The Proclamation Of The Kingdom

Fruit Of The Mystery: Repentance And Trust In God

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.


Repentance

1.  Why is repentance such a significant part of proclaiming the Kingdom?

Firstly, we must practice what we preach.  For if we preach one message, but act or speak in another manner, no one will desire to follow the One we are supposed to be giving witness to.  We must also remember, however, that we are sent to proclaim the Kingdom as imperfect creatures and we fall.  Repentance is significant because it is only when we repent that we can be healed, advance in the virtue of Christ, and continue witnessing.  Through repentance after we fall, we experience first hand the message that we are proclaiming- that of placing our trust alone in the Mercy of God, our loving Father.

2.Why does Jesus spend so much time calling sinners to repentance? 

Jesus knows the heart of every man He has ever created.  That means He knows our strengths and weaknesses, and our virtues and imperfections.  Jesus looks beyond our failings, however, and sees our potential for goodness.  His message is one of Mercy and forgiveness beyond all of our sins.  Yet because He has given us the precious gift of free will, He does not force us to repent.  His call is ever gentle and persistent though, as He understands all of our difficulties and weaknesses.  He never gives up on seeking His lost sheep, and it gives Him no greater joy than to see the hearts of us sinners become transformed by His grace and love into those of saints.

3.  How does repentance relate to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)?

The ultimate message of the Kingdom which Jesus established is the forgiveness of sins.  This message of Mercy is present in many of the Sacraments which Christ entrusted to His Church.  Though we are washed clean of all sin in our Baptism, we continue to sin afterward in our fallen human nature.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation was instituted by Jesus to remedy the accumulation of sins after Baptism.  Like everything else Jesus does, this Sacrament was given to us because He loves us.  It is for our good alone that He urges us to participate in Reconciliation, because He knows that being released sacramentally from sin removes the burden of guilt and purifies our soul.  It is by the grace of God, made present in this Sacrament, that our hearts which are wounded by sin are healed, and our relationship with God becomes stronger. 

4Why do we have to go to a Priest for Reconciliation (Confession)?

The answer to this question is best understood by looking at the other Sacraments.  If we consider Holy Matrimony, we could also ask why do I have to be married in a Church by a priest?  Truly we could elope and get married by a Justice of the Peace and technically we would be considered to be married.  Yet we must also acknowledge that there would be a special grace absent from what could be a sacred encounter with the Divine.  Like Marriage, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is recognized through the Church, and the grace ministered to us through the ordained member, is a means to draw us into a deeper relationship with our Creator.  Also, the gift of the Holy Spirit that has been bestowed upon the Priest to act on the behalf of Christ and absolve sins, offers us a special grace that is distributed to purify our souls through this Sacrament.  Once again it is a gift given to us out of pure love from our Lord.

Parables

1.  Why is it that when preaching the Gospel Jesus often uses parables which the people do not understand?

It is made clear in Matthew’s Gospel that outside of Peter’s house in Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee, people were spoken to and did not understand the parables He was teaching.  Yet it was explained openly to the disciples when they were inside of Peter’s house.  If we think about our culture today, this remains to be the case.  Those who enter “Peter’s house,” the Church, are enlightened by the Word of God in Faith, while those outside of the Church and outside the Faith do not comprehend the light.  Jesus also does this purposely as part of His loving plan to allow us to pick up where He left off in His preaching ministry.  Jesus explains the parables openly to the disciples, so that they may openly preach the Gospel once empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  Even today we are called to participate in His salvation plan by proclaiming His Kingdom and revealing the mysteries that may be unclear to those around us. 

The Miracles of Jesus

1.  Is there a human component to the Divine miracles of Jesus?

When we examine the many miracles of Jesus we find that His human emotions are what breech the barrier of between His Humanity and Divinity.  Though the power of the miracle was Divine, it was His Human emotions, especially compassion, which gave rise to them.  Consider some examples, like raising the widow’s son at Nain (64), the feeding of the 5,000 (97), the raising of Lazarus from the dead (153), etc.

2.  Why does Jesus often tell those who He heals not to say anything about it to anyone?

In all of Jesus’ miracles and healings, He always seems to tell those who have been healed, as well as the surrounding witnesses, not to say anything.  This is because the cripple that walks, the mute that now talks, the blind man that now sees would not have to say anything but just “be” in order to witness their healings to others.  Often, as we let the Lord heal us, our best witness is simply our actions which have been transformed by His peace and joy more than our words.   

3.  Why does Jesus offer forgiveness of sins before He physically heals a person?

The forgiveness of sins is God’s greatest sign of love for mankind.  We see this of course in the Passion and death of Jesus, but also in many miracles of healings that Jesus performs (45), (68), etc.  What Jesus tried to teach us in these examples is that the physical miracles that He performed were secondary to the healing of their hearts that occurred by believing in Him.  Though the physical healings would eventually die with the person, the spiritual healings offered through Faith in Him would give them eternal life.  Thus the component of forgiveness displays the great Mercy that our Lord desires to offer us to heal us, and to make us whole and complete in His Love.

Training

1.  Why does Jesus send His disciples out to preach and perform miracles without Him on several occasions (91 and 126) as He journeys toward His Passion and death?  We see they are not perfected yet in their task (111) and yet Jesus continues to send them out after falling on many occasions.  Even when it seems they are successful in their responsibilities (126), they soon have their greatest failure as they abandon Jesus in His Passion.  Why would Jesus send them out if they were ‘not ready’ yet?

A child begins to learn to ride a bike with training wheels; at the next level they are removed and the parent runs behind for safety; finally the child begins riding alone.  Certainly when the child rides alone there will be falls and bruises, but the parent must let them go through this process so they can eventually enjoy riding in total freedom.  This is very similar to what Jesus did for the disciples.  He trained them during His Public Ministry to Proclaim the Kingdom, and gradually gave the disciples more freedoms to proclaim the Gospel without Him in order to prepare them for their public ministry after His death and Resurrection.  The falls they encountered helped to shape their abilities to trust in Jesus and rely on the Holy Spirit to accomplish their God-given mission of Proclaiming the Kingdom.  How does this lesson apply to our daily lives as we meet failure and success in our call to preach the Gospel through our words and actions?

Little Children

1.  Why must we become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

If we are to effectively proclaim the Gospel, we must have the faith of a child.  For the most important part of ministering God’s word and love to others is that it is always carried out according to His Will.  We must become like little children who never presume to act without first finding out the will of their father and mother- of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

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