St. Dismas

Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. We are growing ever closer to Holy Week. And as we get closer, there are five characters at the cross who are very intriguing and have much to teach us. Today, Teresa's favorite, Dismiss. 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, the 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 her eens 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 her eens 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. A cross is a sign of contradiction. When we say two people can't agree, we say they are at cross purposes. And even as Jesus hung on the cross, he hung between two people who disagreed about him. They disagreed about Jesus because they disagreed about salvation, because they disagreed about life. St. Luke is the one who gives us the story. Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us. The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, Then he turned and said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus replied, Amen, amen, I say to you. This day you will be with me in paradise. Two thieves. One wanted to be saved from his situation. The other one wanted to be saved from his sins. And one received the salvation he was looking for. 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 watering skills, 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 watering杂 того, 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 watering skills, 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. occupant of Sentence, Gospel of white, 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 mystery. the wicked thief was only concerned about his external situation which admittedly wasn't very pleasant his whole life probably had been dominated by a desire to improve his situation to optimize to get ahead to find an angle now here he is dying hideously and when he sees Jesus he probably figures, well, might as well give it a shot. Who knows? Maybe this guy could be my ticket out of here. Anyway, it can't hurt to try. Jesus to him is just one more person to use because all he cares about is his situation. All he cares about is improving his external circumstances. So Jesus has nothing to say to him. And the truth is, if that's what we care about, Jesus will have nothing to say to us either. If all we ask God for is to make things better or more convenient for us, or to take away some hassle or some suffering, or just lengthen our lives a little bit, if that's who Jesus fundamentally is to us, just another avenue for trying to optimize our life situation, then we will be very disappointed. 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 absence, 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 absence, 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. 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 immersed 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 verder 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 midst 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. Oh, 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 mystery. But the other thief realized the truth. he realized that his situation was actually to a large degree caused by his sins. Now notice we don't know what his crime was. We call him the good thief but it just says that he was a criminal but whatever he had done there's a good case to be made that it didn't warrant crucifixion. I don't care what someone did or what your views are about capital punishment. Even if you think someone needs to be executed, there's absolutely no justification for hideously torturing them to death. So that good thief could have very reasonably said to Jesus, Listen, I know I haven't been perfect, but for sure I don't deserve this. and don't we say that to God all the time when we're having financial difficulties or marriage difficulties or health difficulties aren't we tempted to say listen I haven't been perfect but for sure I don't deserve this that's not the right attitude the right attitude is to say with the good thief, I've been condemned justly and the sentence corresponds to my crime. Many, many, many of our situations are due to our own sinfulness. Marriage problems, relationship problems, work problems, even sometimes health problems. And so many of them could have been avoided or at least greatly lessened if we had been more virtuous. And even when our situation doesn't seem to have any direct connection to any of our personal sins, maybe we're really being maliciously persecuted, or there's some disease we've innocently contracted. Even then, we know that our sins are such that we deserve worse than what we're getting. Sinfulness, ours and other people's, is the ultimate cause of all difficult situations in the world. and it's ultimately from sinfulness that we should be asking Jesus to save us. 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. and 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 and and and and 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 and and and and and and 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 are 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. 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 or in his 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 or in his 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. jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us in our 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 never shall be world without end amen oh 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 mystery the good thief knew that at the end of the day his sins were the problem. What was ruining his life was not that he was being crucified. His situation wasn't ruining his life. What was ruining his life was that he was a sinner. So what do we think is ruining our life? If we point to circumstances in our external situation, then we are on the side of the bad thief. On the contrary the circumstances of our life however difficult they actually provide the opportunity to be saved from sin Just think if that good thief hadn been sentenced to crucifixion he would have never met Jesus, he would have never met salvation, forgiveness, peace, and the promise of eternal joy on the day of his death. Our circumstances, however difficult, are our chance to be saved from our sins. 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. 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 narnes 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 narnes 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 her 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 her 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. Oh, 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 mystery. So many people think they'll be happier if they just change their situation. They think like the bad thief. They don't realize that the thing that's ruining their lives is their sins. So then, when their circumstances change, they're surprised that they're still unhappy. And that's the point. Our circumstances will change. But that change won't be for the better unless we become better people. In the great cathedral in Orvieto, Italy, there's a side chapel dedicated to the relic of the famous Eucharistic miracle. And on the wall of the chapel, there's a painting depicting the crucifixion, including the criminals on either side of Jesus. As Jesus dies on the cross, there's an angel carrying the happy soul of Dismas, the good thief, to heaven. But there's a demon yanking the terrified soul of the bad thief out of his mouth and down to hell. You see, all situations are temporary. every external circumstance in this life will change. If we are repentant, that change will mean greater happiness through closeness to Christ and an angel leading us peacefully to heaven. But if we don't recognize our own sinfulness, the change in external circumstances won't help at all. The bad thief did get off the cross, but his suffering didn't end when he did. 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 in our chicks and our nights 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 genitals 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 binnenếu 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 midst 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 midst 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 her hand 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 her hand 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 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 Teresa do you know the feast day of St Dismas March 25th Yeah it the same day as the Annunciation So we never get to celebrate it So we do this meditation for your benefit Thank you Because, yeah, maybe one year we'll do it The day before, day after Yeah, I mean, we're not too far off So now that you guys know it, you can offer a special prayer on the 25th, even if we're focusing on the Annunciation. You know, that's kind of a bigger deal. It's a bigger deal. It's interesting why they paired those together. So what struck you with the meditation about this temptation of ours to always want God to change our situation rather than to change us? I was thinking about how good of a sufferer St. Dismas had to be to to clearly not be a perfect human being he's done something that's led him not only to be on this cross but to say it's just that i'm here i've done this for a reason he's not saying and i too i also happen to be innocent of this crime but anyways he's saying i did something that got me here but still to have the wherewithal to be crucified and on the cross and still turn and say to the guy next to you, not get me out of here, but because he shows that level of belief, but he says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. To have the wherewithal of focusing on next life and that priority level is pretty crazy for someone who's just a human being and not the purest human being either. I think that gives me a lot of hope, but also a good example to how quite literally in that last moment, Christ shows us the perfect example of how human beings can suffer with Christ. It's respectful. It's understanding. He understands the priority. Yeah, that's, I'm just reflecting on how he's a stunning example of how to suffer with Christ. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I'll, I'll tell you what, I, I might suffer often, but never as bad as the crucifixion. And I'm still usually the guy on the other side saying, get me out of here. Yeah, for certain that's me too. That's a very good point. So maybe especially on the feast of St. Dismas coming up, we should pray for the grace to suffer. Well, suffer the right priorities. i was thinking about what it means to be a responsible mature person i think responsibility and maturity are the same yeah yeah i think being irresponsible means to say that in one sense I'm not responsible it's somebody else's fault and it's somebody else's job yeah but this is the amazing thing of Dismas he says no I'm responsible for this and because of that he was saved yeah that's an interesting thing to highlight that's good And I find that only when we take responsibility can anything get better. Let's take resentment. Resentment, Alcoholics Anonymous really, I think, has a tremendous insight on resentment. because Alcoholics Anonymous says that resentment is one of the number, the key things that leads people to addiction. And resentment, according to Alcoholics Anonymous, is that you refuse to take responsibility for the situation. Whatever situation you're in, you're at least partly responsible. And only if you take responsibility can you get set free. but I think the same goes for all of us I'm going to give a very personal example for let's say the first 47 years of my life I you know that in the car where it goes up the it's the tachometer it tells you how many RPMs and it has the red line you shouldn't you shouldn't run your car in the red line like you can't run your car at 7 500 rpms and uh uh have it last so for the first 47 years of my life i ran my life in the red line and i thought what i had and then it caused real health problems yeah and i thought what i had to change was the external situation and just not do so much now years after that I've realized the problem wasn't the external situation the problem wasn't doing too much the problem was me and things that need to change in me and only then can any real solution come about i'm just saying i've learned the hard way or uh i'm learning the hard way changing the external situation doesn't fix uh yeah and there's there's always that's the other thing about these two two uh men on either side of christ they're both in the same situation and it's just the person who's different. I watched the funniest SNL skit about an Italian travel agency. Oh, this is, I showed this to you. Oh, you showed it to me. I showed this. This is my favorite thing. This is so funny. He says, I've got to remind you, if you're sad at home and you fly to Italy, it's the same sad you, but in Italy. yeah if you change your situation if you you're still you that's the funniest skit it's that's one of my favorites it's incredible it's so well done it's so deeply accurate yeah yeah we always want to because we we feel as if we have more control over circumstances which is ridiculous and we feel like we're out of control with ourselves we're kind of like at the mercy of what we already are, but it takes a lot of personal decisions and responsibility, that maturity you talked about, to change who we are. And that's the only thing that's going to make Italy enjoyable. Yeah. So I think for the resolution, I don't know about you or anybody listening right now, if they're still listening, but my resolution from this is when I'm in pain or frustrated or angry or sad, I need to ask, not that the situation change, I need to ask, what do I, how do I need to change? No matter what the situation and how much of it might have been out of your control, taking responsibility for yourself is really the only thing that's going to improve your circumstances and more importantly improve you yeah thanks for the conversation thank you let's be apostles of friendship good conversation and the rosary share this with others