The Joyful Mysteries - Meditations of Bl. M. Franciszka Siedliska
The Annunciation
I admire the holy message of the angel Gabriel – the love of Almighty God for His fallen creation, the submission of the Blessed Virgin to the will of the Eternal One, Her humility, Her self-abasement, Her devotion to God, and the offering of herself for the service of His Majesty. All of this is contained in those holy and so very humble words: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word (Lk 1:38).
The Visitation
Keep your eyes fixed on Mary, your Model and Example, and ask Her to fill your hearts with the sentiments that filled Her most pure heart when she offered herself to the Lord, so that She Herself may present you to the Lord Jesus and obtain for you the grace of fidelity and the spirit of perfect love, which lives by sacrifice and devotion.
I must constantly humble myself before the Lord Jesus. I am not at all surprised that I am such misery, nothingness – but I so long to be little, so little. Oh, may I always be the last, the smallest, may I be the servant of all, the servant of my Lord, and may the Lord Jesus reign here in fullness, everywhere, always, in everything, and I but His least instrument, a rag that He may deign to use for whatever He pleases, for the lowliest of things.
The Nativity of Jesus
You, my God and Lord, come into this world, becoming a man subject to suffering and – except for sin – all human miseries. O my Lord, what love, what mercy. How astonished Your angels must have been at this sight, what wonder for all of heaven. Only man, or rather ungrateful humanity, did not receive, did not recognize its God…
By the manger, looking at Almighty God coming to us in the form of an Infant, let us confess our misery, our nothingness, and just as He, out of love for us, gave Himself up as a sacrifice, to suffering, to humiliation, let us also offer ourselves to this Lord of ours as a complete sacrifice of love.
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
The only holy, pure, perfect, and truly pleasing sacrifice to God, through which alone and in accordance with which the old sacrifices of the Old Law could be accepted, and through which He will deign to graciously accept our own poor surrender offered to the Lord God. I meditated on the love of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, who did not hesitate to offer Her Only Begotten Son to the Eternal Father for all sorrows, torments, and death on the cross.
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
Deep down, in the deepest recesses of my soul, in that temple inaccessible to anyone, unnoticed by human eyes, there may my most merciful Lord always deign to keep His poor child, His poor creature, this sheep that was lost but found by the Good Shepherd. There may my soul always be with Him, and He with me.