The Luminous Mysteries

[Sherry_G]

Praying the Rosary daily is a favorite way for me to offer vocal and mental prayer on the Mysteries of our Redemption, following the life of Jesus through the eyes of His Mother and my Mother,the Blesed Virgin Mary. Praying the rosary has led me to a much deeper faith and through this daily exercise to more searching, adding the daily reading from my Bible, and attending daily Mass. I was very surprised to see that JP II added the Luminous Mysteries but decided to include them as an open minded expression of love for my faith and the Holy Father. The Luminous mysteries are Jesus showing us His way as our model in His Human Nature as true Man and true God. He came not only save us by His death and resurrection, but also to teach us how to live. The Luminous mysteries have helped to open my heart more fully to Jesus Christ’s personhood in His Divinity and to the great love of His Mother Mary for each one of us.

 

[bubbaman]

I pray the Luminous Mysteries on the appropriate day and often will say them on other days when I offer an additional Rosary Prayer. I’ve gotten into the habit of reciting the scriptual rosary, because it helps me to concentrate on the meaning behind the Rosary which is the Life Of Christ. There are many forms of the scriptual rosary, to me I favor the ones found in a book called, “The Golden Book Of Prayers.” All 4 Mysteries are there.

Not to dispute the Late Great Pope John Paul and how he was inspired to come up with the Luminous Mysteries, but I wished he would’ve included the Temptation Of Christ in these mysteries. I just think that this was a very pivotal point in the Life Of Christ and the begining of His ministry on earth and is very inspiring to me.

 

[PetersBride]

Hello,

My husband and I do not pray the Luminous mysteries for the same reasons cited by those who also do not pray them.

God bless,
PetersBride

 

[Tsuwano]

Of course. Why? Because they complete the meditations on the life of Christ. It’s difficult to understand the sorrowful events of the life of Jesus without also seeking to understand the luminous events and joyful events of his life. The critique concerning Pope John Paul II “messing” with tradition is ridiculous. Read the history of the Popes and you’ll see that all Popes “mess” with tradition, including St. Peter. The tradition of the Church didn’t come to us on a silver platter held aloft by angels. It was created by people of faith who, yes, challenged traditional ways of seeing and doing things. The entire tradition of the Church is based upon “messing” with tradition, otherwise we would all be Jewish.

 

[JMJ_coder]

I could give you numerous examples that will show otherwise if you would like. There have been Popes historically thathave done and said some pretty heinous things in relation to the faith. In fact, many of their acts, pronouncements and sayings are generally unknown to the average Catholic on the street.

When you start tampering with things that have no need to change, you sometimes end up where you don’ really want to be.

I’ve heard the arguments and examples – I am thoroughly unconvinced.

Venerable John Paul II, pray for us.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Prayers aren’t really supposed to evolve.

Once again, you show your limited understanding. I suggest then, that you stop praying the Rosary altogether, because it evolved bit by bit to the common Dominican form you are familiar with today (indeed, there are still many variants of the Rosary in existence, for example the Brigittine Rosary). Also, take “Jesus” out of the Hail Mary, because it was originally not a part of the prayer. And the EF of the Liturgy didn’t just fall out of the sky (the Liturgy is itself a prayer – albeit the most efficacious prayer), but evolved throughout the centuries.

And those are just a handful of examples. Almost every prayer we have today is not in the original form (the Our Father being the only unaltered prayer I can think of).

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

Actually it would be Tradition rather than tradition.

You can’t possibly be serious.

 

[jhust]

I do most definitely!
The public life of Jesus is so beautifully envisioned in these mysteries that I now love them.

 

[JMJ_coder]

You can’t possibly be serious.

I’m not sure which side is being taken there. The Dominican Rosary is part of the tradition (lower case ‘t’) of the Roman Church and not part of the Apostolic Sacred Tradition of the Church.

 

[CallistusPM]

Why the Luminous Mysteries? I do not say them. They are not traditional, orthodox or historical. I suppose it’s okay if it satisfies you. After all, prayers are prayers. But, if you want to stick to the historic traditions of the church fathers, these neo mysteries are not part of that treasure. Just because a pope (JPII) formulated them does not make them dogma. He did not, to my knowledge, make it official. It is a nice sacramental if you prefer this.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Why the Luminous Mysteries? I do not say them. They are not traditional, orthodox or historical. I suppose it’s okay if it satisfies you. After all, prayers are prayers. But, if you want to stick to the historic traditions of the church fathers, these neo mysteries are not part of that treasure. Just because a pope (JPII) formulated them does not make them dogma. He did not, to my knowledge, make it official. It is a nice sacramental if you prefer this.

Not orthodox?! What is not orthodox about them, unless you consider the New Testament to be unorthodox.

You say “stick to the historic traditions of the church fathers”, but the Rosary dates well after the time of the Church Fathers.

I agree, they are not required, but neither is the Rosary. The Rosary is neither dogma nor a precept.

 

[kurekm]

My retort would be that just because a Pope does something does not automatically make it right.

Maybe not, in the abstract, but the burden of proof that he’s wrong would be on you. If the pope is the successor to Peter, and therefore given to us by God as a beloved teacher and mentor, then you’d have to have a pretty compelling reason not to try and submit yourself to his suggestions and learn from his teaching, even if it is informal and not mandatory. I am a convert from Protestantism and would have just stayed a Protestant if I felt like what the pope said didn’t really matter all that much.

 

[maurin]

I do. I love them. I’ve some argument against them, namely that the rosary loses it’s connection with the psalter. My retort is usually that if they were good enough for the pope, they’re good enough for me!

Your second sentence, along with the poster who points out that the Rosary comes directly from Our Lady in Heaven, is all the reason I need not to add the Luminious Mysteries to my Rosary. However, that doesn’t stop me, from time to time, praying the Luminous Mysteries as a devotional–which is how, I believe, Pope John Paul II introduced them?

My retort would be that just because a Pope does something does not automatically make it right.

I agree, although I think a distinction between a Pope’s legal authority and moral authority ought to be made. A Pope has the legal authority to make changes he sees fit. As a Traditionalist, I do not disagree that Pope Paul had the legal authority to change the Mass the way that he did. I do disagree that he had the moral authority to do so. The same with Pope John Paul II–he had the legal authority AND the moral authority to propagate the devotion to the Luminous Mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ. He also had the legal authority–but not the moral authority–to force Christians to pray the Luminous Mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing, though, that he did not force this upon anyone, he, in my opinion, DID NOT violate his Divinely given authority.

Why would anyone not pray these Mysteries when praying the Rosary?
Introducing the Luminous Mysteries made the Rosary complete. Prior to that the public ministry of Jesus had been ignored.

I think that the Church Herself operating in time here in this world is proof enough that the public ministry of Jesus has far from been ignored.

 

[Alindawyl]

The Dominican Rosary was a way for the laity to be in communion spiritually with the Church when the clergy prayed the Psalter or Breviary in Latin, which not many lay people understood. The Psalms are 150. The Rosary is 3 sets of Mysteries, 5 each, with a decade of Ave Maria’s. Adding to 150 Ave’s for the complete Rosary. Add the Luminous you now have a additional 50 Ave’s for a total of 200 Ave’s. There is not 200 Psalms, only 150. By Dominicans changing the intro to the Rosary, they are not changing the total of 150 Ave’s representing 150 Psalms. For a traditional Catholic. Tradition is important!. I’m not going to say that the Luminous mysteries are bad for all Catholics. I just don’t say them, because I prefer the traditional way. I’ll read scripture, when I want to meditate on the other Mysteries.

If tradition is important for a traditional Catholic, then you should be praying the rosary with 150 Ave Marias while meditating on the psalms. You shouldn’t be adding these crazy innovations like breaking up the Ave Marias with Pater Nosters and Gloria patris, or meditating on the life of Christ instead of the psalms.

Sorry, couldn’t resist

The rosary is a disciplinary practice, not Sacred Tradition. We don’t have to pray the Luminous Mysteries any more than we have to pray the rosary in the first place. The fact that you prefer the more traditional way of praying the rosary is perfectly fine.

For the record, I consider myself to be a traditional Catholic as well. I only started praying the Luminous Mysteries this past Christmas.

 

[martinfegan]

No. But when I read my bible I intersperse the Hail Mary between verses that Our Lady may grant me understanding.

 

[katy]

I respect the Pope’s position enough to pay attention when he proposed these mysteries. In addition, I find them very helpful to meditate upon. He never said we absolutely had to use them, though.

 

[Pat_Decowski]

Yes, I do pray the Luminous Mysteries. They give me an opportunity to meditate on the adult life of Christ, in such a way as to learn and appreciate what His journey was on the way to the Cross. I have a meditation on each Hail Mary, that tells me the significance of every step of the way, and how we must also travel with Him in our Spiritual life. My Parish offers Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament each Thursday morning following Mass. Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

 

[otjm]

I don’t pray the Luminous Mysteries for several reason. One because, when Our Lady introduced the Rosary to St. Dominic, she said…

“Therefore, preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest.”

She specifically compared the Rosary to the Psalter. I think we tend to forget that the Rosary was originally all 15 Mysteries every day. And, as one writer said, if Our Lady wants the Rosary to be amended, she should be the one who does it – as she did at Fatima.

The second reason is that the traditional Rosary follows a set pattern. Incarnation, Passion, Glory… Incarnation, Passion, Glory… the “wild card” is Sunday and that follows the three “Seasons” of the Church. The mysteries of the Incarnation start on Advent and go to the first Sunday of Lent where the Mystery of the Passion takes it place – then from Easter to Advent we have the Glorious Mysteries.

The “Public Ministry” doesn’t have a season in the Church’s Liturgy. Nor is on the same level of importance as the Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection and the Mysteries associated with these events.

These are the main reason I don’t say the Luminous Mysteries – though I’m not saying that others can’t come to other conclusions.

The first issue is whether or not the story that the Rosary was given to St Dominic is true; there are other sotries of the source of the Rosary and one is not required to accept one over the other. A second source is that it arose out of popular piety in attempting to mimic the prayer of the monks who said the Office; starting with 150 Our Fathers and eventually turning to 150 Ave’s, and over growth, to the Rosary with 15 mysteries.

The second issue is whether or not Mary, if she did give the Rosary to St Dominic, intended it to be exclusively set with only 15 mysteries. Given that it is a private devotion and not a liturgy of the Church, it would seem strange that a devotion could or would be so tightly limited that it could not include other mysteries.

And actually, the public life does have a season - ordinal (numbered) or what we call Ordinary time.

 

[Janine_Therese]

I do not pray the Luminous Mysteries. They are true and wonderful and essential to our faith–but at Fatima, when Mary commanded that the First Five Saturday devotion be done in reparation of blasphemies to her Holy Images, she said to Confess to a Priest, Recieve Holy Communion, and spend fifteen minutes in contemplation OF THE FIFTEEN MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY. Now–this may sound like nit-picking–but–tradition is like a relay race. You take the batton and pass it on–you do not change it, or drop it, or swap it as our priest used to say. Mary gave us an exact formula for gaining the graces for the world’s salvation–and there should be no variation whatsoever upon it. The Luminous mysteries are proper matter for devotion and meditation AFTER the appointed mysteries of the day have been said, i.e. Monday:Joyful, ect. Then if you say another rosary use the Luminous. It is like the changes in the Mass and architecture of the Church. These have imperilled the church’s identity and worship. Many in the Vatican wish to put Fatima in the past. Fatima is more important than ever—and we must not allow the true and historic rosary or scapular to be imperilled. Thanks for listening.
J.Therese

 

[Aurora_Maria]

Yes, although I find it difficult to visualise the third mystery, the proclamation, as one event, compared to the other four. Any ideas?

When I first meditated on that mystery, I saw Jesus moving through the crowds proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. He was casting out demons and healing people in His midst. I then visualized Him turning to me. He walked over to me, lovingly looked into my eyes, put His hand on my head and and saying “be healed”. It was a wonderful, profound meditation! I also will never forget the first time that I meditated on the 5Th Luminous mystery!

God bless