Recognizing Christ Through Holy Habits: Anna and the Rosary Rule of Life 90
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On the Friday before Good Friday, the Church turns her gaze to a mother who stands in silence beneath the Cross—Our Lady of Sorrows.
This feast, often overshadowed by the intensity of Holy Week, invites us into a deeply personal and transformative encounter with suffering, love, and redemption.
Mary does not suffer as one without hope. She suffers as one who loves perfectly. And that is what makes her sorrow so powerful.
The Church remembers Mary’s suffering through the Seven Sorrows, moments in her life where her heart was pierced in union with Christ:
The Prophecy of Simeon
The Flight into Egypt
The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple
Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary
The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus
The Body of Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross
The Burial of Jesus
Each sorrow is not simply a memory—it is an invitation. An invitation to enter into suffering not as something to escape, but as something that can be united to Christ.
This particular Friday, placed just before Good Friday, prepares our hearts in a unique way. Before we stand at the Cross, we stand with Mary.
We learn from her how to:
Mary teaches us that sorrow is not the end of the story—it is often where love is most fully revealed.
Within the Rosary, we are given a way to walk these sorrows with her, especially through the Sorrowful Mysteries.
When you pray:
The Agony in the Garden
The Scourging at the Pillar
The Crowning with Thorns
The Carrying of the Cross
The Crucifixion
…you are not only meditating on Jesus’ suffering—you are standing beside Mary, allowing her to form your heart.
The Rosary becomes more than repetition. It becomes participation. A sharing in the love that endured the Cross.
Within the Rosary Rule of Life, sorrow is not something we avoid—it is something we offer.
Through the four rhythms:
Prayer – We bring our sorrows into the mysteries of Christ
Nourishment – We care for the body even in grief
Movement – We keep going, even when it is hard
Offering – We unite our suffering to the Cross
Mary shows us how to live this. She did not run from suffering. She remained. She received. She offered. And in doing so, she became the Mother of all who suffer.
There is no sorrow in your life that Mary does not understand.
The quiet grief no one sees
The struggles within your family
The wounds carried in your body
The disappointments you did not expect
She has been there.
And she does not stand far off—she stands with you.
As we approach Good Friday, this feast gently calls us to begin again. Not by fixing everything. Not by having perfect discipline. But by standing with Mary.
Let her teach you how to:
Hold your suffering with grace
Trust God in the unknown
Offer your life, just as it is.
Today, take a moment to pray a Sorrowful Mystery. Place your own sorrows into Mary’s hands. And allow her to lead you—not away from the Cross, but through it… to the hope of the Resurrection.
Enter more deeply into this sacred week with the Walking with Mary Through Holy Week Journal. Through daily Scripture, Rosary reflections, and gentle guidance, let Mary lead you step by step to the Cross—and into the hope of the Resurrection. Get a copy today, Begin your journey.
If you are longing for a way to live your daily life—your joys, your struggles, your body and your soul—more intentionally with Christ, begin forming your own Rosary Rule of Life. Learn more about at Rosary Rule of Life.
Let Mary walk with you, one decade at a time.
The Rosary Rule of Life is a bold faith-and-fitness movement for Catholic women who are ready to transform their bodies, minds, and souls through the power of prayer and discipline. Rooted in the rhythm of the Rosary, it calls women to embrace holiness, health, and self-mastery — one Hail Mary, one healthy choice at a time. This is more than a diet — it’s a spiritual revolution that unites faith and fitness, courage and community, as women grow stronger in Christ and in themselves.
