Benefit of meditating on the sorrowful mysteries of rosary

 The great saintly mystics and masters of the spiritual life tell us that one of the surest means to advance virtually by light years is by frequent meditation on the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on His love and sufferings, and on the heroic pains He endured for us.

.St. Bonaventure tells us this, as related by St. Alphonsus: “He who desires to go on advancing from virtue to virtue, from grace to grace, should meditate continually on the Passion of Jesus.” And he adds that “there is no practice more profitable for the entire sanctification of the soul than the frequent meditation of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.” St. Augustine also said a single tear shed at the remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is worth more than a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a year of fasting on bread and water.

St. Paul of the Cross states, “”The remembrance of the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ is the door through which the soul enters into intimate union with God, interior recollection and most sublime contemplation[.]”

St. Peter of Alcantara: “In the passion of our blessed Saviour, six things chiefly are to be meditated upon. First, the bitterness of his sorrow, that we may compassionate with him. Secondly, the greatness of our sins, which were the cause of his torments, that we may abhor them. Thirdly, the greatness of the benefit, that we may be grateful for it. Fourthly, the excellency of the divine charity and bounty therein manifested, that we may love him more fervently. Fifthly, the conveniency of the mystery, that we may be drawn to admiration of it. Lastly, the multiplicity of virtues of our blessed Saviour which did shine in this stupendous mystery, that we may partly imitate and partly admire them; wherefore, in the midst of these meditations, let us sometimes compassionate with our blessed Saviour in the extremity of his sorrows; extreme indeed, both by reason of the tenderness of his body, as also, for the great affection he bore unto our souls.”

Likewise, one and all of the saints tell us that saintly Thomas à Kempis says the “Royal Road of the Holy Cross” in his beautiful Imitation of Christ is the safest, the surest, the most certain and sound means to acquire and retain a deep and lasting sanctity