Hello there Rosary Lovers! In today’s post I want to run us through the glorious mysteries of the Rosary.
What are the glorious mysteries?
The glorious mysteries of the Rosary are as follows and in order:
- The Resurrection of Jesus
- The Ascension into heaven of Jesus
- The Descent of the Holy Spirit
- The Assumption of the Virgin
- The Coronation of the Virgin
They are traditionally prayed on Wednesdays and Sundays.
How is one supposed to pray these?
To pray these mysteries, you simply begin with the first mystery by announcing it and perhaps thinking about it for a moment. Perhaps picture an image in your head of this mystery.
You then recite 1 Our Father prayer, followed by 10 Hail Mary prayers and 1 Glory Be. That’s one mystery prayed.
You then move on to the next mystery. Again, you announce it or think about it, and then you pray:
- 1 Our Father
- 10 Hail Marys
- 1 Glory Be
You repeat this process with each mystery in order until you have finished the Glory Be for the last mystery.
Having done this, you have prayed an entire Rosary by praying the Glorious mysteries.
Won’t I get lost during the 10 Hail Marys?
A set of Rosary beads will come in very handy for keeping track of where you are in your Hail Marys, or you could get lost and end up praying too many or too few. It’s 10 for good reason.
==> If you wish to buy a sturdy set of Rosary beads, click this link <==
To help you meditate on the Glorious mysteries, I’ll offer here a brief summary of each mystery for you to read and ponder. Enjoy!
What is the mystery of the Resurrection?
The Resurrection is the mystery of Jesus Christ’s glorious rising from the dead. He was crucifed and lay buried for 3 days in a new tomb.
But God raised him from the dead because it was not possible for death to keep hold of the Prince and Author of Life.
By rising from the dead, Jesus conquered death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel!
Death, hell and sin are forever defeated, along with the Devil and all the forces of darkness. It is now possible through Jesus for us to live pure lives of holiness, to cease from sinning and to be raised to life someday.
Jesus’ resurrection is the firstfruits of our resurrection. There will be a Final Resurrection when all in the graves shall come forth and stand before God. The righteous will be received into Paradise; the ungodly will be sentenced to eternal punishment.
What is the mystery of the Ascension?
The Ascension is the mystery which recalls Jesus ascending back up to God the Father, there to sit with him at his right hand.
After his Resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and to many others. He spent 40 days with his followers, teaching them the truths of the faith and about the Kingdom of God. He was training them to carry on his ministry.
At the end of the 40 days, in front of his disciples, Jesus ascended from the ground and into the sky, and a cloud covered him from sight.
Two angels appeared and said to the disciples: ‘Why are you still looking up? He will come back in the same way he has departed.’
So in this mystery we also remember that Jesus will return someday, perhaps even today.
Because Jesus is in heaven bodily, he is able to appeal to God on our behalf. He constantly makes intercession for us according to God’s will, and is a constant Sacrifice (Propitiation) before God for us (1 John 2:2).
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass reminds us that Jesus is still our Sacrifice of Atonement before God. He still appears before God for us as a Lamb that has been slain (Revelation 5). He still bears the wounds of his sufferings, though he only died once for all time.
What is the Descent of the Holy Spirit?
Having ascended into heaven for us and sat down at God’s right hand, Jesus was given the Holy Spirit in fullness to pour out onto humanity.
From the Father, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit upon all who obey him and his Church.
This mystery reminds us of an eternal mystery, that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father by the Son (or from the Father and the Son).
The wording of this hardly matters much. The crucial thing is that both the Father and the Son are involved in the Holy Spirit’s eternal procession. The Father is ultimate eternal Source of the Holy Spirit.
The Father is also the eternal Source of the Son. God the Father births the Son from all eternity. The Son is everything that the Father is without being Father; the Father is everything the Son is without being Son.
We call this the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
To distinguish the Holy Spirit from the Son, it is necessary that we believe that the Holy Spirit comes from both the Father and the Son, though differently. The Holy Spirit comes from the Father as from an ultimate Source.
It is this wonderful eternal Holy Spirit whom we receive from Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is everything that God is, everything that the Father is, everything that the Son is, without being the Father or the Son.
The Holy Spirit is God’s Wisdom, God’s Mercy, God’s Truth, God’s Breath, God’s Life, and especially God’s Love.
‘The Love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’ (Romans 5:5).
Here we see that the Holy Spirit is the Love of God in a special sense. Though the Father and the Son are also the eternal Love of God.
Jesus says: ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about Me.’ (John 15:26).
In this verse, Jesus tells us that he sends the Holy Spirit from the Father, but that the Holy Spirit always and eternally proceeds from the Father. The Father is the primary Source, the Son is a secondary Source.
But both Father and Son are absolutely necessary for the Holy Spirit to come forth into eternal existence, and into our hearts in time.
God chose Jesus Christ, the perfect Man, the Son of God made flesh for us, to have this wonderful privilege of pouring out the eternal Spirit into our hearts.
Through the Holy Spirit, we come to know God, we taste of heavenly things, we receive strength, peace, blessedness, and so many other glorious blessings.
The Holy Spirit is the Gift of God and he is the Blessing of the New Testament era.
In this mystery we also remember Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the disciples and they spoke other languages and converted many people.
What is the Assumption of Mary?
This mystery recalls that at the end of her earthly life, Mary ever-Virgin was taken up into heaven bodily by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There she remains with God forevermore, bodily.
Constantly, Mary our Mother interceeds with her Son Jesus for us, who interceeds to God for us.
God is so holy and infinite and the gap between God and us is so great that we need a Mediator to access God. Jesus Christ made flesh is that Mediator.
But Christ is God. And so we look also to an Advocate – Mary – to appeal to Jesus for us.
Mary does this at the Wedding at Cana when she appeals to Jesus – ‘They have no wine!’. Reluctantly, Jesus listens to his Mother and helps out by performing a miracle.
Mary does the same for us today.
God came to us through Mary, and we return to God through Mary. Mary is the Channel of all Divinity. There is no Jesus without Mary.
And so the Assumption reminds us that she is always there listening to us and passing our pleas onto Jesus, and through Jesus onto God the Father.
Mary is not some random spirit floating around in heaven not having any idea what is going on in your life. She is bodily present next to her Son in heaven and knows exactly what you’re going through.
Mary is your Mother. She is as much your Mother as she is the Mother of Jesus, that is, the Mother of God.
What is the Coronation?
The Coronation reminds us of Mary being crowned following her entrance into heavenly Paradise.
When Mary entered heaven, God placed a crown on her head, and entitled her Queen of heaven and of earth. Mary bears this title forevermore.
Mary is the Queen of all creatures. As Queen of heaven she rules with Jesus over everything in heaven – God alone excluded.
No other creature comes close to Mary. Not the highest Archangel in glory. They all venerate her and bow down before her and her Son.
Mary is the Throne of Divinity. Upon her sits Jesus forevermore, like a little Child. We see this in many icons in the Church. Mary is the Throne of God and the Temple of God.
She is also the Queen of earth. Everything on earth belongs to Mary. All nations, all individuals.
You belong to Mary. You are her Child, and she is your Queen.
Mary’s glory in heaven reminds us all that one day we will be glorified. This is human destiny, to sit with God on his throne. We await this, but Jesus and Mary have it in all its fulness.
The Eastern Christian tradition calls this deification. As St Athansius said: ‘God became man, so that man might become God’ (or might be made divine).
We will never become God in the sense of actually becoming GOD and the infinite Divine Essence. This we do not believe in.
But we do believe, and the Church has always taught, that humanity will be so united to God and his divine nature so as to participate in God forever, in as much as this is possible for created things.
We do not know what this entails. We do not know what heaven is really. We do not know what awaits us.
But we do believe that Mary is there, Jesus is there, all the saints are there, and God is there. And that it will blow our minds.
I do hope you’ve enjoyed this read. May you be very blessed. Feel free to leave a comment below.