Friday, March 18, 2011

The Beatitudes Rosary

Message from the Archdiocese of Washington’s District Friar

The Beatitudes Rosary

We say that Jesus is Our Lord and Master. That means that he is our teacher. His first great teaching in the Gospels is the Sermon on the Mount. That contains His instruction on the spiritual life, the Beatitudes.

These Beatitudes are the essence of Jesus’ teaching on how His followers should live. The Beatitudes are His formula for holiness and happiness.

This Lent I hope you will join me in making these Beatitudes part of our Spiritual Memory Bank. We should take the Beatitudes to heart and know them “by heart.”

We can do that by saying a Beatitude Rosary. So what is a Beatitude Rosary?

A Beatitude Rosary is just like a regular Rosary, except we substitute a Beatitude for each Hail Mary on the five decades.

By reciting it regularly, we can commit the instruction of the Lord to memory, and make it part of our lives.

There are nine Beatitudes, so the last bead is the rewards of His spiritual instruction: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

2. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

3. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, they shall be satisfied.

5. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

6. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

8. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

9. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you, and utter every kind of slander against you because of Me.

10. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

If we say this every day during Lent, by the end of Lent we will have committed these instructions for holiness to our hearts. They will become a pattern for our souls.

Fr. Peter Daly

Lent, 2011

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