Upcoming Series...
Reflections on The Sorrowful Mysteries
Not too long ago, a listener asked for some content on the Rosary. This is an attempt to meet that request. Starting Monday of next week, I will write a reflection on each of the Sorrowful Mysteries and record an episode to go along with it. If you don’t know what the Sorrowful Mysteries are, keep reading.
For those that don’t know, Catholics are supposed to pray the Rosary daily. But Catholics aren’t the only ones who participate in this beautiful and powerful practice. Some Anglo-Catholic protestants do as well.
If I were explaining it to a Protestant, I would describe it like this: the Rosary is like a daily devotion you would read before you start your day. It takes about 20-30 minutes to complete depending on whether you just recite the prayers or if you pray and add in scripture readings associated with Mysteries for that day. The Mysteries, or as I like to call them, “Meditation Checkpoints”, are the events of the life of Jesus and Mary that you contemplate between prayers.
These points of reflection are as follows:
The Joyful Mysteries
The Sorrowful Mysteries
The Glorious Mysteries
Luminous Mysteries
The series next week will focus primarily on the Sorrowful Mysteries.
Tuesday & Friday= Sorrowful Mysteries
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning of Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion
If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you can see a small art gallery featuring the images I have made to promote the series.
In between each of the mysteries, you pray The Our Father, followed by 10 x Hail Mary prayers. The opening and close of the Rosary are slightly different, but you can look that up on your own time. For those visual learners, here is an image of how to pray the Rosary.
The Rosary has radically transformed my life. My prayer life used to be about me and what I wanted, but God used the Rosary, in much the same way he uses the Bible for lukewarm Catholics, to revitalize my faith and hope. When we take up our rosary, get on our knees, and pray, it is not that God takes away the darkness of our life. The Rosary reminds us that though God may not take away this present darkness, he has not left us alone in it. He is there with us, in the midst of the darkness we find ourselves in, and the prayers of his people are the prayers that he uses to light the way.
The Sorrowful Mysteries are my favorite of the four mysteries, and they are ultimately the reason for the rebrand of Solomon’s Corner —> Pious Reflections. I’ll explain that in a later post. In the meantime, I hope to see you all next week.
Keep thinking…
— DR.
Full Rosary Schedule
Monday = Joyful Mysteries
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
Tuesday = Sorrowful Mysteries
The Agony in the Garden (Christ’s sweating of blood)
The Scourging at the Pillar (or the 40 lashes that Christ receives).
The Crowning of Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion
Wednesday = The Glorious Mysteries
The Resurrection
The Ascension
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Assumption of Mary
The Crowing of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth
Thursday = The Luminous Mysteries
The Baptism of Christ
The Wedding at Cana
The Proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven
The Transfiguration
The Institution of the Eucharist
Now the order changes. This essentially makes your week follow the Gospel Narrative. Your start of the week, is the beginning of salvation, the end of your week is the end of Christ’s work on the Cross.
Friday = Sorrowful Mysteries, a reminder that Friday is the day that Christ died.
Saturday = Joyful Mysteries, a reminder to remain hopeful in the absence of Christ.
Sunday = Glorious Mysteries, a reminder that Christ conquers death.
