We've begun the month of the Most Holy
Rosary. This week we begin the Year of
Faith, and we might say the intersection
of those two is the Joyful Mysteries,
because the Joyful Mysteries teach
us about Mary's faith. The Glorious
Mysteries teach us about Mary's hope, and
the Sorrowful Mysteries teach us about
Mary's charity. And we can kind of put a
Eucharistic overlay on those Joyful
Mysteries, like the Annunciation is
really Mary's first Holy Communion day.
Mary's first Holy Communion lasted nine
months, but the Annunciation is really
the beginning of her first Holy
Communion. The Visitation reminds us that
Mary is a tabernacle,
Jesus is within her, and wherever she
goes she brings the light and life of
Christ. The third mystery, the birth of
Christ, teaches that Mary shows us how to
adore Christ. Mary teaches us about
adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The
fourth Joyful Mystery is the
Presentation, and Mary offers herself in
union with her son, where Jesus offers
himself through Mary to the Father. And
actually, Mary teaches us how to unite
our amen to his amen. Our yes to God's
will to his yes to God's will, on the
cross. For that one we say Mary is the
model of participation in the Mass.
She perfectly united her yes to his yes
to the will of the Father. And at every
Mass, we try to do the same. Our amen and his amen are offered to the Father. And in the fifth
mystery, the finding of the child Jesus in the temple, we say that in Christ we find our vocation,
in Christ we find our life. For Mary, Jesus Christ was the axis around which her life
revolved. Her vocation was the incarnation, and the incarnation was the axis around which her life
revolved. And they say that the heart of Mary is the door to Jesus. Like the church has that phrase
to Jesus through Mary. When we seek Mary, we find Jesus. That the shortest pathway to Christ
is Mary.
Mary leads us directly to him. And just to briefly go through those joyful mysteries, the angel said to
Mary, you will conceive and bear a son and you will name him Jesus. And Mary asked, how can this be
since I know not man? And Mary's real question was, well, she had consecrated her virginity to God and
she worshiped Jesus. She worshiped Jesus. She knew that Jesus was the Son of God, and she had consecrated her virginity to God and she
and Mary's real question was, well, she had consecrated her virginity to God and she had consecrated her virginity to God and she
Well, how is she going to be the mother of the Messiah?
Mother Teresa says, Mary's question was,
how can I give to a man what I've already given to God?
Mary had already consecrated herself to God.
And the angel gives her the right answer.
It's by the power of the Holy Spirit that you will conceive this child.
And so once Mary hears the answer,
the answer says, be it done unto me according to your word.
We say those words are Mary's autobiography.
Be it done unto me according to your word.
And with those words, Mary gave God permission.
We say that because we have free will,
God is limited, God is restricted.
God's hands are sometimes tied.
But they're tied to our free will.
And when we give our free will back to him,
we unchain God.
We set God free.
When Mary said, be it done unto me according to your word,
the word became flesh.
God became man.
She triggered the incarnation.
And so, like we say, Mary now teaches us how to receive him,
how to receive him.
How to receive him in Holy Communion.
We might think, what was the dialogue,
the conversations that took place between the Blessed Virgin Mary
and her divine child?
Well, what are the conversations that take place between myself
and Jesus Christ when I receive him in Holy Communion?
Again, Mary teaches us how to receive him,
how to welcome him, how to have communion with him
when we receive him in the Blessed Sacrament.
And that's what we're going to talk about today.
The second joyful mystery is the visitation.
And the point is, wherever Mary goes,
she brings the light and life of Christ.
There's a famous painting of Mary and the visitation.
And the whole path traveled by Mary is illumined with light.
Because wherever Mary goes, because she's a living tabernacle of Jesus Christ,
she brings truth and grace.
We might say, whether it's Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe,
she brings souls to Christ.
At the visitation, she went to help her cousin Elizabeth,
who was with child, but she also brought the grace of Christ
to John the Baptist.
The Church teaches that John the Baptist was cleansed
of original sin at the visitation.
She brings the light and life of Christ,
wherever she goes.
That's Mary and the visitation.
Father Patrick Payton has a commentary on the visitation.
He says, to love God alone is to love God not at all.
To love God alone is to love God not at all.
So Mary's love for God, Mary was full of grace,
full of the love of God,
but she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
And it was both a corporal and a spiritual work of mercy.
Corporal in helping her prepare for her child,
spiritual in bringing the grace of her son to John the Baptist.
The third joyful mystery is the birth of Christ.
And like we say, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds,
kneeling in adoration before the Christ child.
Mary teaches us how to act and live in his presence.
We say that the Blessed Virgin Mary
had perpetual adoration 24 hours a day,
seven days a week for 30 years.
She lived in his presence for 30 years.
And so she teaches us the proper reverence,
how to act and live in his presence.
Like the Council of Trent
quotes the passage of the Magi.
When the Magi, when they visited the Christ child,
they fell down in adoration before the mystery of the crib.
And the Council of Trent teaches that
that is the proper reverence that we owe to Christ
in the Blessed Sacrament, in the Holy Eucharist.
Again, Mary is our model of adoration.
She teaches us how to live and act in his presence.
The fifth joyful mystery is the finding of the child,
Jesus, in the temple.
And like we say, for Mary, finding Jesus in the temple,
he was her life.
He was the axis around which her life revolved.
And for us, we find our vocation in the church.
Like the church, the world would say
the church is for losers.
You know, you've got this big L on your forehead
if you need the church.
But the truth is, it's in the church that we find Christ,
and Christ is our life.
And that vocation is the axis around which
our lives also revolve.
So to find Christ and to live the vocation in Christ
is ultimately our house.
It's our happiness.
So again, we say Mary is our guide
through this year of faith.
She teaches us how to believe.
She teaches us how to adore.
She teaches us how to receive him.
And she teaches us how to surrender our lives to him.