A Rosary Meditation – Lent 2025

Summary

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When we meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary, we can place ourselves in the events using our imaginations. We can look at our own lives in relation to the mysteries.

Kitty’s Morning Glories Facebook Group

Rosary Guide

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Reflective Study Guide Questions

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“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said ‘Woman, behold your son,’”

Jn. 19:26.

1. As we meditate on the first Sorrowful Mystery, the Agony in the Garden, we can picture Jesus suffering in reparation for our own sins. How does calling to mind your own sins in connection to His sufferings in the garden make you feel?

2. As we meditate on the second Sorrowful Mystery, the Scourging at the Pillar, we can realize that Jesus did not deserve this suffering. How does it make you feel to consider that He took your place in this suffering?

3. The fruit of the third Sorrowful Mystery, the Crowning with Thorns, is moral courage. Where in your life right now might you most need to practice the moral courage that this mystery calls us to?

4.  The fourth Sorrowful Mystery, the Carrying of the Cross, shows us Jesus’ patience in suffering. In what areas of your life might you most need to practice patience in suffering?  

5. As we meditate on the fifth Sorrowful Mystery, the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus, we can consider Our Lady standing at the foot of His Cross as He gives her to us. How does knowing that Mary has mediated every grace you’ve ever needed influence the way you think about her? 

Text: A Rosary Meditation

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Hi friends, I’m Kitty Cleveland. So glad to be back with you again.

Opening Prayer

Let’s pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of the most holy rosary. Thank you for the gift of your word. Thank you for the gift of the Pray More Novena’s beautiful apostolate, Lord.

And all of the family that you have created through your one spirit. Under the mantle of our mother. As we pray the Rosary Mysteries together today, I ask that the Holy Spirit guide and direct all of the meditations and that they be solely to the glory and honor of God the Father. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Daily Rosary 

So friends, today I am going to be doing with you, um, the method of praying the rosary that started about four and a half years ago now. Um, on August 15th, 2020, I was in adoration at St. Peter Catholic Church in Covington, Louisiana, which is my home parish. And it was the first Saturday. The Feast of the Assumption, and so I went in for my holy hour after Mass.

And as I sat there in meditation, at some point I got an inspiration. Last time we talked about how to hear God speaking, and when these inspirations come to do some good thing, and especially when they are in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, I pay attention. And the inspiration was this, get up early tomorrow morning.

Ugh, not liking this already. It’s going to be a Sunday morning. Get up early. Go live on Facebook at 6 a. m. Start with the Angelus and lead a 54 day Rosary Novena for peace. Now, the world was going through a lot of craziness in 2020. We had COVID, we had a presidential election, we had all those things.

But, here’s the thing, I wasn’t really a morning person. I didn’t really love the rosary. I struggled to pray it every day and didn’t always. And I had never led the rosary before. So I jumped on Facebook Live outside of the Adoration Chapel and I said, Friends, I just got this inspiration. I really don’t want to do it. But if anybody wants me to lead it, I’m going to go for one day on Facebook at 6am.

I can’t believe it on a Sunday morning. And I will lead the Angelus and then the Rosary. And if anybody’s there, I’ll keep going. Well, 80 people showed up the first day. So I was like, okay, Jesus, I guess this is something you want. Well, at the end of those 54 days, the fruits were so extraordinary. And the community that gathered together around Our Lady was so wonderful.

My daughter, who was a junior in high school at the time, she was getting up early every day to help me. Because she’s like, Mom, there’s no way you can do this. I know. So, she helped me. And at the end, she said, mom, we can’t stop. And I totally agreed and everyone else agreed. And so here we are, it’ll be five years, August 15th, 2025, that we’ve been doing the daily morning rosary with spontaneous meditations every day.

And so we’re going to do that together. I lead it by the way, five days a week on. On social media, and then some of the other, we call them the Morning Glories, they lead it on the weekends on our Facebook group, Kitty’s Morning Glories, so I’ll send you the links to all of that at the bottom in the show notes, because we’d love to have you join us.

So what we’re going to do, this is the rosary guide I use, I’ll be linking to this at the bottom as well. We’re not going to be praying the decades just because we don’t have the time to. Do all of the meditations plus the decades, but I just want to read to you the gospel passages I just happen to pick up the sorrowful mysteries.

The First Sorrowful Mystery – The Agony of Jesus in the Garden

So that’s what we’ll do today. And I will read the gospel passage and then basically just do a little Lectio Divina On that gospel passage and Holy Spirit will bring different images to mind, different words. I never know what’s going to happen. So this will all be new to you as it is to me. So let’s begin.

And Lord, we just offer up this time to you and pray for your Holy Spirit to come and show us, teach us how to pray as we meditate on the beautiful mysteries of the sorrowful mysteries of the most Holy Rosary. Amen.

Okay, the first sorrowful mystery, the agony of Jesus in the garden. “Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives.

And the disciples followed him. When he arrived at the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not undergo the test. After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Still not my will, but yours be done. The fruit of this mystery is sorrow for our sin.”

So I see Jesus kneeling in the garden. It’s nighttime. He’s so tired. And the rest of the disciples have fallen asleep. And somehow he’s given me the grace to stay awake. And to draw near to Him. And so Lord, I come to You right now. I kneel next to You. Lord, You can put Your head on my shoulder.

I’m so sorry, Jesus, for the suffering that I caused You because of my own sin. And I want to just wipe His brow, the blood and the sweat on His brow. And as I do that, I make the sign of the cross. On my body, because it’s by His blood and His cross that I have been healed. And Lord, I don’t deserve this mercy, but this is just how good You are.

And Lord, may I make reparation not only for my own sins and all the times in my life when I have not done Your will, when I’ve done my own will, and I’ve hurt other people and I’ve hurt You in the process. Lord, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. And may you show me today, Lord, ways that I can make reparation for the wounds that I’ve caused other people, but also Lord to entrust, entrust those people to you that I may have wounded in this life.

Once I’ve done all I can do once I’ve apologized. Once I’ve made amends as best as I can. Lord, there’s some things only you can do. And so Jesus, I trust you to do that. And I offer up today’s sacrifices and today’s prayer for that special intention, especially for people that I’ve wounded and I didn’t even know it. Lord have mercy, amen.

The Second Sorrowful Mystery – The Scourging of Jesus at the Pillar

The second sorrowful mystery, the scourging of Jesus at the pillar. “Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus, called Messiah? They all said, Let him be crucified. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them. And after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.”

The fruit of this mystery is purity. Embody mind and spirit. I’m seeing myself as Barabbas right now, walking out kind of blinded by the light because I’ve been in the dark dungeon. I deserve to be in prison and all of a sudden I’ve been set free. What’s going on? And then I see Jesus and he’s being scourged at the pillar, the flesh is being torn from his body.

And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that he took my place. I deserved that, but he took my place. And now I see Mary coming towards me and she has her hand out. And she’s saying, come, come with me. And together we’re making our way through the crowd. And she’s bringing me closer to Jesus, and she’s basically presenting me to him.

And they’re both nodding. She was worth it. Ah, friends, you were worth it. You were worth it. Don’t let what he suffered though be in vain. Avail yourself of the blood that he shed for you through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And let’s truly make amends. Amen.

The Third Sorrowful Mystery – The Crowning With Thorns

The third sorrowful mystery, the crowning with thorns. “The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, Hail, King of the Jews. The fruit of this mystery is moral courage. It takes a lot of courage to do the right thing when you’re the only one.

When people are making fun of you, when they don’t understand you, when they judge you. Blessed are you friends, because they did the same thing to Jesus and did the same thing to his disciples. You can bet they did it to Mary. Courage. Courage. We will not regret anything that we have suffered for the sake of the kingdom.

And I would encourage you also just to get good friends. Ask the Lord to help you find friends who will, to whom you can be accountable, who can pray with you. With whom you can do beautiful works of mercy. You can join our rosary group, the Morning Glory Rosary Group. We love to pray for you and do works of mercy together, even if it’s  just virtual. But we want to be with people who encourage us, and it’s so much easier than doing it all on your own. That’s why the Lord has given us the church. Courage. Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us. Amen.

Fourth Sorrowful Mystery – The Carrying of the Cross

The fourth sorrowful mystery, the carrying of the cross. “Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the place of the skull in Hebrew Golgotha.

There they crucified him and with him two others. One on either side with Jesus in the middle.” The fruit of this mystery is patience. As I was reading that to you, I saw myself on the cross next to Jesus, but I was going between the two sides. I was both the good thief and the bad thief. I’ve been both in my lifetime.

And I want to be the good thief. I want to steal the Lord’s heart. Friends, you’ve already stolen the Lord’s heart. He is so madly in love with you. And let’s reach out to him. Let’s imagine we’re on the cross next to him and let’s reach out to him and touch his fingertips and say, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Remember me when you come into your kingdom. And feel his power, his strength, his love, his glory, his light fill your heart right now. It’s his strength that we walk in today. It’s his strength that gives us the courage and the patience to persevere towards the final goal, which is heaven. And it’s only through the cross, through the cross to life.

And so I’ve got my crucifix right here, my rosary. I’m going to kiss this crucifix, so I’m going to invite you to do the same thing. Let us kiss the crucifix. Those things that cause us to suffer and to need God because they create greater intimacy with Him and they keep us close to Him and not in danger.

That’s really one of the gifts of suffering is we experience our need for God. So, thank you, Lord. We love you. Help us to be faithful to you all the days of our lives, and especially at the hour of death. Amen.

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery – Crucifixion and Death of Jesus

And finally, the fifth sorrowful mystery, the crucifixion and death of Jesus. “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold, your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home.”

The fruit of this mystery is perseverance. What a gift we have in Mary. I think in past years, I’ve shared my healing of my relationship with Mary. I honestly, growing up, I didn’t think she liked me very much.

And I thought she was just way too holy and on a pedestal and I couldn’t get her attention or her approval. It’s how I felt. I felt as a kid for whatever reason. And it was reading the book 33 days to morning glory that for me was a big eye opener and I realized Mary’s love and that she had mediated or brought to my soul.

Every day, my entire life since the beginning of my existence, all of the graces that I would need for the day, every day, she brought them to my soul and that I had not always availed myself of them and that I didn’t know she was there and I had never said thank you to her.

Mother Mary’s Call

So let’s close our eyes and just see Mary with us there at the foot of the cross. She’s calling us to come close. And she touches her hand to the nails on Jesus feet. And she calls you by name. And makes a sign of the cross on your forehead in his blood. You belong to him, she says. And to me. Let me help you. Let me help you love him. Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

So friends, I hope that was a blessing to you, um, in the mornings we do something like that, I never know what’s going to happen each day, but essentially we follow this guide and then pray the decades together, and we also open with the Gospel, and the saint of the day, and the surrender novena, and the unity prayer, so, but at twelve o’clock, so we do our Angelus and the Rosary. 

So I hope you can join us sometime, and if not, that you might consider using the gospel passages when you pray the rosary to really enter into the mystery and to get the fruit that God wants to give you today. I’m Kitty Cleveland. It’s been a joy being with you.

God bless you.

About Kitty Cleveland

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