I just saw this question posted on Twitter and was surprised to find that many Catholics don’t include the Luminous Mysteries in their Rosary. Personally, I love them and I do pray them, so I was wondering about other MOG members.
Nope. Our Lady gave us the Rosary as is. Why tinker? The number of Hail Mary's in the Rosary are 153, the same number drawn from scripture. The number of mysteries (15) equate to the number of promises (15) she made to those who recite the Rosary devoutly. The 15 mysteries line up evenly throughout the week leading us through the life of Our Lord. Adding the fourth set disrupts this flow as well as the orderliness of it and the numerical significances. There are lots of other reasons listed in sermons on Youtube as to why the fourth set is not advantageous. Personally I don't like the whole idea of innovation as well. Especially not with something so important. The Rosary worked for all of the saints through Church history. Why change it just to change it? Additionally at Fatima Our Lady, who could see far into the future, specifically asked us to pray the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. Hint hint
This is interesting. I have been praying the luminous ones, would you have a link to our Lady of Fatima specifically referring to 15 mysteries? I will be happy to change., God bless
I must admit that I pray the luminous mysteries every Thursday. I also realise that the objections to these mysteries are many. I too had a problem with the luminous mysteries! mainly because the original 15 mysteries represented the old testament 150 psalms; and in fact the rosary is known as the Psalter of Mary! How beautiful that the 150 Hail Marys represents the 150 psalms of the Old Testament! However, I realise that our Holy Father Saint Pope John Paul 11 instituted these Luminous mysteries due to an inspiration of the Holy Ghost! In the Joyful mysteries we go from from the infancy and boyhood of Jesus to the sorrowful mysteries where Jesus is a man of 33 years of age!! Between the Joyful and the sorrowful mysteries there is the gap of teachings and the life of Christ that I believe we should meditate upon; As it draws us closer to Jesus in these uncertain times. These luminous meditations fill in this gap! They allow us to meditate on Our Lord Jesus' teachings and his life! And they are beautiful! So now we have 20 mysteries and not just 15 mysteries. What does this teach us? If we look at these extra 5 mysteries as an extension of the psalms, we can see that the next book of the old testament is proverbs! And low and behold the first 5 chapters of proverbs deal with wisdom and we all know that Our Lady is the seat of wisdom! So It fits perfectly because Wisdom is what is needed in our time, in my opinion. I love to meditate on...... 1] Our Lords baptism by saint John the Baptist.......... for here we hear the words of God the Father proclaiming His Son! 2] Our Lord’s first public miracle at the wedding feast of Cana............. for here we see Our Lords devotion, obedience and reliance on His Most Holy Mother Mary! 3] The call to conversion and the proclamation of the Kingdom of God ....for here we see the countless invitations of Our Lord Jesus to turn to Him for Love and relief! 4] The Transfiguration of Our Lord on Mount Tabor, in the presence of the old prophets and the new testament saints,,,And we witness and behold His Divinity! 5] The institution of the Blessed Sacrament at the last supper... here we see Our Lord imparting the most sublime act of His Love for us! When we look at the cross we know how much God loved us! But when we look at the tabernacle we know how much God loves us now! Saint Mother Theresa
I do pray them. I admit it was a challenge to change, but I truly believe JP II was a prophet of our end times, and there must be something with our times to bring these mysteries into focus and meditate upon them also. With Marriage and the human body being basically separated from all faith both personally and attacked also in churches, (Protestants threw these truths out long ago with sanctifying adultery, not believing in the real presence in the Eucharist, and claiming that the body can continue to sin as long as the spirit believes Jesus is Lord) I think that meditating on these mysteries has helped me personally to understand the importance of the purity our human bodies as connected to our salvation. First the body is anointed in Baptism. 2nd, the body is asked to be pure in the sacrament of Marriage 3rd, we are given the teachings to help us keep pure 4th, Christ is Transfigured in His Body to show that our bodies will be with us in eternal life 5th, Christ institutes the Eucharist to transform our very bodies (our cells actually use His body to reproduce new cells) and for forgiveness of sins.
No, It is called the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary for a reason. I do not pray the Fatima prayer either.
Yes, I pray them on Thursdays and as much as I can during the week along with The Sorrows of Mary or the Sorrowful Mysteries. After all, they were given to us by God though a Saint (J.P. II). When meditated on, they are filled with the Light of the Holy Spirit! Many beautiful meditations are given to us through them. Please do not disregard them.
Wow I've never heard anyone say anything bad about the Fatima prayer before. I've been praying this every night before falling asleep that I remember to, it's so beautiful. I am talking about the one the Angels gave the children starting out: Oh my God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love thee, I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore,,,etc…" Are you speaking perhaps of the short " Oh My Jesus forgive us our sins..." at the end of each mystery perhaps? I know Mary asked that it be added on. Can you explain why you do not believe in Fatima, and further revelations? I know many Protestants only believe what they find in the Bible, but obviously the whole Rosary itself was an extraordinary revelation given to a Saint, so I can't believe that is the reason.. Not criticizing you, just confused on your reasoning.
Then the Blessed Virgin Mary said to Lucia: "Look, my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me." -Our Lady To Sister Lucy https://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/firstsat.htm
Yes it is clled the Psalter of The Blessed Virgin Mary because it has 150 Hail Mary's (when said with 15 mysteries). Adding another five changes this number. I do say the Fatima prayers though because Our Lady gave us the Rosary and she has the right to add to it. As well intentioned as Pope St. John Paul II may have been, I still don't think it wise to muck about with something so important. Meditating on any part of Christ's Life is a good thing and can be done as a part of other meditative prayer. The Luminous Mysteries just aren't a part of the Rosary as it was given to us from Heaven though.
I truly think at the time Mary was referring to praying ALL 15 mysteries every day, instead of just 5 a day as most do. I don't think she was saying that this is something that can never be changed. At the time she talked about it, there WERE only 15 total mysteries to pray. But she herself asked some thing to be added on after each mystery, so that is showing Heaven can change things. Even in the book of Daniel Jesus (One Like the Son Of Man) says that more revelations will be revealed at the end times.
It has been awhile now that I do not pray the luminous mysteries. Every Thursday i pray the Joyful mysteries according to tradition. The events in the life of Our Lord are certainly excellent for meditation but i would do it separately. "If it ain't broke dont fix it." Too much tinkering since VII.
Yes, but my earlier point was that Our Lady's entire reason for appearing at Fatima was to warn us about the future. She was not speaking to the people of 1917 only. She was speaking to the faithful of our time. She could have easily said the "Mysteries of the Rosary" but she chose to say the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. She is a woman of few words and every word she speaks carries important meaning. People can do as they wish. I am not trying to say they can't pray the Luminous Mysteries. I'm just saying there is good reason to be wary of changing the Rosary.
I understand what you are saying, and if it were not for the Rosary being revealed to us hundreds of years after Christ lived on earth, and by a Saint who was given a beautiful weapon and devotion for us I would agree. But it is not a doctrine, it is a devotion, and a Saint who was also a Pope very devoted to Mary and Fatima who added the luminous mysteries. Also a Saint (Faustina) talks in her diary about Pope John Paul II where Jesus tells her that this Pope from Poland will help prepare the world for His second coming. In short, I think we need to do as the Apostles have said about private revelation: Retain what is good and disregard the bad. I would be afraid of getting stuck in a temptation of disobeying the Church by refusing to acknowledge even the Church's wonderful Saints of our times. The devil works in very subtle ways in us devout peoples lives. It's fine NOT to pray the luminous mysteries of course! Mary will love your devotion to the rosary either way.
