Let there be Light!
by Leon J. Suprenant, Jr
Courtesy of CatholicExchange.com
As the youngest of 14 children, I have much to be grateful for, including the fact that my
parents didn’t have the good sense to stop at 13! Yet, even though I was raised in a large
Catholic family and received 12 years of Catholic schooling, I left the Church as an
undergraduate and didn’t come back until I was in my 20s.
Contemplating Christ’s Public Ministry
My newly rediscovered love for Christ not only led me to study His teaching, but also to
take a fresh look at traditional prayers and devotions used by Christian disciples for
countless generations as aids to growth in the spiritual life.
And so I enthusiastically embraced the rosary as the most time-tested and efficacious
spiritual weapon in our arsenal after the sacred liturgy itself. Even so, it always seemed
strange to me that we had an entire set of mysteries for Luke 1-2, namely the Joyful
Mysteries, and then we had to jump to Luke 22 for the Agony in the Garden, the first
Sorrowful Mystery. It seemed to me that Luke 3, Luke 4, Luke 5, and so on, up to Luke 22,
also contained much solid meat for contemplation.
Therefore, I’ve welcomed the pope’s introduction of the Luminous Mysteries as a means of
encouraging us to prayerfully contemplate the totality of Christ’s public ministry.
Yet, I’ve also heard a few people complain about the new mysteries. They liked the rosary
as it was and see the new mysteries as some sort of novelty.
Surely the faithful are completely free to pray the rosary as they always have. It’s just that
now we have another means of entering into the mystery of Christ. The pope’s apostolic
letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, in addition to introducing the new mysteries, provides
ample practical guidance for praying the rosary well. The pope’s goal is not to encumber
the faithful, but to help us pray better, to help us contemplate the face of Christ.
Each of the Luminous Mysteries is inexhaustibly rich, and so I recommend obtaining good
meditation guides and reflections on the new mysteries to help plumb the depths of the
mysteries. I would, however, like to mention two refrains that run through all the Luminous
Mysteries that I think are extremely important for Catholic laity today.
Loving the Church
The first refrain is “love for the Church.” We live at a time when many people are to some
extent open to Jesus Christ, but want nothing to do with His Church. So what has the pope
done? He has encouraged us, by means of the Luminous Mysteries, to contemplate the
public ministry of Christ. What was at the heart of this ministry? Nothing other than the
proclamation of the kingdom of God — that it was “at hand.” Well, was it or not? And if it
was, where did it go? About a century ago, French heretic Alfred Loisy bemoaned that
Christ promised a kingdom, and all that we got was the Church.
We joyfully respond that the Church is, in fact, the kingdom of God on earth. The Church
continues, despite our own human failings and weaknesses, to bring the light of Christ to
all the world. It’s no accident that the central document issued by the Second Vatican
Council (1962-65) on the mystery of the Church is called Lumen Gentium, or “Light of the
Nations.”
The fifth and culminating Luminous Mystery is the Institution of the Eucharist. Pope John
Paul II begins his 2003 encyclical on the Eucharist by stating that “the Church draws her
life from the Eucharist.” The Eucharist is the most tangible and profound manner in which
Christ keeps His promise to remain with His Church.
The Luminous Mysteries help us to see the Church as our Mother (see Catechism, nos.
169, 507), and not as a merely human institution or an outside force that’s imposing
arbitrary rules on us. Now more than ever, especially given the horrible scandals that have
afflicted the Church in this country, we need to affirm — to proclaim from the rooftops —
our love for the Church!
Do Whatever He Tells You
Of the new mysteries, the one that I gravitate toward is the Wedding at Cana. Mary’s
simple words are striking and still ring out today: “Do whatever Jesus tells you” (Jn 2:5).
This message calls forth our obedience. This theme runs through the other Luminous
Mysteries as well. For example, in the Transfiguration, our Heavenly Father declares, “This
is My beloved son . . . listen to Him” (Mt 17:5). Even in the Institution of the Eucharist, the
Church is commanded to “do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:19). In fact, Jesus bluntly tells
us that if we don’t “do this,” we have no life in us (cf. Jn 6:53). So the stakes are high. The
entire proclamation of the kingdom calls forth from us an “obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5). In
short, we need to do what Jesus tells us.
Perhaps it would be easier if Jesus were in our midst telling us things to do. And yet, even
though He no longer walks the earth, He does speak to us through His Church, notably the
successors of Peter and the other Apostles. Jesus says if we hear and obey them, we hear
and obey Him (cf. Lk 10:16). And further, if we hear and obey our Lord, then we are also
obeying our Blessed Mother, who lovingly exhorts us to do whatever He tells us.
Many contemporary problems are rooted in disobedience to authority in the home, in
society, and in the Church. Disobedience and dissent wreak havoc. Those in authority
surely have contributed to the problem, but obedience is our virtue, not their virtue. Let me
explain.
My daughter Brenda’s favorite verse (she quotes it for me all the time) is Colossians 3:21:
“Fathers, do no provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” Fair enough, I will
be judged on this verse and similar verses, as will priests and bishops, our spiritual
fathers. I’ve encountered many Catholics who are angry, provoked, or discouraged, and
those who so alienate them will be held strictly accountable by the Lord.
But I’m still ready for Brenda when she playfully cites her verse, as I counter with the
preceding verse: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
Those in authority will be judged on how they exercise their authority. We, on the other
hand, will be judged according to how we obey legitimate authority.
Only God’s authority is limitless. Surely we’re not bound to follow laws or directives that are
immoral or which go beyond the scope of one’s authority. But in general, our disposition
toward Church authority should be one of respectful obedience. We must encourage our
children to do whatever Jesus tells them and to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice coming
from His Church.
And while we’re at it, we should teach them to pray the rosary.
Leon J. Suprenant, Jr. is the president of Catholics United for the Faith (CUF) and Emmaus Road
Publishing and the editor-in-chief of Lay Witness magazine, all based in Steubenville, Ohio. He is a
contributor to Catholic for a Reason III: Scripture and the Mystery of the Mass and an adviser to CE’s
Catholic Scripture Study. His email address is leon@cuf.org .
Join Catholics United for the Faith and enjoy the many benefits of membership.
This article was published by permission of Catholic Exchange.
Custom Handmade Rosaries for any occasion Available Rosaries: Articles and Information: External Links A brief history of the Rosary How to pray the Rosary St. Dominic and the Rosary |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
