The Luminous Mysteries

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Like another poster said, JPII messed with Tradition by changing the rosary a little bit. Prayers aren’t really supposed to evolve. I suppose one day the Our Father will be changed and everyone will accept it just because the Pope was the one that changed it. As another poster on this very thread stated, just because the Pope does something does not automatically make it right.
The rosary is not from Tradition.

It is from tradition, a whole different issue. Please site some document in the last 2000 years that says prayers are not supposed to evolve - particularly in light of the fact that for the last 2000 years, prayers have evolved.
 
Like another poster said, JPII messed with Tradition by changing the rosary a little bit. Prayers aren’t really supposed to evolve. I suppose one day the Our Father will be changed and everyone will accept it just because the Pope was the one that changed it. As another poster on this very thread stated, just because the Pope does something does not automatically make it right.
Actually the Pater Noster has evolved. The Western Church ommitted the doxology at the end of it - “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages” (which is still said in the East), and then re-introduced the Protestant version of it at good ol’ Vatican II, without the Trinitarian formula. Not that I mind the Tridentine version of the Pater Noster - but it did “mess with tradition”. (And the Rosary is a “tradition”, not a part of the deposit of Faith which we capitalize as Tradition. To be sure, it was given by the Theotokos herself to St. Dominic - but even she was “messing with tradition”, since it was given as a replacement for the Psalter for laymen - and is really inappropriate in some situations, such as before Liturgy when Orthros/Matins is supposed to be said.)
 
Please start to add the Luminous Mysteries to your Rosary; you will find them uplifting.

:harp:
There isn’t any need to; I’m sure that plenty of traditional Catholics gain all the spiritual benefit they can just doing the traditional fifteen. I do the luminous because I do find them beneficial, but I wouldn’t want to “convert” people to them, especially traditional Catholics (I am generally rather tradition-minded myself). In the same way I wouldn’t ask other Latin Catholics to “please come to Byzantine Divine Liturgy, you will find it uplifting” - there is no need for the average layman to change rites when they are fine the way they are.
 
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
But we still do say the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary! This does not mean that we do not also have other devotions - the Mass (which is kind of important), the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, the Akathist, the chotki, etc. etc. etc. On Thursdays I usually say the Mysteries of Light instead of the Joyful Mysteries. Unlike the “traditional Rosary”, the luminous mysteries are not a substitute for the Psalter - but if I have time before Liturgy I pray Matins rather than the Rosary anyway (which is the more proper thing to do). The Rosary, unlike the Mass, was never part of the official, public worship of the Church - traditionally the Liturgy of the Hours is supposed to be said before liturgy, not the Rosary.
 
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.
Actually, take the whole second half out of the Ave Maria. In Russia the intercessory portion of the prayer never developed:

Hail, Theotokos, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, because thou hast born the Savior of our souls.
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).
 
Mathew 16: 15-19 - But who do you say I am? Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I build My Church, and the gates of the neatherworld shall not prevail against it. **Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loose in Heaven. **

So, Pope John Paul II was inspired by the Holy Spirit and has given us a new set of mysteries to contemplate on while praying the Holy Rosary of The Blessed Virgin Mary. We don’t know if Our Lady came to Him personally or how this all came about. I guess we can toss them away or follow in the tradition of the church. This is not church dogma, that you have to accept the new mysteries, I think JP felt it whithin himself to share with the church something he felt that was an important part of the Life of Christ and his devotion to the Blessed Mother.

When a pope cannonizes a new saint, do we accept them as a saint or do we say, not part of the tradition of the church. Maybe the church is in such dire straights because we (the church) aren’t receptive of our new fathers of the church. How many believe in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, or in Divine Mercy Sunday ?

When Pope Benetict made this the year of the priesthood, how many of us took it to heart to pray for our catholic priest? At what point to we accept our church leaders and there inspirations?

I too had difficulties praying these mysteries when they were first introduced. But decided to give them a try. And now I say them without resolve and enjoy contemplating upon them, so give them a try, an honest to goodness try!!! If you don’t feel that they move you in any way then stop.

Remember, any house divided amongst itself will fall.
 
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.[/QUAOTE]That borders on magic. It might be remembered that Fatima is private revelation, and while the Church has said that the matters of Fatima are worthy of belief, there is nothing requiring that the faithful be bound in any way, shape or form to them. Saying that there should be no variation whatsoever borders on magic and a belief that if you follow the formula, God is therefore bound. God cannot be bound by anything we do. The prayers and the Mass/Confession are worthy practices of which the Church approves but most definitely does not bind us to. Presuming that meditating on the life of Christ in some different format while saying the Rosary somehow will not qualify those prayers as worthy, or somehow they might not work to accomplish the reparation of balsphemies borders on superstition.
 
I don’t pray the Luminous mysteries, as I don’t really like what they do to the weekly schedule I have always used. It doesn’t seem to have a pattern or balance now, and so I don’t use it. With that said though I do think they are beautiful objects for meditation, and if they had been their own chaplet I would have prayed them.

But, this whole development has me thinking. Why do the “optional” forms always instantly replace the normative forms? Altar girls are made an option, and they are instantly ubiquitous. Communion in the hand is made an option, and communion on the tongue so totally disappears that children in our parish are not even offered that “option” for their first holy communion. Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are made an option, in case of need, and now you cannot find a Mass without them. And the Luminous mysteries are given as an option, and now you cannot find a prayer book, prayer group, or parish that doesn’t make them mandatory. The only “option” which has not become normative is the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, which unfortunately is treated by the Church like it is the normal, requisite Mass, i.e. you never see it.
 
Some objected to the Fatima Prayer, even though that was requested by our Blessed Virgin.
:knight1:
You know, that’s interesting. Maybe this should be another thread, but when I read the Apostolic Letter that proposed the Luminous Mysteries I saw no mention of the Fatima prayer. I’ve read elsewhere that praying the Fatima prayer is largely a United States phenomenon. I’ve never seen any source material that says that the Blessed Virgin requested this of everyone. Can anyone point out where such source material can be found?
 
I have a two disk CD set of JPII reciting the Rosary in Latin at St. Peters. He never says the Fatima prayer on the disk.

As others have said, the Rosary is not a requirement to be a Catholic in good standing. Its like a sacramental to be believed and practiced or not. But it sure helps me as I waddle through life.
 
Personally, I enjoy meditating on the beautiful Luminous Mysteries on Thursdays. To argue over such a wonderful gift seems ungrateful. I hope you do not argue over one of Gods beautiful gifts. The rising of the morning sun in the east. No, it rises in the NE,or no in the ENE. I personally do not believe the Blessed Mother would want us quibbling.G1J
 
WFS5801, I say stubborn because on another thread a very long time ago - on this same subject - posters were adamant about not including the Luminous Mysteries in their Rosary because they considered only the Psalter the “traditional” Rosary. Some objected to the Fatima Prayer, even though that was requested by our Blessed Virgin. That is stubborn.

Now, there is another target - Our Holy Father John Paul II.

Of course the Luminous Mysteries are “suggestions” and not required, but the Rosary itself is not required.

What I don’t understand is the objection to adding another beautiful Mystery to the Rosary.

Explain that to me. And being sarcastic about the words of our Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter does not cut it for me.😦

:knight1:
Our Lady did not call for any mysteries to be added to the Rosary. It was perfectly fine the way it was without the luminous mysteries. Going by what Our Lady says isn’t being stubborn. As another poster on this very thread stated, just because a Pope does something does not automatically make it right.
 
Personally, I enjoy meditating on the beautiful Luminous Mysteries on Thursdays. To argue over such a wonderful gift seems ungrateful. I hope you do not argue over one of Gods beautiful gifts. The rising of the morning sun in the east. No, it rises in the NE,or no in the ENE. I personally do not believe the Blessed Mother would want us quibbling.G1J
Actually, the sun never rises north of east unless you are south of the Tropic of Cancer. (Oh, wait, you said you didn’t want quibbling ;))
 
Being a recent convert, I actually started to pray the rosary on a Thursday, thus started with the Luminous mysteries are a part of my routine. :rolleyes:
 
I’ve heard the arguments and examples – I am thoroughly unconvinced.

Venerable John Paul II, pray for us.
So what you are saying is that every action taken by every Pope was and is good and proper. Is that about right?
 
Our Lady did not call for any mysteries to be added to the Rosary. It was perfectly fine the way it was without the luminous mysteries. Going by what Our Lady says isn’t being stubborn. As another poster on this very thread stated, just because a Pope does something does not automatically make it right.
Who cares?

The Rosary is a private Devotion. If you’re praying solo, pray any way you want. If you’re leading a group, pray any way you can get away with. If you’re new to a group, you may be best served by asking a few questions on the front end. Want to sub the Nicene Creed for the Apostles Creed? Want the Confiteor next? Want to do the whole thing in Inuit vernacular? Want St. Michael’s Chaplet at the end? Want to do 15 decades at one time? Make your best deal before you hear the Signum Crucis and stick to it. There’s no need to be so high-maintenance about it.

Most folks who pray the Rosary do so because they love the BVM and they love the prayers. Groups that wish to expand in number may be open to slight modifications to their routine. Few will want to be “schooled” by some recent convert with an ax to grind. If you think you’re being dragged down or robbed of your indulgences by praying in unison with faithful Catholics, you have several options.
 
Do you pray the Luminous Mysteries? Why or why not?
I do, on Thursday. They are beautiful but I have concerns. Are they indulgenced? And, as somebody, previously, mentioned they break up the Psalter which was the historical and spiritual foundation of the original rosary. 3 mysteries X 50 Hail Marys = 150
 
Yes, although I find it difficult to visualise the third mystery, the proclamation, as one event, compared to the other four. Any ideas?
I tend to visualize Him teaching in various locations, trudging daily along dusty paths in His earthly struggle. The Beatitudes. The feeding of the four thousand. I also contemplate those whom our Lord sent forth which were not Apostles: the Gerasene demoniac (Luke 8:38-39), the Samaritan woman (John 4:28-30), the leper who was cleansed (Luke 17:11-19); the widow of Nain and her son (Luke 7:11-17). All went forth as a part of proclaiming the Kingdom.

As well, the forgiveness of sins is also part of the Luminous Mysteries. It is easy to contemplate those who received Jesus’ forgiveness - those with demons cast out, the woman who touched his cloak, the paralytics, even Zacchaeus the tax collector.
 
No. No particular reason, except that I learned the rosary the other way and never learned the new mysteries. The way the rosary has been prayed for so many hundreds of years is just fine with me. M.
 
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