Thursday, September 29, 2011

The First Luminous Mystery

He Who was baptized in the Jordan
The Baptism in the Jordan

Matthew 28:19

Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Christ had already followed this example, as we find at the start of his public life in Matthew 3:13-17
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him. But John stayed him, saying: I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering, said to him: Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfill all justice. Then he suffered him. And Jesus bing baptized, forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him. And behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

I am reminded of an incident with St. Faustina, to whom was revealed the Divine Mercy. Our Lord told her to ask her superior to allow her to adore at midnight. She did, and was told no. He repeated this request several times, and each time she asked her superior, who denied her request. Finally, St. Faustina's superior told her not to ask her anymore.

The next time Our Lord asked her to adore Him at midnight, she replied in distress that her superior had again said no, and had ordered her not to ask again. Jesus replied that he had done this to make clear to her that he exercises his authority through his church, and that she must be obedient to her superior.

By himself being baptized "to fulfill all justice," Christ shows us the important of this as a sacrament. Though sinless, he accepted cleansing from sin, just as he would later accept their punishment.

Christ was baptized so that we could be baptized with him, anointed with him.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Luminous Mysteries

The Luminous mysteries tell us of Jesus's earthly ministry, from his baptism to his institution of the Eucharist. They are:

  1. The Baptism in the Jordan
    Qui apud Iordanem baptizatus est.
    He Who was baptized in the Jordan.
  2. The Wedding at Cana
    Qui ipsum revelavit apud Canense matrimonium.
    He Who revealed Himself at the wedding feast of Cana.
  3. The Proclamation of the Kingdom
    Qui Regnum Dei annuntiavit.
    He who announced the Kingdom of God.
  4. The Transfiguration
    Qui transfiguratus est.
    He Who was transfigured.
  5. The Institution of the Eucharist
    Qui Eucharistiam instituit.
    He Who instituted the Eucharist.

As you probably know, the luminous mysteries are a fairly recent addition to the Rosary. There have been many people in favor of their addition, and many people who believe them to be a great insult to Mary.

What I know is this:

  • The Rosary is not Liturgy. While traditional and universally known, it is a devotion, and there are several variants.
  • As revealed to St. Dominic, the Rosary is a means of teaching the faith. Blessed John Paul the Great's addition is to the teaching aspect.
  • The luminous mysteries are and always will be optional. If you don't like them, don't say them.
What I know is that Bl. JPM said that these are five mysteries of Christ worthy of meditation. That is all I need to know, totus tuus Maria!

Mary, loving mother who tells us to do the will of your Son, pray for us!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Doing some maintenance...

Hey all. Just a heads up that I've started using a lot more custom formatting in recent posts, and I'm going to start working backwards to apply the same internal structure so that my blog is easier for me to maintain. I'm also going to be looking over older posts to make sure they still look good with the new theme for the whole blog.

I have several new posts in the queue, including a start into the Luminous mysteries of the rosary, and some discussion of Hell. Bear with me, those should be out soon. If you see typos/glitches/plain bad formatting, feel free to report it to me, musings@jebwerkz.com.

Thanks!