The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary
Commonly prayed on Tuesdays and Fridays, and on Sundays in Lent.
The First Sorrowful Mystery – THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN
“Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice from Me: but yet not My Will, but Thine be done.”
Luke 22:42
In this mystery we contemplate our Divine Redeemer praying in the Garden of Olives and sweating blood as He foresees the Passion He is to suffer. His apostles sleep.
Let us ask our dauntless Mother to remove from our souls all the cowardly optimism that invites us to sleep when we should be watching and praying, and to give us the virtue of seriousness so that we will courageously embrace suffering every time it comes our way.
Our Father: God’s essential felicity.
Hail Mary:
- The divine seclusions of Jesus Christ during His life, and especially His seclusion in the Garden of Olives.
- His humble and fervent prayers during His life and on the eve of the Passion.
- The patience and sweetness with which He bore His Apostles during His life and particularly in the Garden of Olives.
- His soul’s anxiety throughout His life and principally in the Garden of Olives.
- The rivers of blood that sorrow caused to gush from His adorable being.
- The consolation He willingly accepted from an angel during His agony.
- His conformity to the will of His Father despite the aversion of His nature.
- The valour with which He went to meet His executioners, and the force of the word with which He threw them to the ground and then raised them.
- His betrayal by Judas and His arrest by the Jews.
- His apostles’ abandonment.
The Second Sorrowful Mystery – THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR
“Thou shouldst not have any power against Me, unless it were given thee from above.”
John 19:11
In this mystery we contemplate Our Lord Jesus Christ bound to the pillar and mercilessly flogged at the order of Pilate, who wanted to please the crowd.
Let us ask the Mother of Divine Grace to give us, whenever we are beset by tribulation, the strength and perseverance shown by her Son as the blows of the lash tore into His undefiled flesh for our sins.
Our Father: God’s admirable patience.
Hail Mary:
- The chains and ropes that bound Jesus.
- The blow He received in the house of Caiphas.
- The denials of Saint Peter.
- The ignominies He suffered in the house of Herod when the white robe was put on Him.
- The removal of all His garments.
- The scorn and insults He suffered from His executioners because of His nakedness.
- The thorny rods and the cruel whips with which they beat and tore Him.
- The pillar to which He was tied.
- The blood He shed and the wounds He received.
- His fall in His own blood out of weakness.
The Third Sorrowful Mystery – THE CROWNING WITH THORNS
“Art Thou a king then?”
John 18:37
In this mystery we contemplate the King of Kings despoiled of His garments and clothed in a scarlet cloak. He is crowned with thorns, crushed with blows, overwhelmed with affronts and outrages by the procurator’s brutal soldiers.
Let us ask Mary Immaculate for an unshakable faith and at least a drop of the infinite dignity of Jesus when the wicked, with their laughter, mock our faithfulness to the morality of Holy Church.
Our Father: God’s ineffable beauty.
Hail Mary:
- The third stripping of Jesus.
- His crown of thorns.
- The cloth with which He was blind folded.
- The blows and spit with which His face was covered.
- The old cloak placed on His shoulders.
- The reed that was stuck in His hand.
- The sharp stone on which He was seated.
- The outrages and insults hurled at Him.
- The blood and sweat that issued from His adorable head.
- The hairs pulled from His head and beard.
The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery – THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS
“They hated Me without cause.”
John 15:25
In this mystery we contemplate our Divine Master — “the reproach of men and the Man of Sorrows” — bearing the crushing burden of the Cross, which tears His flesh and lays bare His bones.
By the shoulder wound of Christ, let us ask the Mother of Sorrows for the grace to proceed with supernatural determination in our spiritual lives and in our apostolate even when we fall under the weight of the cross.
Our Father: God’s unlimited omnipotence.
Hail Mary:
- Our Lord’s presentation to the people with the “Ecce Homo.”
- Barabbas being preferred to Our Lord.
- The false witnesses brought against Him.
- His condemnation to death.
- The love with which He embraced and kissed His Cross.
- The frightful pains He had while carrying it.
- His falls from sheer weakness under its weight.
- The painful meeting with His Holy Mother.
- Veronica’s veil, marked with the imprint of His face.
- His tears and those of His Holy Mother and the pious women who accompanied Him to Calvary.
The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery – THE CRUCIFIXION
“Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit.”
Luke 23:46
In this mystery we contemplate our Divine Saviour nailed to the Cross and raised aloft between two thieves. He is plunged in an ocean of bitterness; He is abandoned by the Father Himself.
Let us ask the Blessed Mother, who stands at the foot of the Cross, to grant us the grace of taking our vocation to its last consequences and of loving the sacrifices it entails.
Our Father: God’s frightful justice.
Hail Mary:
- The five wounds of Jesus and the blood He shed on the Cross.
- His pierced heart and the Cross upon which He was crucified.
- The nails and lance that pierced Him, and the sponge of vinegar and gall given Him to drink.
- The shame and infamy He suffered being crucified naked between two thieves.
- The compassion of His Holy Mother.
- His seven last words.
- His abandonment and silence.
- The affliction of the whole universe.
- His cruel and ignominious death.
- His taking down from the Cross and His burial.
