An Excerpt from "Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary"--The Five Glorious Mysteries

Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary

Nihil Obstat: Father Alfred Wilder, O.P., Ph.D. Censor Librorum November 20, 2015 Imprimatur: David R. Choby, D.D., J.C.L. Bishop of Nashville December 3, 2015

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Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary composed by

Sister Mary Madeline Todd, O.P.

Divine goodness is the source of our hope, thus by faith in Christ we can know, Saint Paul writes, “If we have died with Him we shall also live with Him.�

glorious Mysteries

First Glorious Mystery – Jesus Rises from the Dead (Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:1-12, 36-49; John 20:1-23) The Spirit’s Fruit of Peace

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fter great tragedies, we can wonder how, and even if, peace can be restored. We try to re-order the things around us, but ultimately, we need a hope greater than our loss, a light greater than the darkness, to find peace again. Jesus had already assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me, though he should die, will come to life,”72 but his death overwhelmed his loved ones. Appearing to Mary Magdalene and the women after He rose from death, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”73 Likewise, when he appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem, He said, “Peace be with you…Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.”74

Saint Thomas notes that to have peace requires two conditions: “namely, that we be not disturbed by external things, and that our desires rest altogether in one object.”75 Central to Jesus’ teaching is the call to seek one thing – to know and love God, whose loving will is always for our good. Then, in the midst of suffering we can find peace, as we trust that God will bring good out of what appears to be evil, even life from death.

Saint Catherine often ponders the love of Christ which impelled Him to shed his blood on the cross unto the healing of our souls. She writes in one of her prayers, “And you, Jesus Christ, our reconciler, our refashioner, our redeemer – you, Word and love, were made our mediator. You turned our great war with God into a great peace.”76 May we, in all our struggles, find in Christ’s resurrection a source of peace.

Second Glorious Mystery – Jesus Ascends into Heaven (Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-11) The Spirit’s Fruit of Joy

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lthough among life’s great sorrows are partings from those we love, being reunited with them brings even greater joy.

It may seem hard to understand that Jesus’ departure from this world could be a cause of joy for his disciples, and yet Luke describes how forty days after his resurrection, Jesus “led them [out] as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As He blessed them He parted from them and was taken up to heaven.

They did Him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.”77

By the light of faith, the disciples could rejoice in knowing that Jesus was returning to the Father. Jesus had spoken often of the Father’s love for Him as Son, and as Saint Thomas writes, “The necessary result of the love of charity is joy: because every lover rejoices at being united to the beloved.”78 Since God is the very source of charity, the union of the Father and the Son, in the Spirit, is a font of pure joy.

Saint Catherine received from the Father an insight that points to a deeply personal joy in the hearts of the disciples, an awareness that Jesus’ ascension gives his followers a way to union with the Father: “When my only-begotten Son returned to me forty days after his resurrection, this bridge was raised high above the earth. For he left your company and ascended to heaven by the power of my divine nature to sit at his eternal Father’s right hand. On the day of his ascension the disciples were as good as dead, because their hearts had been lifted up to heaven along with my Son.”79 May we too rejoice to know that Jesus, who returned to the Father, draws us to follow where He has led, to the reunion that is eternal.

Third Glorious Mystery – The Holy Spirit Descends on Mary and the Apostles (John 14:26; Acts 1:5-8; Acts 2:1-6) The Spirit’s Gift of Wisdom

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o know many things is helpful, but it does not necessarily make us wise. Jesus taught his disciples many truths, but He assured them often of a further gift: “But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth.”80 After He rose from the dead, He instructed his disciples, “I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”81 As stated in the Acts of the Apostles, on the day of Pentecost, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”82

Wisdom, Saint Thomas teaches, makes us know as God knows because it unites us to God in love. He writes, “The wisdom which is a gift of the Holy Ghost…enables us to judge aright of Divine things, or of other things according to Divine rules, by reason of a certain connaturalness or union with Divine things, which is the effect of charity…Hence the wisdom of which we are speaking presupposes charity.”83

The Father reveals to Saint Catherine that the Spirit bestows abundant gifts on the Son’s disciples: “When he had been raised on high and returned to me, his Father, I sent the Teacher, the Holy Spirit. He came with my power and my Son’s wisdom and his own mercy…So though my Son’s presence was no longer with you, his teaching…remained, as did his virtues…

The Holy Spirit’s mercy confirmed this teaching by strengthening the disciples’ minds to testify to the truth and make known this way, the teaching of Christ crucified.”84 May the Spirit fill us with wisdom, that our knowledge might be afire with love.

Fourth Glorious Mystery – Mary Is Assumed into Heaven (Luke 1:48-52; John 17:24; 1 Cor. 15:20-28) The Theological Virtue of Hope

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f we hope only in our own strength, the results point to the need to look to another for help, and ultimately to Another.

In her hymn of praise of God, Mary sings, “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name…He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.”85 That Mary, when her life ended, would be with her Son in heaven fulfills his prayer for those close to Him: “Father, they are your gift to Me. I wish that where I am they also may be with Me, that they may see my glory that you gave Me, because you loved Me before the foundation of the world.”86

Mary knew that God, who alone does great things for us, is the only sure foundation of hope. As Saint Thomas notes, since we place our hope in a God of infinite power and goodness, hope concerns an infinite good – eternal life. He explains, “For we should hope from Him for nothing less than Himself, since his goodness, whereby He imparts good things to his creature, is no less than his Essence. Therefore the proper and principal object of hope is eternal happiness.”87

Saint Catherine sees that Mary’s hope, and ours, finds its source in the love of our Creator. She prays, “Oh Mary, vessel of humility! In you the light of true knowledge thrives and burns.

By this light you rose above yourself, and so you were pleasing to the eternal Father, and he seized you and drew you to himself, loving you with a special love. With this light and with the fire of your charity and with the oil of your humility you drew his divinity to stoop to come into you – though even before that he was drawn by the blazing fire of his own boundless charity to come to us.”88 May we place our hope in the Lord whose love draws us to life eternal.

Fifth Glorious Mystery – Mary Is Crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth (Mt. 19:28; 2 Tim. 2:11-12; Rev. 12:1-6) The Spirit’s Fruit of Goodness

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ifts may awaken goodness in the receiver, but they always manifest the goodness of the giver. Jesus was fully aware of the weakness of his apostles, but based on divine goodness, He assured them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed Me…when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones.”89 Divine goodness is the source of our hope, thus by faith in Christ we can know, Saint Paul writes, “If we have died with Him we shall also live with Him; if we persevere we shall also reign with Him.”90 If this is true for all disciples, how much more so for the mother of Jesus, whom Saint John beheld as “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”91 The Church looks to Mary as Queen, not only as a sign of the goodness of God who chose her as Mother of Christ the King, but also for the loving goodness with which she guides all believers to her Son’s kingdom. Saint Thomas notes that the characteristic of goodness is the “will to do good”92 for one’s neighbor. This he sees in the very being and the motherly intercession of Mary, as he notes, “So full of grace was the Blessed Virgin, that it overflows onto all mankind.”93 When Saint Catherine prayed for a soul in danger, God replied, “For I had not forgotten the reverence and love he had for Mary, my only-begotten Son’s most gentle mother. For my goodness, in deference to the Word, has decreed that anyone at all, just or sinner, who holds her in due reverence will never be snatched or devoured by the infernal demon. She is like a bait set out by my goodness to catch my creatures.”94 May the prayers of Mary, our Mother and Queen, lead us to her Son.

Endnotes: Pope John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, no.1, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 16 October 2002, at www.vatican.va.

2 Luke 1:31, 35. All scriptural quotes are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition.

3 Hebrews 11:1.

4 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST III, 30, 1, obj. 3. All quotes of the Summa Theologica are from the translation by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province, New York: Benziger Brothers, 1947.

5 See Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 4, 5, corpus.

6 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 141 (Noffke, 292). All quotes from The Dialogue are from the translation by Suzanne Noffke, O.P. in the Classics of Western Spirituality Series, New York: Paulist Press, 1980.

7 Luke 1:38.

8 Luke 1:39-40.

9 Titus 3:4-7.

10 See Galatians 5:22-23.

11 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, 70, 3, corpus.

12 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 7 (Noffke, 36).

13 Luke 2:7.

14 Luke 2:11-12.

15 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 9, 2, corpus.

16 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 151 (Noffke, 320).

17 Luke 2:22.

18 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 121, 1, corpus.

19 Romans 8:14-15.

20 Saint Catherine of Siena, Letters, Volume II, T207, 140. All quotes from The Letters of Catherine of Siena are from the translations by Suzanne Noffke, O.P., Volumes I to IV, Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2000-2008.

21 Luke 2:48.

22 Luke 2:49.

23 Luke 2:51.

1

Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 52, 2, corpus.

Saint Catherine of Siena, Letters, Volume I, T166, 177-178.

26 Matthew 3:11.

27 Matthew 3:16-17.

28 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 8, 1, corpus.

29 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 75 (Noffke, 139).

30 John 2:7.

31 Saint Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Ch. 2, Lec. 1, 341, translated by James A. Weisheipl, O.P., Albany, NY: Magi Books, online at www.dhspriory.org.

32 Saint Catherine of Siena, Prayers, 19:60-66 (Noffke, 171). All prayers of Saint Catherine are quotes from The Prayers of Catherine of Siena, ed. Suzanne Noffke, O.P., New York: Paulist Press, 1983.

33 See John 10:10.

34 Mark 1:14-15.

35 Titus 2:11-13.

36 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I, 21, 3, ad. 2.

37 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 135 (Noffke, 279).

38 Luke 9:29.

39 Luke 9:35.

40 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST III, 45, 4, ad. 4.

41 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 58 (Noffke, 112).

42 Matthew 26:26-28.

43 Saint Thomas Aquinas, “Prayer Before Communion,” online at http://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/aquinas-before-communion.html.

44 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue 167 (Noffke, 365).

45 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 151 (Noffke, 320).

46 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 42 (Noffke, 86).

47 Luke 22:44.

48 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 137, 3, corpus.

49 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 60 (Noffke, 115).

50 Mark 15:15.

51 Isaiah 53:5.

52 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 123, 4, ad. 1.

53 Saint Catherine of Siena, Letters, Volume I, T200, 21.

54 Isaiah 53:7.

24 25

Mark 15:17-19.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, 70, 3, corpus.

57 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 157, 4, corpus.

58 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 8 (Noffke, 38- 39).

59 See Matthew 11:29.

60 See John 19:17.

61 See Luke 23:26 -31.

62 Luke 9:23.

63 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 136, 3, corpus.

64 Saint Catherine of Siena, Letters, Volume IV, T354 (Noffke, 249).

65 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 137 (Noffke, 283).

66 John 13:1.

67 Luke 23:34.

68 Luke 23:43.

69 Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Aquinas Catechism: A Simple Explanation of the Catholic Faith by the Church’s Greatest Theologian, Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 2000, 44.

70 Saint Catherine of Siena, Letters, Volume II, T53, 576.

71 In the Dialogue, the Father reveals to Catherine concerning the crucifixion of Jesus, “In this way he drew everything to himself: for he proved his unspeakable love, and the human heart is always drawn by love” (26, Noffke, 65).

72 John 11:25-26.

73 Matthew 28:10.

74 Luke 24:36, 38-39.

75 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, 70, 3, corpus.

76 Saint Catherine of Siena, Prayers, 1:60-67 (Noffke, 17).

77 Luke 24:50-52.

78 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, 70, 3, corpus.

79 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 29 (Noffke, 68).

80 John 16:13.

81 Luke 24:49.

82 Acts 2:4.

83 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 45, 4, corpus.

84 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 29 (Noffke, 69).

85 Luke 1:48-49, 52.

55 56

John 17:24.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST II-II, 17, 2, corpus.

88 Saint Catherine of Siena, Prayers, 18:28-44 (Noffke, 156-157).

89 Matthew 19:28.

90 2 Timothy 2:11-12.

91 Revelation 12:1.

92 Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, 70, 3, corpus.

93 Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Three Greatest Prayers: Commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Apostles’ Creed, Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 1990: 167.

94 Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 140 (Noffke, 286).

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