The Luminous Mysteries/The Mysteries of Light

[Genesis315]

But now I prefer to pray it without. I feel a connection to Mother Mary knowing that I am praying the rosary with the same decades as in the time of St. Dominic, the same decades as the ones she prayed with St. Bernadette and the children of Fatima. There’s also a sense of connection to my ancestors who prayed the rosary the traditional way.

To be fair, those weren’t the mysteries prayed at the time of St. Dominic. The earliest set of mysteries on record from just after his time are only three: Annunciation, Nativity, and Assumption.

The famous Ulm handbook gives the “method of St. Dominic” as a variation of the Vita Christi method, which had 50 mysteries on the life of Christ (including those in the luminous mysteries).

Along those lines, in the apparition to Bl. Alan de Rupe, where we first learn of the Rosary being associated with St. Dominic, Mary merely says to meditate on “the life and passion” of her Son (no specifics on the mysteries are mentioned, but that description makes it sound like the Vita Christi method).

By the 16th century, the Rosary had become mostly what we consider traditional, but with the Final Judgment as the last glorious mystery, instead of the Coronation of Mary. That change would solidify by the late 17th century or so.

 

[resolute]

I was referring to the number of decades. According to The Rosary Center and Confraternity and other sources “the Rosary he [Saint Dominic] preached was the Marian Psalter of 150 Hail Marys…”

With the Luminous mysteries, that makes 200, not 150.

 

[resolute]

 

[hcruz402]

The Proclamation of the Kingdom, though, is more than just the Sermon on the Mount. It encompasses all of Jesus’s preaching, throughout his public life. It’s fine to place your focus on the Sermon on the Mount when you meditate on the third decade of the Luminous Mysteries, but just know that the Proclamation of the Kingdom is all of Jesus’s preaching and public life.

 

[Diaconia]

When Pope St. John Paul II suggested the Luminous Mysteries, and suggest Thursday for them he did something many people do not know:

• He kept all 20 mysteries in their chronological order by suggesting Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious, in that order.

I do pray the Luminous Mysteries, and I do them on Thursday – remember the Last Supper / Institution of the Eucharist occurred on a Thursday.

Also, two of the sacraments are in the Luminous Mysteries - the most important sacrament / gateway sacrament of Baptism; plus the source and summit of our Faith, the holy Eucharist.

Pope St. JPII, pray for me, a sinner,
Deacon Christopher

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It can definitely be the Beatitudes. I’ve also seen it interpreted as when Jesus was calling his Apostles.

It’s basically any time Jesus said anything about His kingdom or called anyone to follow Him.

 

[Margaret_Ann]

I don’t use the Luminous Mysteries. If you look at the traditional Rosary (15 decades) it has 153 Ave Marias - which is exactly the number of fish caught by St. Peter after the Resurrection of Our Lord. (C.f. John 21)

Chris Ferrara has a little booklet titled The New Rosary. It’s available on Amazon as an e-book.