Ponderings on the Joyful Mysteries

​                                                                                                                              by Sr. Mary Magdalene

The Rosary is a beautiful prayer which is held in high esteem by many Catholics and perhaps, in a particular way, by those in the Dominican Order. Tradition has it that the inspiration for this prayer in its modern form may have come through a visitation of the Blessed Mother to the Order’s founder, Holy Father Dominic.  Over the centuries, this prayer has been held up as a mainstay for Catholic prayer by Popes, religious and laity alike. In the 16th Century, Pope Pius V, himself formed in the Dominican Order, instituted the Rosary and outlined its original mysteries.  Later, Pope Leo XIII, nick named “The Rosary Pope”, wrote several encyclicals expounding on the prayer and its efficacy for the people of God.  Most recently, Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries and gave us more on the life of Jesus on which to ponder in its prayer.  While we won’t go through the method for praying the Rosary in this blog post, you can find the basic instructions here.
For those familiar with praying The Holy Rosary, you are likely aware of the various mysteries/Gospel moments in the life of Christ and His Blessed Mother and the prayer of contemplation that they are meant to invoke.  They include: The Joyful Mysteries, The Glorious Mysteries, The Sorrowful Mysteries and the Luminous Mysteries. Each set is broken down into 5 separate moments in Scripture or Tradition into which we may enter in prayer and contemplation.  In this blog post, I would like to share some thoughts on The Joyful Mysteries, in particular.
The Joyful Mysteries include a decade of pondering on each of the following moments in time: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, and The Finding of Jesus in the Temple.
Recently, while I was praying these mysteries, it struck me that each of these moments of contemplation revealed a kind of “recognizing God” in the encounter.  It is this that I would like to focus on. I encourage you to read the related scripture references in the citations and ponder them for yourselves!
Let’s start at the beginning with The Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38).  In her humility, the Virgin Mary both recognizes and welcomes God’s call through the Angel Gabriel.  Her soul was holy and sensitive enough to know and heed the voice of God.  Mary responds wholly and without reservation, “be it done unto me according to your will.” (Lk 1:38)  How do we “hear”, or recognize God in our own lives? We are assured in both this passage from Luke as well as in another in John, when Jesus says “my sheep know my voice” (Jn 10:27) that it is possible!  How does anyone recognize the voice of another? Perhaps the answer lies most readily in time spent with another…..listening…..and internalizing their words, their voice, their love and care for us.  Mary recognized God, and so can we.
The second Joyful Mystery is The Visitation (Lk 1:39-56).  In this encounter we are told of Mary’s reaching out to her kinswoman, Elizabeth.  Again we are met with a couple of moments of recognition. In Lk 1:41-42 we hear that upon Mary’s greeting, the child Elizabeth was carrying “leaped in her womb”.  The unborn child, later known to us as John the Baptist, recognized the presence of his Lord Jesus and ‘leaped’.  In response, Elizabeth “filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, ‘Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’”   Elizabeth and her unborn child, John, recognized and responded to the presence of God among them and Mary responds with her Magnificat, always pointing us back to God.
The third Joyful Mystery is The Nativity (Lk 2:1-20).  Of course we see and hear so much of this familiar event all around us in Scripture, Carols and Tradition.  The Angel and the Heavenly Host proclaim to the shepherds the birth of the Savior child. They hear, they recognize the voice of God through the angels and they are drawn to find and adore the infant, Jesus.  In Mt 2:9-11 we hear about the Magi and how they saw and recognized the star, following it to Bethlehem in order that they might bring gifts and worship the newborn king.  We are told that when they saw the infant Jesus with his mother, Mary, they “prostrated themselves and did him homage”, recognizing Jesus as God among them.
The fourth is The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Lk 2:22-38).  In this account we encounter a wonderful moment of recognition in which Simeon, a “righteous and devout man” takes the infant Jesus into his arms and proclaims “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”  Simeon has seen God and is now prepared to die with a happy heart. The prophetess, Anna, likewise recognizes and proclaims Jesus as Lord, speaking “to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”
The fifth and final of the Joyful Mysteries is The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:41-52).  Here we hear the familiar story of the time that Mary and Joseph lost track of the 12 year old boy Jesus!  They had gone to Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover and as they headed back home with the crowds, they hadn’t realized that Jesus had remained behind.  They eventually found him in the temple speaking and asking questions of the teachers, and “all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.”  They recognized the wisdom of God in the words of this boy.  Later in the encounter, we hear Jesus himself with a moment of recognition, “Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?”
Throughout The Joyful Mysteries we walk through a great depth of scripture with the power, by Grace, to bring us to greater understanding, encounter and love.  In one of those moments, I encountered the ribbon of recognition of and hopefully response to the voice, the word, of God.  May we all strive to spend time with the Lord, learning to hear His voice, recognizing Him in people and places and moments of prayer and sharing the fruits of that encounter.

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