Sorrowful Mysteries - The Agony in the Garden
To Jesus Through Mary
image provided by Deborah Burton
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary at Lourdes, France is a beautiful Byzantine-style church completed, in 1899 and designed by architect Leopold Hardy. it has 15 chapels that feature mosaics depicting each of the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. Above the altar is a lovely painting of Our Blessed Mother with arms extended with open hands, and words on either side of her image that say "To Jesus Through Mary".
The Sanctuary website helps us understand that from the 18 apparitions in 1858 to 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous, "The Lady of the Grotto tells us her vocation: She is the mother of Jesus, her whole being is directed towards conceiving the Son of God, and She is entirely devoted to Him. For this reason, She is Immaculate, wholly inhabited by God. In this way, the Church and every Christian should allow themselves to be inhabited by God in order to become immaculate, wholly forgiven and pardoned so that they may, in turn, become witnesses of God."
St. Louis de Montfort advised, "three steps to climb to go to God: the first, which is the nearest to us, and the most suited to our capacity, is Mary; the second is Jesus Christ; and the third is God the Father. To go to Jesus, we must go to Mary; she is our mediatrix of intercession.”
Blessed Mother, we ask for your intercession, pray for us!
Works Cited
https://www.lourdes-france.org/en/message
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lourdes_apparitions
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3499701.St_Louis_de_Montfort
Recommended Stories
About the Author
I am a lifelong, continuously learning Catholic, Mom of two creatively brilliant adult children, Telehealth Program Manager at a Catholic Health System, and Editor at Catholic365.com. Have BA in Communications and Information Studies, MA in Communications and Information Studies/Health Communications, and all but Dissertation completed in PhD in Educational Psychology.
