CATHOLIC ARROWS

MAKE THE SIGN OF THE CROSS

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

INTRODUCTORY PRAYERS

(on the Crucifix)

My God, I offer you this Rosary for Your glory, so that I can honour Your Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin, and share and meditate upon her suffering. I humbly beg You to give me true repentance for all my sins. Give me wisdom and humility so that I may receive all the indulgences contained in this prayer.

ACT CONTRITION

(on the Our Father bead)

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend You, my God, You who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, do penance, and amend my life. Amen.

Pray 3 Hail Mary’s in honour of the tears of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

(You can now either pray the entire 7 sorrows or pray the sorrow specific to the day of the week)

MONDAY

V. O God, come to my assistance.

R. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The First Sorrow of Mary: St. Simeon’s Prophecy 

In the Temple, St. Simeon had received the Divine Child in his arms and predicted that this Child would be a sign (of God) which shall be contradicted by men. “Behold this Child is set … for a sign which shall be contradicted. And Thy own soul a sword shall pierce” (Lk. 2:34-35).

Meditation 1

The Blessed Virgin told St. Matilda that when St. Simeon pronounced these words “all Her joy was changed into sorrow.” For, as was revealed to St. Teresa, although the Blessed Mother already knew that the life of Her Son would be sacrificed for the salvation of the world, She then learned more distinctly and in greater detail what sufferings and what a cruel death awaited Him. She knew that He would be persecuted and opposed in every way.

He would be opposed in His teaching: instead of being believed, He would be called a blasphemer for claiming to be the Son of God. The reprobate Caiphas was to say: “He hath blasphemed … He is guilty of death” (Mt. 26:65-66).

He would be opposed in His reputation: for though He was of noble, even of royal descent, He was despised as a peasant: “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Mt. 13:55).

“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” (Mk. 6:3).

He was Wisdom itself, and was treated as ignorant: “How doth this man know letters, having never learned?” (Jn. 7:15).

As a false prophet: “And they blindfolded Him, and smote His face … saying: Prophesy, who is it that struck Thee?” (Lk. 22:64).

He was treated as a madman: “He is mad, why hear you him?” (Jn. 10:20).

As a drunkard, a glutton, and a friend of sinners: “Behold a man that is a glutton, and a drinker of wine, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Lk. 7:34).

As a sorcerer: “By the prince of devils he casteth out devils”(Mt. 9:34).

As a heretic and one possessed by the evil spirit: “Do not we say well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” (Jn. 8:48).

In short, Jesus was considered so notoriously wicked that, as the Jews said to Pilate, no trial was necessary to condemn Him. “If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up to thee” (Jn. 18:30).

Meditation 2

Sorrow as sharp as a sword shall pierce Mary’s heart because of her Child. Mary is in the Temple, having come with Joseph to present the Child to God. They meet Simeon, the holy man, and Anna, the prophetess. Simeon takes the Baby in his arms, saying he will now die in peace because he has seen Christ, then he foretells the sorrow to come.

I grieve for thee, O Mary most sorrowful, in the affliction of thy tender heart at the prophecy of the holy and aged Simeon. Dear Mother, by thy heart so afflicted, obtain for me the virtue of humility and the gift of the holy fear of God. Amen.

First Dolor

I pity thee, oh my afflicted mother, on account of the first sword of sorrow that pierced thee, when in the temple, by the prophecy of St. Simeon, all the cruel sufferings that men would inflict on thy beloved Jesus were represented to thee, which thou hadst already learned from the holy Scriptures, even to his death before thy eyes upon the infamous wood of the cross, exhausted of blood and abandoned by all, and thou without the power to defend or relieve him. By that bitter memory, then, which for so many years afflicted thy heart, I pray thee, oh my queen, to obtain for me the grace that always in life and in death I may keep impressed upon my heart the passion of Jesus and thy sorrows.

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.

Pray 7 Hail Mary’s

Verse: My Mother! share Thy grief with me, and let me bear Thee company to mourn Thy Jesus’ death with Thee.

Prayer of General Liguori

O my blessed Mother, not one sword only, but as many swords as I have committed sins have I added to those seven in thy heart. O, my Lady, thy sorrows are not due to thee who art innocent, but to me who am guilty. But since thou hast wished to suffer so much for me, O, by thy merits obtain for me great sorrow for my sins, and patience under the trials of this life, which will always be light in comparison with my demerits, for I have often merited hell. Amen.

CONCLUDING PRAYERS

HAIL HOLY QUEEN: (Latin: Salve Regina)

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, Hail 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.

V: Pray for us, O Virgin most sorrowful

R: That we may be made worthy of the promise of Christ

Let us pray

Let intercession be made for us, we beseech Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, now and at the hour of our death, before the throne of Thy mercy, by the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, whose most holy soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow in the hour of Thy bitter Passion. Through Thee, Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, world without end. Amen.

O God, at whose Passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, a sword of sorrow did pierce through the most sweet soul of the glorious Virgin and Mother Mary; grant that we, who commemorate and reverence Her sorrows, may experience the blessed effect of Thy Passion, Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

QUEEN OF MARTYRS PRAYER

Queen of Martyrs, your heart suffered so much. I beg you, by the merits of the tears you shed in these terrible and sorrowful times, to obtain for me and all the sinners of the world the grace of complete sincerity and repentance. Amen.

Conclude with:

“Mary, who was conceived without sin and who suffered for us, pray for us” (3 times)