FIRST SORROWFUL MYSTERY
Dear Lord, you suffered very much in the garden of Gethsemane. You suffered because your friends fell asleep and you remained alone. You suffered from the knowledge of what was going to happen to you, so much that you even perspired drops of blood. But above all, you suffered because you saw the ugliness of all the sins that ever had and ever would be committed - including our sins.
We offer this decade, for the conversion of the hardest sinners, and that we may love you each day more and more.
Leader: Our Father....Hail Mary... Glory Be.....The Jesus Prayer
SECOND SORROWFUL MYSTERY
Dear Jesus, you did nothing as the Roman soldiers repeatedly whipped you, even though the whips cut your flesh and caused you great pain. You offered it all up for us, especially to make up for the sins of the flesh. Lord, forgive us when we are tempted to commit sins with the bodies you have given us.
Help us to remember that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and stengthen us in times of temptation against purity, so that we may find true freedom and love. We pray especially for young people throughout the world today, whose purity and innocence is often attacked by the popular Media.
Leader: Our Father....Hail Mary... Glory Be.....The Jesus Prayer
THIRD SORROWFUL MYSTERY
Jesus, even though you were truly a king and should have been given a golden crown, the soldiers mocked you as a false king, spitting you in the face and striking you. The worst insult and most painful one was the crown of thorns that they firmly placed on your head, piercing your skull, leading to a great loss of blood.
In this decade, we reflect on your wounds and ask you to have mercy on people who abuse their intelligence and use it to commit acts of evil. We ask that we may always use our minds to think good thoughts, especially when we find it difficult to forgive those who have hurt us.
Leader: Our Father....Hail Mary... Glory Be.....The Jesus Prayer
FOURTH SORROWFUL MYSTERY
Dear Lord, scourged, and with the crown on your head, you were forced to climb the hill to Calvary with a heavy cross on your back. Some people just laughed as they watched, others continued to abuse you. You fell many times and you had to endure seeing your mother face to face, whose heart was broken when she looked upon you. Yet, even in your own agony you thought of us and left an image of your face imprinted on the cloth that Veronica lovingly used to wipe your face.
In this decade, we thank you for your love and kindness, and pray especially for all who have been kind and loving to us over the years. Bless them Lord.
Leader: Our Father....Hail Mary... Glory Be.....The Jesus Prayer
FIFTH SORROWFUL MYSTERY
As you were nailed to the cross, first your hands, then your feet, the ground shook with the impact. We cannot imagine the suffering you experienced as you hung on the cross for three hours with nails driven through your bones and flesh. Each breath was painful and a struggle, and there was no comfort. Instead, you comforted us when you gave your own mother to be our mother, telling the beloved disciple, representing all of us, to take Mary as his own mother and to look after her.
In honour of the suffering you endured for us on the cross, inspire us to always make a home for Mary, who truly became a real mother for us at the cross. We ask her intercession as we pray this final decade with her, so that all Christians will recognise her as their mother too.
Leader: Our Father....Hail Mary... Glory Be.....The Jesus Prayer
Background Image - Photo of The Scourging I took outside a Church in Medugorje, Bosnia