The centerpiece of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary is the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But the protagonist of these mysteries is Mary, who in the story of the Joyful Mysteries is a model of true discipleship for us.
The first mystery is the Annunciation. Our salvation, achieved by the death and resurrection of Jesus, was dependent on, and set in motion by, Mary saying yes to God’s plan for her. It’s helpful to meditate on what a radical choice Mary made by saying yes to God. The evangelists are silent on Mary’s age at the time of the incarnation of Jesus, but the consensus of Church fathers and theologians was that Mary was around age 14. Luke and Matthew report that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, which, in Judaism at that time, meant that they were legally married, but not yet living together as husband and wife. (1)
Simply put, Mary already had a plan for her life. She was undoubtedly looking forward to a new life with her husband. She must have known that her mysterious pregnancy would end her marriage to Joseph and bring shame to her parents. She must have had a million questions when the angel left. Would she ever marry? Who would support her when her parents died? Would her child be ridiculed?
Not only that, would she even be killed? The punishment for adultery according to the Mosaic Law was stoning. (2) Mary could not know in advance how Joseph would react to her unexplainable pregnancy. But she must have known her life was at risk. (3)
Despite all of this, Mary instinctively said yes to God. Yes, because of the purity of her heart and her complete trust in God’s goodness. This is the level of discipleship we are called to emulate. And it was this humility of Mary’s, her complete submission of her own will to the divine will, that was the catalyst for our own salvation.
The second Joyful Mystery is the Visitation – Mary’s visit to her older cousin, Elizabeth, who was then six months pregnant with John the Baptist. Luke tells us that Mary set off “in haste” to see her cousin following the Annunciation (Luke 1:39), though he leaves us to speculate why she did this. Nor is it clear if Mary knew of Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy prior to the Annunciation, or if she learned this from Gabriel. If the latter, she may have visited Elizabeth to confirm the angel’s message. But in either case, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth makes her the first evangelist. She had received the good news of Jesus. Listen to the words of Gabriel to Mary about Jesus: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33) How could Mary not share this good news right away? And who better to share it with than her cousin Elizabeth who herself had just been blessed by God?
As it happened, the Holy Spirit shared the news with Elizabeth before Mary did, for Elizabeth, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” praised Mary upon her arrival, recognizing her as “the mother of my Lord.” (Luke 1: 41, 43) Mary of course did not thank Elizabeth for her high praise. She turned the focus right back to God, to whom she owed everything: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” (Luke 1:46-47)
The imminent birth of a child is joyous news to share. Always has been, always will be. How much greater the joy of sharing the good news of our salvation! Of sharing the deep love God has for us, that he would send his only Son to dwell among us, befriend us, die for us and redeem us! This is the joy Mary and Elizabeth share with us as the first messengers of the Good News. They are both believers. The time for sharing the Good News with non-believers, of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth, would come later.
As believers, we are called to share the Good News with those outside the faith, but it is also important that we evangelize each other. When we share our faith with each other, we strengthen and encourage each other, just as Mary and Elizabeth did.
Notes:
(1) Given that Mary is betrothed, it is odd that she asks the angel Gabriel how she could become the mother of Jesus, unless she intended to remain a perpetual virgin. Otherwise, she would find it quite natural that she would soon be with child.
(2) This punishment is attested in the famous story of the woman caught in adultery, when Jesus says, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” See John 8: 2-11. The punishment is found in Deuteronomy 22: 21-23.
(3) Matthew recounts that Joseph, “since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly,” so as to spare her from the punishment. I can only imagine the shame this brought to Joseph, before the angel appeared to him and told him of the child’s true nature, or the whispers he heard ever after. His story too is one of great humility and trust in God. (See Matthew 1: 18-25, as well as this response on Catholic Answers forum.)
