The Litany of Loreto The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery The Carrying of the Cross John 20: 17
Our Father
Virgin, help us to do what St. Ireneaus suggested: "to accept the Cross as God sends it, not as we imagine it to be."
Hail Mary one
Hebrews 3:4-6
For every house is built by someone; but he who created all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful "in all his house" as a servant, to testify concerning those things that were to be spoken; but Christ is faithful as the Son over his own house. We are that house, if we hold fast to the confidence and the hope in which we glory unto the end.
Hail Mary two
House of Gold
Mary is the House, the Temple of God. She is the Tabernacle of Gold-the Gold of the Eucharist. Remember Christ's statement referring to His Passion, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Temple is Christ's Body, Mary, the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ. Through the Calvary event, Mary and Christ call us to enter into their house. Mary, as the Bride of God, looks towards the Church as the Bride of Christ, and in the Passion, the Church is saved from eternal death with all mankind. Christ is the Gold, which God the Father allowed to be seen only as clay on the Via Dolorosa. The way for all of us to the House of God is the road of suffering, of carrying our cross.
Hail Mary three
Blessed Mary, help us to become solid gold bricks in the House of the Lord, through your intercession.
Hail Mary four
Hebrews 9:3-4
..but beyond the second veil was the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden censor and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid on every side with gold. In the Ark was a golden pot containing the manna and the rod of Aaron which had budded, and the tablets of the covenant...
Hail Mary five
Ark of the Covenant
The simple maid of Nazareth became the New Ark of the New Covenant. Christ's suffering on the road to Calvary ratified the new agreement between God and man. Mary's willingness opened negotiations, as it were, which were sealed with the Blood of the Lamb, the Blood of Christ. The Body and Blood of Christ on the altar of sacrifice at Mass is the unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary.
Hail Mary six
Dear Sorrowful Mother, you watched your Son stumble through the crowded streets cramed with the ugly crowds in Jerusalem on His way to His death. He did not speak to you on this last journey, but met you in the deep silence of love. Pray for us in our Dark Nights, when we do not hear the voice of the Savior.
Hail Mary seven
Hebrews 9:24
For Jesus has not entered into a holies made by hands, a mere copy of the true, but into heaven itself, to appear now before the face of God on our behalf...
Hail Mary eight
Gate of Heaven
The Psalmist sang, "Open ye to me the gates of justice: I will go in to them, and give praise to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter it." But, Christ had to go outside the Gates for us to enter in.
Jesus had to pass outside the Gates of Jerusalem to be crucified as a criminal, outside the walls of the city. This mud-spattered, bloody and bruised Man hardly seemed a King or the Face of God. Mary, the Gate of Heaven, had to become an outsider as well, for the sake of her Son. The Gate of Heaven stood beyond the gates of Jerusalem, the Earthly City of Man, so that we may enter through her into the Celestial City of God.
We go through Mary to Christ.
Hail Mary nine
Dearest Mother, be a gate for each one of us to enter through the narrow way. You will help us with your grace and Mediation. If we come to you, you will not shut the gate on our petitions.
Hail Mary ten
Glory be
Fatima Prayer
To be continued....
