The First Luminous Mystery- the Baptism of Jesus

The Luminous Mysteries were added to the Rosary by Pope John Paul II ( the Great) in 2002. They fill inthe gap between the Joyful and the Sorrowful Mysteries.  A little different in character than the original ( Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious) mysteries in that they are not seen through Mary's eyes, they still keep the tradition of eventsin the life of Jesus Christ in which we see God at work, though we may not fully understand how or why.

First Luminous Mystery: The Baptism of Jesus. (MK 1 :1-11, also in other gospels) It seems ridiculous, doesn't it? John preached a baptism of repentance, Jesus had no sin to repent of. But- as 

in all things- Christ set the example for us through his own baptism. The CCC says this about Jesus's baptism:

537 Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father's beloved son in the Son and "walk in newness of life."

In this mystery we learn obedience and how to begin to conform our own lives to that of Christ.

The Fifth Joyful Mystery- The Finding in the Temple

The Fifth Joyful Mystery is the Finding in the Temple.

The Gospel of Luke tells of Jesus accompanying Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem for the Passover. On the trip home, a day and a half passed before Mary and Joseph realized he was not in the group ( he likely would have been with the other boys his age, and it was a large group....before anyone accuses his earthly parents 

of neglect :-) ). 

They found him in the Temple, listening and asking questions, and all who heard him were impressed by his intelligence. When Mary asked why he had caused them to worry, Jesus replied, "Did you not know I would be about my father's business." Some translations read "Did you not know I would be in my father's house?", He then returned home with them, was obedient to them and grew "in wisdom and age and grace before God and man." 

From Luke 2, vs 41 and following. Jesus was missing for 3 days total, a foreshadowing of another time he would be 'missing' for 3 days- and be about his father's business during that time. Notice also, he was not teaching, but asking questions.

I've often wondered what he asked them. His response to Mary shows us he had knowledge of why he was here. Were his questions perhaps Socratic? Regardless, he was showing the proper respect a 12 year-old boy should show in that situation. 

What do we learn from the Fifth Joyful Mystery? Respect for legitimate authority- teachers, parents, the Church.... Humility. Obedience. And all of these because we simply do not see as God sees. We must learn to trust that the wisdom and providence of God is better than anything we can come with on our own. If we do not, we run the risk of seeing ourselves as more omnipotent then God himself.

The Fourth Joyful Mystery- The Presentation

The Fourth Joyful Mystery is the Presentation.(LK 2:22-40) 

The Presentation (celebrated by the Church on February 2nd- 40 days after Christmas) recalls Mary and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to the temple for the ritual purification of Mary and the Jewish custom of the redemption of the firstborn. Here is our evidence that the Holy Family w

as, indeed, poor because their offering of small birds was allowed in Leviticus. The wealthy would offer a bull or a goat; the destitute could offer flour. Even though they had no need to make a sin offering for Mary's purification, they did anyway. This shows their desire to live according to the Law and their acceptance of God's will in their lives.

Simeon, upon seeing the child, recognizes him as the long-awaited Messiah and makes a prophecy about him; Anna tells every who will listen that she has seen the child.

Again- notice- the focus is on Christ. 

Candlemas (another name for this feast) is traditionally the day when candles are blessed for use at Mass during the year. The following day- Feb. 3rd is the Feast of St Blaise, Bishop and martyr...it is a tradition to bless throats with candles on St Blaise Day.

A beautiful Catholic tradition based on the Jewish custom has fallen out of use. It was called the "churching" and was a special blessing given to a mother the first time she returned to church after giving birth. If I had known about it when I was in baby-making mode, I would have asked for it!

The lesson of the Presentation? Parents are the first faith educators of their children. We set the example. When our children see us attending Mass every Sunday and Holy Day, when they see us go to Confession, when they see us pray we are teaching them far more than we could ever imagine...and we all know:our children watch what we say and do. All of us have the responsibility to raise children in the faith and to set the example of faithful following of the Lord and his Church.

The Third Joyful Mystery- The Nativity of Christ

The Third Joyful Mystery is the Nativity of Jesus Christ. 

God could have sent his son into the world any way he wanted. He chose to send him as a helpless infant. Why? 

Step back a moment and think about this -albeit absurd- example. You are a child and you can't get the lid off the peanut butter jar. There are two men who can help you: a mighty king on a throne, regaled in jewels and obvious sp

lendor, or a guy in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers, who actually looks a lot like you. Who is more easily approachable? 

Jesus Christ came as an infant, a helpless child, and lived the life we lived. He felt love. He felt friendship. He felt anger. He felt betrayal. He laughed. He grieved. He bled. He died. He loved us enough to enter our human experience so that we might enter HIS life. Like us in all things but sin, he took on our humanity so that we might have a share in his divinity : eternal life with him in heaven.

Why should we expect this life be easy for us, when our Lord didn't even make it easy on himself? His life is our example, his death our redemption, his rising our hope. 

The lesson of the Third Joyful Mystery is this: we can never know what greatness lies in the smallest of human life (even the pre-born). We must protect it, cherish it and nurture it for our Lord sanctified human life by taking on human flesh. He became our brother so we could become children of the Most High. Not bad for a homeless kid born to an unwed, teen mom.

 ***Now before you go chiding me, yes, I know Mary was betrothed, but she had no business being pregnant- which is why Joseph was going to divorce her. And they were traveling, not homeless...WORK WITH ME HERE :-) ***

The Second Joyful Mystery- The Visitation

The Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: The Visitation

Unable to pick up her cell and call her relative, Elizabeth, Mary set out to see for herself if what Gabriel said was true: Elizabeth- in her old age- was pregnant. When Mary entered Elizabeth's house, she called out to her, and what does Elizabeth say? " Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!" (LK 1: 42) This 

is the next part of the HAIL MARY- yes, that is right! The HAIL MARY IS SCRIPTURAL!!

Now listen to Liz's next words: "But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (LK1:43) Yes, folks, you read it in the Bible: inspired by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth calls MARY THE MOTHER OF THE LORD! Woo-Hoo!!!

Once again, though, Mary turns our gaze back to GOD! She begins her beautiful Magnificat: My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his servant in her lowliness and all ages to come shall call me blessed." (LK 1:46 and following- read it- it's quite beautiful)

SO---- Anytime you call that girl from Nazareth the BLESSED Mother- YOU, yes YOU are fulfilling Biblical prophecy. How cool is that!! LK 1:56 tells us Mary remained 3 months with Elizabeth. Gabriel had said Elizabeth was 6 months along....Mary likely (and this is my conjecture) stayed to help with the birth of--------JOHN THE BAPTIST, who as we saw in LK 1:41, already recognized the presence of Christ when the two were in their mothers' wombs. So- the first time they met was in a little house in Bethany. Pretty neat!

What do we learn from the Visitation? We need to be both Mary and Elizabeth: We must BRING Christ to others and we must learn to SEE Christ in others.

The First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation

The First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary is the Annunciation of our Lord.

One of the the first things anyone must learn about the Rosary is that, although it seems centered on Mary, it is actually Christ- centered: it is the life of Christ seen through his mother's eyes.

The Annunciation ( celebrated on March 25th- 9 months before Christmas) recalls the angel Gabriel coming to Mary and asking her to b

ecome the mother of Israel's long-awaited savior. He greets her :" Hail, full of Grace! The Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women." (Luke 1:28) This is the first part of the HAIL MARY. Note- Gabe says she is full of GRACE. If one is full of grace, she has no room for sin!

In Mary's fiat: "I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word" (LK 1:38) she turns our gaze back to God and sums up how Catholics view Mary.... she is fully human and humbles herself in service to God. We are to 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" ( MT 5:48), but we can only attain that perfection through God's grace in Heaven.

Here on earth, we can aspire to be like Mary: as best we can in our humanity, we can strive to always do as the Lord wills us to do.

And that is the lesson of the First Joyful Mystery: the Annunciation of our Lord.

What is the origin of the Rosary?

Various legends surround the origin of the Rosary.  The traditional rosary ( the beads) I described in the last post is attributed to St. Dominic, and is called the Dominican Rosary. Legend has it that the Blessed Mother gave Dominic the beads and instructed him in their use.

Another version calls the Rosary the 'poor man's Psalter.'  There are 150 Psalms; at one time, the learned would memorize them and pray them every day. The uneducated would pray 150 Our Fathers, originally by counting out beans or pebbles from one bowl to another, evolving into a string of beads. eventually, those 150 Our Fathers were grouped into sets of ten. Somewhere along the way, the Hail Mary prayer and the Mysteries were introduced.

The reason the month of October is dedicated to the Rosary dates back to the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571.  In this battle, the Ottoman empire was threatening to invade southern Europe. The Holy League, under the ultimate command of the Pope and comprised of soldiers and sailors from: Venice, Genoa, Tuscany, Hapsburg  Spain, the Papal States, Naples, Sicily, Savoy and Malta  faced the aggressors  ( at the time, those areas of what we now know as Italy were independent countries/territories).

Each of those regions spoke a different dialect/ language. Most of the men who came to fight were farmers. No power on earth would have expected the Holy League to win. But Popes do not rely on earthly power. Pope Pius V sent word to those remaining behind to pray: pray the Rosary, asking for victory in the battle

Seriously out-manned, the Holy League crushed the Ottomans, saving Europe from coming under Muslim rule.

The Christians lost 17 ships; the Muslims- 187 ships captured or sunk
The Christians lost 7500 men; the Muslims- 20,000 dead, wounded or captured.

Pius V declared October 7 to be the Feast of Our Lady of  Victory, which has become Our Lady of the Rosary. That is why October 7 is the Feast day of the Diocese of Toledo, whose cathedral is Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. And the entire month of October is traditionally dedicated to the Rosary.


Our Lady of Victory, Our Lady of the Rosary: Pray for us!!