Tuesday, October 6, 2020 –
Okie dokie, readers! Today we are going to veer away from our Super Basic Primers on the Rosary and switch gears for the next 20 days. That’s right, you guessed it! We are going to do a daily meditation on EACH of the twenty mysteries. Woo-hoo! After we finish all twenty mysteries, we will resume our Super Basic Primers on the Rosary to finish out the month with a handful of odds and ends and tidbits of fun.
These meditations are a compilation of several different sources that I have found helpful over the years:
- Meditations on the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary by Fulton Sheen
- Praying the Rosary without Distractions from The Rosary Center and Confraternity
- Pray the Rosary Daily from Marian Press
- Quick Meditations on Every Mystery of the Rosary by Ascension Press
Let’s get started with the Joyful Mysteries (because I like to do these in chronological order, remember). Today we will cover:
The First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation (Luke 1:28)
(the Angel Gabriel tells Mary she is pregnant with Christ)
IN THE ANNUNCIATION, the birth of the Son of God in the flesh is made to hinge on the consent of a woman, as the fall of man in the garden of Paradise hinged on the consent of a man.
God in His power might have assumed a human nature by force, as the hand of a man lays hold of a rose. But He willed not to invade His great gift of freedom without a creature’s free response. Through the angel who salutes Mary in words that have become the first part of the Hail Mary, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” Mary is asked if she will give God a man!
Mary learning that she will conceive without human love, but with the overshadowing of divine Love, consents, and a new humanity begins, with Mary as the new Eve, and Christ the new Adam.
The Annunciation is the Mystery of the joy of freedom. Our free will is the only thing in the world that is our own. God can take away anything else, our health, wealth, power, but God will never force us to love Him or to obey Him. The charm of Yes lies in the possibility that one might have said No.
Mary has taught us to say Fiat to God. “Be it done to me according to Thy word.” But God Himself has taught us that, since He would not invade the freedom of a woman, then a man should never do so.
For each bead (1-10) in the decade, meditate (think) on the list below:
- The time for the Incarnation is at hand.
- Of all women God prepared Mary from her conception to be the Mother of the Incarnate Word.
- The Angel Gabriel announces: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee.”
- Mary wonders at this salutation.
- The Angel assures her: “Fear not . . . you shall conceive in your womb, and give birth to a Son.”
- Mary is troubled for she has made a vow of virginity.
- The Angel answers that she will conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit, and her Son will be called the Son of God.
- The Incarnation awaits Mary’s consent.
- Mary answers: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.”
- The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Spiritual Fruit of the Mystery: Humility
Mystical Rose, pray for us!
