Rosarium Virginis Mariae

(if you love a mystery, here are five more!)

The Lady in the Pew: October 18, 2002

You GO, Papa!!!

On Wednesday, October 16, the man in Rome often cited by the secular media as the “frail pontiff” went and made earth-shaking history!

On the anniversary of his pontificate, His Holiness Pope John II gave us five new mysteries of the most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

“Jesus Christ is the Light of the World!”

And the newest Rosary meditations emphasize this amazingly! “The Mysteries of Light” — or “The Luminous Mysteries” — help us to meditate profoundly, with Mary our Mother, on the public ministry of Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

The very next day, following Mass, my fellow worshippers and I prayed these incredible mysteries for the first time. One of us thought she read on the Vatican web-site that the Holy Father recommended the new mysteries be prayed on Thursdays and Saturdays.

(Admittedly, this might have been in error. If the truth must be told, we were all just as anxious as heck to try them out. By the way, if you know the exact days the Luminous Mysteries should be prayed, do let me know. I’m fairly certain about Saturdays, but kinda iffy on Thursdays.)

What a rush!

No kidding, folks, you’ve gotta try this mysteries! Naturally, we all used “cheat sheets” yesterday. I mean, give us a break, it was only the day after the announcement! But, I’m happy to report that we know them by heart now. And so, ladies and gentlemen, here they are:

The Five Luminous Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

Number 1: Jesus is baptized in the Jordan

And we’re off and running with an amazing scene! Here we see Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, God for heaven’s sake (pun intended) allowing Himself to join the others being baptized by his cousin John. Even John is taken aback, and with good reason! You remember John: he’s the one who recognized Jesus while the two of them were still in their moms’ womb!

Elizabeth tells us that her son, in utero, leapt for joy at the approach of the pregnant Mary! Now, about 30 years later, Jesus tells his rather reluctant cousin: “We must do this if we would fulfill all of God’s demands.” After the baptism, “the sky opened and [John] saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove and hover over Him. With that, a voice from the heavens said, `This is my beloved Son. My favor rests on Him.’” (Check out 3 Matthew 13-17.)

Number 2: Jesus manifests His Divinity at Cana

This is such a cool story, isn’t it? I mean, here’s Jesus and His Mom at some wedding. I don’t know; maybe they were relatives, or good friends. In any case, everybody’s probably having a very nice time, except for, one presumes, the happy couple. The problem? They’re running out of wine!

Yikes.

Now I know that, in the broad scheme of things, this doesn’t seem like an international crisis. But you married folks out there — especially you women! — think back to your own wedding. Remember how perfect you wanted it to be? I mean, all that agonizing over the flowers, the dresses, the color of the napkins, for Pete’s sake! Weddings back in Jesus’ time were the same as they are now: Very Big Deals.

So anyway, somehow Mary gets wind of the impending crisis. (Women are, in my experience, good at stuff like this.) So what does she do? Not much, on the surface. She just says to her Son: “They have no wine.” To which Jesus responds: “Woman, how does this concern of yours involve me? My hour has not yet come.”

And that, it would seem, would have been that. No wine, end of story. Right?

WRONG!

Mary calmly says to the waiters: “Do whatever He tells you.” You guys know the rest. Jesus changes water into the best wine the wedding guests ever tasted.

And yet I know people who insist that women have “no power” in the Church! Are they kidding???

By His Mother’s gently expressed concern, Jesus “revealed His Glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” (Check out 2 John 1-11.)

Number 3: Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God, and the call to conversion

“The Kingdom of God is at hand,” Jesus proclaims, and that’s very good news!

After Jesus lets His public ministry to be sort of “jump-started” by Mary, He begins proclaiming His Father’s Kingdom. While meditating on this mystery, we remember the call of the apostles — twelve rather ordinary guys. In fact, all through the Gospels, we find Jesus proclaiming the Kingdom to all sorts of ordinary folks. We also recall His sublime mercy during this mystery: mercy we are bound to exercise ourselves, not incidentally! And not only does Jesus extend His unlimited mercy to us: He commissions His first priests to do the same in His Name! How blessed are we to have the gift called “The Sacrament of Reconciliation: “Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven,” He told his first priests. (Check out 1 Mark 15; 2 Mark 3-13; 7 Luke 47-48, and 20 John 22-23.)

Number 4: The Transfiguration

Are you like me? Do you actually shiver every time you think about this event? Jesus, going up to Mount Tabor with his friends — Peter, James, and John — and He is glorified in a way that boggles the imagination! Yet there He is, glowing with Divinity, chatting familiarly with Moses and Elijah! And again, God the Father commands us to “listen to Him.”

You’ve gotta love the reaction of our first pope to this revelation. At least I do. Like a lovable puppy, scrambling to do the right thing, Peter (who, understandably, must have been totally blown away) proposes to set up “three tents” for the august personages. I laugh at Peter, but I wonder: how would I have reacted in his place? How would you have reacted? (Check out 9 Luke 35.)

And now, for (in my humble opinion) the best news of all!

:::::::::::::drum roll::::::::::::::::::::

Number 5: Jesus institutes The Eucharist!!!!!!!!!

Now I’m generally a calm, cool, and collected type of person. (Hey, can the laughter out there!)

But yesterday at Mass — and this is perhaps because I knew we would be praying these mysteries afterward — I found myself weeping for joy at the Consecration. And when we entered into this final Luminous mystery, my eyes remained clued to the Tabernacle, knowing that Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, lived there. And in me! I’d just received Him!

W O W ! ! !

We find ourselves at the Last Supper. Jesus, knowing He is going to die a hideously brutal death, remembers to give Himself in a way that will last until the end of time. He gives us Himself, completely and unambiguously. And he commands His first priests to do the same. And they and their successors did, and continue to do this, even now. Even today! Every day we have the opportunity to unite with Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, in the most intimate manner possible: in the Blessed Sacrament. (Check out all the Last Supper Gospel accounts.)

Do you realize how long the Rosary has remained unchanged, until now???

This is not a rhetorical question. I’m really asking. Because I don’t know, exactly. Centuries, certainly. But if you know when the Rosary was first given to us, let me know, would you?

All I know is that, on Wednesday, October 16, 2002, earth-shaking history was made.

Thank you, Your Holiness! May your goodness to us increase our devotion to the Most Holy Rosary!

And now for the fine print:

Kelly Clark is your basic nobody. She serves on no parish councils, belongs to none of the myriad of designer-chic "Catholic" groups, or any Catholic group, for that matter, other than the Roman Catholic Church. Holding no theology degrees, she has no desire so see herself or any of her sex wearing a clerical collar. She figures Jesus knew what He was doing when He established His Church, and also figures that it’s His Church, not hers, and not yours. She’s an ordinary parishioner of Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston. Use the links on the left to e-mail Kelly, or to visit her parish.

Copyright: Kelly Clark, 2002. I don’t care if you share this stuff with others. In fact, I hope you do! Only I’d appreciate it if you’d link me, or print it off as it is. In other words, don’t change anything. Thanks.

“The Lady in the Pew” column is updated weekly, God willing. To be notified of updates, please e-mail me. The link’s on the left.

“Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.”