Meditate on the Mystery of the Crowning of Thorns in the Prayer of the Rosary

The third sorrowful mystery is the crown of thorns. The sorrowful mysteries allow us to meditate on the passion of Christ from the origin of the rosary. This mystery invites us to meditate on a fight against pride. We can take advantage of meditating on these decades of rosaries to ask for the grace of humility.

What is the third sorrowful mystery?

Saint Mark gives a number of details about this moment of Christ's passion in his gospel.

Tale of the Crown of Thorns in the Bible

Despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:3)

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him.

(Mark 15:16-19)

When and How to Recite the Third Sorrowful Mystery?

The crowning of thorns is the third sorrowful mystery that is recited with the agony of Jesus in the garden of olive trees, the whipping, the bearing of the cross, and the crucifixion. These Sorrowful Mysteries are meditated on Tuesday and Friday.

The fruit of the mystery that the Church proposes to us is the mortification of pride. This mystery invites us to fight against pride and to ask for the grace of humility. Humility is also a fruit of the mystery proposed during the meditation of the first joyful mystery.

(Also find different Bible verses to meditate on humility.)

Meditations and Quotes on the Crown of Thorns

Fighting our pride

Lord Jesus, I entrust to you the pride that I wish to combat in order to improve my relationships with others, but also to discover the talents of the people around me so that I may be open to them. It is a favor that I ask of you during this decade.

Worship the suffering Christ

“May sinners contemplate Him with His crown of misery, that is to say, with His crown of thorns, and may they be moved to regret.

For the moment, he comes to us not as he is, but as he has become for us, him, our Crowned Head, not with glory but with thorns, thorns of our sins!" (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux)

Keep praying the Rosary on Hozana and Rosario

You can continue to pray on Hozana by signing up for different prayer communities. The rosary is a way to walk in the footsteps of holiness because it is a prayer very often loved by saints.

The sorrowful mysteries echo the rosary of divine mercy remembering the passion of Christ. You can register for the rosary and the novena of divine mercy.

The living rosary is an initiative from Pauline Jaricot: you can form a group to pray the rosary in your parish, or download the Rosario application, created by Hozana, and pray the rosary according to your preferences.