Glorious Mysteries
1.
The Resurrection
Jesus rises from the dead.
Mt 28:1-10
The stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. The women come early in the morning, and the angels say: he is not here. He has gone before you. The world has changed, and almost no one notices yet. We meditate on the hidden quietness of resurrection, on hope that begins in the dark, and on a Lord who is alive and walks now wherever we walk.
2.
The Ascension of Our Lord
Jesus ascends into heaven.
Acts 1:6-11
He blesses them, and is lifted up, and a cloud takes him from their sight. Two men in white ask: why do you stand looking up? He has not abandoned them; he has gone to prepare a place. We meditate on the strange comfort of an absence that is not absence, on the work given to those who are left behind, and on heaven as our final home.
3.
The Descent of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit descends upon Mary and the apostles.
Acts 2:1-4
They are gathered in the upper room, afraid. A wind comes from heaven and tongues of fire rest on each of them. They go out and speak, and every nation hears them in its own language. The Church is born in a roar of grace. We meditate on the Spirit who turns frightened disciples into apostles, and on the languages of love we are still learning to speak.
4.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary is assumed body and soul into heaven.
Rev 12:1
At the end of her earthly days Mary is taken up, body and soul, into the glory of her Son. She is the first fruit of what we are promised. The mother does not stay in the grave. We meditate on the dignity of the body, on a heaven that is not ghostly but full, and on the woman who has gone ahead of us into the joy that waits.
5.
The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary is crowned Queen of heaven and earth.
Rev 12:1
She who carried the King is crowned beside him — not as rival, not as goddess, but as mother and queen of all who follow her Son. She intercedes. She prays for us now, and at the hour of our death. We meditate on her motherhood that did not end at the cross, on the friends we have in heaven, and on a kingdom whose courts already include our own.