Catechesis With Saint John Paul Ii

St John Paul II, 28 October 1981: "At the end of October I desire, together with you brothers and sisters, to take a look at the simplicity and, at the same time, the depth of this prayer, to which the most holy Mother in a particular way invites us, spurs us and encourages us. Reciting the Rosary, we penetrate the mysteries of the life of Jesus, which are contemporaneously the mysteries of his Mother. This is felt very clearly in the joyful mysteries, beginning with the annunciation, through the visitation and the birth in the night in Bethlehem, and then through the presentation of the Lord, ending with the finding in the Temple, when Jesus was twelve years old. Although it may seem that the sorrowful mysteries do not directly show us the Mother of Jesus - with the exception of the last two: the way of the cross and the crucifixion - how can we nevertheless think that the Mother was spiritually absent, when her Son suffered in such a terrible way in Gethsemane, at the scourging and the crowning with thorns?