E1, S12 - The Carrying of the Cross Decade Meditation

The mission of the Ponder and Magnify Podcast is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. In this episode, listeners are invited to pray with their imaginations through a decade meditation on the account of the Jesus' Carrying of the Cross from John 19: 14-17. All praise be to God!

Transcript

Jessica: 0:05

Hello and welcome to the Ponder and Magnify podcast, where our mission is to seek an encounter with Jesus through praying the Rosary, relying on the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of Mary. I am so happy that you are here. Today, we're going to be praying, reflecting on the fourth sorrowful mystery, which is Jesus carrying his cross. We'll do this through praying a decade of the rosary, with an imaginative meditation to really help us enter more deeply into the scene. Come Holy Spirit. Before we start, I just want to encourage you to take a moment to pause and reflect on what you're bringing to prayer. What are your joys right now? What sorrows are weighing heavy? Do you have anything that you're afraid of? What are you longing for right now and who do you wish to pray for? Pause, as you need to consider all this In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, Jesus, we ask you to speak directly into our present circumstances. Mary, thank you for praying with us and for us now. Holy Spirit, anoint the gift of our imagination so that we might come to encounter Jesus more deeply through it. The fourth sorrowful mystery is Jesus carrying his cross, a reading from the Gospel of John. It was preparation day for Passover and it was about noon and Pilate said to the Jews "Behold your king. They cried out Take him away. Take him away, crucify him. Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar. 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. Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. As Jesus carried the cross with love for all of humanity, the devil was hard at work to deceive and confuse the crowd who looked on. It was the devil's mission that the crowd should miss out on the love of God present to them in Jesus at that moment. For if they saw how much the Father loved them, the devil knew he would no longer have power over them. Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. At the same time the devil worked to deceive the crowd, the devil also worked desperately to convince Jesus to give up his passion, to lay down his cross and to wield his power. For it was through the passion of Jesus that the devil would ultimately be conquered. The devil cannot hold power over a soul that has come to know and receive the love of God revealed in Christ's passion. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. The devil did his best to deceive Jesus. Look at the pride of this crowd. They have refused to listen to you and now they think they can abuse you. Don't they know who you are? Show them your power now. Imagine how they would respect you and your Father then. End all of this now and put this crowd in their place. Jesus responded your lies do not have power over me. I belong to the Father, and I listen to Him. I have nothing to fear. And He received the grace to take His next step. Hail Mary, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Jessica: 5:20

The devil attempted his next attack. Look at this crowd. You know their hearts and so you know their sin. Look at all the efforts that you are making to love them and they just spit in your face and demand your death. They don't deserve your love or your forgiveness. Lay down your cross. They don't deserve all of this.

Jessica: 5:45

Jesus responded your lies do not have power over me.

Jessica: 5:51

I belong to the Father and I listen to him. I have nothing to fear. And he received the grace to take his next step. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Jesus fell under the weight of his cross. The devil attacked again: You are too weak. If you keep going on, you're not going to make it. You are not equipped for this. It's time to give up the fight and lay down your cross. Jesus responded your lies do not have power over me. I belong to the Father and I listen to him. I have nothing to fear. And He received the grace to take his next step. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. The devil did not let up. Where are all your friends? Where are those who said they cared about you? No one cares about you anymore. No one loves you. Why even go on? Why don't you just give this up already? Jesus responded your lies do not have power over me. I belong to the Father and I listen to him. I have nothing to fear and He received the grace to take His next step. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, amen. The devil continued on. You are here because you disappointed the Father, and He has abandoned you to get what you deserve. You could not convince the Pharisees or the Sadducees that you were the Son of God. You could not convince this crowd. This is your punishment. Don't let the Father punish you like this. Lay down your cross. Jesus responded your lies do not have power over me. I belong to the Father and I listen to him. I have nothing to fear and He received the grace to take His next step. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, amen. The devil watched as Jesus' eyes met his mother's eyes and again the devil attacked. Look at what you've done to your mother. Look at how immensely she suffers. You did this to her. You told her you loved her and yet you did this to her. After everything she has done for you, how could you let her experience this pain? Leave your cross and give this up! How this pierced Jesus's heart. And yet Jesus responded your lies do not have power over me. I belong to the Father and I listen to him. I have nothing to fear. And he received the grace to take his next step. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Jessica: 10:04

And the devil's final attack came. If the Father loved you, you wouldn't have to go through all of this. If he really loved you, you wouldn't have to suffer. The Father is not trustworthy. He will not do what he says. This will all be pointless in the end. Take control and lay down your cross. Jesus responded your lies do not have power over me. I belong to the Father and I listen to him. I have nothing to fear, and He received the grace to take His next step. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. By renouncing the devil's lies and announcing the truth that he belonged to the Father, Jesus made it to Golgotha. What a fight it was for him just to make it to the crucifixion, so that you could know the Father's love for you. What a gift you are to Him, worth all of this. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Holy Queen, mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor, banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping. In this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us and, after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, o loving, O sweet Virgin Mary, pray for us, o Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ, o God, whose only begotten Son, by his life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life. Grant we beseech thee that, while meditating on these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen. What a gift to pray with you. I'm really praying that you can be free from any lies that you have believed and just relish and delight in the fact that you belong to the Father. Count on my continued prayers and please, please, pray for us. Praise be to God.