Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary: Proclamation of the Kingdom of God

 

Continuing my series on simple rosary meditations 🤔, The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God is the 3rd Luminous Mystery. This does not refer to just one event in Jesus’ life, but His whole ministry, and therefore, allows for a lot of ways to meditate. 

I used to say “Lord help me to proclaim the gospel in whatever circumstance I’m in.” But when I meditate on scripture, and the mysteries of the rosary, God is always drawing me to think more deeply, and in a new light. 

Right now, when I think of this mystery, 2 things come to mind. I think of how Jesus was about reaching out to, and healing, people. Especially hurting, hopeless people. People that everyone else ignored or rejected. Those were His priority. The leper, the crippled man, the blind man, the woman at the well, the dead girl, the possessed boy, the bleeding woman, the prostitute, the short guy in the tree shouting His name, children. Jesus looked at, touched, loved, each one of them and saw, value. Honestly, if this mystery makes us uncomfortable, it should. If we are not living like this, Jesus, give us the grace to grow and become true children of the kingdom of God, and preachers of the gospel, with how we treat and look at other people. 

The second thing that comes to mind, is that the kingdom of God, is not always something we see. It takes time. It takes work. Surrendering to God daily, every area of your life. Sometimes the last thing you see in your life, is God’s kingdom working in you. But it is. If you nurture it with prayer, surrendering, reading His word, getting up again after you fall, daily. Before you know it, what was just a seed, will be a big beautiful tree. And you’ll say “How’d that get there?!” Let your kingdom grow in me, God.🌱

Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary: The Miracle at the Wedding of Cana

 

You know how with other mom friends, who are super busy like you, you have these ongoing text conversations that last for weeks? I know I’m not alone. I have friends with whom, I can at random, text them at any time, when I have the time or opportunity, and continue a conversation we were having a week ago. Maybe even a few weeks ago. That’s what this is with these rosary meditations. 😁 So, continuing our conversation in simple meditations on the mysteries of the rosary, this one has got to be one of my favorites! The Miracle at the Wedding of Cana, the 2nd Luminous mystery- Why? Because first of all, Jesus performs His first miracle, at a wedding, celebrating the sacrament of marriage with friends. It’s nothing too terribly dramatic, to most people an every day life event, but He brings the miraculous to the table, and shows that God cares about “the little things”. And He does it, because Mary intercedes for the couple. 

Can you imagine your child being the Son of God and knowing it?! But this was her position. She saw their need, their embarrassment, even, of running out of wine at their own wedding. She didn’t elaborate much, but met His eyes, knowing what He was capable of and said “They have no wine.” I can almost hear her pleading voice. Because I have pleaded with the Lord, for my own children. A mother can be pretty desperate. Pleading for her children. We are her children if Christ is our brother. She accepted that role when she said yes to being His mother. 

Do you know that she will plead, for you? I honestly believe this story is in the Bible simply to show us that Mary can intercede for us. and will. Because what are the results? He listens to her, albeit with some reservation at first, but the point is, Jesus who was and is God, listens to His mother’s plea. And as a result, a miracle happens. It says that it “manifested his glory and his disciples believed in Him.” 

Ask for the fruits of “new wine” in your life. In whatever you are going through. Go to the wedding of Cana. Ask your heavenly mother, to plead with you, to plead for you, to her Son. She will do it. I promise you. And then as she said to the servants “Do whatever He tells you.”

Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary: The Baptism of Jesus

Mark 1:7

The next set of mysteries for meditation are the Luminous Mysteries! These mysteries were actually only added in 2002 by one of our family patron saints, St. John Paul II.  Luminous means “full of light” and so of course, something to think about while meditating on these mysteries, but I also like to personally think of them as the “miraculous mysteries” because each mystery does dwell, on the miraculous aspects of Jesus’ ministry. The first Luminous mystery is the Baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:7-11), in which God the Son, humbles  Himself to “be like us in all things but sin” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 470, and Hebrews 4:15) submits Himself to the sacrament of Baptism- the sacrament by which we all enter into the Christian life of grace and become part of God’s family. By doing so, He sanctifies the Baptismal waters, and shows us the way to heaven. 

  I have this beautiful rosary meditation book, “Splendors of the Rosary” from Magnificat by Pierre-Marie Dumont. I have shared from it  before. There is classical art and commentary on it for every mystery, plus a written meditation and sometimes a poem or hymn. The painting for “The Baptism of Christ” is by Paolo Caliari called “Veronese” dated c. 1561. There are so many things I love about this painting: the humble and submissive position of Christ, the visible angels hiding behind Jesus, watching the event with wonder and awe, John the Baptist and his willing but hesitant manner as he baptized the Son of God, (can you imagine what he was feeling at that moment?!) God the Father and the Holy Spirit present above, but what has made such an impression on me, is the author’s commentary on the angel dipping his foot in the water. “Only the 2 angels who emerge from the Divine light can discern, in this image of a man bent down under the weight of the sins of the world, the incarnation of Eternal Love. They bow in adoration, one of them dips his foot in the waters of the Jordan..” 

I have looked at this angel many times and thought, how often the holiness of God is present before me, and I miss it? In my every day life? I pray I can live in awe of His miraculous presence in my life, in what seems like, an ordinary event on the outside, but in which there are angels present, life changing grace present, the Trinity present, if I pause to notice.