Monthly Archives: June 2025

The First Sorrowful Mystery – THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Agony and Difficulty, Anxiety and Worry, Community, Death and Dying, Forgiveness, Penance and Reconciliation, Prayer, Relationships, Rosary, Scripture, Sin, Spirituality, Trust, , ,

The agony in the garden is found in all three synoptic gospels (Matt 26: 36-46, Mark 14: 32-42 and Luke 22: 39-46 as well as John 18: 1-12). The gospels tell us that Jesus, and His disciples, went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Jesus asked his disciples to sit while He took Peter and James and John with Him to go pray. The gospels also tell us that as He prayed, he became quite distressed and told Peter and James and John to wait and watch as He got up to move and go pray by Himself for a while. We are then told that Jesus fell to the ground and asked the Lord to take this cup away from Him, if possible, but also said that God’s will was to be done. After some prayer, He went back to His disciples, Peter and James and John and found them to be asleep.

Jesus seems to be quite disappointed in their falling asleep and asked Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch, and pray that you may not enter in to temptation; the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, Jesus went off to pray by himself. He came back to find the three sleeping again and He said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come; The Son of man is betrayed in to the hands of sinners. Rise and let us be going, see, my betrayer is at hand.” At that time Judas came, and sealed his deal with a kiss.

How difficult it must have been for Jesus to know what would be happening to Him the next day. He knew of the horrors of crucifixion and knew that He would have to endure those horrors. Also, how difficult it must have been for Him to see that His closest disciples could not even stay awake to watch with Him and to offer Him comfort. He also had to experience one of His own twelve, Judas, betray Him with a kiss. It was such a difficult night for Jesus. It was pure agony for Him.

When we hear Jesus’ words to Peter, (The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak), we can’t help to think of the many times in our lives that we experienced the same thing. How often were we weak and committed sin? To know that Jesus endured the agony that He did, for our own sins, weighs hard upon us. Jesus, who was so filled with LOVE, had to endure so much SUFFERING and BETRAYAL because of US. Also, to know that He asked the Father to remove this cup from Him, if possible, but desiring to do God’s will, gives us a great example of our prayer for facing hard times. There is nothing wrong with asking to avoid a difficulty, but also to trust that God’s plan is so much better than ours. The agony that Jesus suffered in Gethsemane was so intense, that the scriptures tell us that He actually sweat out drops of blood. Jesus endured all this pain and suffering and agony for us.

Questions to ponder:

1 – Do I truly understand how much Jesus suffered for all of us?

2 – Am I sincerely sorrowful for my sins?

3 – Do I attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) regularly?

4 – Am I truly sorry for the ways that I personally have made Jesus disappointed in me?

5 – Do I truly pray for God’s will to be done, no matter what?

6 – Do I do everything I can to make the spirit stronger to deal with my weak flesh?

7 – When I do endure suffering and agony, do I unite it to Jesus’s suffering and agony?

8 – Am I thankful to God for sending me the friends who do “watch” with me?

9 – Am I a good friend who spends time with my friends in their hours of need?

10 – Do I do whatever I can to overcome my “weak flesh” and sin no more?

The Fifth Luminous Mystery – THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Apologetics, Blessed Virgin Mary, Books, Church, Consecration, Early Church Fathers, Eucharist, Evangelism, Holiness, Holy Orders, Holy Spirit, Jewish roots, Miracles, Priesthood, Rosary, Sacraments, Scripture, Spirituality

The Institution of the Eucharist is recalling how Jesus, at the Last Supper, when Jesus celebrated the Jewish Passover, started the Eucharistic celebration of the mass. It was here that He taught His disciples to consecrate bread and wine to become His body and blood. It started at the Last Supper and continues today throughout the world in the mass where the priests or bishops use the same words of Jesus to take ordinary bread and wine and make it become the body and blood of Jesus. Catholics believe that even though the hosts and wine keep their appearances of bread and wine, they DO become the glorified body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. This process is called Transubstantiation.

Matthew, Mark and Luke, as well as Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, detail the account. John spends one whole chapter discussing this, without repeating the exact words of consecration. The Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) tell us that Jesus took bread, broke it and said, “take this and eat. This is my body”. They continue to say that he then took the chalice of wine and said, “drink from it all of you. This is the blood of my covenant, poured out for you.” The Church has continued, from the earliest days, to celebrate the Eucharist and to hold it up as Live Giving. St. John, in his chapter 6 of the Gospel tells us how Jesus is to give us His body and blood to eat and drink to give us Life for all eternity. He recalls how Jesus said that everyone who eats His body and drinks His blood will live forever. For Catholics, the Eucharist is the “Summit and Source of our faith”. To attend mass and to receive the Holy Eucharist is the highest form of our faith and worship.

It is important to realize that Jesus instituted the Eucharist during His last celebration of the Jewish Passover meal. We must remember that as Catholics, we are rooted in Judaism. Jesus and the twelve were all good Jews, and their church continues the Jewish traditions in many ways. I can’t help but to recommend a couple of books by Dr. Scott Hahn. He is easy to read, but is also profound in what he teaches. Two books on the Eucharist that he wrote and that I would highly recommend are; “The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth” and “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper”. There are many other books as well, but starting with these would be highly recommended.

Above I indicated that the changing of the bread and wine in to the Body and Blood of Jesus is called Transubstantiation and that even though the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood, they keep the appearance of bread and wine. Sometimes this is not so. There have been numerous Eucharistic miracles where the bread and wine also change their appearance in to the body and blood. Our soon (Sept 2025) to be Saint, Carlos Acutis who had a great devotion to the Eucharist, compiled a list of Eucharistic Miracles and put them on a website prior to his dying at the age of 15 from leukemia. His website is available at https://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/liste/list.html. Many scientific studies of these miracles have confirmed their authenticity. The Eucharist truly is the body and blood of Jesus.

Questions to ponder:

1 – Do I really believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus?

2 – Do I attend mass at least every week on Sunday (or Saturday evening)?

3 – Have I considered going to mass more often, if possible?

4 – Do I see the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of our Faith (from Catechism)?

5 – Do I understand that our Church relies heavily upon its Jewish roots?

6 – Have I read any good books on the Eucharist?

7 – If NO to above, then why not?

8 – Have I looked at any Eucharistic Miracles?

9 – Do I treat the Eucharist with utmost respect?

10 – Have I ever attended Eucharistic Adoration?

The Fourth Luminous Mystery – THE TRANSFIGURATION by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Baptism, Church, Eucharist, Holiness, Jewish roots, Miracles, Resurrection, Rosary, Scripture, Spirituality, The Transfiguration

All three Synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, contain the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus. John’s gospel has a passage that may allude to it in John 1:14 where he says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”. The Transfiguration of Jesus happened shortly after Jesus told His disciples that He must suffer and die, and Peter declared to Jesus that He is the Christ, the Messiah. In the Transfiguration story, Peter, James and John go with Jesus up a high mountain and there is a miraculous change in the appearance of Jesus. Both Moses and Elijah appear and the voice of God is heard.

The gospels tells us that Jesus’ face shone brightly and that His clothes became as white as light. This shows the divine nature of Jesus. Peter, James and John saw the true, hidden nature of Jesus. They were awestruck by this. Also, Moses and Elijah appeared. Moses represented the Law and Elijah represented the Prophets. This showed that the Old Testament, the (Hebrew Scriptures) were being fulfilled in Jesus, the awaited Messiah. The voice of God was then heard saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”.

The significance of this event cannot be ignored. The divinity of Jesus shone forth for the select disciples. As John said, “we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. The appearance of Moses and Elijah show us how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and of the Prophets. The voice of God is the absolute acknowledgment that Jesus is the Chosen One and that we must follow what He says.

This Transfiguration of Jesus must have really helped Peter, James and John know that Jesus was the Son of God and must have given them some strength to deal with the upcoming torture and death of Jesus. For us today, it shows us the divine nature of Jesus, and how he was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law and Prophets. It also shows us that we are to listen to Him and follow Him.

Questions to ponder:

1 – Do I fully believe that Jesus was BOTH human and divine?

2 = Do I understand that when I rcceive the Eucharist that I am receiving the GLORIFIED body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus?

3 – Do I show the proper respect to Jesus in the Eucharist?

4 – Do I take time to LISTEN to Jesus (in prayer) and to DO what He says?

5 – Do I study the bible and understand the link between the Old (law and prophets) and New (Jesus and the Church) testaments?

6 – Am I truly AWE-STRUCK by Jesus and what He has done?

7 – Do I listen closely to scripture in mass and also try to read it at home.

8 – Do I attend a bible study either in person or online or through reading?

9 – Do I consider myself truly a follower of Jesus?

10 – Do I really believe that Jesus invites me to know Him personally?