Joyful Mysteries

The Annunciation

When Gabriel told Mary she was to be the mother of Jesus, she said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word." When she assented, "the Word was made flesh"; the work of our redempion had begun. God merely invited Mary; but an invitation, not a command, was all she needed from God. Our lives are full of invitations from God. Meeting a poor man is an invitation to give alms. Sickness is an invitation to accept suffering patiently. The unchristian world we live in (our offices, factories, neighborhoods) is a pressing invitation to transform it into a Christian world.

The Visitation

Learning from the angel that her elderly cousin Elizabeth was to bear a child, Mary made the perilous journey to Judea to congratulate her and to relate her own joyful tidings. When the two women met, both Elizabeth and her unborn child sensed the Divine Presence and rejoiced at the miracle that had been wrought in Mary. Our Lady risked a dangerous journey to share her joy with and to help her aged cousin. Do we ever make visits out of charity? Do we ever really inconvenience ourselves to spend a little time with the sick and lonely -- with the elderly friendless people whom the self-seeking world prefers to ignore and neglect?

The Nativity

When the time came for Mary to give birth, she and Joseph were at Bethlehem, their ancestral city, to register for a census. Finding no room in the inn of the town, they took refuge in a cave on the hillside. There, in poverty and isolation, the King of Kings was born. The conventional illustrations of the Nativity are pretty and picturesque. But the poverty of the cave in which Christ was born was not pretty. The cave was cold; the accommodations were primitive. Looking at that scene should make us question our love of ease and comfort. Why should we be so attached to comfort, when our Redeemer (and His mother) rejected it?

The Presentation of Our Lord

Forty days after the birth of Jesus, Mary came to the Temple for the rite of purification and to offer her child to God, according to the custom of the Jews. This was the first formal offering of Christ to the Father. His whole life was hereby dedicated to God, a dedication climaxed on Calvary. At Baptism, we too were presented to God and dedicated to His service. Do we remember to give ourselves completely to Him? Today, for example, is all our work and recreation done for the glory of God? Or are we giving Him a few minutes in the morning and evening, while ignoring Him the rest of the day?

The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple

When Jesus was twelve years old, He accompanied Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem for the Passover. At the end of the Passover His parents unwittingly left for home without Him, and it was only after three days of sorrowful searching that they found Him in the Temple, "in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions." The joy of finding outweighed the temporary loss; but what must have been their agony during the days of separation. Since it was required that these dearest friends of Christ should suffer so, how can we, unworthy sinners, complain of the little trials God sends us?

The Sorrowful Mysteries

The Agony in the Garden

After the Last Supper our Lord led the disciples out of Jerusalem to Gethsemani, the olive grove where He had spent so many nights in prayer. Agonized by the thought of what He was to suffer for the sins of men, He prostrated Himself and prayed for strength to face the coming ordeal. Do we pray, like Christ, for help to overcome specific difficulties; or do we offer prayers that are vague and unconnected with our lives? Christ taught us to pray daily and for our daily needs. If we realize the power of prayer, we will ask God each morning for help in facing the problems that will arise that day.

The Scourging at the Pillar

Thinking to placate the blood lust of the mob, Pilate ordered his soldiers to scourge Jesus. They stripped our Lord to the waist, chained Him to the low whipping post, and then set to mangling His body, lashing His naked back with leather thongs weighted with metal. If Pilate had not been a moral coward, if he had had the courage of his convictions, Christ would have been spared at least this brutal torture. Are we wever guilty of the sin of Pilate? When we hear gossips, racists, and bigots attacking innocent people, do we defend justice, or do we side in with the mob, to avoid offending prejudice?

The Crowning with Thorns

After the soldiers had scourged Jesus, they placed on His Head a crown made of thorn twigs, clothed Him in a purple mantle, and put a reed ion His hand as a scepter. Then, crying, "Hail, King of the Jews," they struck Him and spat upon Him. Behold now the Man of Sorrows; His skin torn open by the scourge, His face stained with blood, dirt, and spittle. We are revolted by this desecration of Christ's beauty. But many of us are, like Pilate's soldiers, inclined to destroy and mock the good and beautiful. Have we the habit of disparaging virtue and achievement? Is our criticism always destructive?

The Carrying of the Cross to Calvary

Condemned to be crucified, Jesus is presented with the Cross, which He is to carry to th e place of execution. Meekly He shoulders the cruel burden and begins the journey to the little hill where He is to die. The great cross cuts into His shoulder; the mob jeers and derides. Each of the thousand steps to Golgotha is a separate agony. To be worthy of Christ, we must take up our cross and follow Him. We must accept patently our frustrations, poverty, ailments and disfigurements, welcoming them as trials of our love and loyalty, while the world mocks and derides our faith in Christ.

The Crucifixion

The executioners have stripped Him, nailed His hands and feet to the planks, and hoisted the heavy cross into position. As the soldiers begin their terrible vigil, every fiber of Christ's body cries out for rest and relief. For three long hours His agony continues. Then spirit and flesh are parted; the price of our redemption has been paid. What Christian does not wish he had been there with Christ on Calvary, to speak a word of consolation and compassion. Yet, when the Sacrifice of Calvary is renewed each day in the Mass, how many of us come to take part in it and to assure our Redeemer of our love and devotion?

Glorious Mysteries

The Glorious Resurrection

It is the dawn of the third day, and the body of Christ lies silent and lifeless within the tomb. Suddenly the sepulcher is filled with lifht; the shrouded figure stirs, casts off the winding sheet, strides forth radiant and omnipotent. The great stone blocking the entrance is hurled aside by an angel and the Roman guards lie stunned and terrified. "He is risen as He said. Alleluia!" Christ's glorious resurrection, His incontestable triumph over death, is the pledge of our own resurrection and of a life beyond the grave. In moments of discouragement, let us think of His and our resurrection, "where death is swallowed up in victory."

The Ascension of Our Lord

On the fortieth day after the Resurrection our Lord supped with His disciples in the Cenacle. Then He led them out of Jerusalem to Mount Olivet, and after bidding them farewell He "was lifted up before their eyes, and a cloud took him out of their sight." Considering this mystery, we may be inclined to grieve with the disciples for their loss of the Master's presence. But Saint Luke tells us that "they returned to Jerusalem with great joy." For Christ remained with them. And He remains with us in Holy Communion. Christ will always be the strength of His followers, if they will come to Him in the Eucharist.

The Assumption of Mary Into Heaven

Upon the death of the Blessed Virgin her body was miraculously preserved from corruption and, after being united to her immaculate soul, was carried by angels into heaven. It was most fitting that our Lord should exempt from corruption the body of His holy Mother, that virginal body in which He had assumed human flesh. Our bodies, too, are sacred. They are sanctified by our reception of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and through our union with Him in His Mystical Body. Let us, therefore, strive to preserve our bodies as temples of holiness, undefiled by sin.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

After the Ascension the disciples returned to the Cenacle to await the Paraclete promised by Christ. On the morning of the tenth day a sound like a great wind filled the room and tongues of flame appeared over the heads of all present. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples went out and preached boldly, converting some three thousand souls that very day. The Apostles went out of the Cenacle as new men. The Holy Ghost had changed them; now they not only believed but wanted to make others believe also. In Confirmation, we, too, received the Holy Ghost. How many have we brought to belief in Christ?

The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth

Upon her assumption into heaven our Blessed Mother was received by her Son and crowned as Queen of Heaven in the presence of the angelic choirs and all the saints. She is waiting there for us, ready to welcome us when we, too, shall have fought the good fight and come to receive the victor's crown, the reward of spiritual valor. We also have a crown to off Mary -- the Rosary, the precious chaplet of prayers in which we celebrate her excellence and plead for her intercession. let us seek to make this crown worthy of our Lady, praying devoutly. Let us offer her no withered or imperfect roses.