Mine are always changing depending upon what I’m go through personally. What I love about the mysteries is that we can always find new insights.
I love The second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary – The Visitation; when Mary, who is pregnant with the baby Jesus, goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist.
When Elizabeth sees Mary, she is filled with the Holy Spirit and recognizes that Mary is carrying the Messiah. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy, as John the Baptist already begins proclaiming the coming of the Messiah from her womb!
Elizabeth recognizes the presence of Jesus in Mary, and Mary brings the presence of Jesus to all she encounters. Aren’t we called to do the same?
I also love the Third Joyful Mystery – the Birth of Jesus. We can think of the complete trust in God that Mary and Joseph had in their journey to Bethlehem and ask for greater trust in God for ourselves. We can consider the humble surroundings of the stable where Jesus was born and evaluate whether or not we are living in humility. We can marvel that the first to worship this newborn king were simple shepherds, and promise to praise and worship God more often ourselves. We can wonder that the Great God of the Universe chose to become one of us in order that we might be saved, and ask for the grace to share this Good News to all we meet.
We can consider the baby lying in the manger of stiff straw, like an animal, and that Jesus would one day replace all animal sacrifices by His One Perfect Sacrifice on the Cross. Maybe the pokes of the straw on the tender newborn skin prefigured the piercing of His skin from the whip, the crown of thorns and the sword in His side.
As with all the mysteries of the Rosary, their depths can never be fully revealed or understood until we are with God in heaven! The Rosary is such an awesome prayer!!