Another objection may be advanced, that one has no time for it.  A man living in the world has many business cares, but then the salvation of the soul is the chief business of man.  Our Divine Saviour has said that one thing only is necessary, and this one thing is solicitude for the soul’s welfare.  David had the cares of governing a great kingdom, and yet he said:  “O how have I loved thy law, O Lord, it is my meditation all the day.” (Ps. cxviii, 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.