Whether it is congruous for an interior soul that strives to unite itself to the spirit of Holy Mother Church in her Sacred Liturgy of Christmastide to avail itself of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary for their private devotion and meditation in preference to the Joyful Mysteries, which Holy Mother Church especially commends to us in these sacred days.
The above question can also be answered in the affirmative for the following reason: if an interior souls meditatively recites the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary and enters into their spirit, it will come to understand fundamental truths of the interior life that are indispensable for it to know at all times and places.
The First Sorrowful Mystery, the Prayer and Agony of Our Lord in the Garden, ought to make the devout soul of mindful of: 1) the necessity of prayerful vigilance against torpor and tepidity, for if the Apostles had joined Our Lord in that first Holy Hour they would have been given the graces necessary to accompany Him during His sufferings (as the holy women did) rather than abandoning Him; 2) the horror and heart-rending sorrow that afflicted Our Lord on account of sin, that the soul may know the true hatefulness and evil thereof; and 3) the zeal and love wherewith Our Lord was all jealousy for the justice and sanctity of the Heavenly Father, outraged by original and actual sin, together with their baneful effects and consequences, and the zeal and love wherewith Our Lord yearned to redeem mankind - these two loves literally tore apart the Sacred Heart in the excess of intensity and fervor, which is why the Precious Blood was shed by Our Lord in His Agony in the Garden.
The Second Sorrowful Mystery, the Flagellation of Our Lord at the Pillar, ought to remind the devout soul of the astonishingly horrible consequences of sin: a God all broken and torn; so that the soul may attain to a more profound and abiding knowledge of, and hatred for, sin, and strive to make reparation by means of mortification and self-abnegation.
The Third Sorrowful Mystery, the Wreathing of Our Lord with the Crown of Thorns, ought to make the soul enter into the knowledge of the full horror of sin, which is a denial of the Kingship of Christ and the attempt to efface Him. The Crowning with Thorns completed the universal laceration of the Sacred Body, with the Holy Face and Head, the eyes and ears of Our Lord being punctured and almost torn off, so that Jesus lost all seeming of human likeness, according to the Prophecy of Isaias, "Behold, we have seen Him not having beauty, nor comeliness: His very countenance is not in Him" (cap. liii., 2). What sentiments of contrition and sorrow ought this painful sight to excite in us! The little Babe of Bethlehem destined to stripped not just of His garments but of His very skin and human semblance!
The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery, the
Via Crucis whereby Our Lord sojourned unto Mount Calvary, ought to remind the devout soul of the heavy weight of our sins, which Our Lord carried with so much pain and agony, and ought to spur us into taking up our crosses and following this Divine Exemplar in the narrow path of salvation and perfection.
Finally, the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery, the Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord upon the Holy Cross, ought to remind the soul of the "the breadth, and length, and height, and depth" (Eph. cap. iii., 18) of the infinite and eternal charity wherewith Our Lord annihilated Himself for us, and it ought to urge us to return love for love: to seek detachment of self and all created things, that we may give ourselves over to Jesus entirely, absolutely, and perfectly. For just as our sweet Jesus held nothing back in His sacrifice (so that He even gave us His beloved Mother to be our own Mother), so are we to reserve nothing for ourselves but, rather, make our entire self and life an oblation of praise, thanksgiving, and reparation unto the Most Holy Trinity for such love and mercy.
These are the things of which we ought to be mindful at all times and places.
Remember, Jesus and Mary knew all that They were to suffer during the Passion from the Incarnation, and They joyfully offered Themselves to the heavenly Father according to His holy will. This is why the Fourth Joyous Mystery encompasses the prophecy of Simeon of the transfixion of the Immaculate Heart of Mary: for she gladly accepted the sword of sorrow with a joy that transcends all human understanding and sentiment, for she was all jealousy and love for her Divine Son and for the souls He loved from all eternity. Mary Most Holy, too, ought never to be separated from the Holy Cross, for she was the first to follow Our Lord in His dolorous
Via Crucis.