A reading of John Tauler's
40 DAY MEDITATIONS
On the Life and Passion
Of Our Lord Jesus Christ
We should read our Lord’s Passion constantly;
what great benefit we will gain by doing so.
Even if you are as hard as stone,
when you contemplate that He was sarcastically adorned;
then ridiculed; beaten and subjected to the final agonies,
you will be moved to cast all pride from your soul.
St John Chrysostom
“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 Augustine
Johannes Tauler OP (c. 1300 – 16 June 1361)
was a German mystic, a Roman Catholic priest and a theologian. He belonged to the Dominican order. Tauler was known as one of the most important Rhineland mystics. He promoted a certain neo-platonist dimension in the Dominican spirituality of his time. Tauler is one of the four outstanding figures in the amazing flowering of mystical experience and writing that took place in late-medieval Germany.
In this 40 Days Meditations on the Life and Passion of Our Jesus Christ, let us be guided by a 14th century Dominican John Tauler, a hidden treasure and perhaps the most underappreciated mystic of our Catholic Faith. Tauler greatly influenced St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Avila, and many others of the Mystics. Let him lead us to enter deeply upon the many stages of Jesus’ ministry and passion. Tauler’s prayers and meditations can help us open and cleanse our hearts so that our souls can be led to an intimate union with God, to interior recollection, and to the most sublime contemplation.
RECOMMENDATIONS
ON HOW TO USE
THE MEDITATIONS
AND PRAYERS*
*Meditations and Prayers will be posted daily, a day before, starting Tuesday Feb 13, 2024.
Click on WATCH to Listen to the video and READ for the pdf copy.
​
​
John Tauler wrote both Meditations and Prayers on the Life and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please start with Day 1 and choose any of the Prayers when you wish.
​
His writing is provided in a video (to listen) and in written form (pdf). Ideally, listen to the video in front of the Blessed Sacrament so your eyes can gaze on the One who has loved you with every drop of His Precious Blood. The daily opening prayer is available to be used and to ask the saints to intercede for you.
​
Let the Meditations and Prayers of John Tauler, soften our hearts as God's tender love enters our hearts and souls and enlivened them. Let the most violent fire of love that forced the Spotless Lamb of God, the Only Begotten Son, to embrace the most savage death for us, wound our hearts with love towards Him.
​
​
daily opening PRAYERS
Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory Be...
​
August Queen of Heaven
​
August Queen of Heaven and Mistress of the Angels,
thou who hast received from God the power and the mission to crush the head of Satan:
we humbly ask thee to send to us thy heavenly legions so that,
under thy command, they may pursue the demons let loose upon the earth,
fight them everywhere, vanquish their audacity, and drive them back into the abyss.
“Who is like unto God?” O good and tender Mother, thou shalt ever be our love and our hope.
O divine Mother, send the Holy Angels to defend us and repel far from me the cruel enemy.
Holy Angels and Archangels, defend and keep us.
​
St. Dominic...
St. Thomas Aquinas...
St. Vincent Ferrer...
St. Catherine of Siena...
St. Agnes of Montepulciano, St. Rose of Lima...
Bl. Luci of Narni, Bl. James Bevagna...
St John the Beloved, St Mary Magdalane...
St. Paul of the Cross...
St. John of the Cross...
St. Claire of the Cross...
​
Pray for us
​
Amen.
MEDITATIONS DAY 1 - 20
DAY 1: A Confession on bended knees to implore God’s goodness. WATCH READ
​
DAY 2: Of the washing of the disciples’ feet. WATCH READ
​
DAY 3: Of the Institution of the Worshipful and most August Sacrament.
​
DAY 4: Of the great Sorrow and Anguish which Christ underwent in the Garden, at the thought of His Passion hanging over Him. WATCH READ
DAY 5: Jesus went to meet His Enemies. WATCH READ
​
DAY 6: Jesus is taken and bound. WATCH READ
​
DAY 7: Jesus is forsaken by His Disciples. WATCH READ
​
DAY 8: Jesus is led to Annas. WATCH READ
​
DAY 9: Jesus is led to Caiaphas. WATCH READ
​
DAY 10: Mary followed Jesus her Son. WATCH READ
DAY 11: Of the Compassion of the Virgin Mother for her Son. WATCH READ
​
DAY 12: Jesus is delivered to Pilate. WATCH READ
​
DAY 13: Jesus is led to Herod. WATCH READ
​
DAY 14: Christ, after having been disregarded by Herod, is led back to Pilate.
​
DAY 15: Jesus is fearfully scourged. WATCH READ
​
DAY 16: Jesus is crowned with thorns. WATCH READ
​
DAY 17: Christ is shown to the people by the Governor, with the words: “Behold the Man!” WATCH READ
DAY 18: The burden of the Cross is laid on Jesus. WATCH READ
​
DAY 19: Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, followed her sorrowing Son. WATCH READ
​
DAY 20: Jesus is given vinegar to drink. WATCH READ
​
​
MEDITATIONS DAY 21 - 40
DAY 21: Jesus is again stripped of His garments. WATCH READ
​
DAY 22: Jesus is fastened on the Cross. WATCH READ
​
DAY 23: A Prayer to Jesus Crucified. WATCH READ
​
DAY 24: Jesus with the Cross is lifted up on high. WATCH READ
​
DAY 25: Jesus was numbered with thieves. WATCH READ
​
DAY 26: Of the glorious title of Christ’s Cross. WATCH READ
​
DAY 27: Jesus clothed those who had crucified Him. WATCH READ
​
DAY 28: A devout confession and prayer for sins. WATCH READ
​
DAY 29: Jesus saved the thief. WATCH READ
​
DAY 30: Jesus addressed His sorrow-stricken Mother. WATCH READ
​
DAY 31: The Sun is darkened. WATCH READ
​
DAY 32: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” WATCH READ
​
DAY 33: Jesus complained of His thirst. WATCH READ
DAY 34: Jesus drank vinegar and gall upon the Cross. WATCH READ
​
DAY 35: “It is finished”. WATCH READ
​
DAY 36: “Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit”. WATCH READ
​
DAY 37: Jesus gave up the Spirit. WATCH READ
​
DAY 38: The veil of the temple is rent in two. WATCH READ
​
DAY 39: Jesus is pierced with the lance. WATCH READ
​
PRAYERS
PRAYER 1: A devout Meditation and Thanksgiving on the Incarnation and Life of Jesus. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 2: A devout Prayer to the Worshipful Sacrament. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 3: A devout Exercise on the Passion of our Lord. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 4: A Prayer and Offering for Sins. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 5: A Prayer to the Son for Pardon, and the grace of Self-denial. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 6: A Prayer for perfect Self-denial and Love. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 7: A very humble Confession of Sins, and a Prayer to the Father for Forgiveness. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 8: A Prayer that we may follow Christ. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 9: A Prayer that we may perfectly follow and love Jesus. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 10: A devout Prayer for the forgiveness of sins, and for resignation, and the love of Jesus. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 11: A Prayer for enlightenment. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 12: A Prayer to the Father of Heaven. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 13: To stir up the soul to praise God. WATCH READ
​
PRAYER 14: A devout prayer for conformity to the sacred life and crucified image of Jesus Christ. WATCH READ