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)

THURSDAY

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 Fourth Sorrow of Mary
The Meeting of Mary with Jesus on the Way to Calvary

The greater Her love for Him, the greater Her grief at the sight of His sufferings, especially when She met Him on that dolorous way, dragging His cross to the place of execution. This is the fourth sorrow on which we have to meditate.

Meditation 1

“O sorrowful Mother,” exclaimed St. John, “Your Son has now been condemned to death; He has already set out on the road to Calvary, carrying His own cross. Come, if You desire to see Him and say farewell to Him, as He passes through the streets.” Mary goes along with St. John. While She waited for Her Son to come along, how much must She have heard said by the Jews (who soon recognized Her), against Her beloved Son, and perhaps even mockery against Herself. What a frightening picture as the nails, the hammers, the ropes and all the fatal instruments that were to put an end to Her Son’s life were paraded by.
But now the implements, the executioners, have all passed by. Mary raised Her eyes, and saw, O God!, a young man all covered with blood and wounds from head to foot, a wreath of thorns on His head, and carrying two heavy beams on His shoulders. She gazed at Him, but hardly recognized Him. The wounds, the bruises, and the clotted blood gave Him the appearance of a leper, so that He could no longer be recognized. According to St. Bridget, Jesus wiped away the clotted blood which prevented Him from seeing Mary. The Mother and the Son looked at each other. And their looks became as so many arrows to pierce those hearts which loved each other so tenderly. Even though the sight of Her dying Son was to cost Her such bitter sorrow, Mary would not leave Him. The Mother also took up Her cross and followed Him, to be crucified along with Him. Let us pity Her, and accompany Her and Her Son by patiently carrying the cross Our Lord imposes on us.

Meditation 2

Mary has known fear and sorrow, but none so great as seeing her beloved Son stumbling under the weight of the Cross. She hears the jeering shouts from the crowd and has no power to help Him. Pity and love are in her eyes as she gazes at His blood-stained face. To many around her He is no better than a criminal, and her heart is breaking as she follows Him to Calvary or Golgotha.
I grieve for thee, O Mary most sorrowful in the consternation of thy heart at meeting Jesus as he carried His Cross. Dear Mother, by thy heart so troubled, obtain for me the virtue of patience and the gift of fortitude.

Fourth Dolor

I pity thee, my afflicted mother, on account of the fourth sword that pierced thy heart, in seeing thy Jesus condemned to death, bound with ropes and chains, covered with blood and wounds, crowned with thorns, and falling under the weight of the heavy cross which he bore on his bleeding back when going like an innocent lamb to die for love of us. Thine eye then met his eye, and your glances were so many cruel arrows with which each wounded the loving heart of the other. By this great grief, then, I pray thee to obtain for me the grace to live wholly resigned to the will of my God, joyfully bearing my cross with Jesus to the last moment of my life.
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

My sorrowful Mother, by the merit of that grief which thou didst feel at seeing thy beloved Jesus led to death, obtain for me the grace also to bear with patience those crosses which God sends me. Happy me, if I also shall know how to accompany thee with my cross until death. Thou and Jesus, both innocent, have borne a heavy cross; and shall I a sinner, who have merited hell, refuse mine? All, immaculate Virgin, I hope that thou wilt help me to bear my crosses with patience. 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)