Continuing our week-long series on the Rosary, we contemplate today the Glorious Mysteries (prayed on Sundays and Wednesdays.) We bear in mind just how powerful this prayer is; Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the rosary is beyond description.
The Glorious Mysteries are:
- The Resurrection. What could be more glorious? The power of sin and death have been conquered, and Heaven won for us. Alleluia!
- The Ascension: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” (Acts 1:1) Jesus ascends to His Heavenly throne, and we faithfully wait for His return.
- The Coming of the Holy Spirit. What starts off as a room of tired and frightened men, along with the Blessed Mother, becomes a day like no other. Wind and fire sweep through the room, and the Holy Spirit reigns down upon them. We, too, are endowed with the Gifts of the Spirit.
- The Assumption of the Blessed Mother. While Jesus ascended under His own power, Mary is assumed by God. She became the vessel, the new Ark of the covenant. Born without sin, death holds no power of Mary. We are saved because of her willingness to say “yes” to God’s plan.
- The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. As mother of the Prince of Peace, Mary is rightfully Queen. Her reign is one of prayer, sacrifice and motherly love for all her beloved sons and daughters. We continuously implore her prayers and intercessions before her Son, our Lord.
Saint John Paul II reminds us that Mary is our example of true witness to the Truth.
The Rosary is at the service of this ideal; it offers the “secret” which leads easily to a profound and inward knowledge of Christ. We might call it Mary’s way. It is the way of the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between Christ and his Blessed Mother: the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense the mysteries of his Mother, even when they do not involve her directly, for she lives from him and through him. By making our own the words of the Angel Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary, we find ourselves constantly drawn to seek out afresh in Mary, in her arms and in her heart, the “blessed fruit of her womb” (cf Lk 1:42).
The Glorious Mysteries remind us that, despite the turmoil and troubles of this world, we must always fix our eyes on Christ. He has promised us everlasting life. By following Mary’s humble example of “Do whatever He tells you,” we see with the eyes of faith that unending glory awaits the faithful.
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