The Glorious Mysteries
The First Glorious Mystery – the Resurrection
The Resurrection of Jesus was not a resuscitation, not a return to normal human life
The Resurrection of Jesus was about breaking out
· Into an entirely new form of life
· Into a life no longer subject to the law of dying
· An entirely new dimension of human existence opens up
Pope Benedict said the Resurrection of the Body is like an Evolutionary Leap
· to an Indestructible Divine way of Life
CCC 997 In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus’ Resurrection.
The Resurrection of the body means that
· Not only the immortal soul lives on after death,
· Even our “mortal body” will come to life again.
Through His own Resurrected body Jesus gives us a glimpse of what our bodies will be like
His presence after the Resurrection is entirely physical
· Yet he is not bound by physical laws
· Not bound by laws of time and space
Like the Risen Body of Jesus, Our new body will be immortal
· We will no longer be subject to
· Sickness, injury, death or decay
· We will have Indestructible Life
The Second Glorious Mystery
The Ascension marks our entrance into real life, a life with all its instincts unmarred and all its activities unhampered, awakening to a world in which we will finally be at Home.
Philippians 3:21
For us, our homeland is in heaven and from heaven comes the savior we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.
We will not be angels in heaven
· But we shall be like the angels in this respect
· We will no longer be under the dominion of nature
· We will not be dependent, bound or subject to the laws of nature
We will be able to go anywhere in the world we choose at any moment
· Simply by an act of the will or choice
· St Thomas called this the gift of “agility”
We will not need to breathe, or eat, or drink or sleep;
· Yet we will be able if we want to
In Heaven we will live by the Principle of “Freedom from need”
· We will be truly super-human in heaven
· b/c we will share in the very nature of God!
The Third Glorious Mystery
The descent of the Holy Spirit stands for union with God., a union that has already begun in us by grace and baptism. We have the Life and Love of God already abiding in us, a spark kindled by the tongues of fire that appeared on the Day of Pentecost; but it is a smoldering spark here; it will not blaze up till we see God; then for the first time we shall realize how we are united in love with Him.
Pope Benedict describes Heaven in Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope)
Heaven is eternity – not an unending succession of days in the calendar, but something more like
· The supreme moment of satisfaction
· Like plunging into the ocean of infinite love
· Simply overwhelmed with joy
The Fourth Glorious Mystery – The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
We end the Hail Holy Queen with the by calling Mary our life, our sweetness and our hope. She is our hope because God has already done for her what we hope he will do for us. Raise us from the dead and bring us into heaven.
God, the Angels, Mary, the saints and all our friends and loved ones who are in heaven await our arrival.
The Assumption stands for reunion with all those we loved – with earthly friends whose company we enjoyed, with Mary and the saints whose patronage and protection we have experienced.
Heaven and the Communion of Saints will be even more interesting than human love on earth
o The joy of learning about another person
o And doing all good things with them
o Yet without out all the imperfections
o And not just with one person
o But with all people
We will have the ability to know every human that ever lived
Who are you looking forward to being with in Heaven? Who do you want to meet?
The Fifth Glorious Mystery
The Coronation stands for the reward of all our striving – the glory that will be ours forever.
CCC 1026 Jesus makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him, those who have been willing to share in His sufferings and those who remained faithful to his will.
Revelation 22:1-5 Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear down the middle of the city street. On either side of the river were the trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are the cure for the pagans. The ban will be lifted. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in its place in the city; his servants will worship him, they will see him face to face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. It will never be night again and they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them. They will reign for ever and ever.