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Papal reflections of the Mysteries
The Joyful Mysteries:
are marked by the joy radiating
from the event of the Incarnation. This is clear from
the very first mystery, the Annunciation, where
Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to
an invitation to messianic joy: "Rejoice, Mary." The whole
of salvation … had led up to this greeting.
(Prayed on Mondays and Saturdays, and optional on Sundays during
Advent and the Christmas Season.)
The Sorrowful Mysteries:
The Gospels give great
prominence to the Sorrowful Mysteries of Christ. From
the beginning, Christian piety, especially during the
Lenten devotion of the Way of the Cross, has focused
on the individual moments of the Passion, realizing
that here is found the culmination of the revelation of
God's love and the source of our salvation.
(Prayed
on Tuesdays and Fridays, and optional on Sundays
during Lent.)
The Glorious Mysteries:
"The contemplation of Christ's face cannot stop at the image of the Crucified
One. He is the Risen One!" The Rosary has always
expressed this knowledge born of faith and invited the
believer to pass beyond the darkness of the Passion in
order to gaze upon Christ's glory in the Resurrection
and Ascension. … Mary herself would be raised to that
same glory in the Assumption.
(Prayed on Wednesdays
and Sundays.)
From the Apostolic Letter The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, Pope John Paul II,
Oct. 16, 2002.
The wording of the Hail Mary and the Apostles' Creed complies with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Luminous Mysteries:
Moving on from the
infancy and the hidden life in Nazareth to the public life
of Jesus, our contemplation brings us to those mysteries
which may be called in a special way "mysteries of
light." Certainly, the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery
of light. He is the "Light of the world" (John 8:12). Yet
this truth emerges in a special way during the years of
His public life.
(Prayed on Thursdays.)