Be Joyful...
The rosary is much more than repeating the Hail Mary fifty times, the Our Father ten times and the Glory Be five times. It is much more than 20 minutes wasted of our time, and it is much more than losing which bead we were last on. The rosary also encompasses the mysteries of the rosary. The Mysteries are broken down into four sets and are all taken from the bible.
The four sets of mysteries go as follows, the Joyful Mysteries, the Luminous Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries. All of these mysteries reflect on the life of Mary and Jesus. They also serve as an example to us, to reflect on and strive for each day. Christ came to Earth to be a model to us. Not just to be our salvation and give us redemption but to pave a path for our spiritual lives. In the mysteries, we are given the chance day to day to reflect on the examples we were given in order to pave our spiritual paths.
The joyful mysteries are where I want to us to begin on our connection of the rosary and scripture. There are many places we can see that we are called to rejoice on a daily basis.
“Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his deliverance.” Psalm 35:9
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4
You see we are called to always rejoice in the Lord, because it will then rejoice in his Salvation. We have these mysteries as stepping stones and examples of how to rejoice in the Lord and all we need to do, is consistently pray these as a reminder and meditation of these examples, and to ask for Mary’s intercession!
So without further adieu, the Joyful Mysteries include the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of Jesus, the Presentation in the Temple, and Jesus being found in the Temple. We have the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-28) where the angel Gabriel announces that Mary is to have Jesus, the Visitation (Luke 1:39-45) where Mary set out and traveled to see her cousin Elizabeth. At Mary’s Greeting, the infant kept in Elizabeth’s womb. The third mystery is the Birth of the Lord, our Lord and Savior being born in a humble stable (Luke 2:1-20). The Presentation in the Temple, where Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple to present him to the Lord (Luke 2:22-38). Last, the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, where Jesus remains behind in Jerusalem listening, sitting and asking questions among the teachers (Luke 2:41-50).
You see we are called to a life where when the Lord calls upon us, we answer just as Mary did. When we bring the Word of the Lord to others in our words and actions, the Spirit of the Lord is leaping inside us willing to get out and share the Good News.. We should be living a daily life anxiously awaiting the coming of the Lord, just as Mary patiently waited for the Birth of the Lord. We should also be ever present in the temple of the Lord, not alone in respect to ourselves being the Temple of the Lord, but in church and lastly we should be ever fervent in our prayer and always listening, sitting and asking questions to grow in our spiritual path. You see, the rosary is a building block of our faith. The rosary calls us o dive into scripture and dive deeper into a relationship with God.
