Be Faithful and Attentive* — Book One

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  (Pause to place yourself in God's presence — you are nothing, God is All).  I immerse myself in the Divine Will, and as I pray the Rosary of Mary's Dolors, I pray it in the name of everyone to give Our Lady the due appreciation and gratitude She deserves from all her children for all the Sorrows She endured on our behalf.  I call all souls to honor her Sorrows and I redo all such acts in the Divine Will.  For thy Kingdom to come, I offer this Rosary of Mary's Dolors for ( here make your intentions ), and for all the intentions of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

"Everyone can share in the merits of the blessings yielded by My Mother's Sorrows.  The one who abandons himself beforehand to Providence, offering to suffer any sort of pain, misery, sickness, slander and every other thing the Lord will prepare for him, will share in the First Sorrow of Simeon's Prophecy."  [Preliminary meditations for the first seven Sorrows taken from Vol. 6: Sept. 17, 1905].

Our Father...

1.   I place my "I love You, I thank You," O Sorrowful Mother, in your every step as You carry the Baby Jesus to the Temple to offer Him to the Lord for us.  Hail Mary...

2.   I love and thank You in offering your Jesus in sacrifice to the Will of the Father saying on his behalf:  "Behold, I come to do your Will, O God" (Heb. 10:9).

3.   I place myself in your arms next to Baby Jesus to be offered in sacrifice to the Will of the Father with Him.

4.   I place my love and compassion in the words of Simeon prophesying the Sorrow You would endure:  "...thy own soul a sword shall pierce that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed" (Lk. 2:35).

5.   I also place my love and compassion in the words of the Prophetess Anna who "spoke of [the Child] to all who looked for the Redemption of Israel" (Lk. 2:38).

6.   I love and compassionate You in your Sorrow ever increasing as day by day your love for Him grows stronger.

7.   I thank You in the name of all for heroically living with the knowledge of this sorrowful prophecy for thirty-three years until it's all been accomplished.

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her First Sorrow:  The Prophecy of Simeon, along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

"The one who presently finds himself surrounded by sufferings and is resigned and stays close to Me, and does not offend Me, is acting as if he were saving Me from the hands of Herod, and I am safe and secure in the custody of the Egypt of his heart; hence, this one participates in the Second Sorrow."

Our Father...

1.   I love and compassionate You, O Sorrowful Mother, in the pain You suffer as St. Joseph explains the need to flee into Egypt.  Hail Mary...

2.   I love and praise You in the heroic virtue You practice in accepting God's Will in having to flee to a land of people given to idolatry.

3.   My "I love You" accompanies You all along your difficult journey, to bring You comfort.

4.   I place my love and compassion in the many tears You weep upon hearing of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.

5.   I love and compassionate You in the poverty and hardships You endure with more than a-mother's-concern-for-her-child during the years of exile.

6.   My "I love You" accompanies You again all along your difficult journey back to your homeland.

7.   I thank You in the name of all for all that You endured in this Sorrow to save the Saviour of the world.

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her Second Sorrow:  The Flight into Egypt, along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

"The one who is disheartened, whose soul is dry and deprived of My presence and yet remains firm and faithful to his usual routine, and more than that, takes advantage of the opportunity to love and seek Me even more, this one participates in the merits and the good works that My Mother gained when I was lost."

Our Father...

1.   I place my love and compassion in the depths of your Heart, O Sorrowful Mother, to ease the sudden and immense Sorrow You feel when You first realize your Jesus is missing.  Hail Mary...

2.   I place my "I love You, I compassionate You" in your every heartbeat during your long and sorrowful three-day search for Him, to soothe the pains of your Heart.

3.   I also place my "I love You, I compassionate You" in each of the many tears You shed during those three long days.

4.   Once returned to Jerusalem, I love and compassionate You in the new pangs generated by each negative response to your inquiries about Him.

5.   I place my "I love You" in his words:  "How is it that You sought Me?  Did You not know I must be about my Father's business?" (Lk. 2:49).

6.   I love You, I thank You for storing all these things in your Heart and pondering them.

7.   I love and thank You in obtaining for us, by this Sorrow, the grace to bear faithfully the loss of sensible graces.

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her Third Sorrow:  The Loss of Jesus, along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

"The one who, at any time, is displeased to see Me gravely offended, despised and disregarded, and tries to make reparation by having compassion and by praying for the very ones who slander Me — it is as if I were meeting in that soul My very Mother, who would have freed Me from My enemies had She been able; henceforth, the soul participates in the Fourth Sorrow."

Our Father...

1.   I love and thank You, O Sorrowful Mother, for bravely going out to meet Jesus along the Way of the Cross.  Hail Mary...

2.   I love and compassionate You in the immense pain You suffer as You first behold your Son under the Cross.

3.   I place my kiss of love and compassion upon your most pure eyes to comfort the pain You feel at the moment You exchange gazes with your Jesus.

4.   I place my kiss of love on the rents that open in your Heart at each of Jesus' falls, to heal them.

5.   I love and thank You for giving Jesus the greatest comfort by fusing Yourself into all that He experiences along the Sorrowful Way (Vol. 6: Dec. 17, 1903).

6.   I love and thank You for the anguished prayers You offer to obtain from the Father, the comfort of Simon of Cyrene and of Veronica.

7.   I love and thank you for — in imitation of your Son — perfectly carrying your immense Cross throughout your whole life for us.

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her Fourth Sorrow:  Meeting Jesus on the Way to Calvary, along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

"He who crucifies his senses out of love for My Crucifixion, and tries to copy in himself the virtues of My Crucifixion, participates thus in the Fifth Sorrow."

Our Father...

1.   I love and compassionate You, O Sorrowful Mother, in the horror You feel, seeing your most pure and innocent Son stripped before the hateful crowd.  Hail Mary...

2.   I love and thank You for offering your veil to cover his nakedness.

3.   I place my kiss of love and compassion upon your ears to comfort You as You hear the executioners pound in the nails.

4.   I love and thank You for such faithfulness to the Will of God that if executioners had been wanting, and the Divine Will had required it, You Yourself would have driven in the nails.

5.   I love and thank You for uniting Yourself to Jesus' prayer:  "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Lk. 23:34).

6.   I love and thank You for offering Yourself as victim with Jesus on our behalf.

7.   I love and thank You for accepting us — the crucifiers of your Son — as your children at Jesus' words:  "Woman behold thy son" (Jn. 19:26).

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her Fifth Sorrow:  The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus, along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

"The soul who is in a continuous attitude of adoration, kissing My wounds, making reparation, being thankful, and so on, on behalf of the whole human race — it is as if it were holding Me in the fold of its arms, like My Mother was holding Me when I was taken down from the Cross; hence, this one participates in the same Sorrow."

Our Father...

1.   I place my kiss of love and compassion, O Sorrowful Mother, in the transfixion your Heart suffers as Jesus' Heart is pierced with the lance.  Hail Mary...

2.   I place my "I love You, I compassionate You" in the many new wounds opened in your Heart as You take your beloved Son's destroyed Body into your arms and view closely his many wounds.

3.   I place my "I love You" in your fingers to help You remove the cruel crown of thorns.

4.   I place my "I love You" in the tears You weep to help You wash his wounds with them.

5.   I place my "I love You" in the intimate memories of Mother and Son which now rush in on You, to curb their torturing effect.

6.   I love and thank You for taking souls completely wounded by sin in your arms, and healing them with Jesus' Wounds and Blood.

7.   I place my "I love You, I compassionate You" in the voices of the disciples who express the need to move to the tomb.

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her Sixth Sorrow:  Jesus' Dead Body is Laid in Mary's Arms, along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

"The one who remains in My grace and conforms to it and does not
give shelter to anyone else in his heart except for Me — it is as if this
one were burying Me in the center of his heart, thus participating in the Seventh [Sorrow]."

Our Father...

1.   I love and praise You, O Sorrowful Mother, in drawing strength to leave Jesus in the tomb by leaving your whole being buried in Him and taking for Yourself his Life, his pains.  [Meditations for each Hail Mary of this Sorrow taken from the Hours of the Passion, 4 p.m.]  Hail Mary...

2.   I love and thank You for kissing his Sacred Head and taking for Yourself his thorns, his afflicted and offended thoughts.

3.   I love and thank You for kissing his extinguished eyes and taking for Yourself his tears and the bitterness of his gaze seeing the offenses of creatures.

4.   I love and thank You for kissing his most Holy Face and taking for Yourself the blows, the spittle, the scorn and all He suffered in his Holy Countenance.

5.   I love and thank You for kissing his embittered mouth and taking for Yourself the bitterness of the gall, his burning thirst, his reparations and prayers.

6.   I love and thank You for kissing the wounds of his hands and feet and taking for Yourself all He suffered in them for evil works and for those who foolishly walk the way to perdition.

7.   I love and thank You for kissing his pierced Heart and taking for Yourself his rejected love, his unrealized desires and all the transfixions and sorrows of that most Sacred Heart.

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her Seventh Sorrow: Jesus' Dead Body is Placed in the Tomb, along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

To participate in this "Eighth" Sorrow you must, with Our Lady's Help, keep this promise:  "I promise with all my heart to abandon myself to God who abandons me.  Mother of Sorrows whom I love so much, teach me to suffer as You suffered and to love Jesus as You loved Him in your awful Solitude.  Virgin Mary, be my strength in teaching me the Perfect Joy of the Calvary of your frightful Solitude in every moment of life still remaining to me" (Conchita's Diary — Oct. 6, 13 & 20, 1936).

Our Father...

1.   I love and thank You, O Sorrowful Mother, in the name of all your children, for generously suffering the inexpressible "Martyrdom of Solitude" the final ±25 years of your life.  Hail Mary...

2.   I place my love and compassion in the "might and force of the Spirit of God" which alone keeps You alive during these years (Diary — June 30, 1917).

3.   I love and thank You that each time You feel sad because of the absence of the Trinity, You "immediately offer it to the Father for the salvation of the world and the nascent Church" (Diary — March 21, 1917).

4.   I love and thank You for providing the world an "inexhaustible source of grace and mercy" by this "Martyrdom of Solitude" (Diary — June 30, 1917).

5.   I love and compassionate You hearing "in your soul, so wholly pure, the echo of all Jesus' agonies, humiliations, outrages and tortures" and feeling "the weight of the sins of the world" (Diary — June 22, 1918).

6.   I love and thank You, in the name of all, that by this "Martyrdom of Solitude" You give each of your children "the supernatural life of grace" and "obtain Heaven for them" (Diary — June 22, 1918).

7.   I stamp my "I love You, I thank You" on the new Crown You conquer by this Sorrow, that of "Mother-Martyr" (Diary — June 22, 1918).

Prayer After Each Sorrow:  Supreme Majesty, I come upon your Paternal Knees to offer You all that Our Blessed Mother endured in her "Eighth" Sorrow:  The "Martyrdom of Solitude," along with all my acts of reciprocated love, gratitude and compassion, made in the name of everyone.  With this offering, and with the Mother of Sorrows Herself, I implore: mercy, salvation and sanctification for every creature, the quick and complete Triumph of the Divine Will on earth, and Its quick and complete Triumph in me.  Amen.

END NOTES

[1]  The Church has traditionally honored Mary with seven principal Sorrows.  However, Jesus revealed to Venerable Concepción Cabrera de Armida ("Conchita") of Mexico (d. 1937), another greater and hitherto unknown Sorrow, Her "Martyrdom of Solitude."  Here we add it as an "Eighth" Sorrow.  In this "Martyrdom," which lasted from Jesus' Ascenscion to her own Assumption, Mary experienced the abandonment of God which Jesus has described as "a reflection of My own abandonment on the Cross, one the worth of which cannot be estimated and is wholly inexpressible."  (Philipon, M. M. (O.P.), ed., Translated by Aloysius J. Owen, S.J., Conchita: A Mother's Spiritual Diary, Part 2, Chapter 3: "The Virgin of the Cross."  Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 2000.)  See also Mary's Blossoms & Thorns in Chapter 16 — "Third Fiat Hymns".  back

[2]  Ibid.: All quotations throughout this Sorrow.  back

* Be Faithful and Attentive: A Handbook for Living in the Divine Will
Web-edition Copyright © A.D. 2006, 2007 & 2015 Robert T. Hart — All Rights Reserved.