The Fifth Joyful Mystery: The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it...

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers (Lk 2:41-47).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship: ‘Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s work?’ (Lk 2:49)” (CCC, 534).

While meditating on the finding of Jesus in the temple, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

It is the end of the month of the Holy Rosary, and we have now come to the end of our prayer. Conclude by reciting the Hail Holy Queen and by making a Sign of the Cross:

The Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation in the Temple

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, 'Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord') and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, 'a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons’ (Lk 2:21-24).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Jesus' circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, is the sign of his incorporation into Abraham's descendants, into the people of the covenant. It is the sign of his submission to the Law" (CCC, 527). And in this submission to the Law, He fulfills it!

While meditating on the Presentation, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

The Third Joyful Mystery: The Birth of Our Lord

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrolment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn (Lk 2:1-7).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven's glory was made manifest" (CCC, 525). The Savior, Son of Man was born to a Virgin, and all of creation rejoiced!

While meditating on the Nativity, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

The Second Joyful Mystery: The Visitation

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’ (Lk 1:39-42).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people" (CCC, 717). Our Mother was affirmed in her Blessedness, and the Word was recognized as Jesus, the Son of God.

While meditating on the Visitation, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

The First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary (Lk 1:26-27).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the angel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary “inaugurates the ‘fullness of time (Gal 4:4), the time of the fulfillment of God’s promises and preparations” (CCC 484). Man’s fate rested on Mary’s response, and her fiat, her “yes,” led to the fulfillment of salvation history.

While meditating on the Annunciation to Mary, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary

October is the month of the Holy Rosary, so we will celebrate here on Open Wide the Doors by meditating on the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Here’s what Blessed John Paul II said about The Joyful Mysteries in his letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae:

The first five decades, the “joyful mysteries”, are marked by the joy radiating from the event of the Incarnation. This is clear from the very first mystery, the Annunciation, where Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to messianic joy: “Rejoice, Mary”. The whole of salvation history, in some sense the entire history of the world, has led up to this greeting. If it is the Father's plan to unite all things in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10), then the whole of the universe is in some way touched by the divine favor with which the Father looks upon Mary and makes her the Mother of his Son. The whole of humanity, in turn, is embraced by the fiat with which she readily agrees to the will of God.

Exultation is the keynote of the encounter with Elizabeth, where the sound of Mary's voice and the presence of Christ in her womb cause John to “leap for joy” (cf. Lk 1:44). Gladness also fills the scene in Bethlehem, when the birth of the divine Child, the Saviour of the world, is announced by the song of the angels and proclaimed to the shepherds as “news of great joy” (Lk 2:10).