Creation and the Sorrowful Mysteries

Today we continue our meditation upon the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary through the ‘lens’ of the mystery of God’s Creation.[1] May Our Lady, Co-Redemptrix hear our plea, respond favorably to our prayers, and deliver us from the errors of disbelief and error!

And may our prayer of Our Lady’s Psalter hasten the proper consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

– Read the introduction, The Rosary and Creation Dispel the Errors of Russia.
– Read the meditation on Creation and the Joyful Mysteries.
Read the meditation on Creation and the Glorious Mysteries.

First Sorrowful Mystery:
The Agony in the Garden

In this Mystery, let us meditate on the necessity of following God’s Will above all things. In both the Creation, and in Our Lord’s Agony, God placed the first Adam and the last Adam in a garden. Ancient traditions even identify Mount Zion (Jerusalem, Calvary, and Gethsemane) as the location of Adam’s burial site, claiming he was buried where he was created.[2] In the garden, each ‘Adam’ was faced with a decision. It is the decision every man faces. To follow the Will of God, no matter the cost – even life itself – or to trod the easier path of self and disobey God (Genesis 3:6, Matthew 26:36).

In the Garden of Eden, Adam chose his own will. When Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to His Father, “Not My will, but Thine be done” (cf. Luke 22: 42). Adam’s disobedience brought the consequences of Original Sin to God’s perfect creation, while Our Blessed Lord’s union with God’s Will brought the reconciliation of sinful humanity to its Creator. Christ undid Adam’s sin in the garden through His perfect obedience to the Father. Let us praise and adore Our Savior for this great gift of redemption, as we seek Our Lady’s intercession for the grace to imitate Her Son in conforming our will to God’s Will.

Second Sorrowful Mystery:
The Scourging at the Pillar

In this Mystery, let us reflect upon Christ’s redemptive suffering. When the loving Creator made the world, He “saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10). Before the sin of Adam and Eve, there was no suffering in the perfect creation. After their sin, suffering entered the earth, and all creation groans under the curse of Original Sin (cf. Romans 8:22). Adam wanted to avoid suffering; Christ embraced suffering. In order to undo this curse, Christ underwent excruciating suffering during His Passion. Yet Christ remained faithfully obedient and being “led as a sheep to the slaughter… he shall not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

Adam’s sin revealed his nakedness and God in turn clothed him with animal skins, the ‘fruit’ of a sacrifice. Christ’s obedience led to sinful men stripping Him of His garments. He was ‘clothed’ in His own blood. Christ’s sacrifice ended the sacrifice of animals and won for Him – and for us – garments of everlasting glory.  Our Lord’s sorrowful scourging undid the first Adam’s disobedience, since “by his bruises we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Let us meditate on the sufferings Our Lord underwent on account of our sins. Through the intercession of the Holy Virgin may we unite our own pains to Hers and Her Son’s as reparation for the sins of the world.

Third Sorrowful Mystery:
The Crowning with Thorns

In this third Mystery, let us think upon how God reconciled Creation to Himself. As a punishment for his disobedience, Adam was told by God that he would have to toil and sweat for his bread and that the ground would bring forth thornsand thistles (cf. Genesis 3:17-19). Although Adam was once in harmony with God’s perfect creation, he, and his descendants, were now at war with it. Our Lord, in His Passion, had the very symbol of the curse, the thorns, placed in the form of a crown on His head (John 19:2). By bringing the curse of humanity upon His own Body, He was “reconciling the world to himself,” and proving Himself to be the true King of Creation (2 Corinthians 5:19).

In the ancient world, crowns were placed not only on rulers but also upon victims to be offered upon an altar of sacrifice. Adam refused to render the sacrifice God asked of him, but Christ, Who is meek and humble of heart, submitted to His Father. Thus, through His perfect sacrifice, He brought back creation to its proper place, undoing the curse of Adam. Let us now meditate on how Christ restored our proper harmony with creation, and ask Our Lady to help us endure the “thorns and thistles” that we encounter in the daily duties of our state in life.

Fourth Sorrowful Mystery:
The Carrying of the Cross

In this Mystery, we consider the triumph of Our Lord’s Cross. At both the center of the story of Genesis, and the center of salvation, there stands a tree. It is the Tree of Life. In Eden we also see the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil. This tree served as a test – a test of obedience and of love. What was greater within Adam: the love of God or the love of self? The Cross presented Christ with the same issue. The Cross compels very single human to answer this question by the manner in which they live. In Eden, it became a tree of condemnation, and the gates of Paradise were shut to men. On Calvary, it became a Tree of redemption and by it Christ opened the gates of Heaven to men.

At Creation, God told Adam and Eve to not eat of the tree, lest they would die (Genesis 2:17). After Adam and Eve ate of the tree, the human race was forced to bear its weight through the consequences of Original Sin. Christ, in His Passion, took the weight of that tree upon Himself, as He bore the Cross on the way to Calvary. He bore the weight of our suffering, our sin, and our condemnation, in order to triumph over them by the Cross (cf. Colossians 2:15). With perfect clarity Our Lord taught: “He that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of Me” (Mt 10:38). And again, “Whosever doth not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14:27). Let us reflect on how Christ bore the weight of our sins during the Passion, as we ask Our Blessed Mother to give us the strength to bear our own sufferings with patience and to offer our sufferings in reparation for sins against the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary.

Fifth Sorrowful Mystery:
The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord

In this final Mystery, we meditate on Christ’s redeeming act of salvation. When Adam ate from the tree of knowledge, he rejected his Creator as Lord and King, placing all mankind under a curse. Adam seized for himself the power of being ‘like god’ – to determine that which is good (god-like) and what is not. But he deluded himself by this lie. Man can never be the Creator. Just as man cannot create ex nihilo, he will never be able to create moral truth.

The lie of evolution is a devastating parallel to this original sin. It maintains that if God is not the Creator, but that the world was created only by random chance, then man becomes the most powerful rational force in the universe and has every right to establish moral good and evil. If this is true, then man can create – and destroy – all that lies within his power. Similarly those who demanded Christ’s crucifixion ascribed themselves the ability to determine truth and thereby rejected their Creator.

But now, thanks to Christ’s Sacrifice, He “redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). Adam and Eve falsely believed that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would make them like God, but it only brought them death. Christ, through His death on the Tree of the Cross, became the new fruit of this new Tree of salvation. Now, we can become like God by partaking of the fountain of immortality which poured forth from the side of Christ on the new tree, and which is offered to us under the appearance of bread and wine in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Let us meditate on how Christ freed us from the curse of Adam and brought us under a new law of grace, and ask Our Blessed Lady to make us worthy to receive the new fruit of the tree – the grace of the Holy Eucharist.

Conclusion

Through the mystery of Creation, and through the mysteries of God’s holy Incarnation, we may come to share in God’s eternal mysteries. As we meditate upon God’s great mercies, both in creating the earth, and in giving us His only begotten Son, may we strive to imitate the virtues of Our Lord and Our Lady. May these meditations bring forth great fruit in our souls, and in our divinely created world.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, intercede for us.

VIENNA, AUSTIRA – JUNI 24, 2021: The fresco of Rosary mysteries of Sorrow in the Votivkirche church by brothers Carl and Franz Jobst (sc. half of 19. cent.).

ENDNOTES:

[1] We are indebted to the Creation Theology Fellowship for inspiring these reflections. Their work is reproduced here, in edited form, with permission.

[2] After the Resurrection, Our Lord also ascended into Heaven from this site (cf. Acts 1:12). It is here that He will return at His Second Coming to judge the living and the dead.

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