Mark 15: 1-22; Matthew: 26 36-46; Matthew 27: 27-31; Luke 23: 33-46
The Sorrowful Mysteries are the ones that we are the most familiar with. These mysteries are the ones that we walk through each and every year before we celebrate the Resurrection. These are the ones that every Friday during Lent we meditate on through the stations and every day during Lent in anticipation of the death of our Lord. But just because the title holds ‘sorrowful’ doesn’t mean that we are called to be sorrowful every time we pray the rosary and are meditating on these mysteries. It means though that we are to reflect on these events not with joy or celebration that our Lord gave up His life for us, but with the respect and sorrow that the event truly is.
The Sorrowful Mysteries include The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging at the pillar, the Crowning of thorns, Jesus carrying the cross, and Jesus dies on the Cross. These mysteries obviously outline a point in Jesus’ life that we each carry with us every day.
In the Agony in the Garden, Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray asking if the cup would pass from him, but not His will but as God’s will be done (Matthew 26: 36-46). The second mystery is the scourging at the pillar, where Pilate wishing to satisfy the crowd had Jesus scourged and then handed over to be crucified (Mark 15:1-16). Third is the Crowning of Thorns, here they stripped Jesus of his clothes and gave him a purple cloak, a crown on his head and a reed in his hand, then mocked him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matthew 27:27-31). Fourth is the carrying of the cross, where Jesus was weak but continued to carry the cross he was given, with help from Simon the Cyrenian (Mark 15: 20-22). Last is the Crucifixion, where the crucified our Lord and Savior along side two criminals (Luke 23: 33-46).
Alright, so hold on tight while I run through this one. So many times we sit there in prayer asking the Lord to let this one situation pass, that x, y and z won’t happen to us. But that is exactly when we have to pick up our crosses, just as Jesus did, and carry on. Yes we are called to struggle and to help others along the way as much as we can, as Simon did. But sometimes when we are carrying those crosses we feel as we are the ones getting scourged, the ones getting the beating because of what we believe, what we stand for, or who we are. We feel as if we are the ones getting mocked and taunted but these moments are the moments that we carry our cross and bring it to the foot of the cross where Jesus died for us. For those moments we are getting mocked and taunted. You see in the rosary we are called to keep reflecting on the walk of Christ, and on the road to Salvation.
When we pray the rosary, focused on the Sorrowful mysteries, we are walking on the road to Salvation and each time we pray with the sorrowful mysteries we are being called to live out the story of the Passion along with being called to reread it and apply it to our lives.
