iii, 97.) No, my brethren, time and ability are
not lacking. If anything is lacking, it is the good will. Therefore let
us all make the firm resolution to give in the future due consideration
to Christian meditation so as to place our soul's welfare in safety.

II. The Mysteries of the Rosary offer us an easy method and material
for our meditation. They give us a brief sketch of the life, passion,
and death of Jesus Christ and the sorrows and joys of our Mother Mary.
The fifteen Mysteries are divided into three parts: the Joyful, the
Sorrowful, and the Glorious Mysteries.

The joyful Mysteries of the Rosary contain events from the youthful
life of Jesus. These are the Annunciation, the Visitation of Mary, the
Nativity of Christ, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and the
Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. These five Mysteries comprise
the foundation of the work of the redemption. With all of them is
intimately connected Mary, the Blessed Mother of the Redeemer.

These five Mysteries set before us the example of Jesus and Mary. To
make of us children of God, the Son of God became incarnate, and He is
for us the model of a child of God. Mary, His holy Mother, is in all
things His faithful likeness and thus the model for us in the imitation
of Christ.

The sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary remind us of the work of
redemption, through the passion and death of Jesus Christ. He begins
His passion in the garden of Olives in an agony of sorrow. By the
scourging He did penance for our sins of the flesh, and by the crowning
with thorns, for our sins of the mind. Then He bore His Cross to the
place of execution, and with it the sins of the world, in order to
efface our debt upon this Cross. These Mysteries teach us how to
partake of the merits of the redemption. The consideration of our sins,
of their malice and guilt, and a sincere contrition for them is the
first step. The second is the discipline of our flesh and its evil
desires by temperance, chastity, and mortification. The third step is
the discipline of the spirit by humble obedience towards God and His
holy law. The fourth is the patient bearing of our cross, and the last
is that we die completely to sin, and live only for Christ.

The glorious Mysteries of the Rosary tell us of the glorious fruits of
the redemption. These are a new life of grace, resurrection from the
dead, and admittance into heaven. They speak to us also of the mission
of the Holy Gh