Pope changes rosary new rosary mysteriesThe
Pope made changes in the rosary in October of 2002, the twenty-fifth
year
of his reign, adding five new rosary mysteries. He called these new
mysteries
the Mysteries of Light or Luminous mysteries because they are
about Jesus¹
public ministry, and He is the Light of the world. The Pope
made these changes
to the rosary, adding the new rosary mysteries ³to bring
out fully the
Christological depth of the rosary.² 1 He surely did not make
these changes
lightly, but with much prayerful thought and reflection. The
new rosary mysteries
include the Baptism of Jesus, the wedding at Cana,
Jesus¹ proclamation
of the Kingdom, the Transfiguration and the first
Eucharist. These changes
that the Pope made remind us that ³The Rosary,
though clearly Marian
in character, is at heart a Christ-centered prayer.² 2
The new rosary
mysteries clearly fill in a gap in the gospel stories that we
meditate on
when we pray the traditional rosary. I was at first quite
surprised to hear
that the Pope had made changes to the rosary I had learned
as a child, but
when I read what the changes were and his reasons for making
them, I felt
instead as though I had received a heavenly gift in the form of
these new
rosary mysteries. These meditations, rather than being an
intrusion on the
rosary, fit it like a missing puzzle piece. The new
mysteries complete the
story of Jesus¹ life as told in the rosary
meditations. The Pope¹s
changes aren¹t changes at all; they are a
realization of the New Testament
as told in the rosary. Changes are never
easy, even ones made by a pope, but
I think any hurdles the faithful might
still be facing in adopting the new
rosary mysteries, will be worth the
effort needed to overcome them.
1-2 ³The Rosary of the Virgin Mary.² Pope John Paul II. October
2002. |
