Meditations on the Seven Sorrows

“Each day, child, meditate for a few minutes on 
the Passion of Jesus,

and I promise you that you will be holy.”

 MEDITATIONS ON THE SEVEN SORROWS

OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

(Excerpts taken from Roses and Thorns by Ven. Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (Conchita)

The First Sorrow – The prophecy of Simeon

“…there was a thorn for me in the words of Simeon, which embittered my soul for life; sorrow without a name, hearing that Jesus was destined as the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel, and to be a sign of contradiction.  Simeon said, ‘This child is destined for the ruin and the resurrection of many in Israel, and as a sign of contradiction.’  Then he continued immediately, prophesying, ‘And a sword shall pierce your own soul.’  What sword?  To see my children wander down the slope of vice, scorning the Gospel.  Stay and see if there is a greater sorrow for a mother than the eternal misfortune of her children.

The Second Sorrow – The flight into Egypt

“With what sorrow I recall the night of terror in which an angel told my spouse Joseph that we must flee into Egypt with the Child because Herod sought to kill Him.  It was not Herod who obliged the Son of God to flee, but the son of God who wished to do this.  He did not flee out of fear, but by design; not out of need, but of power.  There He was to seek out sorrow for the continuance of His path to Calvary in a burning desert, through a pagan land, by suffering the hardships of the long road in bad weather, by living in even greater poverty, exiled and without liberty, hiding Himself from men for your salvation.”  “My soul was crushed by the pain of what He was to suffer…”  “The echo of the wailing mothers whose children were sacrificed to save the life of the Savior – those innocent flowers, the first of the martyrs – reached me; my soul was drowned in sorrow…”

The Third Sorrow – The loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple

“What my heart endured at that time no one can conceive.  Can you even imagine Mary without her Jesus, the Virgin Mother without her divine son, the immaculate sheep without her holy Lamb who takes away the sins of the world?  Finally, after three deathly days for my heart, we found Him in the Temple among the doctors who looked upon Him, overwhelmed with His wisdom.”  “I humbled myself although I had no fault.  Night and day I wept and sacrificed myself until I found Him.  You must do the same.”

The Fourth Sorrow – The meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross

“With a glance of my soul, I followed Jesus as He left the house of Herod, in the white robe of a fool, the people hissing and howling with furious delight.  I saw Him as a criminal in the presence of Pilate…”  “I followed Him to the scourging, and, O child of my soul!  I did not die only because I had to be your mother.  O barbarous torment, which I will never forget!”  “Then I saw Him bearing the cross.”  “I saw how He spoke to the women who wept for Him with so much love.” 

The Fifth Sorrow – The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus

“And among the throng of people and the crosses and the thieves who accompanied the innocent Lamb, I saw Him mount the hill of Calvary, staggering, and I saw Him extend Himself upon the cross in order to be nailed to it, so that He might attract you to Him when He was raised on high.  Each hammer beat opened a deep wound in my heart.”  “I saw how they nailed His purest hands, which knew only how to bless, and His sacred feet, which became fatigued in seeking you.  Then I heard those last words of life, of pardon, of mercy.  “During the three hours of torment I saw Him agonizing, and at the end, my child, dying without any support other than the cross, the nails, and the thorns.”

The Sixth Sorrow – The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross

“There I stood to defend Him with a multitude of angels, who wept at the outrageous sacrileges…”  I waited until that divine Body would pass from the cross on which He expired to the living cross from which He was born.  And thus it was that I received the holy Body of Jesus in my trembling arms; with all the delicacy of my love, I took the crown of thorns from His blessed brow; and, my soul burning with celestial tenderness, I tried to communicate again some warmth and life to the cold Body of my son, because not even in death did He wish to close His arms so that He could wait for you to throw yourself into them.”

The Seventh Sorrow – The burial of Jesus

“The next farewell was when the stone closed the holy sepulcher and one body and two hearts remained in it: that of Jesus and mine; or, only one, so great a unity had we known!  What terrible sorrow, comprehensible only to a mother!  And I remained alone, alone; because everything was as nothing for me without Jesus.”

Lynne B.

Rosary of the Fiat Voluntas Tua

Rosary of the Fiat Voluntas Tua

Initial Prayer:

Oh my good Jesus, we thank you because you call us to be united with you by means of prayer.  We ask you to give us the grace of your Spirit, and may Our Blessed Mother Mary accompany us so that we may pray properly.   We want to be united with You and in your adorable Will pray this Rosary.  Help us to meditate retaining lovingly in our hearts the infinite treasure of your Life, of all your acts and the acts of our Celestial Mother while we accompany you in these Mysteries.  We want to seal all your acts with our little, “I love you, I adore you, I bless you, I thank you,” …for me and for everyone in a way that in all of them you will find our loving company, and having done so, it is our intention to ask God our Father, together with You, with our Heavenly Mother, with all the Angels and Saints, and with all the Creation, that “Thy Kingdom come, and Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

The First Mystery:  The Agony of Jesus in the Garden

My Jesus, I want to comfort You, and so I make my “I love You, I adore You, I bless You, I thank You”  flow through each drop of blood you shed, in each of your sorrows, afflictions and sighs.  Therefore, before you leave the Garden, assure me that the triumph of your Kingdom of the Divine Will will come soon.

The Second Mystery:  The Scourging

Jesus, I embrace Your divine feet and I make resound in every blow that you receive my “I love You, I adore You, I bless You, I thank You” in every piece of flesh torn from You, and in every wound of your body I want to shout my ““I love You, I adore You, I bless You, I thank You”, and implore You to strip us of the garment of the human will and to cover us with that of the Divine Will.

The Third Mystery:  The Crowning with Thorns

My Jesus, I wish to place you in safety with my “I love You, I adore You, I bless You, I thank You” and snatch You away from the wicked hands that far from having pity on You made Your executioners crown You with thorns, cover You with a purple rag, and treating You as a king of mockery, they placed a reed in your hands.  Jesus, give us the crown of Your Divine Will, grant us Your royal purple garment which makes us Your true children, and proclaim Your Fiat to rule and prevail on all souls.

The Fourth Mystery:  Jesus Carries the Cross to Calvary

Jesus, in each of Your sufferings, in every drop of Your blood, in every fall, in every time Your blood filled hair was pulled, every time you were pushed, I want to scream:  “Come Kingdom of Your Divine Will!”

The Fifth Mystery:  The Crucifixion and Death of our Lord

Receiving  my “I love You’ in your last breath, I beg You: for the atrocious agony you suffered on the Cross, infuse in us an ardent desire to live in Your Will.  With Your death, give death to our will and life to your Fiat in all hearts, so that triumphant and dominating It extends and reigns over all the human family on earth as in Heaven.

Oh Mary, conceived without original sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.

Luisa, Little Daughter of the Divine Will, teach us to live in the Divine Will.

St. Annibale, pray for us.

Come Divine Will to reign on earth and through the intercession of Luisa, send us Lord Apostles to the Kingdom of the Divine Will. 

Amen

What we must do to enter into the Divine Will

Volume 12, Feb. 16, 1921

“My daughter, in order to enter into my Will there are neither paths nor doors nor keys, because my Will is everywhere. It flows under one’s feet, on the right, on the left, above one’s head - everywhere. The creature must do nothing other than remove the little stone of her own will, which, though it is there in my Will, does not take part in, nor does it enjoy Its effects, rendering itself as though a stranger in my Volition. In fact, it is as if the little stone of her will prevented the water from flowing from the shore to run somewhere else, because the stones are blocking it. But if the soul removes the little stone of her will, at that very instant she flows into Me, and I into her; she finds all my goods at her disposal: strength, light, help - whatever she wants. This is why there are no paths, nor doors, nor keys - it is enough to want it, and everything is done. My Will takes charge of everything, and of giving her what she lacks, and It makes her wander freely within the interminable boundaries of my Will. All the opposite for the other virtues: how many efforts are needed, how many struggles, how many long ways. And while it seems that the virtue is smiling at her, one passion a little bit violent, one temptation, one unexpected encounter, hurl her back and put her at the start, to walk the way.”

Volume 12, March 23, 1921

“My daughter, my Will has the special virtue of rendering souls little, making them become so little, that they feel the extreme need for my Will to administer life to them. Their littleness is such that they are unable to do one act or take one step if my Will does not administer to them the act or the step. So they live completely at the expense of my Will, because their littleness carries no baggage, either of their own things, or of love of self, but they take everything from my Will - not in order to keep it for themselves, but to give it to Me; and since they need everything, they live dissolved in my Will.

Volume 3, April 25, 1900

“My daughter, purity in operating is so great, that one who operates with the sole purpose of pleasing Me alone, does nothing other than spread light from all of his operating. One who does not operate in an upright way, even in good, does nothing other than spread darkness.”

Volume 3, April 25, 1900

“…the soul who is truly mine must live not only for God, but in God. You, try to live in Me, for in Me you will find the receptacle of all virtues, and strolling in their midst, you will nourish yourself with their fragrance, so much so, as to become replete. And you yourself will do nothing but give off light and celestial fragrance, because to live in Me is true virtue, and it has the virtue of giving to the soul the same shape as the Divine Person in whom she dwells, and of transforming her into the very divine virtues with which she nourishes herself.”

 Jesus tells Luisa constantly throughout the Volumes, “Be attentive”.  We must always be attentive to the Divine Will no matter what we are doing, even in the most ordinary things.  Even the most insignificant acts can be used by the Divine Will to form Its Life in you.

Volume 14, May 19, 1922

“…I ask for your acts in order to multiply Myself.  When you operate, I look anxiously to see whether you operate in my Will, to receive the contentment of seeing Myself multiplied in your act. How attentive you should be, and let nothing escape you.”

VOL 36, November 20, 1938

I feel the Divine Will inside and outside of me, surprising me whenever I'm about to do my little actions, or to say my little 'I love you' - to invest them with Its light and make them Its own.  It has such an astonishing inimitable attention that it's almost incredible.  If the creature is not attentive in giving It her little acts, oh!, how much It suffers.  Oh! how much I too would like to be all attentive - to imitate It by letting nothing escape me, so that we can surprise each other.  But as I was thinking this, my sweet Jesus, visiting my little soul, all love told me: "My blessed daughter, the soul that wants to live in my Will lives in waiting for It; she waits for It when she loves, because she wants to love together with It.  If she operates she awaits my Will, because It wants to be Actor and Audience.  My Will is in continuous and anxious expectation of everything the creature does, in order to inhabit her - to be the Actor, to make her acts Its own.

 Letter 63 of Luisa

Oh, how the Divine Will wants you a saint!  But It wants you to call It continuously, in order to make the day of peace arise in your soul, and make all the miseries which prevent true sanctity, magically disappear from your heart.  The Divine Fiat awaits you, to say to you:  “Give me life in your acts and I will make you a saint.  And everything will turn into happiness.”

“Cloister Echoes” On the Divine Indwelling by Sister Mildred Mary Ephrem Neuzil

“Cloister Echoes” On the Divine Indwelling by Sister Mildred Mary Ephrem Neuzil

O Mary, Immaculate Queen,

You who were always conscious Of the Presence of God within you,

Obtain for me the grace Of an ever-increasing awareness

Of the Indwelling Trinity Abiding in my soul.

May this Divine Doctrine So penetrate my heart

That I may realize, in truth,

I am the veritable house of God

Sheltering within myself

The Divine Being

Who is the Source of all sanctity

And holy living.

May I never forget that

I Am the living temple of God.

Help me, then, O peerless Virgin,

To be ever mindful of my dignity.

Let me remember also that all,

Even the most derelict of men,

Were redeemed by the same God,

And are, therefore, worthy

Of my respect and honor.

 Obtain for me also

That the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,

The Fountain Head of grace,

May exercise so great an influence

Upon my life,

That I may become, as it were,

Another Savior,

 Going about, doing good.

May I too, carry Christ,

As you carried Him, O faithful Virgin,

And thus become a means

Of repentance and greater holiness to others.

May I be a channel of grace

To those to whom grace, perhaps,

 Would never be able to penetrate.

May the Hand of the Father,

Who created me,

Work through me.

And may the voice of the Word,

 Become Man,

Who redeemed me,

Speak through me.

 May the Love of the Holy Spirit,

Who is my continuous sanctification,

Bring holiness to others through me.

Amen.