Consoling Our Beloved

 

I would like to share with you, an idea for meditation on the Sorrowful mysteries of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I try to pray the rosary every day.  For me, the prayers are like a mantra, supporting and intensifying the mysteries that are brought to mind, bringing peace, inspiration and answers, praise, thanksgiving and petitions.  Sometimes, I have to admit, that it has been hard for me to pray the Sorrowful mysteries, as there have been times in my life when I have chosen other mysteries that I felt more fitting to my situation, for example, praying the Joyful mysteries when I am struggling, looking for inspiration on how to say yes to the Lord and to surrender and accept everything He permits to happen in my life the way Mary did at the Annunciation.  Those were times when I was just too sad to add insult to injury by adding the Lord’s Passion to my plate.  But I was wrong.  It is in the Lord’s Passion where we find comfort and understanding and all things good.  And so now I try dutifully to pray His Passion, at least on Tuesdays and Fridays.

About a month ago, I was preparing to pray on a Friday, and I drifted into my old thinking for a minute, wondering if I was up to the intensity of pondering the agony, the scourging, the thorns and the Cross.  And then I thought, if our Beloved can endure it, I can at least think about it for a few minutes, pondering the mystery of it all.  But I did not want to simply think about it, pondering what it meant for me in my life.  I was feeling selfish.  Then the thought came to me of how there is no time in eternity, that all of time as we know it, is always present before the Father, whether past, present or future.  The nativity, the crucifixion, the resurrection and the future are always a part of the mind of our all knowing God and Father.  It made me imagine that I could console Jesus on every step of His Passion today, even in in 2012.  I could meditate on what I would say to Him if I was there with Him, what I would do and how I would feel.  I believe that this type of meditation truly does console the heart of Jesus, whether in retrospect as a meditation giving Him glory, or even in real time as He suffered, since He knew all of us when He gave His life for us, and knew how we would receive Him in our lives, in our time on Earth.

You may try this and find yourself standing away from Christ, looking at Him and praying your words of thanksgiving or sorrow or repentance to Him.  Or you may do whatever comes naturally to your own personality.  But for me, I imagined what I would say to Him if I saw Him suffering in the Garden, and I said these words in my heart and in my soul as the Hail Mary’s were spoken by my lips.  I caressed His holy and tortured face, I ran my fingers through His hair and I told Him I was sorry.  I told Him I wished he did not have to do this for me, and that I would do anything for Him, whatever He asked. 

When I saw Him about to be scourged, all I could say is, I’m so sorry.  Forgive me.  I begged Him to hold my glance so that I could offer words of Love as He Himself was tortured by hatred.  I tried to endure the emotion of seeing such a horrific offense being perpetrated against the One Who is my Beloved, so that I could stay with Him for every painful stripe He received.

After He was crowned with thorns and taunted as some counterfeit king, I could only fall to my knees and kiss His feet and hands, reminding Him, that to me and many generations to follow, He is true King, the King of our hearts and the King of the world.  We know the Truth.  Long live Christ the King! 

When I later saw Him, the heavy cross dropped onto His back, I could only mouth the words, I LOVE YOU.  I am here.  When He fell, I could see the wounds on His shoulder and His knees, as the weight of the cross pushed Him heavy into the ground.  I looked Him in the eye and kissed the wound on His shoulder, saying, You are loved.  I wish this didn’t have to happen, staying with Him for His journey to Golgotha.  

Finally, when He was nailed to the Cross, I met His eyes with tears in my own, and I stood with Mary, John and Magdalene, comforting the human Jesus the best that I could, with my presence and my understanding of Who He IS, all the while knowing that this fully Divine Son of the Living God already knew.

What does a meditation like this do for God?  I believe it did comfort Him in the Garden.  What does a meditation like this do for us?  It brings us even closer in union to the Lover of our Souls, as we express our deepest feelings for Him, aided by our blessed Mother of the Holy Rosary.