Wednesday of Holy Week 2026

Welcome to our Daily Rosary Meditation. This is Wednesday of Holy Week, the most important week of the year. And actually, Teresa, this is my favorite time of the day. I love just praying the rosary with you and having good conversation. 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 are Thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God. PVS in earnest, noun at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. PVS in earnest, noun at the hour of our death. PVS in earnest, noun at the minute. Our first mystery. As Wednesday of Holy Week begins, in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders assembled in the palace of the High Priest Caiaphas and made plans to arrest Jesus in secret and then put him to death. At the same time, in Bethany, Simon the Lepper was hosting a meal for Jesus. Lazarus was there, Martha was serving, and then Mary, their sister, came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of the most expensive food. Martha was serving, and then Mary, their sister, came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of the most expensive perfumed anointment imaginable. She broke it open and poured it on the head of Jesus and then anointed his feet, wiping them with her hair. Can you imagine? And the house was filled with the perfumed scent. But then Judas, the man who would betray Jesus said, Why wasn't this sold for 300 days wages and the money given to the poor? Now he said this not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And Jesus said, Leave her alone. She has done a beautiful thing to me. You have the poor with you always. You will not always have me. And when she poured this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I say to you, whenever this good news is proclaimed, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her. I am so moved by what Jesus said of Mary. She has done a beautiful thing to me. At this point in Holy Week, I want to do something beautiful to God. Don't you? 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 the stair, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but to the rest 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 earnest, now and at the hour of our death. 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. Mother of God, pray for us sinners, noun at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, noun at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, noun at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, pleasant is a fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, noun at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee, pleasant is a fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, noun at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a 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 a 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 a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earnest, 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 second mystery. As the all-seeing gaze of Jesus penetrates the hearts of all those in the room of the home of Simon, he sees many things that are sad, very sad. He sees worldliness, self-interest, even treachery. But there is one heart that is true and desires only to return her love to God. And while others are busy chatting and filled with distractions, Jesus looks into the depths of Mary's heart and he finds something of what he has found in the heart of his mother. He finds attentiveness to his presence, the attentiveness of love. He finds adoration. What should we learn from Mary and this anointing? She loved Jesus extravagantly. Think of it. She poured out a whole year's worth of salary on Jesus in this one act of love. Mary shows us how to love Jesus excessively. God has been so generous with us. Shouldn't we be generous with him in return? And Jesus deserves our best. But do we give him our best? Instead of giving what is most precious to us, our time, sacrificing it to spend time with Jesus in prayer or to go to daily mass, we very often give him just the leftovers. Left over time, left over energy, left over attentiveness. We give Jesus the scraps after we've done what we thought was most important. But one always makes time for what one loves. Mary did something beautiful to Jesus, something extravagant. We should do the same. But what does God want? What does he need? Only our love. He wants our love, our time, our attention. He just wants to be with us. And that is prayer. That is mass. That is adoration. So simple. So beautiful. 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 earth. Now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a 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 a 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 a 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 a 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 a 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 are 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 are 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. Holding, 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. 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. The stinging rebuke Judas received from Jesus was for him the last straw. For he immediately went to the chief priest and said, what are you prepared to give me if I hand Jesus over to you? They paid him 30 silver pieces. And from that moment, Judas looked for an opportunity to betray him. And ever since, this day has come to be known as Spy Wednesday, because this is the day Judas betrayed Christ. Judas is the antithesis of the generous love of Mary. She loved Jesus more than anything in the world, even more than herself. Judas, however, loved himself more than Christ. And by this disordered love, he became a slave to sin. But Judas is not alone. We all have things we love more than God. We are all slaves to sin. And sin makes us slaves to death. Judas sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver. According to the Mosaic Law, that was the price of a slave. And so St. Paul tells us that Jesus took the form of a slave so that he might ransom us from slavery to sin and death and the power of the devil. There is nothing we can ever do to repay him. No way that we could ever say to Jesus, OK, we're even. But shouldn't we at least try? 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 the stair, 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 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. 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. that art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, preface 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 a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, preface 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 a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, preface 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 a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, preface in earnest, now and at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, pleasant arts among women, pleasant arts among women, pleasant arts among women, Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, preface in earnest, noun 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, preface in earnest, noun 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, preface in earnest, noun 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, preface in earnest, noun 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 noun never 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 mystery, one of the greatest ways we can love Christ extravagantly is simply by going to Mass and receiving Him in the Eucharist. Bishop Fulton Sheen related the story of a little girl who was martyred in Communist China, reportedly dying at the hands of Communist soldiers, and he offers a version of the story in his autobiography, Treasures in Clay, that sets the scene of this heroic little girl. There he writes, In China, a priest had just begun Mass when Communists entered and arrested him, and made him a prisoner in a house adjoining the little church. From a window in that house, he could see through to the tabernacle. And shortly after his imprisonment, the Communists opened the tabernacle, threw the hosts on the floor, and stole the sacred vessels. The priest then decided to make adoration to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament as much as he could day and night. About three o'clock one morning, he saw a child who had been at the morning Mass in which he was arrested. He saw her open a window, climb in, come to the sanctuary floor, get down on both knees, and press her tongue to the host to give herself Holy Communion. The priest told me there were about 30 hosts scattered on the floor. Every single night, she crept in at the same time until there was only one host left. As she pressed her tongue to receive the body of Christ, that last host, a shot rang out. A soldier had seen her, and it proved to be her viaticum. Little Lee did something beautiful to Jesus. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 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 sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen. Hail 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 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. Our fifth mystery. Jesus came to Saint Margaret Mary, Alacoc, and he told her that one of the best ways to love him extravagantly is simply to go as often as we can and receive him in the Eucharist at daily mass. So we have to go as often as we can and receive him in the Eucharist at daily mass. So we have to do. But we can go an even step further. We can give him our undivided attention, our love, our adoration by after communion, after communion. Just come back to your pew and just give your total attention to him. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to say anything. And definitely don't go anywhere. See, Jesus remains in you for about 15 minutes physically. That's the closest possible union you can have with God this side of heaven. And he said to Margaret Mary, Alacoc, just be with me for that 10 or 15 minutes. That's all you have to do because nobody does it. And I'm so lonely. Can you just do that for me? Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us the stair, 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 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 it is a 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 it is a 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 it is a 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 it is a 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, bless it is a 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 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. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, and is now and never 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 hosts, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowth throughout the world, seeking the ruin of souls. In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen. What struck you about Spy Wednesday? That is such an incredible story of that little girl, and I've heard it so many times already now, and somehow every time it brings tears to my eyes. If I give it the focus, sometimes I hear it, and I'm just like, yep, I've heard that one. And other times when I really just sit and listen to you tell that story, I just, I open my eyes and I realized I was tearing up, and I realized I think the simplest resolution you could take from something like that is just to go to Mass today and put yourself in her place. Just imagine that, just the serenity, the peace, the quiet of an empty church and her receiving Christ, just one-on-one with him, and risking everything every time, and it's certainly not easy in that moment for her to creep around to get there, to find her way there, to go alone as a little girl, and risk everything and still just go. And if you just use your imagination and just imagine that moment and put your heart in that place, what a great way to meet the Lord. That's, sometimes a resolution is that simple. Yeah, yeah. And it's such a, I love what our lady says at Medjugorje. She says, listen, if you ever hear that I'm appearing on Apparition Hill when Mass is going on, go to Mass. Isn't that also a really good way to, you know, there's always concern about, oh, how do we know this or that, like Apparition? Well, nothing she's saying is conflicting with the church, and she's actively telling you to go to Mass. That's something you already know you should do, and she is confirming that 100%. That's a really good indication of the validity of those Apparitions as well. And that's so beautiful. Yeah, she's saying, listen, the greatest possible imaginable thing you could do is go receive Jesus. And we have the opportunity, at least here where we live, there are multiple daily Masses within a short driving distance every day. You know, I think a really good next step for people is just how about just one extra daily Mass a week? Or just changing your mindset to whenever I can. Oh, I'm nearby. I should just stop in. I just whenever you can and doing things in the moment, doing things now. That's actually a really good idea. And minimum, you know, one extra a week if you really need to go out of your way to make that happen. But this is something my brother and I were talking about recently. Maybe I'm talking to Xavier too much because I keep referencing him. But we have a friend that just moved here from Costa Rica. And we were watching how he lives his life, because he doesn't have a car right now, and he'll take the bus everywhere. And he'll still have fine time to get groceries and cook after work and do all these things that we drag our feet to do. I'm like, Oh, that's so out of my way. I have a car, I can go anywhere, I can get anything I need as fast as I want it in 10 minutes, I can get anywhere. And I don't have to go find the bus schedule, I don't have to walk anywhere, wait for the bus, get on multiple buses to get anywhere in the city. But he just doesn't hesitate, he just gets it done. And I should have that exact thought when I'm like, I can just get in the car and go to mass. But I think things are so convenient to me that I'm getting so lazy. And I think it's, I think it's out of my way. But really, it's that my way is so easy that I can just flow along. Yeah, it's not out of my way. It's right there. A priest once told me the most powerful story of this couple, they were fallen away Catholics, both alcoholics. And they, this is coming from the perspective of the alcoholics, that they had this neighbor across the street, this old woman, she's very religious. And they really mocked her. And then one night, they came home from a party and very late, like almost when the sun was rising. And it had, there was a sheet of ice, they struggled to get home because it iced all night, there was a sheet of ice and they lived on this hill. And when they were coming home, they saw their neighbor, this old woman, crawling up the hill on the sidewalk because she couldn't walk to go to mass. And they converted. That's incredible. That's incredible. Yeah, it's almost like things are so convenient to us that we don't care. They're right there. We have everything at our fingertips, so we don't care. But when you see those people really struggle for it, you need to remember that that's, we should be struggling for it too. We should be willing to make the littlest sacrifice because they made the greatest sacrifices. Yeah, I'll tell you who does care. The people around the world, probably some praying with us, listening to us right now, who don't have access to Daily Mass or even Sunday Mass. Or even you see this with converts who didn't have that every day for most of their lives and then they get the chance and they appreciate that chance because they know the difference. But that's why we have to have these meditations and tell these stories because it reminds us of the difference. Hey, it's easy for me to get complacent or just, it's not complacent. It's exactly what you said. It's so convenient that I start to get lazy. Yeah. Yeah. It's so convenient that I start to forget about the unbelievable reality. I fall into the same trap. Yeah, it's the beauty of Holy Week. It's the beauty of the seasons through the church, how we have these different, it comes in waves and we have ordinary time and things can fall into place and get convenient. And then there's always these things that kind of snap us back to reality. Yeah. And there's always the year comes around again. There's another chance. Yeah, that's right. That's right. The mercy of Christ through the church. Well, thanks for the conversation. Thank you. Let's be apostles of friendship, good conversation, and the rosary. Share this with others.