December 16, 2024, Holy Rosary (Joyful Mysteries)

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Friends of the Rosary,

This Advent, as we await the coming of the Messiah, we reflect upon the significance of our union with God.

Regardless of how good this world is, in the end, the soul has to purify and become free from its attachments to finite things to seek communion with the Divinity.

St. John of the Cross, the Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church whose memorial we celebrated this Saturday, explained that this purification is painful.

It involves the night of the senses and the soul, which means we must let go of the physical and sensual pleasure and replace mental images for God.

During this purification, we will experience a stage called the “dark night of the soul,” when we will feel dryness in prayer and a sense of absence and even abandonment of God.

Like all purifications, this one is painful, especially if one’s attachment to these finite things is intense. It will often manifest itself, John of the Cross said, as dryness in prayer and a keen sense of God’s absence and even abandonment.

Ave Maria!
Jesus, I Trust In You!

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

To Jesus through Mary!

+ Mikel Amigot | RosaryNetwork.com, New York