Editor’s note: When she appeared at Fatima, Our Lady asked us not only to pray the rosary, but also to meditate on its mysteries. In a five-part series beginning in this week’s edition, writer Steven Richardson will explore how the mysteries of the rosary are reflected in the rosary prayers themselves.
The Apostles’ Creed illuminates the first mystery from each of the joyful, sorrowful, glorious and luminous mysteries of the rosary.
“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary…”
After making the sign of the cross, every rosary begins with these words. The first prayer that we say is the profession and description of our faith, the ancient creed. And what more fitting start could we have for the Annunciation, the first joyful mystery, than to repeat this belief that Mary held so close to her heart. Jesus Christ, His only Son, was born into the world because Mary believed so strongly in God.
Full of grace, Mary had been preparing for the Annunciation from the moment of her Immaculate Conception. But she didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. Before it did, and after it did as well, she drew upon her incredible faith in God to understand and believe and even rejoice. All mankind, living and dead, waited for the answer of a 14-year-old girl. The creator of heaven and earth came to dwell within her.
The first event recited in the Creed is the Annunciation, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Because of this, He was born of the Virgin Mary.
“…suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell…”
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus can see the future unfolding through the tears of blood that ran from His eyes and down His cheeks. He already knows what is going to occur, who is going to betray Him, who will abandon Him. He knows the suffering He will endure. This is the first sorrowful mystery, the Agony in the Garden. This is the mystery that prepares us for the way of the cross.
But it is striking to note that the list of descriptions here moves directly from Jesus’ birth to His passion. They are not only the two most important parts of His life, they are the most connected. From the time that Jesus was born of Mary and laid in the manger, He lived under the shadow of the cross. Even the wood that supported His infant head was a foreshadowing of the wood to which He would be nailed. Without the cross, we have nothing.
“…on the third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead…”
After descending, Jesus rises from the dead in glory. This is indeed the first glorious mystery, the Resurrection. What great hope we have, with a risen Savior! What a glorious home awaits us, with Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. There is so much both joyful and glorious in these words that it must compel us to delight in the majesty and splendor of the plan that God ordained from the beginning of the ages.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:3-4) As the Resurrection leads to the Ascension, and the Ascension leads to Christ sitting at God’s right hand, it is the basis for all that we believe in the life to come. Because Christ rose from the dead, we have a living faith, one that is guided by the belief that we do have every spiritual blessing waiting for us in heaven. “We are an Easter people,” St. John Paul II said in his Angelus message on Nov. 30, 1986, “and Alleluia is our song.”
St. Paul concludes this verse by explaining how we should behave in light of this truth: “That we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:4) And this is our response to the majestic promise. We are born into the Resurrection when we are born from above (also see John 3:3), but we have to respond to this birth by striving to be found acceptable when Christ comes to judge. This is how we respect and adore the mystery of the risen Christ.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) Now that Christ has been resurrected and sits at the Father’s right hand to judge, we work out our own salvation, not in His absence, but with His Presence in a different form.
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.”
What great and wondrous echoes of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River we have in this rhythmic poem that concludes the Creed. And that is the first luminous mystery, the Baptism of Our Lord. Of course, in the longer Nicene Creed, the corresponding section refers specifically to baptism (“I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins”), reinforcing the natural correspondence.
The path of rebirth through the Holy Spirit was unveiled at the moment that John baptized Jesus. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descends upon Our Lord at the time of His baptism. Later, Jesus referred to this in His conversation with Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)
However, there is far more to be seen in this epiphany. Jesus is anointed as the Messiah with this baptism, and that transfers the promise from the Old Covenant to the New. When the multitudes witnessed this pivotal occurrence, they could begin to see how Jesus would establish the new Church, founded on the authority of Almighty God, who spoke from the cloud with the mission of His Son. And with the honor that Jesus bestows on John, which was foreshadowed from the moment that they met in their mothers’ wombs, He enrolls the Baptist into the communion of saints – the first of the New Testament.
Through baptism we rise with Jesus into life everlasting, provided that at the end of our journey we can say, with St. Paul, that “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) St. Paul promises the crown of righteousness not for himself only, but for all who have loved Jesus’ appearing (also see 2 Timothy 4:8). The crowds that delighted in this “appearing” began to gather there at the Jordan, at Jesus’ baptism.
Steven Richardson is a Lay Dominican and a member of St. Ann Parish in Charlotte with his wife Mary and his three children, Maria, Rita and Joseph. In the second installment of this series, to be published May 25, Richardson will explore the mysteries of the rosary in the context of the Lord’s Prayer.