Luminous Mysteries
One
The First Luminous Mystery – the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan
When St. John Paul II added a new set of mysteries to the Rosary, alongside the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries, he called them the Mysteries of Light. They’re called “mysteries of light” because light reveals what is hidden; it takes what’s dark or unknown and makes it clear. In the same way, each of these events in Jesus’ life reveals something about God, who He is and what He’s like. And in this first mystery, the Baptism of Jesus, something is revealed about God that He tells us about Himself explicitly, as explicitly as you could ask for.
A voice thunders down from heaven and declares, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I delight.” What an amazing thing to know about God! God isn’t some impersonal force. He isn’t just an impartial, indifferent ruler who governs all things. God is a Father. And a Father who takes delight in His children. This is the first and most fundamental truth about God. It’s the truth that grounds everything else. God is a Father who delights in you.
Two
The Second Luminous Mystery, The Wedding at Cana
The first thing to know about Our Heavenly Father is that He delights in us. The second thing to know about Him is that He’s very generous to us. Even human fathers know not to give their kids stones when they ask for bread, how much more does God give generously to those who ask of Him!
Scripture tells us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” James 1:17. Jesus knew this better than anyone. He said that everything He had comes from His Father. As God the Son, He receives His divinity eternally from the Father’s generous love. At the wedding of Cana, we remember that God is the giver of even the natural gifts and joys we have. God is the one who gave Eve to Adam and Adam to Eve. And Christ began His public miracle at a wedding, which is fitting, because marriage is the most intricate and intense complex of natural loves and natural happiness that there is. And it all comes from God.
God is the one who gives grapes and the laws of fermentation and human ingenuity to make wine, wine, which, as the Psalmist says, gladdens man’s heart. And Jesus, who came to give us supernatural goods, doesn’t refuse a request even for this small natural good of extra high-quality wine at a wedding. The wedding at Cana shows us that God is a good Father who gives us good gifts, because He wants us to be happy. He gives us the natural pleasures of the body and the natural beauties of marriage and family life. And these are only a foretaste, only a reflection, of the infinite delights and eternal love that He has in store for His beloved children in Heaven.
Three
The Third Luminous Mystery:
Did you know that when Pope John Paul gave us the Luminous Mysteries, he entitled the third Mystery The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God, with his call to conversion. Why is the call to conversion overlooked? Because it means we have to change, and we don’t like that. The Sermon on the Mount is the single greatest call to conversion, the call to let God change our lives for the better. The call in the Beatitudes to be humble, meek, mourn for our sins, hungry for holiness, merciful, pure of heart, peacemakers, and to accept our sufferings and offer them up.
It’s the call to overcome anger, lust, lying, resentment, and revenge, to forgive and do good to our enemies. It is the call to a deep life of prayer, fasting, and financial generosity to the Church and the poor. It is the call to trust in God’s Providence and banish the bad habit of worry. It is the call to stop condemning others. Finally, it is the call to live the Golden rule, to always treat others as you would like them to treat you. If we allow God to live through us, we will convert, we will be transformed, and then we will be the light of the world. We will be Luminous!
Four
The Fourth Luminous Mystery, The Transfiguration
God is a Father who delights in us. He’s also a Father who gives delightful gifts to us. And He is a good, kind, merciful, and noble Father. But He is also an awesome God. He is infinite power, infinite strength. He is terrifying in His majesty and pulverizing in His energy. To see God is like being struck by lightning; to draw near to God is to swim in the sea in the middle of a hurricane. And Christ reveals a hint of God’s awesomeness on Mount Tabor. He glows with the force that made and sustains the galaxies. He summons the dead from their rest, and a voice from Heaven declares His Authority, this is my beloved Son, LISTEN TO HIM!
We must love God, we must admire God, we must delight in God, but we must not forget to listen to God. And how do we listen to him? By Daily Meditation. Read or listen to the Word of God. Think about it and apply it to your life. See the gap between what he says and how we think and live. Make a resolution, a decision to practice some concrete good action today.
Five
The Fifth Luminous Mystery – The Institution of the Eucharist
God is a God of Love. He is a God of communion. The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, and the Holy Spirit is in both. And He wants us to share that union of love with Him. During the Last Supper, Jesus says that God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all wish to come and dwell in our souls. That we may be in them as they are in one another. And as a sign of this desire to dwell within us spiritually, Christ gives us the miracle of the Eucharist, so that He can even dwell inside us physically.
The God who delights in us, who is so generous to us, who is both supremely good and supremely powerful, this God loves us and wants to be united to us more intimately than we could have ever imagined. This is the God Christ has revealed to us. This is the God we’re praying to right now. Look how much He has loved us!
Dear God, you have shown us enough through these mysteries for us to love you back. You have given us reasons to love, now give us the will. You have given us the light of love’s fire in these luminous mysteries, now give us your Holy Spirit, your Living Flame of Love!