The Seven Joys of Mary

Was visiting in church this week, and picked up a pretty leaflet describing the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Just as a reference these events are (from Wikipedia):

1. The Prophecy of Simeon: Simeon prophesied that "a sword will pierce your own soul" (Luke 2:34-35), foreshadowing Mary's future suffering.
2. The Flight into Egypt: Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape King Herod's wrath (Matthew 2:13-21).
3. The Loss of Jesus in the Temple: Mary and Joseph searched for the young Jesus for three days in Jerusalem after he stayed behind in the Temple (Luke 2:41-50).
4. Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary: Mary saw her Son, carrying his cross, on his way to crucifixion.
5. The Crucifixion of Jesus: Mary stood at the foot of the cross, witnessing the agonizing death of her divine Son.
6. Jesus Taken Down from the Cross: Mary received the lifeless body of Jesus in her arms after his death.
7. Jesus is Laid in the Tomb: Mary's grief was profound as she saw her Son placed in the tomb.

Pondering a bit over the next few hours, I found myself thinking about how people have chosen to highlight Mary’s sorrows over the centuries. Perhaps in an attempt to allow us to identify more fully with her in a human way – as we do with Jesus in his Passion. And this is a good thing. An excellent thing.

But the “doom-and-gloom” nature of these Sorrows is unsettling. It may not present a “balanced” view of reality. Surely there were joyful moments in Our Lady’s life also! What about those?

In a moment’s resolve, I thought about drafting a new list – “The Seven Joys of Mary” to counteract the “gloom-and-doom” nature of the “Seven Sorrows”. Fortunately I checked google first – before attempting to publish my own manifesto – and found the following more legitimate offering (I was unaware of these in all my years of Catholic education):

Seven Joys of Mary (courtesy of AI):

1. The Annunciation: Mary's joy upon learning from the Archangel Gabriel that she would conceive Jesus. 
2. The Visitation: The joy she experienced while visiting her cousin, Elizabeth. 
3. The Nativity of Jesus: The joy of giving birth to the Son of God. 
4. The Adoration of the Magi: The happiness she felt when the wise men came to worship Jesus. 
5. The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple: Her jubilation when she found the Child Jesus in the temple after he was lost. 
6. The Resurrection of Christ: The profound joy of seeing her resurrected Son. 
7. The Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin: Her final and greatest joy at being taken into heaven and crowned Queen. 

The Process of Prayer...

 What can one say about prayer? Many talented saints like Teresa of Avila have done wonderfully and written whole books about it. What more can I add? Even the Lord himself gave us the Lord's Prayer, if that's not enough! But thought I would write down a simple approach, borrowed and pieced-together from various sources. Take it for what it's worth! (grin)

Let us start by telling God that we love him. We enjoy spending time with him. We recognize who God is, and who we are in relation to God.
I love you, Jesus.

We continue by thanking God. For all the good things in life. For the beauty of creation. For the gift of good friends and the company of those we know.
Thank you, Jesus.

Then we move on to telling the Lord how we’re sorry. How we’ve fallen short. How we’ve offended God and our fellow human beings.
Forgive me, Jesus.

We ask God to look after the people we know who are hurting – who are in need of assisstance.
Take care of them, Jesus.

We ask God for healing for ourselves. We bring any particular problems we are having to God’s attention.
Help me, Jesus.

We tell the Lord that we surrender our lives to him. We trust him for our health and well-being.
I surrender myself to you, Jesus. I trust in you, Jesus.

Finally, we ask the Lord to be with us, to guide us, and to protect us in the coming days ahead.
Stay with me, Jesus!

Amen.

Jesus Carrying the Cross

Sometimes I watch little videos of the Rosary on "youtube.com".  It helps me pray when I am not feeling so well, or when my mind is unsettled and meditation becomes difficult.

Sometimes these videos include a picture of each mystery.  In one particular presentation they show a scene of Jesus Carrying the Cross -- for the 4th Sorrowful Mystery.

The artist has depicted Christ with a rope around his neck, being dragged along like an animal.  It's horrifying, but likely accurate.  A sign of the incredible suffering the Son endured on our behalf...

St. Simon of Cyrene

Many of us know the story of St. Simon of Cyrene (Matthew. 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26). 

Already exhausted and on his way home from a hard day's work in the fields, he happens upon an unexpected scene. It was a Roman crucifixion in-progress. Soldiers single him out, demanding he assist a political prisoner. It must have been extremely annoying! 

 A number of questions must have come to mind -- What is this?  Who is this?  Why am I being asked to help carry this cross? The whole affair was likely a source of frustration, perhaps even anger for Simon. But after picking up the cross and walking with this stranger a while, things gradually began to become clearer. Some of the answers began coming into focus.

What is this? -- This is an unpleasant experience -- but something God has picked out for me.
Who is this? -- This is Jesus, the savior.
Why am I being asked to help carry this cross? -- It doesn't really matter; I'm so glad to be able to help Jesus with his cross.

In the same way, we may encounter difficult, unexpected challenges in our life. In the beginning these things will seem a source of frustration, perhaps even anger. We may ask the same kind of questions St. Simon of Cyrene did. But let us try to answer those questions as Simon did:

What is this? -- This is an unpleasant experience -- but something God has picked out for me.
Who is this? -- This is Jesus, the savior.
Why am I being asked to help carry this cross? -- It doesn't really matter; I'm so glad to be able to help Jesus with his cross...

Welcome to Our Celebration!

We're glad you made it...

There's some good food over there,

Please feel free to partake.

Thank you for coming, and hope you enjoy yourself!

Divine Mercy Theme -- Revised!

I love the Divine Mercy theme: “Jesus, I trust in you.”

But there’s a little problem.
Sometimes I doubt.
Sometimes I try to manage things by myself,
and don’t think of Jesus as I should.
Maybe it’s sinful behavior on my part.
Or maybe it’s just human weakness.
But I feel guilty claiming I trust in the Lord fully,
when in fact sometimes I don’t. . .

Now it’s important to be honest with God.
So I’ve tweaked the wording of this prayer just a bit.
I hope St. Faustina won’t mind.
When praying I like to say “Jesus, I trust in you! Help me to trust you more!”

Jesus and the Rosary

Went to St. Joseph's church in Eureka, CA this week.

At the rear of the church there is a statue of Jesus with a rosary. Perhaps the rosary wasn't part of the original statue, and someone had just placed a rosary in Jesus's hand...

But it was a little surprising and shocking to me. One might expect to see Mary or one of the saints holding a rosary. But Jesus? Is there any precedent for that?

After thinking about things, the placement of the rosary seems right on-target. The mysteries of the rosary are all about Jesus.

Paraphrasing St. Paul's passage from Ephesians, Our Lord -- who was "... in the form of God, did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped at. But emptied himself..." and chose to unite with us in our practice of reciting the Holy Rosary...