I didn’t intend to demean the majesty of the Luminous Mysteries. I just find that I prefer to meditate on the Agony in the Garden or the Incarnation than the Beatitudes & the Wedding at Cana. I get more out of it. Meditating on the Luminous Mysteries never really edified me as much as the other ones did.
How hard did you try?
I find inspiration in all the mysteries, but my favorite luminous mystery is the transfiguration.
Mine for the Joyful is the Annunciation…since it’s also my birthday.
Really? I thought prayers in private can be prayed anyway one wants to, unless one’s a priest who has to pray the Divine Office. Isn’t it more important that prayer be sincere than legalistic?
Indeed, I have 5 mysteries for each day of the week, drawing on events in the Gospel the traditional mysteries don’t cover. It was published by Our Sunday Visitor before JPII came out with the Luminous Mysteries. It was called “The Beautiful Gate Mysteries” and is, sadly, out of print. I still use it since I find it the most helpful to my meditations. I also compiled another rosary devotional using the Luminous Mysteries and the other Traditional ones with the same format as TBGR. Both versions have 5 ways to use it, which makes it convenient if I am pressed for time or if I wish to go into the scriptural references in greater depth.
The Luminous Mysteries are simply less edifying for me than the others, not completely devoid of edification. I prayed the Luminous Mysteries many times, and read up a little about them with a book that I had (which I have since thrown out). I simply discovered that the traditional order of days to pray the rosary was better suited to my liking and put more focus on the original mysteries of the rosary. I also read how the rosary’s 150 Ave Marías represent the Psalms, something that is lost when 5 decades are added. I find it to be of little consequence whether we choose to pray the Luminous Mysteries or not. Anyway, all of my prayer books are from before Pope John Paul II and have quotes & reflections from my patron St. Alphonsus Liguori and of St. Louis Montfort. Since they never wrote of the Luminous Mysteries, I decided to not pray them.
Not on my own, but Father gave me a penance once where he asked me to pray one decade of the Rosary and focus on the flight of the Holy Family from Israel into Egypt.
That’s one of the events I include in my meditations, as well. It’s full of prophetic meaning, as well as showing us part of the sufferings of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, who is all too often overlooked when meditating on the mysteries.
I normally pray it slowly or at a normal talking speed.
You mention the fruit of the mysteries. Is there a list of these? Or is it something you developed on your own?
There’s a list, one fruit for every mystery.
Wow. Thank you so much for this list! I look forward to incorporating these into my rosary prayers. How nice you you to list them all. God bless you!
). If I get the chance to at home I have bookmarked tabs on my laptop with pictures of each of the mysteries to look at as I pray. If not, I’ll do it in the car, or when I go to sleep. I’ve somehow started collecting rosaries, so they’re everywhere.St. JPII said that the Luminous mysteries are optional. I like praying the Luminous as a chaplet in additional to the mysteries Our Lady gave us, not in place of them.
That’s a nice way of looking at it. I have been reading St. Louis de Montfort and trying to figure out how the Luminous mysteries fit in, since they didn’t exist in his day. This may be how I’ll accommodate them.