Sorrowful Mysteries

Jesus’ Crucifixion: A Message of Hope

Being a parent forces you to look at your role in life different ways. On one hand, there are the day-to-day challenges — getting kids ready for school, packing lunches, taking them to their various activities, and resolving disputes. It’s a grind. It’s tiring. And yes, at times it feels hopeless. Maybe you got called into yet another teacher’s conference over your kid’s behavior at school. Maybe your kids are fighting over toys or otherwise creating needless conflict. In these times, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This is what parenting feels like sometimes

And then there are those times when everything comes together. Your kid does or says something sweet. Or they are playing nicely with each other; laughing and having fun. Maybe they passed that big test they studied hard for. It’s those times that can make you feel like the parent of the year and fills you with a sense of hope that you can not only handle but excel as a parent.

It’s this dichotomy between despair and hope that surround Jesus’ crucifixion. When I pray the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, I try to focus on the hopeful theme of the mystery. Wait, what? How does Jesus’ death send a hopeful message? Jesus died, an apostle betrayed Him, His disciples abandoned Him. Where’s the hope in this low point?

Jesus’ crucifixion delivers a message of hope because it all transpired the way He said it would. Jesus said He was going to be betrayed and that He was going to die. But He also said that He was going to rise again in glory. And that’s the hope-filled part of this rosary mystery. Jesus always spoke the truth. So when Jesus said that God loves us and we are meant to spend eternity in Heaven with Him, he meant it. Jesus asks us to look beyond the current situation, no matter how dire and hopeless it may seem, and focus on His message of hope.

We all have our challenges in life and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by them. We sometimes feel like giving up whether that be in the form of giving into sinful temptations, stop practice our faith, or just stop believing that God hears us and helps us through our challenges. We see things getting worse and think there is no hope for a better outcome. But remember, things also got worse for Jesus — He was scourged, crowned with thorns, carried a cross, nailed to it, and basically suffocated to death. When things couldn’t get any worse, they did. And yet, Jesus endured because He knew this was God’s plan which would not end in death and despair but in the glory of the resurrection.

Similar to how Jesus knew that God would see Him through the darkest moments of His life, we know that Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Mary, and the saints will see us through the darkest moments of ours. I remember what a priest once said about suffering and despair. He said look at the Bible. Who wins? Is it Satan and suffering or God and eternal joy? SPOILER! It’s God’s vision that ultimately wins out in the end. Any suffering in our lives is temporary and ultimately ends in glory if you have faith in God’s plan.

Holiness Is Possible

There’s a saying in the creative world that the artist is his own worst critic. Many people, when seeing the results of their efforts, focus on the flaws. A painter only sees a shade of color that is slightly off. An actor remembers that one line that didn’t quite deliver the emotional impact he wanted. A musician dwells on that missed note that no one else noticed. A software developer, see a working computer program, instead dwells on a few lines of code that feel hacked together. We all have our faults that gnaw away at us leading us to doubt our abilities.

What about our spirituality? How accurately do we see our ability to live in holiness? Do we think we have the ability to live holy lives? Or do we only see the challenges and limitations and think holiness isn’t possible? This is the exact question Matthew Kelly asks in his book, The Biggest Lie in the History of Christianity. Don’t worry, this isn’t a spoiler since he clearly states it in the first chapter. The biggest lie in Christianity is that holiness isn’t something we can achieve. And that lie has had a negative cascading effect on the world.

Buying into the lie that we cannot be holy has prevented many of us from even trying. We look at the lives of the saints and think, “I can’t be like that.” And so we skip Mass, skip prayers, and go along with the secular crowd. Why choose a challenge that can only end in failure? And that’s the type of thinking Satan wants us to fall in to. If we give up on holiness we become susceptible to his influence.

Now, of course, the book (which is an easy read by the way) goes into detail on exposing the lie that we cannot achieve holiness. Holiness is possible. Matthew Kelly explains that we need to practice what he calls holy moments — small instances when we act holy. We can start small with one or two holy moments per day — saying prayers, making a sacrifice, doing something nice, etc. We can then expand the number of holy moments. And guess what happens when you chain together enough holy moments? You have a holy day! Then a holy week, holy month, and guess what? You now have a holy life! And what happens when multiple people live in holiness? A holy world!

Holy Moments in the Rosary

When I think of holy moments when I pray the Rosary, I think of Veronica in the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery — Jesus carrying His cross. Veronica is the woman who wiped the face of Jesus during His passion. I consider it a pure holy moment. It was something small and mostly ineffective in relieving Jesus’ suffering. But she showed courage standing out from the crowd and possibly incurring the wrath of both the Roman soldiers and Jewish authorities to help someone in need the best she could. We may scoff and criticize the futility of Veronica’s actions. But who knows how many people she converted in that single action. Perhaps her example eased the fear others in the crowd may have been feeling at the time. And maybe many of those people went on to become one of the many of disciples that formed the early Church.

Matthew Kelly wants us to understand that there is no act of holiness too small. They all can have an impact, especially when combined. And there is no challenge too great that we can’t overcome if we leave ourselves open to God’s influence. When you pray the Rosary and meditate on the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery, remember that we can all act like Veronica and stick out from the crowd. But first, we have to want to stick out from the crowd. It’s not easy to break out of our routines but that is exactly what God calls us to do. And that is why we pray the Rosary — asking Mary for her help to follow God’s plan. When we have as powerful of an intercessor as Mary, holiness is not only possible, it’s inevitable.

God’s Time is not Our Time

Lent is a great time to contemplate about the time scale God operates on. As I said in my previous post, our time frame isn’t God’s time frame. The way we look at time vastly differs from how God looks at time. What seems long to us — a day, a year, a decade, a lifetime, and even multiple generations is a passing instant compared to God’s eternal view of time. The entire age of the universe is but a grain of sand in God’s hourglass.

Lenten Challenges

I think back to fasting on Ash Wednesday. To me, it felt like a long day because I had small meals with no snacks in between. Throughout the day I kept looking at my watch. Was it lunch yet? Was it dinner? When can I eat again? Should I go to bed so this day will end? When you’re hungry, time seems to slow down to an almost unbearable pace. But you know what? The day of fasting eventually came to an end. I woke up the next day and was fortunate enough to eat a satisfying breakfast.

I gave up alcohol for Lent. I’m not a big drinker but I do enjoy an ice cold beer on the weekend or a glass of red wine with dinner. So 40 days without a social cocktail seems like a long time. The wine bottles in my house will be taunting me until April 21. But I have to remember that it’s only 40 days. Much like fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Lent will pass and I’ll be able to enjoy my weekend bottle of beer again.

Can’t have any of that sweet, sweet Duff.

Throughout Lent, we can begin to understand the finite time frame we live in and the infinite one of God’s. Much like our Lenten sacrifices and fasts, this life will come to an end as well. And all our suffering, both minor and major, will be over. And then hopefully we’ll enter into eternity in Heaven. Our lives may seem like a long time to many of us especially if we want God to immediately answer our prayers or perform a miracle. But God does answer our prayers, even if the answer for many of us is, “wait until Heaven; you don’t have to wait long.”

The Rosary

Let’s look at the Rosary, particularly the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery. Picture Jesus carrying His cross. It must have seemed like an eternity of pain and suffering as He was whipped, beaten, and fell multiple times. The human side of Him must have wanted all that suffering to end instantly. But Jesus also understood that to God and His divine plan, Jesus’ suffering was ending instantly compared to the eternal majesty He would obtain in His resurrection and ascension into Heaven.

We may find ourselves feeling like we’re in a similar situation as Jesus carrying His cross. We may have challenges with our health, family, money, faith, or addictions. Relief never seems to come despite how hard we try and how much we pray. But God assures us that it will come to an end, even if it’s not in this life. We must remember that a lifetime of suffering is an instant compared to the eternal joy of Heaven. Like Jesus carrying His cross, we have to get back up and continue doing God’s will in this relatively short time we have in this life.

The 40 days of Lent may seem like a long time, especially if we’ve given up something that we really enjoy or taken up a practice that is hard to do. But let’s treat it as an opportunity to better understand how God works. Lent comes to an end in the joy of Easter. Just how joyful Easter feels depends on how hard we work on focusing on our faith during Lent. Think of Lent and Easter as a microcosm of life and eternity. Much like Lent, our lives will end. And it’s really not that long of a time we have so we must make the most of it. And when we do, we can enjoy living in God’s grace, both during Easter and in Heaven to come.

Pope’s November Intention: Use the Language of Love

Pope Francis’ November intention is “In the Service of Peace: That the language of love and dialogue may always prevail over the language of conflict.” Here’s a snippet of Deacon Ted Penton’s reflection on the pope’s message (the full article is found on Zenit).

Jesus didn’t allow Peter to defend him from an arrest by use of the sword. Nor did he call down legions of angels to save him from the Romans who tortured and executed him. Instead, he submitted to death on the cross. In some mysterious way, the Father used the death and resurrection of his Son for far greater purposes than any of his followers could have imagined. As Pope Francis eloquently stated, “In the silence of the cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is spoken.”

This reflection ties in nicely with my previous post about the sin of pride and the virtue of humility. I also called out Jesus’ Passion as a time of peaceful and humble acceptance of God’s plan for us. Jesus showed us that humility is the language of love that Pope Francis refers to in his November intention. Because when we are humble we let God speak through us. His words are not filtered and drowned out by our pride. They aren’t muddled by our limited human minds. Even when our intentions are good, we still don’t possess the ability to see the “big picture” and construct the same language of love and dialogue that is as effective as God’s Word.

There’s another aspect of the November intention I want to discuss. We can’t confuse peaceful dialogue with weakness. All too often, we have this notion that love means letting others roll over us and do as they like. But look at Jesus’ example. He was all loving but He was certainly no pushover. He was unrelenting in preaching God’s truth and never backed down. He never told sinners that their actions were okay. But He did teach them what God desired for them and forgave them. He did this in a loving way that drew people closer, not further away. We too should imitate Jesus. We don’t shy away from preaching God’s truth but we must do it in a way that also shows God’s love.

When we pray the Third Luminous Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom and Heaven and His Call to Conversion, let’s keep the pope’s November intention in our hearts. Let’s remember to make an effort to convert any of our ways that create conflict into ways that create and foster God’s love. It’s not an easy journey letting go of our almost instinctive nature to fight hostility with hostility. But think about Jesus being scourged and how difficult it must have been for Him not to fight back in a hostile way. Ultimately, Jesus “won” because humiliation, torture, and death was not the end. He found the strength to endure all of that out of His love for us. We pray the Rosary this month asking God for that same strength to see that it is love, not hate, that will ultimately win and convert souls.

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Defeating Pride With The Rosary

The next of the seven deadly sins we’re looking at is pride. Many consider pride the worst of the seven deadly sins and also the foundation of the other sins. Pride means putting your wants and importance before anyone else’s authority. And what is a sin? It’s putting your desires in front of what God wants. When we sin, we knowingly act without regard to the consequences because we don’t accept any other law beyond our own. According to C.S. Lewis, it’s pride that leads to every other type of sin because it’s the anti-God state of mind.

Pride is so deadly because, by its very nature, it remains hidden. As Fr Dwight Longenecker puts it in his article on Catholic Exchange:

This is why pride is so deadly, because it is the one sin that hides itself so effectively. The proud person, by very definition, does not realize he is proud. If he realized he was proud he would repent, but it is pride which keeps him from seeing that he is wrong or sinful in any way. Pride is a very difficult sin to do anything about because the proud person will even go so far as to admit that he is proud, and that makes him even more “right” than he was before!

The Scriptural Connection

Look at how blinded the Pharisees were by their own pride that they could not accept Jesus’ teachings. They dwelled on their own self-importance and their understanding of God and the Law that they couldn’t accept the teachings of a poor carpenter from Nazareth. They criticized everything Jesus and His apostles did from breaking certain Mosaic laws to ministering to sinners; acts their pride did not allow them to do. So indebted to their pride that the Pharisees didn’t even come to believe after witnessing Jesus’ countless miracles.

We turn next to Saint Paul, or rather Saul before his conversion. Saul was a Roman Jew who persecuted the early Christians. He was so blinded by pride that he refused to accept the teachings of the apostles to the point of killing them (poor Saint Stephen). Saul justified what he was doing by claiming it was God’s work. In reality, he was just keeping the status quo where the power of the Law was taught and enforced by those who believed they were important and holy enough to wield it. Ironically, God physically blinded Saul on the road to Damascus to humble him. That event led to his conversion. Once a humble servant of God, Paul was able to preach God’s Word throughout the world because he could let go of his own self-importance. He teaches to this very day through his various letters in the New Testament.

The Rosary Solution

Humility is the heavenly virtue that counters pride. The humble heart thinks of others and understands and appreciates others’ talents and strengths. It also allows us to put our faith in God by recognizing His authority over us. The humble heart accepts Gods law while the prideful one fights and rebels against it.

Humility is the fruit of the First Joyful Mystery — The Annunciation. Mary proclaims, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) when hearing God’s plan for her. She doesn’t consider herself high and mighty as a prideful person would. She doesn’t see God choosing her as some sort of award or even something to brag about. Instead, she sees herself as the humble servant called to do God’s Will. She doesn’t complain about God messing up her life’s plans. Instead, she realizes that God’s plan is the best plan even if it’s unconventional.

Humility also shows itself in the Third Sorrowful Mystery — Jesus’ Crowning of Thorns. It is a time when Jesus is mocked or tortured. At that time, He could have proven Himself as the Son of God by performing any number of signs. Jesus could have said that He didn’t have to take any more abuse from lowly humans since He was the Messiah. But Jesus humbly lived out God’s Will by enduring mockery and torture. Humility sometimes means suffering in doing what is right instead of constantly asking “Why me? Am too good for this type of treatment.” We should take Jesus’ example in the Third Sorrowful Mystery and always accept God’s plan for us even when it’s difficult or doesn’t make sense.

Ask yourself, are you humbly accepting God’s plan for you or is your pride causing you to rebel against Him? Are you depressed or saddened because you have a hard time accepting God’s Will? Ask yourself, is that your pride talking? Humility isn’t something to fear. It means greater freedom and comfort knowing that you are putting your life in the hands of some greater authority. And what better authority to place your life than our loving God and His Church?

Coping with the Church Scandal One Rosary Bead at a Time

Have you read the book or seen the movie, The Martian? It’s a story that takes place in the future where a man is stranded on Mars after his crew leaves believing he is dead. In this story, the stranded scientist, Mark Watney, overcomes all sorts of challenges to stay alive. It’s one of those stories where everything that can go wrong does go wrong — storms, failed equipment, communication issues, etc. But he just works each problem as it came along to survive just one more day.

I think the Church is in a similar situation — everything that seems like it can go wrong is going wrong regarding the abuse scandal and accusations of coverups going up to the pope himself. The Church is in uncharted territory right now. We have a retired pope who may have known something about the Cardinals’ abuses who is silent on the matter. We have a sitting pope who is remaining silent. We have all sorts of insider leaks pointing to spiritual rot at high levels. It’s enough to make the strongest of us doubt that the Church will come out of this in a better state.

As individuals, we can’t do much regarding the Church scandals inside the Vatican. But like Mark Watney facing countless setbacks trying to survive on Mars, we will also face setbacks in the coming months as more news comes out. The key is not to get overwhelmed and abandon those who need our prayers the most. We can’t make this a “Vatican-only” issue. It’s a problem that all the faithful need to do our part. We just need to take each day in turn and live the best Christian example we can.

Charlie Johnston puts it well in his blog, A Sign of Hope, when he talked about the need to deal with reality before us, not how we want or expect it to be:

You are going to fail at some things, you are going to be wrong about some things, some of your cherished certainties are going to fall. Your faith is dependent on none of these things and your duty is not suspended because of your errors. If your faith is dependent on your certainty that you have it all figured out, it is just a subtle form of pride – and you know what pride goeth before. Follow the example of King David who, after he sinned grievously of his own fault, got up again at the behest of the prophet and lived his duty, even so. You will fail, you will err, you will sin of your own fault. God knows all of this. He waits to see whether, after each failure, you will get up and start again, humbly living your duty with steadfast resolve even though your fault is ever before you – thus trusting to Him, and not to your own virtue.

Charlie’s words remind me of the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus Carries His Cross. Jesus fell multiple times under the cross. Each time He resolved to get back up again and do God’s Will. He fell under the weight of sin too, our sins. But Jesus found the strength to not get discouraged about the seemingly hopeless situation He was in and did not give up. His will to follow through with God’s plan was greater than the pain He felt. Jesus got back up and completed God’s work one painful step at a time.

And so we too, are called to keep going and live our Catholic faith. It will be difficult at times when we hear about what is happening inside the Vatican. But, like I said in my previous article, our faith isn’t dependent on the virtue of men. It lies on the power and virtue of God Himself. Pray the Rosary and imagine each bead being one slow (sometimes painful) step out of the darkness and into God’s grace.

The Archbishop of San Francisco wrote a letter about the Church scandal. In it, he outlines a 3-step plan to keep us moving forward and repair the damage caused by the Church hierarchy. He asks for:

Praying the rosary daily – and for families, to pray the rosary as a family at least once a week;
Practicing Friday penance by abstaining from eating meat and one other additional act of fasting (e.g., another form of food or drink, or skipping a meal);
Spending one hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament at least once a week

Coping with Controversy with the Rosary

These are unsettling times for the Catholic Church in the wake of abuses and cover-ups at the highest levels of the Church. It’s hard to learn about such corruption by people who are supposed to be spiritual leaders in a Church that espouses such high moral values. It can also shake your faith in an institution that is supposed to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

The cardinals and priests are spiritual leaders, but they are also human. They carry the same weaknesses as you and I. Those weaknesses include lust for power and the tendency to sin. Unfortunately, people move up through the ranks in the Church the same way they do in business or politics. They know what to do and what to say to move up the “corporate” ladder. It’s a ladder that is ascended via politics, not neccessarily holiness and virtue. While we hope that those who lead the Church focus on practicing a high level of virtuous behavior, increased power and authority often has the opposite effect. Fortunately, our Catholic faith is made up of more than the collective virtue of those who lead it.

I’m not going to tell you to ignore what’s going on at the higher levels of the Church. Ignoring the issues is what got us into this mess in the first place. We, as a community of believers, must confront and address these issues. But at the same time, we must remember that the cardinals, bishops, and even the pope, aren’t the center of the Church. The Church is not solely a human institution. It’s a divine institution with the Holy Trinity at its core.

When we pray, we don’t pray to the pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests. We pray to God! It’s an infallible and all-loving God that is the center of our faith. The clergy are servants of God to guide us. Our perfect God works through His imperfect vessels. And no amount of human corruption can weaken God. No amount of corruption can weaken His love for us and our desire to live in His grace.

Humans sin and we have to be accountable for our actions. What I will call the political side of the Church will go through hard times in the near future. But if you keep the right perspective, you will understand that the Church is far more than the sum total of virtue and sins of the clergy. She hasn’t survived and flourished over the centuries because of clerical virtue. She’s flourished because it’s God’s Church which can’t be destroyed by the inherent weakness of Her followers.

I think about the current difficulties the Church faces when I pray the Third Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary — Jesus Crowned with Thorns. I picture Jesus, battered and ridiculed. I then think about our Church and how battered She is right now; ridiculed by the behavior of those who are supposed to honor Her. Like the Romans paying fake homage to Jesus with a crown of thorns, we have clergy mocking Jesus by using His Church as a means to acquire riches and power and succumb to sinful weaknesses.

Christ Crowned with Thorns (Marten van Heemskerck)

But from the weakness, Jesus was ultimately triumphant. There is an element of hope throughout the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. We know that Jesus’ Passion ends in joy and triumph in His Resurrection. And we should know that the Church will ultimately be triumphant because that is what scripture and our faith tell us. As we confront these dark times ahead, remember that the true center of the Church is Jesus Christ. Our faith is built on Him, not on the imperfect, fallible humans who run it.

The Power of the Pompeii Rosary Novena Part 2

In my first article about the Pompeii Rosary Novena, I discussed what I learned about Rosary prayer from a tactical standpoint. I discussed my strategies for finding time to pray 15 mysteries every day and its benefits. In this article, I’m going to discuss whether Mary responded to my 54 days of Rosary prayer. I prayed this novena asking Mary to intercede on behalf of people in my life who have chronic illnesses.

The big question is, were the people whom I prayed for cured? Yes, but not in the way you may imagine. I learned that there are more ways to cure the sick than just physically. The people I prayed for have gotten marginally better, but not miraculously cured of their physical ailments. Naturally, I hoped that they would be in that select group of people who experienced a miraculous physical cure as a result of the Pompeii novena. But that was not God’s plan, at least not yet.

I’ve come to realize that a physical healing is not necessarily the point of a novena. I know that Mary heard my petition and that Jesus is comforting them in His grace. The physical illnesses may still be there but so is the increased strength and courage to endure. God, in His infinite wisdom, decided that a miraculous physical healing is not what is needed in this case. And while that would have been great and I still hope and pray for one, I also understand that God applies His grace uniquely to every situation.

Now the cynic would claim that I’m just rationalizing God’s inaction and that I really just wasted my time over the last 54 days. But I’m sure many people would be cynical of the Pompeii novena even if there was a physical cure. They would say it was good science and medicine and prayer played no part. There are some people with such a hardened heart that even the greatest miracles wouldn’t change them, let alone the more subtle ones. That is why we must keep the hardened-hearted cynics in our prayers too; for they benefit from them whether they admit it or not.

God’s response to my novena reminds me of Jesus’ crucifixion (Fifth Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary) where the criminal asks Jesus to remember Him. Jesus’ response was that that criminal would join Him in paradise (Luke 24:43). Here you have the criminal in a terrible situation reaching out to Jesus similar to how we reach out to Him in prayer. Jesus didn’t miraculously bring the criminal down from the cross. But that doesn’t mean Jesus did not respond to the man’s plea.

Jesus gave the criminal something much more important than physical relief from his dire situation and that was His grace and the promise of Heaven. While I’m sure the criminal would have been grateful if Jesus had physically rescued him from the cross, that physical saving would have paled in comparison to what Jesus actually gave the criminal. Because no physical saving can compare to the promise of Heaven brought about by one’s faith in Jesus Christ.

Like the criminal on the cross, I have faith that Mary, Jesus, and God the Father heard my plea to remember those in my life who are ill. While God didn’t bring them down from their “crosses” by physically healing them, I know that my prayers will help them obtain graces and spiritual healing. And ultimately, that is more important than any temporary physical cure. Because all physical cures are temporary because our lives in this world are temporary. It’s our souls that live on for all eternity. When it comes to tradeoffs, a healed soul always wins over a healed body.

Thus ends my Pompeii novena experience for this year. But it won’t be my last. I will turn back to it when I know people who are in dire need of some sort of healing. Or, if my energy to pray the Rosary starts to wane, the Pompeii novena is a great way to jumpstart it again. It’s like going through spiritual boot camp. Remember, Mary does hear your petitions. But you must be open to how she intercedes for you and how God responds.

Priests are People Too — Pope Francis’ July Intention

I don’t know if you’ve ever encountered this uncomfortable situation when you were young — running into your teacher outside of school at a restaurant, bank, or supermarket. I was often confused on how I should act because there was a person who was an authority figure in one context but a “regular person” in another. It was hard seeing my teacher as anyone other than my teacher.

As I got older, I realized how isolating that must have made teachers feel if their encounters outside of school with students were so awkward. To many of the people in their lives, they would only be that red pen using, sticker distributing, detention giving teacher.

The same goes for priests. Growing up, I always viewed priests, not as regular people with hobbies and interests, but as men who spent all their time conducting Mass, teaching, visiting the sick, and praying. In my mind, they didn’t watch sports, read non-religious books, play musical instruments, or browse the internet. Nor did they have normal faults that I could relate to like impatience, selfishness, greed, laziness, etc. Like teachers, my interaction with priests always felt awkward because I couldn’t figure out how I should act around them. After all, how do you act normally around someone who has heard all your sins in the Sacrament of Confession?

Pope Francis’ July 2018 intention is for priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests. It’s important to understand that priests lead hard lives. In many instances, they are away from their friends and families and the area where they grew up. They are always on call for emergencies like administering the Sacrament of Healing to the sick or need to counsel those who are having difficulties in life. I’m sure that they would appreciate some normalcy in their lives. It’s not that they want to get away from their vocation, but instead, not have people act awkwardly around them because of their vocation.

The Rosary Connection

Vocation is a central theme of the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. In this mystery, God calls Mary to a very specific life. And that’s what a vocation is — a calling. Mary responds with a humble yes with an idea that her vocation would be difficult even without full knowledge of what she was accepting. And so it is for priests who freely enter the priesthood with an understanding that it will be a difficult vocation but probably not fully realizing it until they’ve lived it for years. The Annunciation should teach us to really discern our vocation and once we say yes to it, to work as hard as we can to make the most of it. We should be mindful that priests, as learned and experienced as they are, are also discovering new aspects of their vocation and can benefit from the lay faithful’s support.

Moving on to the Fourth Joyful Mystery — the Presentation. There are many vocations at play in this mystery. We see Mary and Joseph living their vocation as husband and wife and parents to Jesus. The presentation shows that they are committed to raising and teaching Jesus their faith. It’s a model that all parents should imitate — that we are responsible for teaching our children the Catholic Faith. This means setting a good example and actively practicing our faith. In keeping with Pope Francis’ July intention, it also means educating our children on religious life and the important role priests play in our spiritual development. Parents should be open to the idea that their sons may have a calling to the priesthood and help them explore that vocation.

Another important person in the Fourth Joyful Mystery is Saint Simeon. In the Gospel, all that is really said about him is that he was a righteous man who spent most of his time praying in the temple after the Holy Spirit came to him with a promise. Doesn’t that sound like the call to the priestly vocation? Saint Simeon’s life revolved around prayer and he was one of the first to introduce the world to the Chosen One, Jesus Christ. This parallels the role of priests — introducing the lay faithful to Jesus. But Saint Simeon’s life must have been difficult; one of solitude and uncertainty. When you pray this mystery, think of the solitude your parish priest may feel as he works on bringing Jesus to his congregation.

Finally, think of the Fourth Sorrowful Mystery — Jesus carrying His cross. Jesus was exhausted and close to death as he fell three times and could barely walk. I think priests must feel the same way at times — exhausted by the years of living their vocation. We need to be like Veronica; making an effort to comfort and support the priests we know in our lives. It can be something as simple as inviting a priest you are close to (like the one who married you, baptized your children, etc.) out for coffee or breakfast; something “normal” and relaxing.

What will you do? Stand on the side like so many people did when Jesus carried His cross? Or make an effort to let priests in your life know how important they are and that you appreciate their sacrifices?

How the Rosary Helps Us Avoid “Everlasting Sin”

“’Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.’”

This passage from the Gospel of Mark confused me until recently. We talk about an all loving and merciful God so how can there be an unforgivable sin? How can the God that created everything from nothing not have the capacity to forgive everything? When I was younger, I asked myself, “what if I already committed this unforgivable sin and not know it? Is the rest of my life pointless because God has already told St. Peter to not allow me into Heaven?”

Fortunately, the unforgivable sin doesn’t work like that. This isn’t some sort of gotcha or fine print in Catholic doctrine that God will use to keep you out of Heaven. It’s simply a way of restating that a sin will remain unforgiven if you never ask for forgiveness. This Catholic Exchange article does a good job of breaking down the unforgivable sin into six aspects:

despair
presumption
impenitence
obstinacy
resisting truth
spiritual welfare

Do you notice a common theme in these? As the CE article states:

In every case analyzed above, we can determine that the only way any sin is truly unpardonable is if the person remains unrepentant. The reasons, as we have sorted through, vary from envy to despair. Each is caused by a hardness of heart, which is directly opposed to meekness. Meekness is that beatitude that mollifies and softens what has become calloused by deep, unhealed wounds. Our models for meekness, of course, are Jesus and Mary.

How does the Rosary teach us about meekness and avoiding behaviors that lead to an unforgiven sin? Let’s look at the Fifth Joyful Mystery and the finding of Jesus in the Temple. Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus for three days after losing Him in the caravan. They did whatever they needed to do to find Jesus. We too must do whatever it takes to find Jesus when we lose Him by sinning. We can’t have a hardened heart or the presumption that Jesus is okay with our behavior. We must acknowledge our wrongdoings and come back to Him through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Think about the Second Luminous Mystery of the Rosary and Jesus’ miracle at Cana. We see Jesus’ ability to perform miracles and turn potential disaster (a wedding without booze, oh no!) into overflowing joy. That miracle is a great metaphor for what happens to our souls in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God, through the Holy Spirit, takes our broken, damaged soul and miraculously transforms it into a pure one filled with hope, joy, and grace. Mary asked Jesus to perform a miracle at Cana. And, whenever we enter that confessional, we ask Him to perform a miracle too.

Next we turn to the Third Glorious Mystery of the Rosary — the descent of the Holy Spirit. Why is a hardened heart such a grave offense? Remember, the Holy Spirit is one part of the Holy Trinity. So rejecting the power and authority of the Holy Spirit is rejecting God. And what’s mortal sin but the total rejection of God? By thinking that God can’t or won’t forgive us, we reject His supremacy over His creation. We are saying that we, the created, are capable of actions that are beyond God’s control. When we pray this Rosary mystery, let’s not only think of the Holy Spirit as our guide but also remember that He’s also God as part of the Holy Trinity.

Finally, the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery — Jesus’ Crucifixion. There’s actually two things to consider. First, Jesus is so willing to forgive that He asked God to forgive the ones who crucified Him. For most of us, our sins will probably never be as grave as murdering God’s begotten Son. If God can forgive that, He can forgive anything we do.

Also, the criminal crucified next to Jesus simply asked Jesus to remember him. And Jesus proclaimed that the criminal would be with Him in paradise. Again, ask Jesus anything with a meek and humble heart and Jesus will respond.

Okay, now that we’ve talked about the power of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, I’ll end on a more light-hearted note. Here’s a clip from The Simpsons about the limits of God’s power.