The Luminous Mysteries

One

The Baptism in the Jordan

The luminous mysteries are called luminous because they illuminate something, they shed light on some truth. During this Rosary, we’ll talk about how each Luminous Mystery sheds light on the goodness of life, how a good God made a good world and he made you very good, and he is bringing everything to the best conclusion. 

And the first is clear enough. At Jesus’ Baptism, He is recognized as a Son of God with whom His Father is well pleased. So too at our baptism, we became children of God with whom He is well pleased.

As we said yesterday, we may feel like an impostor, that we are not good enough, like we don’t measure up, we’re not solid. Then we are tempted to seek our identity or personal value in things of this world, professions, relationships, the opinion of others, things that are always changing, things that will never be solid.

When we base our identity and worth on stuff that is not solid, we feel like a ghost. But the only way to have a solid identity is to get it from something solid, something that never changes. The only thing that never changes is God.

The first truth of the human condition, then, which the luminous mysteries illuminate, is that at our baptism, God the Father says to you, “You are my beloved child with whom I am well pleased.”

By our Baptism, we are marked with God’s Life. We call it the Baptismal Character. It’s like a spiritual tattoo indicating your identity. Even if you were to reject God and choose to go to hell, you would remain his beloved son or daughter forever.

Nothing, not even sin, can stop God’s love for us. Nothing can change who you are. On the other hand, it would be a terrible irony to have a baptized soul in hell. A baptized person in Hell is like someone being in jail for killing their mom, even though he had a tattoo on his arm saying, “Love you, Mom!”

Two

The Second Luminous Mystery, the Wedding at Cana

God has made a really good world with the goodness of natural human pleasures and relationships.

In this one event, the wedding at Cana, we see Jesus participating in weddings and wine, in celebrations and friendships. We see him eating with his friends and his mother and making his own contribution to the banquet.

God gave us these basic goods, these natural goods. He is pleased when we take pleasure in them. He celebrates with us when we have these goods, food, drink, family, and friendship, which are natural to us.

So we thank God in this mystery, not only for the goodness of our being but for all the good things and people in our life, all these natural sources of gladness with which God has blessed us.

But make sure that the way you pursue good things leads you to God and not away. Because when we seek the good things of this world as an end to themselves, well, then we just get bored because the beauty and delight of this world are very limited, very short-lived, and very imperfect.

So, use your free time well to pursue the good things of life and delight in them but seek them in a way that leads you to him, the infinite and perfect beauty and delight. 

Three

The Third Luminous Mystery, the Proclamation of the Kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount

In this mystery, Jesus shows us the goodness of living our life well, that is, living a life of virtue. Sin and vice may be pleasurable in the moment, but they ruin everything!

In the Beatitudes, Jesus doesn’t just say, “How happy you will be,” but “How happy you are”.

Now, when you seek God above all things, when you are humble and unoffendable, when you are just, and patient, when you’re free from vanity or greed, when you repent, when you forgive, and when you’re willing to be a hero for the Lord, happy are you! This mystery shows the goodness of living a life of virtue rather than one enslaved to vice.

And you can do it. But don’t try to change everything at once. Just practice one small concrete thing today. That is what we mean by a resolution. One small concrete thing that you were inspired to do flowing from your meditation, do that thing today. That’s enough.

Four

The Transfiguration

With this mystery, we get a foretaste of the goodness that awaits us in the life to come. The goodness of the human condition isn’t limited to earthly existence, in fact, it’s not even primarily a part of earthly existence.

Jesus gave his three closest friends, Peter, James, and John, a glimpse of the Glory of Heaven, of the unfathomable splendor, and the company of the great heroes, that awaits us.

Peter beheld, and he trembled, and he didn’t ever want to leave that moment behind.

One day that will be us, reigning in glory with the patriarchs and prophets, with the saints and angels. When we come to that place, we won’t ever want to leave. And we won’t have to.

God made a good world and he is bringing everything to a very good end, Heaven.

That’s what the Transfiguration shows us. 

Five

The Institution of the Eucharist

The final aspect of the goodness of the human condition is the most profound. Jesus reveals in the Eucharist the opportunity for intimacy with God.

That’s why we call it communion because it offers the greatest mode of being personally brought into union with (cum + unio) God in Jesus Christ.

The goodness of intimacy with God is what grounds all the other goods of the human condition. It’s what makes us sure that we are good, and beloved by our Father. It’s what makes us able to be grateful for all the other goods in our lives. It’s what gives us the strength to live the way we’re supposed to. It’s what gives us the grace to strive for and reach our heavenly destiny.

And the greatest mode of intimacy with God, in our souls and even in our bodies, is to receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ in a prayerful, worthy manner.

So thank God during this mystery for how good it is to be a human being, and for all the ways He has done to bless our condition. And thank Him, above all, for giving us to Himself in the Eucharist, a word which means, after all, thanksgiving.