The Five Joyful Mysteries are traditionally prayed on the Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays of Advent.
After searching for three days, Mary and Joseph find the twelve-year-old Jesus sitting in the Temple discussing the law with the learned doctors. (Luke 2:42-52).
“How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” This is the answer that Jesus gave to His Mother when, after three days’ search she had the joy of finding Him in the Temple. These are the first words coming from the lips of the Word Incarnate to be recorded in the Gospel. In these words Jesus sums up His whole person, His whole life, His whole mission. They reveal His Divine Sonship; they testify to His supernatural mission. Christ’s whole life will only be a clarifying and magnificent exposition of the meaning of these words. St. Luke goes on to tell us that Mary “did not understand the word that He spoke.” But even if Mary did not grasp the full significance of these words, she did not doubt that Jesus was the Son of God. This is why she submitted in silence to that Divine Will which had demanded such a sacrifice of her love. “Mary kept these words of Jesus carefully in her heart.” She kept them in her heart, for there was the tabernacle in which she adored the mystery concealed in the words of her Son, waiting until the full light of understanding would be granted her.
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Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth and is praised by her as “blessed among women.” (Luke 1:39-56)
See how the Holy Spirit greets the Virgin Mary through the mouth of Elizabeth: “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb! And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoke to thee by the Lord.” Blessed indeed, for by this faith in the word of God the Virgin Mary became the Mother of Christ. What finite creature has ever received honor such as this from the Infinite Being? Mary gives all the glory to the Lord for the marvelous things which are accomplished in her. From the moment of the Incarnation the Virgin Mother sings in her heart a canticle full of love and gratitude. In the presence of her cousin Elizabeth she allows the most profound sentiments of her heart to break forth in song; she intones the “Magnificat” which, in the course of centuries, her children will repeat with her to praise God for having chosen her among all women: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaid…Because He Who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name.”
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Mary gives birth to Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem. (Luke 2:1-20)
The Virgin Mary sees in the Infant that she has given to the world, a child in appearance like all other children, the very Son of God. Mary’s soul was filled with an immense faith which welled up in her and surpassed the faith of all the just men of the Old Testament; this is why she recognized her God in her own Son. This faith manifests itself externally by an act of adoration. From her very first glance at Jesus, the Virgin prostrated herself interiorly in a spirit of adoration so profound that we can never fathom its depth. In the heart of Mary are joined in perfect harmony a creature’s adoration of her God and a Mother’s love for her only Son. How inconceivably great the joy in the soul of Jesus must have been as He experienced this boundless love of His Mother! Between these two souls took place ceaseless exchanges of love which brought them into ever closer unity. O wonderful exchange: to Mary Jesus gives the greatest gifts and graces, and to Jesus Mary gives her fullest cooperation: after the union of the Divine Persons in the Blessed Trinity and the hypostatic union of the divine and human natures in the Incarnation, no more glorious or more profound union can be conceived than the union between Jesus and Mary.
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Mary and Joseph present Jesus to His Heavenly Father in the Temple of Jerusalem forty days after His birth. (Luke 2:22-39)
On the day of the Presentation God received infinitely more glory than He had previously received in the temple from all the sacrifices and all the holocausts of the Old Testament. On this day it is His own Son Jesus Who is offered to Him, and Who offers to the Father the infinite homage of adoration, thanksgiving, expiation and supplication. This is indeed a gift worthy of God. And it is from the hands of the Virgin, full of grace, that this offering, so pleasing to God, is received. Mary’s faith is perfect. Filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, she has a clear understanding of the value of the offering which she is making to God at this moment; by His inspirations the Holy Spirit brings her soul into harmony with the interior dispositions of the heart of her Divine Son. Just as Mary had given her consent in the name of all humanity when the angel announced to her the mystery of the Incarnation, so also on this day Mary offers Jesus to the Father in the name of the whole human race. For she knows that her Son is “the King of Glory, the new light enkindled before the dawn, the Master of life and death.”
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After searching for three days, Mary and Joseph find the twelve-year-old Jesus sitting in the Temple discussing the law with the learned doctors. (Luke 2:42-52).
“How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” This is the answer that Jesus gave to His Mother when, after three days’ search she had the joy of finding Him in the Temple. These are the first words coming from the lips of the Word Incarnate to be recorded in the Gospel. In these words Jesus sums up His whole person, His whole life, His whole mission. They reveal His Divine Sonship; they testify to His supernatural mission. Christ’s whole life will only be a clarifying and magnificent exposition of the meaning of these words. St. Luke goes on to tell us that Mary “did not understand the word that He spoke.” But even if Mary did not grasp the full significance of these words, she did not doubt that Jesus was the Son of God. This is why she submitted in silence to that Divine Will which had demanded such a sacrifice of her love. “Mary kept these words of Jesus carefully in her heart.” She kept them in her heart, for there was the tabernacle in which she adored the mystery concealed in the words of her Son, waiting until the full light of understanding would be granted her.
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The Five Sorrowful Mysteries are traditionally prayed on the Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays of Lent.
The thought of our sins and His coming suffering causes the agonizing Savior to sweat blood. (Luke 22:39-44).
It is for the love of His Father above all else that Jesus willed to undergo His Passion. Behold Jesus Christ in His agony. For three long hours weariness, grief, fear and anguish sweep in upon His soul like a torrent; the pressure of this interior agony is so immense that blood bursts forth from His sacred veins. What an abyss of suffering is reached in this agony! And what does Jesus say to His Father? “Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me.” Can it be that Jesus no longer accepts the Will of His Father? Oh! certainly He does. But this prayer is the cry of the sensitive emotions of poor human nature, crushed by ignominy and suffering. Now is Jesus truly a “Man of Sorrows.” Our Savior feels the terrible weight of His agony bearing down upon His shoulders. He wants us to realize this; that is why He utters such a prayer. But listen to what He immediately adds: “Nevertheless, Father, not My will but Thine be done.” Here is the triumph of love. Because He loves His Father, He places the Will of His Father above everything else and accepts every possible suffering in order to redeem us.
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Jesus is stripped and unmercifully scourged until His body is one mass of bloody wounds. (Matt. 27:26)
Christ substituted Himself voluntarily for us as a sacrificial victim without blemish in order to pay our debt, and, by the expiation and the satisfaction which He made for us, to restore the Divine life to us. This was the mission which Christ came to fulfill, the course which He had to run. “God has placed upon Him”—a man like unto ourselves, of the race of Adam, but entirely just and innocent and without sin—”the iniquity of us all.” Since Christ has become, so to speak, a sharer in our nature and taken upon Himself the debt of our sin, He has merited for us a share in His justice and holiness. In the forceful words of St. Paul, God, “by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin-offering, has condemned sin in the flesh.” And with an impact still more stunning, the Apostle writes: “For our sakes He (God) made Him (Christ) to be sin who knew nothing of sin.”
How startling this expression is: “made Him to be sin”! The Apostle does not say “sinner,” but—what is still more striking—”sin”! Let us never forget that “we have been redeemed at great price by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
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Jesus’ claim to kingship is ridiculed by putting a crown of thorns on His head and a reed in His hand. (Matt. 27:28- 31)
Christ Jesus becomes an object of derision and insults. Behold Him, the all-powerful God, struck by sharp blows; His adorable face, the joy of the saints, is covered with spittle; a crown of thorns is forced down upon His head; a purple robe is placed upon His shoulders as a mock of derision; a reed is thrust into His hand; they genuflect insolently before Him in mockery. What an abyss of ignominy! What humiliation and disgrace for One before Whom the angels tremble! The cowardly Roman governor imagines that the hatred of the Jews will be satisfied by the sight of Christ in this pitiful state. He shows Him to the crowd: “Ecce Homo—Behold the Man!” Let us contemplate our Divine Master at this moment, plunged into the abyss of suffering and ignominy, and let us realize that the Father also presents Him to us and says to us: “Behold My Son, the splendor of My glory—but bruised for the sins of My people.”
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Jesus shoulders His own cross and carries it to the place of crucifixion while Mary follows Him sorrowing.
(Luke 23:26- 32)
Let us meditate upon Jesus Christ on the way to Calvary laden with His cross. He falls under the weight of this burden. To expiate sin, He wills to experience in His own flesh the oppression of sin. Fearing that Jesus will not reach the place of crucifixion alive, the Roman soldiers force Simon of Cyrene to help Christ to carry His cross, and Jesus accepts this assistance.
In this Simon represents all of us. As members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we should all help Jesus to carry His Cross. This is the one sure sign that we belong to Christ—if we carry our cross with Him. But while Jesus carried His cross, He merited for us the strength to bear our trials with generosity. He has placed in His cross a sweetness which makes ours bearable, for when we carry our cross it is really His that we receive. For Christ unites with His own the sufferings, sorrows, pains and burdens which we accept with love from His hand, and by this union He gives them an inestimable value, and they become a source of great merit for us. It is above all His love for His Father which impels Christ to accept the sufferings of His Passion, but it is also the love which He bears us.
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Jesus is nailed to the cross and dies after three hours of agony witnessed by His Mother. (Matt. 27:33-50)
At the Last Supper, when the hour had come to complete His oblation of self, what did Christ say to His Apostles who were gathered around Him? “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” And this is the love, surpassing all loves, which Jesus shows us; for, as St. Paul says, “It is for us all that He is delivered up.” What greater proof of love could He have given us? None. Hence the Apostle declares without ceasing that “because He loved us, Christ delivered Himself up for us,” and “because of the love He bears for me, He gave Himself up for me.” “Delivered,” “given”—to what extent? Even to the death on the cross! What enhances this love immeasurably is the sovereign liberty with which Christ delivered Himself up: “He offered Himself because He willed it.” These words tell us how spontaneously Jesus accepted His Passion. This freedom with which Jesus delivered Himself up to death for us is one of the aspects of His sacrifice which touch our human hearts most profoundly.
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The Five Glorious Mysteries are traditionally prayed on the Wednesdays and Sundays outside of Lent and Advent.
Jesus rises from the dead on Easter Sunday, glorious and immortal, as He has predicted. (Matt. 28:1-7).
On the day of His Resurrection Jesus Christ left in the tomb the shroud which is the symbol of our infirmities, our weaknesses, our imperfections. Christ comes from the tomb triumphant—completely free of earthly limitation; He is animated with a life that is intense and perfect, and which vibrates in every fiber of His being. In Him everything that is mortal has been absorbed by His glorified life. Here is the first element of the sanctity represented in the risen Christ: the elimination of everything that is corruptible, everything that is earthly and created; freedom from all defects, all infirmities, all capacity for suffering. But there is also another element of sanctity: union with God, self- oblation and consecration to God. Only in heaven shall we be able to understand how completely Jesus lived for His Father during these blessed days. The life of the risen Christ became an infinite source of glory for His Father. Not a single effect of His sufferings was left in Him, for now everything in Him shone with brilliance and beauty and possessed strength and life; every atom of His being sang an unceasing canticle of praise. His holy humanity offered itself in a new manner to the glory of the Father.
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Jesus ascends into Heaven forty days after His resurrection to sit at the right hand of God the Father. (Luke 24:50-51)
Our Lord said to His Apostles before He departed from them: “If you loved Me, you would indeed rejoice that I am going to the Father.” To us also Christ repeats these words. If we love Him, we shall rejoice in His glorification; we shall rejoice with Him that, after completing His course on earth, He ascends to the right hand of His Father, there to be exalted above all the heavens in infinite glory. But Jesus goes only to precede us; He does not separate Himself from us, nor does He separate us from Himself. If He enters into His glorious kingdom, it is to prepare a place for us there. He promises to return one day to take us with Him so that, as He says, where He is we also may be. True, we are already there in the glory and happiness of Christ, by our title as His heirs; but we shall one day be there in reality. Has not Christ asked this of His Father? “Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me.” Let us then say to Christ Jesus: “Draw us into Your triumphal march, O glorious and all-powerful Conqueror! Make us live in heaven by faith and hope and love. Help us to detach ourselves from the fleeting things of earth in order that we may seek the true and lasting goods of heaven!”
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Jesus sends the Holy Spirit in the form of fiery tongues on His Apostles and disciples. (Acts 2:2-4)
The Holy Spirit appeared under the form of tongues of fire in order to fill the Apostles with truth and to prepare them to bear witness to Jesus. He also come to fill their hearts with love. He is the Person of Love in the life of God. He is also like a breath, an aspiration of infinite Love, from which we draw the breath of life. On the day of Pentecost the Divine Spirit communicated such an abundance of life to the whole Church that to symbolize it “there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they (the Apostles) were sitting.” But it is also for us that the Holy Spirit has come, for the group in the Cenacle represented the whole Church. The Holy Spirit came to remain with the Church forever. This is the promise of Jesus Himself. He dwells in the Church permanently and unfailingly, performing in it without ceasing, His action of life-giving and sanctification. He establishes the Church infallibly in the truth. It is He Who makes the Church blossom forth with a marvelous supernatural fruitfulness, for He brings to life and full fruition in Virgins, Martyrs, Confessors, those heroic virtues which are one of the marks of true sanctity.
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Mary’s soul returns to God and her glorified body is taken up into heaven and reunited with her soul.
If Christ Jesus wishes us to love all the members of His Mystical Body, should we not love above all others her who gave Him the very nature by which He became our Head, the same nature which He uses to communicate His grace to us? We cannot doubt but that the love which we show to his Mother is extremely pleasing to Christ. We shall manifest our love by extolling the sublime privileges which Jesus has bestowed on His Mother, among which the Assumption is one of the most glorious. If we wish to please our Lord very much, we shall admire the wonderful gifts with which He has lovingly adorned the soul of His Mother. He wishes that we should sing the praises of the Virgin, who was chosen among all women to give the Savior to the world. “Yes, we shall sing your praises, for you alone have delighted the heart of your God. May you be blessed, for you have believed the word of God, and in you the eternal promises have been fulfilled.”
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Mary is crowned as Queen of heaven and earth, Queen of angels and saints.
What is the purpose of all the mysteries of Christ? To be the pattern of our supernatural life, the means of our sanctification, the source of all our holiness. To create an eternal and glorious society of brethren who will be like unto Him. For this reason Christ, the new Adam, has associated with Himself Mary, as the new Eve. But she is, much more than Eve, “the Mother of all the living,” the Mother of those who live in the grace of her Son. And since here below Mary was associated so intimately with all the mysteries of our salvation, at her Assumption into heaven Jesus crowned her not only with glory but also with power; He has placed His Mother on His right hand and has given her the power, in virtue of her unique title of Mother of God, to distribute the treasures of eternal life. Let us then, full of confidence, pray with the Church: “Show yourself a Mother: Mother of Jesus, by your complete faith in Him, our Mother, by your mercy towards us; ask Christ, Who was born of you, to give us life; and Who willed to be your Son, to receive our prayers through you.”
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The Five Luminous Mysteries are traditionally prayed on Thursdays.
After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the Heaven were opened for him and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to Him. And a voice came from Heaven saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt.3:16-17)
What John the Baptist was conferring on the banks of the Jordan was a baptism of repentance for conversion and the forgiveness of sins. But he announced: “After me comes one who is mightier than I…. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:7-8). He proclaimed this to a multitude of penitents who flocked to him confessing their sins, repenting and preparing to correct their lives. The Baptism given by Jesus, which the Church, faithful to his command, does not cease to administer, is quite different. This Baptism frees man from original sin and forgives his sins, saves him from slavery to evil and is a sign of his rebirth in the Holy Spirit; it imparts to him a new life, which is participation in the life of God the Father, given to us by his Only-Begotten Son who became man, died and rose again. As Jesus comes out of the water, the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove, the heavens open and the Father’s voice is heard from on high: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11). Thus the event of Christ’s Baptism is not only a revelation of his divine sonship, but at the same time a revelation of the whole Blessed Trinity. The Father-the voice from on high-reveals in Jesus the Only-Begotten Son consubstantial with him and all this comes about by virtue of the Holy Spirit who, in the form of a dove descends on Christ, the Lord’s Anointed. – Pope John Paul II
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On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there… When the wine ran short Mary said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother told the servers, “Do whatever He tells you.”
(John 2:1-11)
At the wedding feast of Cana Jesus merely told the servants to draw out the water and take it to the chief steward, He did not say a prayer over the water or touch it, He merely willed that it be changed from water to wine, Only God can create or change by an act of His Will alone. God’s Prophets performed similar miracles, Elias prayed and the oil did not diminish until the famine was over, Here Jesus does not pray as one whose gift depends upon the Will of God. No-He is God-and His Will alone-creates or changes His creation. It was so when more than four thousand followed Him and forgot to eat for three days. As at the wedding feast of Cana, there was in the feeding of the multitude an important message, These kinds of miracles were performed by Jesus to impress upon the minds of the crowd that His power was the Power of God, These particular gestures of compassion were wrought as a symbol of something greater to come. Their hearts were prepared to accept a greater mystery that He would reveal before His death-the Mystery of the Eucharist, This Mystery was so great a gift from God that the human mind would never be able to accept such an influx of love without some preparation. He would one day change bread and wine into His own Body and Blood. The same Power would multiply; the same minister would distribute from the same Source of Love-Jesus. – Mother M. Angelica
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After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
(Mark 1:14-15)
Conversion. The Greek word for converting means: to rethink-to question one’s own and common way of living; to allow God to enter into the criteria of one’s life; to not merely judge according to the current opinions. Thereby, to convert means: not to live as all the others live, not do what all do, not feel justified in dubious, ambiguous, evil actions just because others do the same; begin to see one’s life through the eyes of God; thereby looking for the good, even if uncomfortable; not aiming at the judgment of the majority, of men, but on the justice of God-in other words: to look for a new style of life, a new life. All of this does not imply moralism; reducing Christianity to morality loses sight of the essence of Christ’s message: the gift of a new friendship, the gift of communion with Jesus and thereby with God. Whoever converts to Christ does not mean to create his own moral autarchy for himself, does not intend to build his own goodness through his own strengths. “Conversion” (metanoia) means exactly the opposite: to come out of self-sufficiency to discover and accept our indigence-the indigence of others and of the Other, his forgiveness, his friendship. Unconverted life is self-justification (I am not worse than the others); conversion is humility in entrusting oneself to the love of the Other, a love that becomes the measure and the criteria of my own life. – Pope Benedict XVI
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While Jesus was praying His face changed in appearance and His clothing became dazzling white. And behold two men were conversing with Him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His exodus that He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.”
(Luke 9:28-31)
The event of the Transfiguration marks a decisive moment in the ministry of Jesus. It is a revelatory event which strengthens the faith in the disciples’ hearts, prepares them for the tragedy of the Cross and prefigures the glory of the Resurrection. This mystery is constantly relived by the Church, the people on its way to the eschatological encounter with its Lord. Like the three chosen disciples, the Church contemplates the transfigured face of Christ in order to be confirmed in faith and to avoid being dismayed at his disfigured face on the Cross. In both cases, she is the Bride before her Spouse, sharing in his mystery and surrounded by his light. This light shines on all the Church’s children. All are equally called to follow Christ to discover in him the ultimate meaning of their lives, until they are able to say with the apostle: ‘For to me, to live is Christ’ (Phil. 1:21). But those who are called to the consecrated life have a special experience of the light which shines forth from the Incarnate Word. For the profession of the evangelical counsels makes them a kind of sign and prophetic statement for the community of the brethren and for the world; consequently they can echo in a particular way the ecstatic words spoken by Peter: “Lord, it is well that we are here” (Mt. 17:4). These words bespeak the Christocentric orientation of the whole Christian life. But they also eloquently express the radical nature of the vocation to the consecrated life: How good it is for us to be with you, to devote ourselves to you, to make you the one focus of our lives! Truly those who have been given the grace of this special communion of love with Christ feel as it were caught up in his splendor: He is “the fairest of the sons of men” (Ps 45:2), the one beyond compare. — Pope John Paul II
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“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
(John 6:51)
The other Sacraments give us grace, the Holy Eucharist gives us not only grace but the Author of all grace, Jesus, God and Man. It is the center of all else the Church has and does. As St. Mark records that, at the Last Supper, Jesus “took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them: “Take this, this is my Body” (Mk 14:22). That word blessed in Greek is eucharistesas, from which the Eucharist derives its name. Three of the four Gospels record the institution of the Holy Eucharist: Matthew 26:25-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-23. St. Paul also records it in First Corinthians 11:23-25. St. John’s Gospels does not report this, presumably because he intended chiefly to fill in what the others had not written, for he wrote probably between 90 and 100 A.D. There are small variations in the words, but the essentials are the same in all accounts: This is my body… this is my blood. In John 6:53 Jesus said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will not have life in you.” Of course, He did not mean to cut off salvation from those who through no fault of their own do not know or grasp this truth. It is like the case of Baptism: one must receive it if one knows. The form, that is the words required for the Eucharist, are of course the words of institution. The matter is wheat bread (white or whole wheat) for the host, and natural wine (mixed with a very little water) for the chalice. Addition of a notable amount of other matter would make the material invalid. Jesus is present wherever the appearances (species) of bread and wine are found after the consecration. Hence He is found even when the host is divided. The substance of bread and wine is gone, only the appearances remain. The Church calls this change transubstantiation: change of substance. In John 6:47-67 Jesus did not soften His words about His presence even when so many no longer went with Him: had He meant only that bread and wine would signify Him, He could have so easily explained that, and they would not have left. The Church has always understood a Real Presence. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was eaten by the beasts in Rome around 107 A.D., wrote: “The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ” (To Smyrna 7:1). St. Justin the martyr wrote around 145 A. D: “We have been taught that the food is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh” (Apology 1. 66. 2). The Council of Trent in 1551 defined that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity. Obviously, this divine presence deserves our worship. Really, someone who believes in it should be much inclined to come before the tabernacle often. Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament seems to have started in the 15th century. The Church also promotes Forty Hours devotion. In some places there is perpetual adoration. – Fr. William G. Most
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