In our spiritual lives and our day to day lives we are called to live by example, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” -Matthew 5: 16. Due to the mysteries being a path in which to pave our spiritual life, we are called through the Glorious mysteries to shine bright for others to see.
The Glorious Mysteries include the Resurrection, the Ascension of the Lord, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, and the Coronation of Mary in Heaven. The Resurrection is the first glorious mystery where Mary Magdalene and Mary went to the tomb and Jesus wasn’t there, yet an angel was there telling them of where he went (Matthew 28: 1-10). Then the second mystery is the Ascension, where Jesus parted from those on Earth and was taken up into heaven (Luke 24: 44-53) and then the descent of the Holy Spirit, where the Jesus stood among them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit (John 14: 15-21). Fourth we have the Assumption of Mary in to heaven and then the coronation of Mary.
The first three glorious mysteries come straight from the bible, yet the last two do not come directly from scripture but can be seen through some scraping at the surface of some scriptures. When we look at Revelation 12 the scripture talks about a woman in heaven with a crown on her head, and in 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul talks about how a crown awaits us in heaven. Therefore this woman must be Mary. Also in Psalm 45:6 it clearly talks about the coronation of the Queen, which is Mary. So even though the last two mysteries are not as direct and clear as the other mysteries are, we just had to do a little fishing around to find it.
These mysteries have a bit of a deeper call for us as Catholics as we pray them. Obviously when we are praying them, meditating on them and trying to see the connection between Mary, Jesus and our lives, we can’t be thinking about how we can be crowned queen, or assumed into heaven. But we have to read these as a call back to our birth into the church and our full acceptance as adults into the church through Baptism and Confirmation. The Resurrection is about Jesus rising from the dead, coming back alive. We are called to come from the dead parts of our lives and come alive in Him. To use the wealth of knowledge we have of our faith and let the light the world on fire. Let our hearts and souls have a fire burning in them, just as the Holy Spirit does for us. The Assumption and Coronation should serve as a constant reminder to us to go running to Mary, she has the ultimate in with the Lord after all, to go running and ask for her intercession. And lastly the Ascension is the ultimate goal for us. Not for us to ascend into heaven, but to be united with the Lord there. Every time we pray the glorious mysteries these should be our reminders and the call we hear to keep us paving our paths in our spiritual lives and to push us to grow more.
