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Praying the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary at the start of Lent reminds Shelly Henley Kelly to look ahead to the hope of resurrection.

As you take up your Rosary in prayer this Ash Wednesday, you may be surprised we are meditating on the Glorious Mysteries, traditionally assigned to Wednesdays. The Sorrowful Mysteries come to mind as the more appropriate meditation for the beginning of Lent, a day of fasting and prayer, where we receive ashes that remind us of our own temporary nature and preclusion to sin.

Yet today’s prayer invites an awareness that we enter this solemn season of introspection, preparation, and repentance, focused not on the sorrowful sufferings of Christ in His Passion, but instead looking ahead to the reward that awaits us at the end of the journey. We face this season of challenges, carried over the past twelve months, believing in what’s promised to us: the new life and new hope that springs forth from Christ’s Resurrection. We trust that our prayers and sacrifice during Lent will mean something. We know what will come – that glorious resurrection and ascension into Heaven – opens the way for us to follow.

And what about the other areas of our life where we face challenges, where we experience suffering? Do we continue to have faith that we will emerge from this time of our life in a better place? Do we allow ourselves to grow from the experience? Do we hold true to Christ’s promise that we will see glory at the end of suffering?

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Do we hold true to Christ’s promise that we will see glory at the end of suffering? #catholicmom

Lent is a season of conversion and self-examination. Use this time to make new promises, change behavior, and seek good habits. Take yourself a little bit more out of “this world." Turn away from corruption and misdirection, in search of something better. Seek to become more charitable towards others, more loving. Speak truth in a world that threatens us with spiritual darkness. Surrender to God when facing the difficult challenges that will help you to be worthy of the promises and sacrifices of Christ.

Even though Lent is a time to be sorrowful and repentant, don’t lose sight that the Glory of the Risen Christ awaits us on the other side.

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Copyright 2021 Shelly Henley Kelly
Image: Pixabay (2016)

About the Author

Shelly Henley Kelly

Shelly Henley Kelly

Shelly Henley Kelly is a wife, mother of three, and native Texan who writes and records a podcast with her sister on Of Sound Mind and Spirit. When not writing or recording, Shelly can be found keeping the scorebook at her son’s baseball games, diving deep into historical research, or hiding with a good book in between games.