I pray all 4 Mysteries every day. If the Rosary is the weapon, then one more round of ammunition can’t hurt.
I am just not convinced that there is any benefit to changing the Rosary...or many of the other changes they made after Vatican II. I guess we can agree to disagree.
The Luminous Mysteries originated with Saint George Preca, the only Maltese saint who died in 1962. He was a great 'apostle' of the Rosary who wanted to supplement the mysteries with meditations on Jesus' public life. It seems likely that JPII became acquainted with the idea when Saint George was considered for beatification. However, if the same thing occurred to JPII independently, as seems possible, then that could indicate (IMO) that this was a confirmation of heavenly approval. JPII did not refer to Saint George Preca in the Apostolic Letter in which these new mysteries were proposed which seems odd if he were aware of their origin. I used to pray them but did wonder about the worth of man-made additions no matter how eminent and holy the source and so reverted to the 'old' mysteries. Perhaps I will re-consider.
This is what I wrote several years ago regarding the Luminous Mysteries which I believe came to be for the times we are living and the future times. You can read this if you desire or just pass over it: The Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan: The Baptism of Fire: “I saw God’s Holy Spirit – as a devastating fire – inundate the world. This fire did not bring peace, not mercy, but devastating punishment. Where ever the flame of the Holy Spirit swept through, the evil spirits by the thousands fell back to hell.” (Sr. Natalia, The Victorious Queen book, pg. 122) The Wedding Feast of Cana: Contemplate how Jesus will come for His Church. “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” Rev. 21:9-27, Rev. 22:6 “And behold, I am coming soon.” Proclamation of the Kingdom: Read “On Evangelization in the Modern World” by Pope Paul VI – and also, Pope John Paul II spoke many times about a “new evangelization” in which the Gospel would be proclaimed throughout the world The Transfiguration: “When Jesus will return in His divine glory and appear to all humanity, each one will be called to undergo the same experience as Peter, James and John underwent on Mount Tabor, because Jesus will manifest Himself in his splendor and his humanity will be completely transfigured in the most brilliant light of his divinity.” (Our Lady to Fr. Gobbi #597) The Institution of the Eucharist: “…you can very well shrink all of yourself within my Will to be able to form the host of yourself in my Will. For every act you do in my Will, you will make a host for Me; and I will feed Myself from you, as you do from Me. What forms the host? - My own Life in it.” (Book of Heaven, Vol. 12, Oct. 20, 1917), read about “Living Hosts” in St. Faustina’s Diary, Conchita’s Diary, and others.) “This last stage of the world belongs very specially to Him (the Holy Spirit) that He be honored and exalted…” (Jesus to Conchita de Armida)
I can't see heaven not accepting these lovely newer mysteries. I don't think there is anything wrong with implementing them. They are still prayer and meditation on the life of Christ.
I wondered about this also but the luminous mysteries especially the last one are extremely important to our Faith. I feel as though they are, in fact, from Heaven. All five mysteries are very important and it a very curious thing that all five of them occurred in between the last joyful mystery and the first sorrowful mystery. If this were not the case I would question the luminous mysteries but imho they appear to complete the Rosary. It is almost as if this were planned all along and with God I believe that is the case. It is possible that this set of mysteries was meant to be shared with us separately in order to renew our interest in the Rosary once again. As for the Fatima prayer: "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Your Mercy", I absolutely believe that this was from Heaven also and was meant for these end of times as someone else here has stated. It is a constant reminder of the existence of Hell. So, yes I pray the luminous mysteries and the Fatima prayer also.
I pray the Luminous mysteries on Thursday. They are actually my favorite mysteries after the Sorrowful mysteries. I especially love pondering the Institution of the Holy Eucharist.
Yes, I pray the luminous mysteries. Meditating of the life of Jesus is so beautiful. Just the other day I was trying to explain to a protestant how awesome transubstantiation is. They are so deprived . . .we are so blessed.
Shae, I want to apologize up front for derailing this thread. I won't be responding after this to my post so if anyone wants to discuss it further they can create a new one. Well, first off I never implied originally that there was anything bad about it. I don't mind if you criticize me but I ask that you hear me out on what I am about to say and give it some thought. It is the same prayer after each decade of the rosary said by many Marian devotees around my areas parishes. It is the way I learned to pray the rosary. I was not taught and it is not true that God will "give pardon" for those who do not believe let alone love Him nor take most let alone "all souls" to heaven (but boy does it go right in line with modernist teaching and thinking on the matter) and I don't think I should ask him to do this knowing it is wrong especially when praying the rosary when he Himself said that there are some that don't know Him or His Father and are of their father the devil and he deliberately spoke in parables so that they would not understand Him outside His condemnation of them. Why from the very beginning are the children given new prayers to pray? That when we really look at those those prayers they ever so slightly go against the teaching and tradition of the Church as it has existed since the beginning? Since when has the Church taught that ALL will go to heaven or that unrepentant, disobedient sinners who have no love of God will be spared? I believe Fatima happened and that there were apparitions and a so called miracle that many were greatly deceived by (myself included) but I do not believe that it is of God or that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared there. Here are a few of those reasons outside the prayers. First of all, there is absolutely no requirement to believe in the validity of Fatima being of God. So after believing and making devotion to Our Lady of Fatima for some time I decided to take a step back and have a look at the whole thing. To test the spirit of it. Lucia was accused by her mother (who knows her better than anyone) of lying straight away and her mother never recanted from this attitude. Now, I am a parent and I would never accuse any child of lying unless of course there was a history of lying or deceit and in that case I would likely be skeptical also especially with such claims. If a child were innocent, obedient, devoted to God, and carried out the wishes of their parents and approached their parent about something like this it would be a different matter entirely. Their parents surely would not immediately accuse them of deceit let alone stick by it. In Lucia's memoirs her mother seems to be made out to be the cause of suffering on her part. As if it is not Lucia but her mother who is questionable. Her mother died I believe with a great deal of pain in her heart for her daughter. The children were disobedient toward their parents wishes by insisting on going to meet Our Lady of Fatima when they clearly did not wish them to. I think this tells us a great deal about the character of the children and also about the spirit of the apparitions. Rather than being obedient to their parents wishes instead they persisted. How many times in the Bible are there warnings about obeying ones parents in all things even regardless of whether they are "right". Of honoring them. What tradition in the Church says it is OK to not obey the wishes of our parents. Now, granted, these children are seeing what they think is something from heaven but one I think should ask themselves; would God choose children who are not obedient to carry a message intended for the world? I realize that this is going to be a very unpopular opinion but I really think everyone should take a step back from these events and look very carefully in prayer and fasting at the situations surrounding them and test them against what we know.
I’m glad you don’t mind criticism, Don, because with all due respect, this is absurd. There are no perfect people and that includes those that Our Lady visits. I did not intend to post this out of respect for the subject matter of the thread, but I could not let this matter rest with your post. I feel that part of my mission is to pray for sinners since Our Lord said on His cross, “I thirst.” I am letting Him sort out the words of the Fatima prayer. He goes after the one out of the ninety-nine. We are only asking Him to lead all souls to Heaven, but we know that some souls will refuse to be led by Him. Our Lady has asked us time and again to pray for sinners.
Don, You are right that no one need believe in any particular apparition, even if approved by the Church, BUT I think you are either misunderstanding or have read bad info on Fatima. None of the prayers go against Catholic Teaching. The Fatima prayer: My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask pardon for all those who do not believe in You, do not adore You, do not hope in You, and do not love You. This prayer is not asking that God grant a person Heaven without doing anything, but that He have Mercy on souls who have not deserved that Mercy. Who have not prayed on their own. Who have not asked for forgiveness. BUT though the prayer and sacrifice of others are granted a second chance. I am one of those souls. I was granted pardon even though I did not deserve it. I was living a very immoral life, but was given my faith back as a gift through the prayers of my parents and family. This is indeed a mystery to us how one soul through prayer and sacrifice can earn Mercy for another soul. A person they may not even know. Also I don't recall any of the children being disobedient, in fact I believe Lucia missed one of the apparitions because her mother wouldn't let her go.
I also try to always look at everything objectively and I had not heard the claim you made about Lucia's mother not beliving so I went to look around for information. It is hard to find info on her, but it seems Lucia's mother Maria Rosa dos Santos strongly disbelieved at first, but came to believe after the Miracle of the Sun. Here is one link with quotes from a book: https://forums.catholic.com/t/did-sr-lucias-mother-finally-believe-her/443631/5 The only link I could find claiming that Lucia's mother did not believe until her death was one far out group/person who may be a sedevacantist, I'm not sure. I won't even link the site because it looks spiritually dangerous claiming all sorts of things are deceptions, from the Shroud of Turin to the 5th Marian dogma. In any case the only source that site lists for it's info is one book written by a person who is of the same ilk as the website owner. Possibly it is even the same person. The "proof" in quotations they cite are only quotes from her mother before the apparitions finished. None from afterwards. From this the author "surmises" that she must have disbelieved later on. Pretty flimsy stuff.
I am liking both sides of the argument here, as so often, I can see both points of view. I go to Latin Mass more often than to Novus Ordo so I'm fairly old school. That said, I pray the Luminous mysteries on Thursday. I love the Wedding of Canaa and how our Lady convinced Our Lord. This is my hope, because although I'm not out of wine, I am out of all kinds of things. This Thursday I slacked off and only prayed two mysteries so thanks for the timely reminder. I love this discussion. Let's keep peace and unity. Pray for each other, luminous or not.
For many years, I struggled with saying the Rosary - more a time management issue than anything else. Reciting the Rosary and its 3 Mysteries was tough enough with very young children; I didn't feel I could take on the Luminous Mysteries as well. So, I let them be - for many years. One night, I happened to glance at a picture I have of Jesus and Mary and the Divine Hearts. Suddenly, the halo around them brightened, almost to the point of shimmering. I sat there stunned, my heart hammering inside me because I knew I was looking at something that had never been there before. I asked my husband and kids if they saw it but no one seemed to see what I was clearly seeing. I honestly didn't know what to do or think. At that moment, I saw these words in my mind, Luminous Mysteries. The picture had gone back to what it had always been. Immediately I went to dig up my old Rosary book to see when it was that the Luminous Mysteries were recited, I didn't even know that at the time. It was a Thursday. And the day that I saw that special halo was a Thursday too. From that day on, the Luminous Mysteries became a part of our family Rosary. I remember telling my mother about it and she was horrified that our family had left it out for so long. However, although it is part of our family Rosary now, I do not hold my mother's view with regards to those who do not say the Luminous Mysteries. I say this because I believe it was my journey to come to it at the time that I did and not before. And we all have vastly different journeys through life. All I can say is when the time comes and we are led to it, then we should not resist. Because the Luminous Mysteries are there for a reason.
Yes, and I believe the reason is that God gave them to us in our days to bring to this world of darkness His glorious Light (thus the halo you saw). Thank you for this witness of God's Divine Love. Blessings
