The Final Mystery of the Rosary

The reading today from the Second Letter of St. Peter struck me as particularly beautiful and apposite:

May you have more and more grace and peace as you come to know our Lord more and more. By his divine power, he has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, who has called us by his own glory and goodness. In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice. But to attain this, you will have to do your utmost yourselves, adding goodness to the faith that you have, to your goodness understanding, to your understanding self-control, to your self-control patience, to your patience true devotion, to your devotion kindness towards your fellow men and women, and to this kindness, love. 2 Peter 1:2-7

It is true that if we make the effort to honour God, more peace can come to us – but that is the difficult part for me, if not impossible.

But to attain this, you will have to do your utmost yourselves, adding goodness to the faith that you have, to your goodness understanding, to your understanding self-control, to your self-control patience, to your patience true devotion, to your devotion kindness towards your fellow men and women, and to this kindness, love.

This is where we all fall down.

I was trying to sleep without much success and I concentrated on the final tragic mystery of the Rosary – the death and crucifixion of Jesus.

It is only when we visualise this and put ourselves in the scene that the mystery strikes us. It is an extraordinarily comforting thought that our religion is based on the concept of a God prepared to die for us. But was he God?