as He made His way to Calvary, what was
different about the encounter between Mary and
Jesus?
Simon
of Cyrene physically helped Jesus to carry His
Cross; the Daughters of Jerusalem tried to offer Him
emotional support through their tears; and Veronica
showed Him compassion and love by wiping His face
with her veil.
Though each of these people helped support
Jesus in His sufferings, none gave Him more strength
than His Mother.
In simply being present to her Son and
looking deeply into His eyes, Jesus was filled with
the immensity of love of His beloved Mother. It was in this simple exchange of compassion that Jesus
receives most comfort.
When we are filled with such love and
intimacy in our relationship with Jesus, we too can
bring hope to others simply by making present the
overflowing love of the Most Holy Trinity that
dwells within us.
3.
Why did the Blessed Mother intervene at this
point in the Passion as opposed to another time such
as at the scourging or the crowning?
Knowing
Jesus so intimately for His whole life, the Blessed
Virgin Mary was aware that in His mission for the
salvation of mankind was to be fulfilled by giving
His life on the Cross. In seeing Him staggering and teetering beneath the weight of
the Cross, Mary’s heart was wounded deeply at the
thought of her Son not completing the only thing His
Sacred Heart desired.
In seeing this pitiful struggle, and His
eventual collapse beneath the Cross she flew to her
Son’s assistance as the crowd continued to mock
Him and spit upon Him, and the soldiers continued to
beat him. She
would see her Son through to His end.
No words were necessary; Jesus knew why His
Mother arrived.
He was now filled with courage and
strengthened by the purest outpouring of love from
His Mother, that would help Him to make it to
Calvary to be crucified.
4.
Why does the Scripture tell us that Simon of
Cyrene was the father of Alexander and Rufus?
Every
last detail of Scripture holds an infinite amount of
treasure and is placed precisely by God’s
inspiration to reveal something to us.
A perfect example is the question mentioned
above. We
know several things about Simon the Cyrenian from
Scripture, including the fact that he helped Jesus
carry His Cross and thus winds up inevitably at the
Crucifixion. Before
Jesus takes His last breath, Simon witnesses
Christ’s command to take Mary as our Mother.
We also learn through Scripture that Simon's
children, Alexander and Rufus, come to follow the
footsteps of Christ in Faith.
Simon teaches his children to obey the
command of Christ and take Mary as their very own
Mother. As
the beloved disciple John must have had to leave
Mary to preach the Gospel, Rufus must have been
blessed to watch over Mother Mary.
This is why Paul addresses Rufus as being
chosen in the Lord in Romans 16:13 ("Salute
Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his Mother and
mine."). Because
Paul is from Tarsus and Rufus is from Cyrene, it
becomes apparent in this passage that the apostle
Paul readily accepts this tradition of taking Mary
as his own Mother as well.
Our Crosses
Help Others
1.
What are some of the positive aspects of the
crosses that we bear?
The
physical crosses we bear, and seeing those of
others, are necessary to raise the emotions which
enable us and inspire us to grow in virtue and
perform works of mercy.
The Blessed Mother’s act of kindness in
reaching out to her Son as He carried the Cross (the
fourth station of the Cross) inspired others to
partake in helping Him through His Passion.
Consider the recruitment of Simon by the
Roman soldiers to help Jesus carry His Cross, or
Veronica offering Him her veil to wipe the sweat and
blood from His precious face.
These events occur after Mary inspires others
by example. Our
most difficult times, the falls that occur while
carrying our crosses, are usually the ones that draw
us closest to others in our lives.
Not only do they inspire the kind actions of
others, but our suffering can also soften the hearts
of others through compassion which leads to
conversion. We
see this happen at the Cross when eventually the
good thief asks Jesus to remember him in His
Kingdom.
2.
Although Simon thought he was summoned to help
Jesus carry His Cross, who was it really for in the
end?
When
Simon of Cyrene began his day, he thought he was
simply heading into the city of Jerusalem with his
family to celebrate Passover.
God had other plans for him.
As he enters the city, he is forced to help
carry the Cross of Christ.
Though he obeys against his will, it was not
very long before partaking in the Passion of Jesus
converts His soul through compassion.
Some may consider it chance that he crossed
the path of the soldiers leading Jesus to Calvary at
this precise time.
However, from a heavenly perspective we see
that God’s loving plan was to bring him salvation
on this day. Though
he was yoked to Christ to carry His burden, he
received the much greater reward of the promise of
eternal joy through faith in Jesus.
The same is true in our lives. We never know
where our days will lead us, what challenges we will
face, or how we will encounter Christ.
However, we can rest assured that whatever
comes our way is because God desires to show us His
great love and unite us in faith to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus.
The Sacred
Heart of Jesus
1.
Where do we see what pained the Sacred Heart of
Jesus the most in His Passion?
In
Jesus’ encounter with the daughters of Jerusalem,
we learn most clearly that His greatest sufferings
and pains in the Passion were not His own, but for
those who would now be without Him.
He was deeply wounded by those who were
committing sins against Him, in the very presence of
God, and those in the future who would continue to
turn away from His love and be disobedient to His
commandments. This
scene gives us insight into His Sacred Heart’s
deepest desires for our oneness with Him, and His
adoration and love for us.
In essence it explains His longing always to
remain with us in the Eucharist until He comes
again.
The Cross
1.
What is more important- where our crosses come
from, or what purpose they serve?
Often
we get caught up in worrying about the sources of
our crosses. We
especially become upset when our crosses come from
those closest to us, and those whom we love most.
We must remember that these situations are
necessary to carry out part of God’s plan for us
to grow in holiness through His love.
It may be more helpful to focus on the loving
intention of Our Father, rather than the origin of
our burden. It
is in carrying our crosses with patience and gentle
kindness that we imitate Jesus, and become like Him
in our virtues.
We too must carry our cross with love, and
keeping our eyes fixed humbly and obediently upon
Our Father's Will.
2.
Why is the Cross considered the one mediator
between God and men?
How does the Cross unite man with God, and
man with other humans?
People
may be different in their age, race, religion, sex,
or ethnic background, but there is one factor that
unites all of humanity- The Cross.
Not only did Christ die for everyone’s
sins, but each of us is guaranteed a share in the
Passion of Christ as we live on this earth.
No one is exempt from suffering in his or her
lifetime. Thus
the Cross unites all men to God through Christ’s
sacrifice to redeem each and every one of us, and
unites all men to each other through the suffering
we endure together. The most beautiful unifying factor of the Cross, is that we
are all invited to reign in glory with Christ
through its sanctifying power.
Through the Cross we are offered the promise
of the Holy Spirit, which gives us the grace to grow
in virtue and live in union with God’s Will for us
on earth, so that we may all be saved and dwell in
the splendor of His presence for all eternity.
Go
Back
|