The Glorious Mysteries for Freedom from Addiction: The 5th Mystery

5th Glorious Mystery: The Coronation of Mary

A reading from the book of Revelation.

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.

And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Rv 12:1-5

We, the creation in God’s image, are the stars that twinkle in the sky; and the dragon destroys us with a swat of its tail. We are so attached to this world—to our things, our drugs, our sensations, our desires—and the more we get, the more we want. How can we hope rise with You to the throne of the Most High when the objects of our additions hold us in chains? It’s our queen, your mother, wearing the crown of total freedom from the chains of this world. She teaches us how to be free from the addictions that will destroy us—by never taking her eyes off of you.

Please pray an Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, a Gloria and the Fatima Prayer.

To start this rosary at the beginning, click here.

The Glorious Mysteries for Freedom from Addiction: The 4th Mystery

4th Glorious Mystery: The Assumption

“Hail, [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with you!”
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" Lk 1:28, 42

Arise, O LORD, and go to thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy might. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant David's sake do not turn away the face of thy anointed one. Ps 132:8-10

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Th 4:16-17

A just reward for the greatest one among us. Even the angels sing her praises, for they know her perfection, and her worthiness of the greatest honor bestowed upon her by You, Lord Jesus, her most Holy Son. As our bodies and minds reel with pain in this process of letting go of our addictions, we look to her: your pure, sinless mother, and we begin to believe that the resurrection of the body is possible even for us. Now hope glimmers within us as suffer the pains of withdrawl.

Please pray an Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, a Gloria and the Fatima Prayer.

Click here for the 5th Glorious Mystery.
To start this rosary at the beginning, click here.

The Glorious Mysteries for Freedom from Addiction: The 3rd Mystery

3rd Glorious Mystery: The Descent of the Holy Spirit

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And Peter said to them: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. Acts 2:2-5, 38-41

As the Spirit descends upon us, so many things about ourselves become clear—how easily we rationalize and lie, not just to others, but to ourselves; the depth of our denial, and our need for repentance. Now more than ever we depend on Your Spirit to guide us from the pitfalls of denial and rationalization; to give us the strength to break the habit of self-deception that keeps us from hearing your call upon our hearts.

Please pray an Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, a Gloria and the Fatima Prayer.

Click here for the 4th Glorious Mystery.
To start this rosary at the beginning, click here.

The Glorious Mysteries for Freedom from Addiction: The 2nd Mystery

2nd Glorious Mystery: The Ascension

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

So when they had come together, they asked [Jesus], "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama'ria and to the end of the earth."

And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Acts 1:6-11

We stand here exposed, stripped of our addictions, unable to tear our eyes from you as you return to heaven. If we look away from You will we fall back into the pit? Our willpower wavers, uncertainty creeps into our minds, despair breathes down our necks; still we wait. We trust in You. We trust in You, Jesus, in your promise to send the Holy Spirit to come upon us and lead us away from the edge of the cliff.

Please pray an Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, a Gloria and the Fatima Prayer.

Click here for the 3rd Glorious Mystery.
To start this rosary at the beginning, click here.

The Glorious Mysteries for Freedom from Addiction: The 1st Mystery

1st Glorious Mystery: The Resurrection

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

[O]n the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body.

While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise."

And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Lk 24:1-9

Through Your resurrection, Jesus, you teach us that life itself transcends the confines of even the tomb.Through Your resurrection, You conquered death. You alone have the power to roll away the stone of addiction that entombs us.

Now, as Your light pours in we feel Your warmth like never before, and can see clearly the path before us. We now want to live, and You are the only source of life. Only now do we begin to understand ourselves--that our desires and addictions will never satisfy us, because our true desire, the desire that burns in the soul, can only be satisfied by You.

Please pray an Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, a Gloria and the Fatima Prayer.

Click here for the 2nd Glorious Mystery.
To start this Rosary at the beginning, click here.

The Glorious Mysteries for Freedom from Addiction

Just as Jesus carried the cross to His death for our salvation, we, in imitation of Him, carry the guilt of addiction for addicts, because in their illness they cannot carry it themselves.

Introductory Meditation

A reading from the Gospel according to John.

Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."

Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?"

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jn 20:11-15

Sometimes everything appears hopeless. Sometimes we lose our ability to see truth, to see reality—to see anything. Before we know it, we become distorted by the conventions of a world that no longer recognizes You; we can’t see Your hand reaching out to us from inside our darkness. We forget that it was You who spoke light into being, and You who breathed life into all mankind.

Open our eyes to Your light; illuminate our minds and our hearts with Your truth, and breathe life into us once again; give us both the knowledge and the courage to break the cycle of addiction that prevents us from living a life of freedom and peace.

Please pray an Apostle's Creed, an Our Father, three Hail Marys and a Glory Be.

Click here for the 1st Glorious Mystery.

Blessed John Paul II on the Rosary

From The Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae of John Paul II:

The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer. In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium. It is an echo of the prayer of Mary, her perennial Magnificat for the work of the redemptive Incarnation which began in her virginal womb. With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer.

This Apostolic Letter is one of the countless reasons that the people of God call Blessed John Paul II "The Great". In

this letter, the Holy Father discusses some of the history and importance of praying the Rosary. He examines in-depth how the through a Rosary, when properly prayed, Mary systematically draws us into the heart of her Son; and then he teaches us how to properly pray a Rosary, practically bead by bead.

I've posted several times about the Rosary over the last few years. I love the Rosary, even though at times I've found it intimidating and difficult. Lately, though, St. Louis Marie de Montfort has been helping me out quite a bit. I posted his suggestions HERE. They really work--I use them myself!

Enjoy the Silence

"The greatest saints avoided the company of men as much as they could and chose to live to God in secret."*

I just found my other earplug on the floor under my desk. It's been driving me nuts all day today that one of my earplugs vanished, and between my coworkers and Leo Sayer's "You Make Me Feel Like Dancin'" blaring from the radio (disco on the oldies station--I can't believe it's come to this), the thoughts in my head don't have a chance unless I can block out the noise. Earplugs mean silence, and with silence I suddenly have solitude, even if its for just for a few brief minutes to collect my thoughts.

It's in solitude, which I don't often find, that I am not only able to compose my own thoughts, but it's when I'm most able to hear and understand God. If I'm so destracted that I can't hear myself think just to write a marketing letter or a blog post, what makes me think I'll hear God or know His will? A lack of time for silent reflection has been missing from my spiritual development for quite some time. Sure, I steal moments when I can, but that's not the same thing. I'll bet I'm not the only one. It's why so many of us go on retreats and pilgrimages, or visit monasteries and shrines. We need to escape the world and all its trappings, and many of us need to do it more often than we are able.

I decided that, since I live close to work, I would make it a habit to go home for lunch pray a Rosary. Today it was rainy and cold, but my gardens are quiet and peaceful, and as the perfect backdrop for today's moment of solitude, served me as a living example of the resurrection. Of course Jesus rose from the dead, I thought; His earthly creation is rising from the dead right now. If my mind were competing with the television, a radio, a person standing there talking at me, or even the mail sitting on the kitchen table, I would not have experienced that tiny little revelation that brought me closer to the mind of God and His will for me.

"In silence and quiet," Kempis teaches us, "the devout soul goes forward."*


* Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Book 1 Chapter 20

Firm in the Faith With Mary

Right now the site only goes to their Facebook page, but here's the link anyway: www.firminfaith.org

How Can We Make A Real Difference?

One bead at a time.

If St. Louis Marie de Montfort were alive today, he'd take one look around at this weak, dysfunctional, crumbling world we've built for ourselves and start passing out rosary beads by the thousands. "If," Montfort wrote in True Devotion to Mary, "the knowledge and the kingdom of Jesus Christ must come into the world, it can only be as a necessary consequence of the knowledge and reign of Mary. She who first gave Him to the world will establish His kingdom in the world."

The more intensely we turn our attention toward Jesus, the more we believe in Him, turn to Him, trust in Him and become like Him. In this way, the world will change. What is a rosary? It's putting our hand in Mary's, who teaches us how to most intensely turn our attention toward Jesus.

Even if you have difficulty praying the rosary, for whatever reason, its importance and power is unmatched, and everyone should be working it into their daily prayer life. No, it's not a mandatory prayer for Catholics--nothing is "mandatory" really if you want to get right down to it--but if you want to really gain insight, if you want to deepen your relationship with the Lord, if you have prayer intentions that break your heart, if you want to see this world change for the better, pick up those beads and persevere.

I know how hard this devotion can be. I have lots of difficulties and obstacles in my devotion to the Rosary. Some days I can't find 10 or 15 free minutes to devote to a Rosary; other days I just can't get my mind out of the whirlwind long enough to focus. I try, I start, but can't "get into it", as it were. There are times when I'm in the midst of a rosary when I'm so profoundly affected that it scares me, and I'm overtaken by fear the next time I pick up my beads. I'll even admit that sometimes I'm just too self-involved to get started, and put it off until I never get to it that day.

When I finally do make it over the hurdles, no devotion compares. Other devotions, prayers, even reading Scripture becomes preparation for my next rosary. I've written before about this: CLICK HERE for some suggestions when the Rosary becomes difficult. Here is some great insight from St. Louis Marie de Montfort that I've also found very helpful:

[Y]ou cannot say your Rosary without having a few involuntary distractions; it is even difficult to say a Hail Mary without your imagination troubling you a little, for it is never still; but you can say it without voluntary distractions, and you must take all sorts of precautions to lessen involuntary distractions and to control your imagination.

To do this:

1) Put yourself in the presence of God and imagine that God and his Blessed Mother are watching you.

2) Imagine that your guardian angel is at your right hand, taking your Hail Marys, if they are well said, and using them like roses to make crowns for Jesus and Mary.

3) Remember that at your left hand is the devil, ready to pounce on every Hail Mary that comes his way and to write it down in his book of death, if they are not said with attention, devotion, and reverence.

4) Do not fail to offer up each decade in honor of one of the mysteries, and try to form a picture in your mind of Jesus and Mary in connection with that mystery.

from "Four Ways to Avoid Distractions During the Rosary" by St. Louis Marie de Montfort. CLICK HERE to read the entire article posted at America Needs Fatima.

Worldwide Rosary

60 Catholics were brutally murdered while attending Mass in a Catholic Church in Bagdad, Iraq. They are glorious martyrs.

But 400,000 Catholics remain and are being persecuted for the faith. And we’re being asked to pray the Rosary to help them.

Click here to read more.

Rosaries at the ready.

Rosary Rally 2010

From the America Needs Fatima Blog:  October 16, 2010, America Needs Fatima’s (ANF) successfully carried out 5,963 Rosary rallies all over America including far-off Alaska, Hawaii and Guam, and in some other countries.

Thanks to the zealous efforts of rosary captains around the nation, thousands of faithful Catholics armed with their rosaries and banners trooped to the public square to pray for America’s conversion and heed the message of Our Lady of Fatima. 
(photo:Rally in New York City courtesy of America Needs Fatima Blog)

Msgr. Cariglio, Poland Twp., OH

Here in the Mahoning Valley, over 100 Catholics of all ages gathered at 3 different sites to pray for our nation. America today is under the grave influence of a secular idealism that would kick God and His law to the curb. Said Msgr. Michael Cariglio of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Youngstown, OH, who led the Rally in Poland Twp., OH: "We gather today to pray for our country, to make a stand against the darkness that plagues our nation."  It's the same darkness that was tearing Portugal apart during the early 1900s.

Our Lady of Fatima told the three children to whom she appeared in 1917 that the Rosary is the solution to the many problems that not only faced their society, but that faced all the nations of the world, and promised: "My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph."

We believe her promise even today. At the Poland Twp. Rally, Msgr. Cariglio led a small but diverse group of faithful Catholics in the Luminous Mysteries, that the light of the Gospel would inspire our leaders. We sang, we prayed, and we consecrated ourselves to the Queen of Heaven. Many of us were strangers; yet there was a profound spirit of Christian love and unity among all of us, and we left united under Our Lady's mantle. It was an experience that I will not soon forget.

Many thanks to America Needs Fatima, and to our Rally Captain.

Our Lady of the Rosary

The south of France in the 12th century found itself in religious conflict with the rise of a new religion called Albigensianism. When the Church failed at overcoming this new philosophy through the exercise of ecclesiastical authority or forcible repression, St. Dominic in 1208 turned to Our Lady in prayer. She told him the following:

"Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labors, you have spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest." (from The history of St. Dominic, founder of the Friars Preachers by Augusta Theodosia Drane)

As devotion to the Rosary through St. Dominic's extraordinary efforts spread, Albigensianism faded throughout the region.

What is Albigensianism? Like so many "new" religions that come onto the scene throughout history, Albigensianism is actually rooted in a much older (3rd Century) Persian religion called Manichæism, which is "purported to be the true synthesis of all the religious systems then known, and actually consisted of Zoroastrian Dualism, Babylonian folklore, Buddhist ethics, and some small and superficial, additions of Christian elements.(www.newadvent.org.)"

Take a look at some key Manichæan principles:

• The co-existence of two mutually opposed forces: "good", the source of the spiritual; and "evil", the source of the physical. Because the physical is innately evil, the body is evil, all of creation is a prison and liberation of the spirit, which is divine, comes with death.

• Because a "good" god could not come to earth in a body else be imprisoned himself by evil, he created Jesus Christ, whose teachings were redemptive, not his suffering and death. The Holy Spirit is also a creature.

• Man is a living contradiction, thus liberating the spirit from the body is a righteous end to life. Both marriage and procreation are abhorred and believers discouraged from marrying and having children, because this world is a punishment, and freedom from this world returns humanity to his divine nature.

• There are two classes: perfect and hearer. The perfect, possessing all knowledge essential to achieve divinity, were bound by every "moral law", whereas the hearer could pick and choose until ready to undergo initiation, at which time they must either bind themselves to the moral law or die. (Death bead initiations among Albigensian "believers", the Manichæan "hearer" equivalent, very common, as was suicide by starvation or assisted with poison.)

A casual observer can easily see how these ancient, erroneous principles have taken root today. Environmentalism, the New Age, secular humanism and various other contemporary philosophies share in the idealism behind these same principles. The specifics may be different, but the foundation is the same.

So is the remedy.

CLICK HERE to pray a rosary with people from all around the world.

Our Lady of the Rosary, Pray for us.

Discipline In Prayer

Prayer is how we develop our relationship with the Lord. It's through a regular habit of prayer that we are able to hear the voice of God, and know his will for us.

About a week ago I was having a conversation with my friend Nicole regarding prayer. "I've had to set my rosary aside," she said, "because it's just not doing it right now."

I get what she means completely.

It's not that we don't love our Rosaries. Both of us have gained deeply moving inspiration through praying Rosaries. We've discovered a knowledge and a closeness with Christ that I don't think is quite possible with any other method of prayer.

So if it's so great, why do we find ourselves unable to glean anything from it every once in a while?

Because simply saying the words of the rosary prayers isn't enough: a rosary consists of reciting prayers, counting along on beads, and meditating on "mysteries", or specific moments of the Gospel in order to understand better the mind of Christ. Sometimes our daily burdens, our state of mind, or some other distraction thrown up in our faces makes the meditations impossible. It's during times like these, when we can't let ourselves go, that we get nothing out of a rosary.

There are a few things that I have found helpful during these times in my life:

* Try another devotion. Nicole started a Novena to the Little Flower. (a "novena" is nine consecutive time periods of the same prayer). I go with the 30-day St. Joseph's Prayer, or the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Focusing on another devotion alleviates the frustration of not being able to focus, and keeps us in a routine of daily prayer.

* Study Scripture. Particular focus on Scripture that corresponds with each mystery of the Rosary freshen them in our minds. The more intensely we study Scripture, the more easily we will persevere in our rosaries when we resume them.

* Find someone to pray it with you. Hearing someone praying aloud along with you helps to block out distractions and keep you focused. Plus, "wherever two or three are gathered in My name..."

Queen Of The May

“There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.” Sister Lucy, Fatima Visionary

It was 28 years ago YESTERDAY that John Paul II was shot. Mehmet Ali Agca’s bullet miraculously avoided his major organs. He attributed his survival to Our Lady of Fatima.

The month of May is a celebration of spring, of rebirth and new life. How fitting that the Chruch devotes May to Mary, the mother of our Lord. John Paul II had a very deep devotion to Our Lady, and at the request of Our Lady of Fatima, consecrated the nation of Russia to her in 1984. At every opportunity he spoke of her, and encouraged the faithful all over the world to increase their devotion to Mary.

"Through Mary," he declared in Como, Italy, in 1996, "we come to her Son more easily. Mary is held up as a model for the believer and for the whole Church called to respond to the Lord with her own 'yes'. She is the Mother who intercedes for all: for souls thirsting for God and for those who are groping in the darkness of doubt and disbelief for those who are suffering in body or tried in spirit, for those who yield to the attraction of sin and for those who are struggling to escape its clutches. Her motherly concern overlooks no one." (from Pope John Paul II's Angelus Message in Como, Italy 5 May 1996)

It certainly never overlooks me. Prayer comes most easily to me with my Marian devotions, especially the Rosary. Holding the beads is a consolation; reciting the prayers frees my mind to meditate; and each mystery builds one upon the other through the life of Jesus through Mary, as if she’s sitting right there with me, teaching me details, signs and insights. A rosary truly prayed teaches the person of Jesus, bringing us into a deeply intimate relationship with Him. Who better to teach us? In the heart of Mary, Jesus is an ancient promise; a living miracle; a helpless child; a victim of hatred and ignorance; a savior and king. No other person could know the heart and mind of the Lord like the woman who shared her body with Him.

Sister Lucy of Fatima says, “with the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” I believe her, because nothing I’ve ever experienced has helped me to know the Lord better.

(Click here to learn how to pray the Rosary)