The Joyful Mysteries

“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!” (Lk 1:28)
The angel Gabriel greets Mary with these words, proclaiming her purity of heart and deep filial relationship with God. Mary is at first troubled by this greeting, but the angel declares that she has “found favor with God.” It is necessary for her to humbly accept this truth before she is able to receive the rest of his message. When she does, she is able to give her consent to God’s plan for her role in mankind’s redemption. Humility is having a truthful view of oneself - not overestimating or underestimating one’s abilities and worth. Mary’s ability to accept her value as God sees her, “full of grace”, is an expression of humility that opens the door for her “yes” to become the Mother of God.

“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!” (Lk 1:42)
After the Annunciation, Our Lady travelled with haste to the hill country to be with her cousin St. Elizabeth. Her ardent love for God overflowed in fruitful abundance upon her cousin who, in her old age, finally conceived a child. Mary had just become the Mother of God! It would seem natural that she might like to rest and rejoice in that wonderful mystery for a while before going out to attend to another, but Our Lady generously forgets herself in the light of her dear cousin’s needs. Mary goes to Elizabeth so that she can share in her joy but also so that she can be of service to her with the many needs of a first-time mother.

“Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Mary experienced a lot of hardship surrounding the birth of Jesus: difficult travel while pregnant, no accommodations in Bethlehem, and then the flight into Egypt - not to mention all the other little things that can go wrong in a day to put one’s mood out of sorts. But Our Lady didn’t waste time and energy pining for things to be better because she recognized the amazing truth of what was happening in her humble family: God had become man to fulfill His promise to save mankind from our sin. By keeping this great truth in her heart and pondering it throughout her life, she received a gift of joy and gratitude that would sustain her trust in God even when afflicted by the most piercing of sorrows.

Joseph and Mary were obedient to the Law of Moses in bringing Jesus to the Temple and dutifully making their offering of two doves, the acceptable ransom of poor families in lieu of a lamb. They did this despite bearing in their arms the Lamb of God Who was not subject to these old laws which would soon pass away. Mary also, being perfectly immaculate from her conception, had no need of the purification rituals at the Temple but she submitted herself to them willingly in imitation of her Son’s humble act of submission.
Simeon’s prophecy, quoted above, has always been seen as a reference to Mary’s place at the foot of the Cross where she willingly sacrificed Jesus in a more perfect imitation of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac.

Mary’s sorrow at the loss of the child Jesus in the Temple is a foreshadowing of her sorrow during His three days in the tomb. The virtue tested in Mary’s heart during both events was that of Hope: her ability to trust in the divine plan even when she couldn’t see the way forward on a natural level. In this mystery Our Lady models a sentiment that many of us experience in our own lives; “Lord, why do I have to endure this hardship when I know You can protect me perfectly?” Our Lord hears their complaint and invites them to hold onto His obscured faithfulness in spite of immediate difficulties. After His death and burial, Mary will remember this lesson and be able to trust that Jesus is in His Father’s house even when all else have given up hope of His saving help.

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