Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses. as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our insnown at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning as now and ever shall be world without end amen our first meditation Today we continue our journey through the Old Testament and we make a stop with a book of the Bible you've probably always skipped over, Leviticus. It's full of liturgical rules for the priests, the Levites, and the descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses and the high priest. So for most people, it doesn't make for very exciting reading. But there is one very interesting passage that a lot of people have heard about, and it has to do with the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement. Actually, there were two goats for the Day of Atonement, and both of them were involved in absolving the people of their sins. One goat was slaughtered as a sacrifice. The other goat had all the faults and sins of the people confessed over it, symbolically placed on its head, and that second goat was driven out into the desert toward the Jordan River, probably toward the area Jesus was baptized. these two goats played different but complementary roles in atonement for the people what were these two roles and what exactly do these goats symbolize and why is this relevant for us today our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women, blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ends now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hello, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ends now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our ends now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our second meditation. On the Day of Atonement, one goat paid the penalty for the people's sins. The other goat took away the people's sins. But of course, goats don't really have the power either to atone for sins nor to take away sins. So what do these two goats represent? Well, who has both the power to suffer for the sins of the people and the power to take away those sins? It's not a goat who can do either. only the Lamb of God can do both Jesus Christ whom John the Baptist called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world And amazingly, probably around the same place near the Jordan River where one of those goats would have run, the Lamb of God is the only one who fulfills both roles. He not only suffers the penalty for our sins, but removes them from us entirely. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As he was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our third meditation. Human beings have the power to destroy things they can't rebuild. A thug with a sledgehammer could wreck Michelangelo's sculptures, but that thug couldn't make anything nearly as precious. A penniless arsonist could burn down a millionaire's mansion, but the arsonist can't afford to reconstruct what he's destroyed. It's easy for us to murder. It's impossible for us to raise a person to life. Sin works the same way. Sin destroys things we can't restore. Sin destroys our friendship with God. It kills the divine life within us. It collapses the bridge to heaven. And these things are all things that are beyond our human power to reconstruct. But God can rebuild anything we destroy. Even the things our sins destroy. Even things of infinite value. Only God can take away sin because only God can restore what sin destroys. And so, to truly take away sin requires divine power. It requires a nature that is divine. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earnest now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earnest now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death Amen Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit As he was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our fourth meditation. But there is one thing a divine nature can't do. Suffer. Suffering is the response to the absence of some good that should be present. But no good is absent to God. He is all good. There is no good in creation that isn't already unshakably present in God. In that sense, God can't suffer in His divine nature. because for him to suffer, something would have to be missing, and he's perfect, which just means he can't be missing anything. Yet, part of atoning for sin is suffering. It's not enough to ignore sin or pretend it never happened. Real atonement means dealing with the consequences of sin, and really dealing with the consequences of sin, including the sins of others means suffering. So if the people were really to be saved from sin they had to be saved by someone who had the infinite power of God and who also had the human capacity for suffering. That means we could only be saved by someone who is at the same time God and man. A God-man. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. noon at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners noon at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners noon at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in our hands now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As he was in the beginning, as now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Our fifth meditation. On the Day of Atonement, Israel needed two goats. One to be sacrificed for sin and one to take away sin. Lent is preparing for our great day of atonement, Good Friday, when we will be saved from sin not by two goats, but by one Savior with two natures. Jesus' human nature enables him to suffer and die for our sins, and Jesus' divine nature enables him to take our sins away by restoring what was destroyed. And the final point of this meditation is this. Every sin comes with a price. Each one must be paid for. Each sin of yours and mine makes Christ's suffering more intense, more prolonged. The Israelites who watched one goat slaughtered and one goat exiled into the wilderness had a sense of what their sins did. Do we have that same sense when we look up at the crucifix and see Jesus, true God and true man, hanging there for our sins? Do we see what our sins have done? And do we let the weight of that truth move us to greater repentance and love? to move us to a real change in our behavior. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death Amen Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in and is now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in and is now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in and is now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, Full of Graceman, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, Full of Graceman, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen. O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, Teresa, what struck you about this meditation? I don't know if there's much sense to make out of this reflection, but I was thinking about the ways in which punishment is effective or not effective or consequences are effective or not effective. that I think most people, if given some kind of reward, they said, you can have $5, I'm going to slap you on the wrist. Five more dollars and I'll slap you on the wrist again. Or maybe I'll slap you in the face for $5. Most of us would be like, fine. Like, what do I care? But we'd have a very different reaction if it was, for $5, I'm going to slap someone else. And we're very, I think in a good way. I think it speaks to something about our instinct and the goodness of our humanity that we're not okay with others taking the consequences for us, even if we would take the same consequences ourselves. But I think it would really change our approach to every sin and every little thing if we didn't just think, I'll have to deal with the consequences, but others will deal with the consequences and not just any anonymous public, but specifically Christ. Yes. I tell you, this is one of the hardest things for me to wrap my head around because I, you know, you think about sins and you start to rationalize them, justify them. And you think, well, this isn't really hurting anybody uh it's not really hurting me yeah or i can take it if it does that's worth it yeah we weigh the cost but if we were if we were there when he was being scourged yeah and that next blow was my last sin i i'm not even sure if i have the love or the courage to pray for the grace to see things that way see things that way because i it would be devastating or even more practically to think about i think there are so many things we do in our daily lives that do affect an anonymous public that's so distant and to remember that it's the consequences are unseen but they are there I think about the little things we experience in America right now that are the first thing that comes to mind for me is we think things about like fast fashion, things that are highly produced, usually in a foreign country, the sort of things that come from sweatshops. sweatshops and the things that we might, the consequence we might deal with here is, oh, people might know I shop here or there, or they might, uh, the, the clothes isn't very good. And it's, I just want so much and I'm so materialist and I just want more and more clothes. I want all these things, but the person you're not thinking about is those people that are working to create those things. The people that are being paid almost nothing and working tireless hours and the actual people in sweatshops. And that's obviously kind of an extreme, but there are actual consequences to people we don't have to think about. It might be kind of besides the point, but I think there's always someone to think about and always someone to consider with our words, the person who's not probably hearing what we're saying, but the person who's being hurt by our words. I think a good resolution for today, we probably all have a crucifix somewhere. At the very least, we could pull up an image of a crucifix and sit with it for 10 minutes and ask the Holy Spirit to give us a deeper awareness of the way that our sins did that to Him. And at the very least, as a resolution, we should thank him and tell him we love him. And then maybe, just maybe today, when I'm about to justify or rationalize that sin, I might just choose differently. Yeah, especially in Lent. I think it's the perfect time for that. Thanks for the conversation. Thank you. Let's be apostles of friendship, good conversation, and the rosary. Share this with others.
