Rosary Reflection May 2026 - Fiat Voluntas Tua
If you were homeless, would you rather receive a meal or take a day to to Six Flags?
As I had previously disclosed to a dear friend who introduced me to the faith, I have been praying over what we are called to provide to our neighbors when called to acts of charity. I was wrestling between performing strictly necessary acts (acts that would bring one’s physical health back to a state of wellbeing), and doing extraordinary things that are unnecessary but add joy to life (such as throwing someone a birthday party or bringing them to a zoo).
When thinking of how I could best emulate Christ, my first thoughts went to feeding the hungry and healing the sick. So frequently is it written that Jesus performs these necessary acts, surely it must be righteous to follow His example and serve in these ways. I enjoy cooking for others, but truthfully, I enjoy adding extra pleasantries to life besides what is necessary – I mean, who enjoys receiving socks for Christmas?
I was hopeful that serving in an unnecessarily pleasant manner would also be following Christ’s way. Think of the wedding at Cana - bringing wine to a party!? Now that’s the kind of service I wanna provide. Still, I know this was to celebrate holy matrimony, a sacrament established by, dedicated to, and blessed by God. It isn’t like these sorts of events happen all the time. Am I only supposed to do a little extra at holy celebrations?
I began this line of ponderance at the start of the month when Papa Leone published his prayer intentions for May: “that everyone might have food.” This acknowledges how so many people around the world, and even in America, suffer so greatly from hunger and other struggles of basic necessities.
This thought developed when I called my personal Catholic proselytizer a couple of weeks into May. I posed the question about what she would want as a homeless person, and although she said food, I really still want to take someone to Six Flags. Thus, our phone call led me down the road of prayer. No one better to ask than the Big Guy upstairs. As I meditated on this question, I was called to repeat the rosary below.Prayer intentions, sorted by decade:
Decade 1: Your Will be Done (As Jesus had done in obedience to the Father)
Decade 2: Seeing Humans as the Good Creation God Intended Us To Be
Decade 3: Seeing Humans as Christ Saw Us
Decade 4: Performing Acts to Restore the Afflictions of Sin
Decade 5: Performing Acts that Glorify the Father (Evangelization)Revelations of the Rosary:
Sign of the Cross:
Dedication of self to the Creator, who has willed life and purpose for us, out of love.Apostles Creed:
Out of that same love, Christ, Almighty God, descended from Heaven, remained for us on the Cross, suffered death, resurrected, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. His life was lived to redeem us. By His teachings and exhibited life, He has shown us the path of salvation, calling us to cooperate with His grace. For whereas our fall began by perverted thoughts leading us to turn away from God’s will, thus leading to sinful action, so Christ's illuminated will led to perfect obedience, and produced only righteous actions. In Him we see not merely what to think, but how to love, and subsequently, act, according to the Father's will.Our Father:
Addressing our Father, we tell Him that His will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. We say this as His children. He sent His begotten Son to proclaim that we believers are the salt of the earth, that we are the light of the world (Matthew 5). This, of course, is not only in having the right belief, but in acting in accordance with that belief.
For if we are to accomplish the will of the Father, we must follow the Son, who has told us He is the light of the world, and those who follow Him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).
This is why after praying that His will be done, we plead that He give us our daily bread, as the Israelites received in their desert wanderings before reaching the land of milk and honey. We must remember that we are liberated from the bondage of sin as we ask forgiveness for our trespasses. Now we follow Christ in our wanderings until we reach life everlasting as we are delivered from evil. The key here is reliance on the Father. We cannot provide ourselves with what it takes to accomplish His will.
He gave us His Son as our daily bread that we may be enlightened by while on Earth. See here that Jesus tells us we may have the light of life right after He guides others not to cast stones, but to forgive and guide the woman who was caught in adultery to sin no more (John 8:11). In asking for our daily bread, we recognize it has been given. Deliverance is given to those who partake of Him, receive grace to follow in His footsteps, and obey the Father as He obeyed.
Three Hail Marys for Theological Virtue:
1. Increase in faith for yourself - just as the Father has been faithful, we must be faithful to Him. The faithfulness of Mary, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, was greatly rewarded by accepting the Father’s request. Who when asked by His messenger to carry out His will, responded, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). We, too, shall be rewarded as the bride of Christ when we are faithful disciples.
2. Pray for the increase of hope for those less fortunate - just as Mary’s faithful cooperation with God’s grace resulted in her bearing the Savior of the World, so too our faith allows His work to bear fruit through us. We are given the ability to lift up those who are suffering. In acting according to the Father’s will, we also remember His Son’s teachings: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
3. Pray for an increase in love for God and for our neighbors, especially those who are meek and burdened. The load of obedience may seem heavy, but it may be carried out joyfully when we align our wills to the Father’s. Mary joyfully raised the Son of God, but it was not without pain. Knowing that God’s perfect love for us was given in Christ, and watching Him be scourged, crucified, and killed must have been most sorrowful for our Blessed Mother. Still, she accepted the will of the Father and was always by Jesus’ side, not because it was forced upon her, but because she loved the Father and her Son. Now, let us also allow the Father to fill our hearts with the same love He filled Mary's with.
When we see others carrying heavy crosses and being nailed to their trees, let us remember Jesus' new commandment: "Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (John 13:34). And when the Day of Judgment comes, may we hear the words of the King: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). For when we fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, and visited the imprisoned, we served Christ Himself. As He says, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).
Glory Be:
We may proclaim glory to the Trinity out of obedience, because we wish not eternal damnation, and we may live in fear our whole lives and still act righteously. We may proclaim it out of understanding that God created us, has given us life, and has taught us how to live our lives properly. This may be said to be the right order and intellectually it makes sense to give glory. We may proclaim glory because the Father loves us, gave us His Son as our Redeemer, and has gifted us His Spirit to comfort and help us, His children. When we recognize that God has done all of this out of love, and how He has always provided for His children in the best possible way, we give glory out of love. Our motive, if it is to be the same as the Father’s, ought not to be fear or even justice, but ultimately, love.
First decade: Thy Will Be Done (As Jesus had done in obedience to the Father)
When praying, “Thy Will Be Done,” as Jesus had prayed, we remember that we come to the Father as His children. Fathers have authority over their children. This is how Jesus had acted. It’s very easy to follow in Christ’s footsteps when it means we run to give our mother a hug, it is much harder when it means we must cleanse the lepers or be nailed to a tree.
Under the Law of Moses, it is not necessary to care for a leper. Rather, the leper is to act caringly for others by living alone and outside the camp borders, so as to not infect those who have their health. How much greater is the Gospel, then, for it proclaims the mercy of Christ! For it is not solely obedience to the Law that Christ had observed, but also obedience to His Father. His Father willed, then, mercy through Christ towards that leper, and “moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’” (Mark 1:41).
See, that the Father has revealed Himself through the Son, and the Father has made it known once more that He loves us, His children. As we follow Christ’s example, we remember His motive. This “why” upends the questions of “what” and “how,” for if we serve while being obedient and out of love, then we recognize all of our actions as fulfilling the purpose for us: to love.
Even better, then, is to will being love. So that proactively we live out our “why” instead of react to the world. When we react, our love becomes circumstantial and subject to reason. When we love purposefully, we do it unconditionally. This is how we best reflect God’s grace.
As children, we are best motivated by unconditional love towards our Father and each other, and we must act how we were taught to by Christ, for His perfect example for our lives shows us what love looks like when it is acted out. We serve the poor, then, not because of Catholic social teachings, not because of the Law of Moses, or any necessary compulsion in our lives, but because we love as Christ loved us; enough to stay on the tree.
Decade 2: Seeing Humans as the Good Creation God Intended Us To Be
As we pray over the purpose God has had for us: to love, we see each other not as man sees, but as God wishes for us to be. In this we recognize that we, God’s children, are redeemable. To be redeemed, then, back to what? The original state of creation.
Often we focus on original sin. How prideful we are to focus so strongly on the actions of man and not the original actions of God! For before man had alternative wills that misaligned with God’s, God had an original will for us! This ought to be our focus. For “God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26). Now we know we are to reflect Him as His image. This is why Adam and Eve, born out of His breath, walked innocently and willed love easily. You hear this as Adam poetically describes Eve: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23).
It wasn’t until the serpent perverted Eve that she became disobedient, the temptation precursored Eve’s eating of the apple. That is why we can remember Adam and Eve as the people who were sinless and became stained. Then Jesus, our Lord, taught us to pray “… lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Here, we beg the Father to lead us away from the temptations that attempt to prevent us from being obedient to Him, so that we may return to our original purpose. The truth is that our purpose is to love, by design, and now we petition that we be delivered back to the garden. We must see ourselves and each other as in that original design.
We also see how this prayer has worked! For Christ has opened the doors to paradise, and has given us men the means to enter, and we are delivered from evil. The saints, we know, were born of this world, marred with sin, but have been washed of it, stayed clean by love, obedience, and the grace of God, and have won the race. They have returned, once banished children of Eve, back into communion with God.
Decade 3: Seeing Humans as Christ Saw Us
The Father intended for us to be saints. This is how we were created. By our sin, we have made it so we no longer perfectly reflect God’s image, and neither His glory. Jesus saw us suffering. He recognizes that the greatest good we can accomplish is communion with the Father, and all else is vanity. If we obey and love, we shall become saints, and He has always intended us to get there.
First, He chose Abraham, spared Isaac, wrestled with Jacob, and saved their family through Joseph. He freed a nation from slavery in Egypt, gave manna in the desert, gave the Law to Moses, and led Joshua into the Promised Land. He raised up priests for His people, summoned kings for leadership in warfare and in worship, and sent prophets to call His children back whenever we strayed from His covenant. Though we repeatedly turned away, He remained faithful. He preserved us through exile, restored us to our land, and renewed His promises generation after generation.
At the fullness of time, He sent His only-begotten Son, not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:17). Christ proclaimed the Kingdom, healed the sick, fed the hungry, forgave sinners, and suffered death upon the Cross. All of this despite our continual failures. Christ resurrected, thus displaying God’s sovereignty over us and death. In that act, He defeated sin and death, and revealed the way to eternal life: follow Christ.
He knew we couldn’t do this alone. Christ sent us a Helper, the Holy Spirit, who dwells within His Church, and guides us to holiness. The Father sees us as beloved children who have wandered from Him, but He helps us perpetually, in saecula saeculorum, in His loving efforts to reconcile ourselves with Him. Thus, from Abraham to the Apostles, and from the Apostles to the present day; God has never ceased to provide for His children.
If this is how God has always regarded humanity, then we too must learn to see one another through His eyes. For us to see each other as Christ has seen us, then, is to recognize we are siblings under the Father, and we suffer and die because of our sin. Our sin stops us from loving. Christ came to address these issues together. From the Mount, Christ proclaims: “‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished’” (Matthew 5:17-18). He has come to complete the raising of a family. Whereas the Father had given the Law for the Israelites to be faithful, and the Spirit had spoken through the prophets to give the people hope, Christ embodied love and mercy. Through this divine love, we may be redeemed.
We must now embody this love and mercy. As the light of the world, we are called towards picking up our crosses, not only for our own sanctification, but as Christ did, so we may unify our efforts to Christ’s for the salvation of the world. As our Blessed Lord says: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends” (John 15:13). In loving others as Christ did for us, we shall be made new, as shall the lives of those we bring to the Light. As “Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?’” (Matthew 16:24-26). As we lose our lives for His sake, we shall find true life. Think of the lives we shall go on to save! How much truer the lives are of those who are brought to Christ.
I reflect here on my own conversion. I was so skeptical of the contribution of my life due to so many sins. My misprioritization had me in great sorrow. Without really having the framework of Catholicism to understand my life, I see now that due to my sin, I was living in shame. The Lord has given me refuge. Now that I have been brought to Christ, I find myself an encouraging family who wants nothing more for me and the world than to win the race. I knew Christ in them by their fruits, and they planted Christ in me in such a way that my faith is now fruitful. As seen on a t-shirt my soon-to-be-canonized friend wore the first time we hung out at the Ames farmer’s market: “‘Our life on earth reaches full stature when it becomes an offering’ - Pope Francis.” How joyful it is to be a burnt offering of the Lord, bringing the aroma of Christ into the world.
Decade 4: Performing Acts to Restore the Afflictions of Sin
As we strive to live obediently to the Father, just as Christ did, we remember how we were taught to pray: “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.” We place God first. We declare that His Kingdom come. He has willed His Kingdom come and we align our wills to His in obedience. He has not left us to die but has returned to give us eternal life.
This is to say we are in need of His redemption. The Creator did not make us sinful, but He did make us free. We abused this freedom, and introduced the world to sin. We remember that death was brought into the world because of our sin. Our bodies grow old and weak, we grow sick and frail, then perish away. We must play our part in God’s plan, by cooperating with His grace, to be restored to the original creation God made us to be.
We must serve each other, freely, as Christ did, in acts that restore the afflictions of sin. By feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, giving aid to the sick, visiting those in prison, and burying the dead (cf. Matthew 25:35-36, Tobit 1:17), we are acting as His children. Those corporal works of mercy are undoing the faults of the Fall.
All acts of love are not required by the Law, but they are necessary to have life, for “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). To act justly is to obey as subjects of the Law, but to give freely to those who are most in need, that is to truly act in the image of God. For God is unlimited, and He freely chose to create us, provide for us, raise us, all out of love.
As children of our Father, we are called to love freely, as He loves. Glory be to the Lord for the gift of being a loving Father. For out of bounds of necessity He created us and gave us life, and without necessity He has redeemed us and continues to assist in our sanctification. Let us not forget Christ gave Himself voluntarily, and did not let pass the bitter cup from Him. There is no greater love than this.
Decade 5: Performing Acts that Glorify the Father (Evangelization)
We remember that the all-loving God has a plan for our lives. Our sin interrupts that plan and separates us from God, but Jesus Christ the Messiah has died and rose so we could be forgiven of these sins and be reunited to God. Now, through faith and His Church, we can be united to God forever.
Our Lord has acted out His plan. He came from Heaven to be born human. The all-powerful God, Creator of the Universe, has made Himself a baby, needing His Mother’s milk for nourishment. He was born in a manger, where animals feed, and still remains for us to feed upon. We remember that we must rely on Him, as we daily ask Him to be our source of life, “give us this day our supersubstantial bread.” We cannot sustain our souls on our own. We need Him and His grace.
He chose to teach us His ways, go to the Cross for us, and fill us with His Spirit. These acts of love were not owed to us, but now they sit as the pillars of Christianity. Now this exact love is itself a pillar amongst believers, for as our Blessed Lord has said: “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
Now, as His Church, as the light of the world, we must shine so as to bring others to the faith. For the same Christ who helped those of corporal impoverishment through acts of mercy also proclaimed to the multitudes the Beatitudes, offering both hope for this life and for eternal life:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:3-12).
The Lord looked at His image and saw it dimmed. He saw a world marred by sin, and while bandaging the wounds afflicted by it, also has come as the Great Physician to cure us of our ailments at the root: our separation from God. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). We who have been illumined must pass on that light with the hope that the whole world may come to know Him who healed us.
Love, the love of the Lord, is the root of all of our joy. As the Church, we abound with love, for we have been given such great faith from our Father who has redeemed us. We have hope that a life with Him is greater than any other. Now, to spread His love is to bring others into His loving arms. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the suffering is a great work of love. Such is this also: to lead another soul to Christ. We are called to offer a gift that reaches beyond this life and into eternity. Therefore, if we truly love our neighbor, in all we do, we ought to evangelize.
Among the greatest works of charity is helping another return to the Lord. This is truly a blessing for our neighbors, but even greater is it to the Father. To love others as Christ has loved us is to heal the lepers and to proclaim to the multitudes the message of reconciliation with the Father. Think of how Christ Himself talks of the Prodigal Son returning home: “We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found” (Luke 15:32). Oh! How the angels and saints delight at the feast our Father hosts when a soul turns back to Him. What joy He feels when a child comes home! May we share in His joy by helping His children make their way home.
Hail Holy Queen:
Recognize the sorrow of living in a broken world and as a sinful person. We don’t want to hurt our Father, we want to honor Him. We ask our Mother to show us her child, Jesus, and pray for us that He may form us into His obedient and loving siblings, worthy of the promise of salvation.
Our Blessed Lord tells us: “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Notice here the love precedes the obedience. Our Blessed Mother embodies this so perfectly, as the Father had saved her according to the merits of Christ from the moment of her conception. As the Archangel Gabriel had greeted her, “full of grace” (Luke 1:28), we acknowledge that she perfectly reflected Christ’s divine light, as she was preserved by His grace. Let us therefore go to our Mother, who was wholly formed in grace, reigns in paradise, and now intercedes for us, asking her to help us become loving children of the Father.
Also notice in the Salve Regina, we address Mary as “pia,” translated as loving in English, but as faithful (as developed in “pious”) in Latin. Let us remember this dichotomy in our own lives as well, that we ought to be deeply active in our faith, thus deeply active in love.
The Magnificat:
“Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior'” (Luke 1:46-47). The opening lines to Mary’s Song of Praise show us what someone who has been saved by grace sounds like, and to all believers who can see all that God has done for them, it comes naturally off the tongue and joyfully proclaims glory and praise to God.
We humbly acknowledge that as His children, by no qualifications of our own, He works in our lives: “'for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1:49). Imagine the joy Mary experienced as the Word was made flesh in her very womb. If we cooperate with Him, the Spirit will do the same for us, and joyful we shall be, too.
Mary sings out that the hope the Beatitudes promise is already being fulfilled, for a girl raised in humility and poverty has been given the highest role of any creation. When God asked her to carry out His will in her life, she responded “fiat,” “yes.” Now the blessings Christ promises to us we know may be actualized in our own lives, so long as we play our role and say “yes” to our Father.
Rosary Prayer:
Let us give thanks that the Lord has purchased for us the rewards of eternal salvation. May we “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for [us]” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). By God’s grace, I pray to imitate Christ, so as to be zealous in charity towards both body and soul, and have a heart willing to love others as He loves us.
Amen.
