VOICE FROM THE SOUTH
By FR. EMETERIO BARCELON, SJ
Fr. Emeterio Barcelon, SJ
The mysteries of the hidden life of Jesus were treated in a previous article. They are hidden because we know little about this life of Jesus. We now come to treating the public life of Jesus with his Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection. As we said, the rosary is like a time machine that brings us back to the time of Jesus.
The mysteries of the Passion of Our Lord bring us back to the first mystery of His Passion in which He sweated blood just thinking of the sufferings that He would undergo and the unfaithfulness of man. But as He prayed: “Not my Will but Thine be done.” In the garden of Gethsemane, three of his disciples were tired and sleeping. He urged them to pray. By the third time that He approached them, He told them to go ahead and sleep. His time had come and the betrayer was at hand to kiss Him as the sign for the mob to apprehend Jesus. At the question of who the mob were looking for and when He answered that He was Jesus of Nazareth, they all fell down and He asked them again and when He answered that it was He whom they were looking for. They all fell down again. Then He asked them to let His companions go. They took Him to the house of the high priest where Peter denied Him three times before the cock crowed. Unlike Judas, Peter regretted this transgression on his love for Jesus.
The second mystery is the scourging at the pillar. The Roman soldiers vied with each other on how hard and expertly they hit every inch of the skin of the victim. They used long thongs imbedded with stones and shells. They also had short thongs but we do not know which one they used on Jesus. After the scourging they sat Him on a throne, and put purple robes on Him, and blindfolded Him and then struck him with the stick that they pretended as a scepter of power and the mocked Him and asked Him to guess as to who struck Him . They then humiliated Him by spitting on Him and cursing Him.
The third mystery is what we celebrate in the Way of the Cross. He was so weakened that He fell down three times carrying His cross. The Roman soldiers then conscripted a bystander to carry the cross. On the way to Calvary.
He met His mother and the women of Jerusalem who were crying for Him but could not do anything for Him.
Finally on the fifth mystery we hear the hammer hitting the nails as He was nailed to the Cross. Here we have the seven last words of Jesus. The first was the petition of Jesus to His Father: “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Then He told John His beloved disciple to take care of His mother and for His mother Mary to take care of John. He then promised the thief on His right that that day he would be with Him in Paradise. Then He cried to His Father: “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then finally He expired with the words: “It is finished.”
The glorious mysteries start with His rising from the dead on the third day. One of the first witnesses of the empty tomb were the women, in particular Mary Magdalena. She figured it was the gardener who took the body of Jesus, so she begged him to show her where he threw the body and promised that she would take it away. Then she recognized Him when He called her by her name. Then they ran to the disciples that they had seen the Risen Savior. But who could believe that someone had risen from the dead? The disciples ran to tomb and found it empty.
Then there were the two disciples who were despondent that Jesus did not come in glory as the Messiah to save them from the Romans. They recognized Him at the breaking of the bread. They then turned back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples of their encounter with the Risen Jesus. That weekend, Jesus appeared to the disciples cowering in fear. The next weekend, He appeared when He asked Thomas to put his finger in the wounds of His hands and to put his fist into His side and believe. But Thomas just adored Him with the prayer: “My Lord and my God.” Jesus praised Thomas for his faith but added that blessed are they who have not seen His Risen Body but have believed.
The third mystery of the resary is the Ascension into heaven. He asked that they go to Galilee and when there were over five hundred of them watching, they saw Him ascend to the heavens and out of their sight. It was a happy parting for He had promised them that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them. The Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and Mary in the form of tongues of fire.
Then the fourth glorious mystery is the Assumption of Our Lady bodily into heaven. This we believe because it was from her body that God took the form of human nature. It was only right that that body should not see corruption but would be raised to heaven as incorrupt.
The last mystery is the celebration in heaven of the queenship of Mary. This we imagine as due to her for all the suffering she endured for her Son on earth. Then we end the rosary with the prayer “Hail Holy Queen.”
Fr. Emeterio Barcelon, SJ
The mysteries of the hidden life of Jesus were treated in a previous article. They are hidden because we know little about this life of Jesus. We now come to treating the public life of Jesus with his Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection. As we said, the rosary is like a time machine that brings us back to the time of Jesus.
The mysteries of the Passion of Our Lord bring us back to the first mystery of His Passion in which He sweated blood just thinking of the sufferings that He would undergo and the unfaithfulness of man. But as He prayed: “Not my Will but Thine be done.” In the garden of Gethsemane, three of his disciples were tired and sleeping. He urged them to pray. By the third time that He approached them, He told them to go ahead and sleep. His time had come and the betrayer was at hand to kiss Him as the sign for the mob to apprehend Jesus. At the question of who the mob were looking for and when He answered that He was Jesus of Nazareth, they all fell down and He asked them again and when He answered that it was He whom they were looking for. They all fell down again. Then He asked them to let His companions go. They took Him to the house of the high priest where Peter denied Him three times before the cock crowed. Unlike Judas, Peter regretted this transgression on his love for Jesus.
The second mystery is the scourging at the pillar. The Roman soldiers vied with each other on how hard and expertly they hit every inch of the skin of the victim. They used long thongs imbedded with stones and shells. They also had short thongs but we do not know which one they used on Jesus. After the scourging they sat Him on a throne, and put purple robes on Him, and blindfolded Him and then struck him with the stick that they pretended as a scepter of power and the mocked Him and asked Him to guess as to who struck Him . They then humiliated Him by spitting on Him and cursing Him.
The third mystery is what we celebrate in the Way of the Cross. He was so weakened that He fell down three times carrying His cross. The Roman soldiers then conscripted a bystander to carry the cross. On the way to Calvary.
He met His mother and the women of Jerusalem who were crying for Him but could not do anything for Him.
Finally on the fifth mystery we hear the hammer hitting the nails as He was nailed to the Cross. Here we have the seven last words of Jesus. The first was the petition of Jesus to His Father: “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Then He told John His beloved disciple to take care of His mother and for His mother Mary to take care of John. He then promised the thief on His right that that day he would be with Him in Paradise. Then He cried to His Father: “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then finally He expired with the words: “It is finished.”
The glorious mysteries start with His rising from the dead on the third day. One of the first witnesses of the empty tomb were the women, in particular Mary Magdalena. She figured it was the gardener who took the body of Jesus, so she begged him to show her where he threw the body and promised that she would take it away. Then she recognized Him when He called her by her name. Then they ran to the disciples that they had seen the Risen Savior. But who could believe that someone had risen from the dead? The disciples ran to tomb and found it empty.
Then there were the two disciples who were despondent that Jesus did not come in glory as the Messiah to save them from the Romans. They recognized Him at the breaking of the bread. They then turned back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples of their encounter with the Risen Jesus. That weekend, Jesus appeared to the disciples cowering in fear. The next weekend, He appeared when He asked Thomas to put his finger in the wounds of His hands and to put his fist into His side and believe. But Thomas just adored Him with the prayer: “My Lord and my God.” Jesus praised Thomas for his faith but added that blessed are they who have not seen His Risen Body but have believed.
The third mystery of the resary is the Ascension into heaven. He asked that they go to Galilee and when there were over five hundred of them watching, they saw Him ascend to the heavens and out of their sight. It was a happy parting for He had promised them that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them. The Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and Mary in the form of tongues of fire.
Then the fourth glorious mystery is the Assumption of Our Lady bodily into heaven. This we believe because it was from her body that God took the form of human nature. It was only right that that body should not see corruption but would be raised to heaven as incorrupt.
The last mystery is the celebration in heaven of the queenship of Mary. This we imagine as due to her for all the suffering she endured for her Son on earth. Then we end the rosary with the prayer “Hail Holy Queen.”