Carmelite Meditation on the Rosary: 4th Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus Carries His Cross

Transcript

meditation today is on the 4th Sorrowful Mystery: The Carrying of the Cross

We will quickly list the 7 steps for any new listeners. Then when the bell tolls We  enter into our meditation and mental prayer.  

Remember the guided meditation here is for instruction only.  You and His Majesty, as St Teresa, called Jesus will have your own personal things to say to each other.

The 7 steps
1.  The preparation which is the placing of ourselves in the Presence of God.
2.  The reading of a passage from scripture or a pious book.
3.  Meditating and reflecting on the passage.
4.  Colloquy.  Prayer.  
5.  Thanksgiving.
6.  Offering,
7.  Petition.



Step 1 
Enter  into the Presence of God 

Be aware of how the presence of God is all around you.  

Say: “In you my God I live and move and have my being.” 

 Keep repeating - slowly - these words of scripture until they quell all distractions and your mind and body become quiet. 

Say: “I salute you Lord present here in this room with me. I salute you in heaven.
 
Imagine now the scenes that Our Blessed Lady has asked you to meditate upon in this 4th sorrowful mystery. 

Unite yourself with Jesus in spirit, love Him, be kind to Him and relieve His loneliness.

Step 2 
The Reading 
The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery
The Carrying of The Cross

The following are scripture verses that can be meditated upon to bring to mind Jesus carrying His Cross to Calvary.  Chapters and verses are listed in the show notes.

And the whole people answering, said: His blood be upon us and our children. (Matt 27:25)

Then he released to them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him unto them to be crucified. (Matt 27:26)

Then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him forth.  And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha (John 19 :16 - 17)


O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow: (Lamentations 1 :12)


And going out, they found a man of Cyrene, named Simon: him they forced to take up his cross. (Matthew 27:32)


And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him. (Luke 23: 27)


But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children. (Luke 23 28)

For a just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again. ( Prov:  24.16)


And they came to the place that is called Golgotha, which is the place of Calvary.  And they gave him wine to drink mingled with gall. And when he had tasted, he would not drink. (Matthew 27.33)



And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it. (Luke 9,23 ,24)

 


Step 3:  
Meditation and reflections on the passage:



In these scripture readings, Jesus teaches you to love your cross; receive and carry it according to your Divine Master’s Will.

Jesus moves on the first steps on His way to Calvary; keep near to Him and you can hear Him say to you:
 “He who will come after Me, let him take up his cross.”

Jesus falls for the first time under the cross.  

He does not complain but rises meekly again to continue His way of sorrow.  We must imitate Him in this resignation, especially when in hardship or sorrow we think we cannot go on.

Our Blessed Lady, more than any other soul, has experienced the depth of pain and desolation in the Passion of Jesus. 

The sight of Jesus, His body mutilated and lacerated wounds the Heart of the Blessed Mother. She recalls the soft skin of His babyhood and cries out to Him.  

Jesus understands how His Mother is suffering for Him and this causes Him  further agony.

Realise how precious is the cross you carry.  As God the Father chose the cross for His Son Jesus Christ so too He choses your cross.  Carry it willingly.  Learn to understand and appreciate it, for it is a gift and an honour.

Jesus falls a second time and no one pities Him: draw near to him by Faith and offer yourself to Him courageously.   It will take courage.  

Jesus is grateful for the sympathy you show Him in His Suffering.  He desires true compassion from you.  A compassion that fills you with sorrow for your sins and a desire to repent of your sins.  Meditate upon how His sufferings are caused by your sins.

Jesus falls a third time. Can you hear the gasp that goes up from the crowd. He has crashed to the ground the weight of His cross causing His body to hit the stones with full force. 

And still there is no complaint from His lips:  he teaches you to suffer and be silent until your sacrifice is complete.

Remember why you are here on earth, a beautiful creature made by God, You came from God, you belong to God and you will return to God.

 

Step 4:  
Colloque or Prayer

Lord could I talk to you for a little bit about carrying my cross.  I rarely recognise, that what is happening to me, is a cross that I am carrying.  A cross that you have chosen for me. 

 If I was to stop and realise that it was a cross I could stop myself reacting badly to situations.  
Could I have some graces please.  Some wisdom to see situations cropping up ahead of time.  I need the wisdom of the Holy Ghost to shed light into in my personality, my emotions and my triggers.  These triggers that press upon my pride, my demands to be treated well, my past hurts, past wounds not yet healed.  The un-forgiveness in my life.  Situations trigger an immediate response in me, a response that does not follow in humility your footsteps to Calvary.  My train of thought gets all twisted and before I know it I am thinking uncharitable thoughts or committing sins of omission because I am so taken up with myself. 

Lord Jesus if I could only understand my weakness better to be more prepared. I need more grace.  Will you give me the grace to be holy.


Oh yes Lord.  Now I see; now I understand:

What you are saying to me Lord is that all those hurts, those trying times in my past, were crosses.  

Am I right Lord in thinking that what you are showing me is; that if I had recognised them as a cross; and asked you to remove the cross; you could have done so.  But instead I rejected the suffering and tried to hide from it. 

The people who caused me suffering even in my childhood.  I have to forgive them don’t I.  

Can we do a deal Lord?  You said we could swap burdens.  If you take all those badly carried crosses from my past, from my childhood all the way up through my life ‘till yesterday I will take your cross.

So every time things get bad in my life teach me to stop and turn to you.

Teach me how to carry your cross instead.

I will stop myself reacting and start praying for sinners that they change and come to love you Lord.

Mother Mary would you teach me as you taught the children at Fatima.  Teach me how to pray for sinners.  Teach me how to offer penance for other people who are in danger of sinning today. 
You told the children that many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray for them.  

I cannot feed the hungry or house the poor but I can pray for them.  I can take your burden for souls.  





  



Step 5:   
Thanksgiving
Thank you Lord for this precious time together.  Thank you for leading me to the life and prayer practice of St Teresa.  Thank you for your Holy Spirit that you send into my life to guide me.

Thank you for my guardian angel who bids me turn aside from my busy day and do meditation and mental prayer. 

Thank you for being so alive to me during the day.
 


Step 6:  
Offering

I offer you my day Lord.  All my thoughts, my actions.  My difficulties and my successes.  



Step 7:  
Petition
I  ask you Lord, to help me remember what I have learned today in this meditation.  Should I fall into sin today please help me rise again quickly.  Help me forgive myself.  Help me forgive others who trespass against me.
Give me the grace to quickly recognise any cross that presents itself to me.  Help me to accept it and then just as quickly pray for sinners. Pray for the Church.



This is the end of the meditation.


God Bless.