by Matt Abbot, Art Sippo and Pete Vere
To celebrate the 24th anniversary of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II recently promulgated Rosarium Virginis Mariae. In this work, the Holy Father dedicates the year 2003 to the Rosary and proposes five new Mysteries to be contemplated while praying this most popular of devotions to the Blessed Mother. These optional Mysteries, called Luminous, are all taken from the life of Our Lord. As Peggy Noonan so aptly points out, in the sunset years of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II has shown the world what truly matters most, namely prayer. And thus as Catholics faithful to Tradition, the present authors look forward to meditating upon the life of Our Lord as seen through the eyes of Our Blessed Mother.
After all, the five Luminous Mysteries emphasize the great mysteries of Christ’s life that are in the Gospels but not noted in the previous mysteries. For example, the Transfiguration is the major event in Christ’s life in the Church’s Eastern Tradition and merits inclusion in order to make the Rosary more of a universal prayer for all Catholics. The miracle at Cana is also a Marian event of great importance that supports the overall theme of the Rosary. The preaching of the Kingdom is critically important in Catholicism because it emphasizes the Kingship of Christ and the fact Our Lord founded a visible messianic community, and not merely an invisible secret society of elite individuals. Finally, the inclusion of the Baptism of Jesus and the Last Supper helps to link the rosary to the Church’s liturgical tradition – a tradition that has suffered greatly in the last forty years.
Yet not all folks share our enthusiasm for these optional Mysteries proposed by Holy Father. As usual, the ever-vigilant and lidless eye of integrism has turned its pitiless gaze toward the Luminous Mysteries. “How dare the Pope tamper with the Rosary,” they exclaim in sanctimonious outrage. “Isn’t the Rosary fine as it is? What good can come from changing it? It must be some sort of subtle modernist plot.”
Forget that the Rosary is a private devotion and that these new Mysteries are optional. Forget that Our Lady’s purpose is to bring us closer to her Divine Son, and that these Mysteries assist us in contemplating the life of Our Lord. Forget that over the nine-hundred-year period since the first introduction of the Rosary, it has continuously evolved as a popular devotion. For example, in time the Glory Be and the Fatima Prayer were added after each decade. While the Hail, Holy Queen and Pope Leo XIII’s Prayer to St. Michael were added to the Rosary’s concluding prayers at a date much later than this pious devotion’s first introduction. And since the following prayer is at the very heart of the Rosary, dare we mention that the entire second half of the Hail Mary is an addition? Read St. Thomas Aquinas’ commentary on the prayers of the Rosary, and you find no mention of the following incantation when he reflects upon the Ave Maria: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at time of our death. Amen.” All these practices, which pious Catholics today take for granted when praying the Rosary, are additions that arose throughout the years from the pious popular expressions of good Catholic men and women. In short, the Rosary is an evolving devotion subject to organic growth.
And thus as one individual recently commented on an email discussion list, perhaps the lidless eye reactionaries would have been happier if, in lieu of the five Luminous Mysteries, the Holy Rosary would have evolved toward the five Gloomy Mysteries. These could include the following: 1) Our Lord preventing the Pharisees from giving the adulteress the stoning she so richly deserved. 2) The five foolish virgins being told, “I know you not”. 3) The rich man goes to hell and is denied a drop of water. 4) The blood curse of the Jews of which Pontius Pilate washes his hands. And 5) Judas betrays Our Lord with a kiss, hangs himself, and his stomach bursts open.