© Copyright 2003 Catholic Exchange
Colleen Miner, wife and mother of three daughters, lives in Saranac Lake, NY. She is a reporter/photographer for the Diocese of Ogdensburg. You can email her at cbm510@adelphia.net.
Turning off the household mechanical distractions and praying as a family was a new concept for us. We'd made a New Year’s resolution to pray the rosary together more often. Until now, we had only prayed the rosary together on car trips.
We began the rosary as usual. When we arrived at the first mystery, my normally bubbily, happy six year-old suddenly burst into tears. We all stopped. When I asked what was wrong she said thru sobs, “I don’t know what to feel. What is “luminous”!? Am I supposed to be happy or sad or what?!”
The only other time we had prayed the new luminous mysteries, Ellie had fallen asleep in the car and thus missed the explanation. I quickly dried her tears and told her that “luminous” means “full of light” (I knew those high school Latin classes would come in handy someday!). I told her I wasn’t exactly sure how she was supposed to feel, but explained how the new mysteries ‘filled in’ the rosary and how they focused on what Jesus did during his public ministry here on earth.
Later on I recalled how I felt when I'd first learned about the new mysteries. I logged onto the computer like any other morning and read my Zenit news feed from Rome. I could not believe what I was reading. How could the rosary change after so many years? How could the Pope pick out just five events in Jesus’ life? I could not even understand some of the mysteries he chose (i.e., the Transfiguration), so how could I possibly meditate on them or explain them to others?
I was awash in feelings similar to what my six year-old had expressed. Inside I was crying, “Wait! I don’t know what to feel!” I realized then how much I dislike changes in my faith. I began resenting these new mysteries because I did not understand them — much like my daughter.
My less-than-humble, stubborn self told my husband that adding a new set of mysteries to the rosary was a dumb idea and that I was going to pray the rosary as I had always prayed it. I told him I would have chosen different mysteries, ones that were easier and more memorable — like when Jesus raised Lazarus after he had been dead for three days or walked on the water or healed the woman who simply touched His cloak in faith. Surely there were greater events to memorialize than the wedding feast at Cana!
My husband, always good at serving up a dose of reality, told me that the Pope, guided by the Holy Spirit, must know better than I. Cowering, I agreed. So I read up on these new mysteries, both online and in the Catholic press, and learned what they meant and what significance they hold. The wedding feast at Cana was in fact the Lord’s first known public miracle. Hmm, I thought, pretty cool.
I now understand that Pope John Paul II added the new mysteries to bring us closer to Christ and to shed some new light on His life and saving work. They were added for our good — to help us one day be with the One who is ‘full of light.”
