Mysteries of light

John Paul II – though all the world is wondering about his health and strength and energy – has written a new apostolic letter, called in Latin: "Rosarium Virginis Mariae." In English, that is "The Rosary of the Virgin Mary".

This letter is unique. Most papal pronouncements explain and clarify ancient doctrines of the Church, and stress their importance, their relevance in the modern world. This apostolic letter proposes something new! It has caused a mild sensation in Rome, and has sent little ripples of excitement around the world.

John Paul suggests that we include five new mysteries in the Rosary. He calls them "the Luminous Mysteries", the "Mysteries of Light":

• The Baptism of Our Lord in the Jordan

• The Wedding Feast of Cana

• The New Kingdom of God – a Kingdom of Forgiveness, and Mercy, and Love.

• The Transfiguration of Our Lord on Mount Tabor

• The Last Supper, the Institution of the Holy Eucharist.

The reaction of the rank and file of the Catholic Church is very positive. The letter is short, simple, clear, and beautiful. The common opinion of devotees of the United States is: "At last . . . . at last! . . . . . we have an apostolic letter that we can understand! This letter – obviously – was not meant only for theologians. It was meant for everybody!"

The Holy Father explains, carefully, that the 15 mysteries of the Rosary – as we say it now – do not portray the decisive moments in the public life of Christ. The Rosary is the contemplation of Christ through the eyes of Mary – and Mary was deeply involved in the public life of Christ.

He calls them the "Mysteries of Light" because Christ himself said: "I am the light of the world." That light was clearly revealed in his baptism; in the wedding feast at Cana; in the proclamation of his Kingdom as a Kingdom of forgiveness, of mercy, of love; in the transfiguration; and in the institution of the Holy Eucharist.

When Our Lord went down into the waters of the Jordan, he revealed the tremendous truth that God, the Sinless One, had taken upon Himself the sins of all mankind, that he had come down on earth to live and suffer and die as a man, to win eternal life for all of us. The heavens split wide open. The Holy Spirit came down upon Him, like a dove. And the voice of the Father declares: "This is My Son! Listen to Him!" That Baptism was like a flash of ligthning, illuminating all the world, in one brief moment.

Cana was His first miracle. It was performed at the intervention of Mary. He revealed Himself as the creator, one who had power over all the natural elemetns. He changed water into wine. It prefigured many things: multiplying the loaves and fishes, calming the storm at sea, giving life to the daughter of Jairus, giving her dead son back to the widow of Naim, calling Lazarus from the tomb, changing wine into his Body and Blood. It was a light to all the world. God was with us.

The proclamation of his Kingdom as a kingdom of love, rather than justice. No longer an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but love your enemies! Do good to those who hurt you! Forgive, seventy times seven times – the Hebrew symbol for infinity. "It is mercy that I want, and not sacrifice!" I have come to call sinners!" "There is joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance!" The prodigal son. The lost lamb. The last laborer – the one whom God found at the eleventh hour – receiving a full day’s wage. This was a light!

On Mount Tabor, Peter, James and John saw God. It was the same man with whom they had been living for the last three years – the same face, the same body, the same eyes. But suddenly they saw the beauty and the power of God. It was as if the divinity in Christ Our Lord suddenly lit up, glowing within Him. It was a light.

And He meant it to reveal more than that. We should see God in each other! A husband should see God in his wife. A wife should see God in her husband. Father and mother should see God in their children. The child should see God in his mother, in his father. The priest, and the nun, should see God in their religious Superior. We should see God in the poor – even in our enemy. On this we win be judged. "So long as you did it to the least of these, my little ones, you did it to Me!"

At the Last Supper. He gave us His body and blood. His flesh to eat, and His blood to drink. This was a revelation so powerful – a light so strong – that many of the Jews could not accept it. When He said this to them, early in HIs public life: "My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you" – many of the Jews said: "This is a hard saying, and who can bear it?" They turned away, and walked no more with Him.

In the Upper Room, on that first Holy Thursday, He not only said it – He did it! "Take ye, and eat . . . . Take ye and drink." . . . . "Do this in memory of Me." And then, when He was about to go home to His Father, He said: "Behold! I am with you, all days, even till the end of the world."

And so, every morning, in every parish church all over the world, men, women and children – rich and poor, young athletes and old women in wheel chairs, professors with doctorates and beggars who have never gone to school, go quietly down the aisle to receive Communion.

For an old man who is supposed to have one foot in the grave, and the other foot on a banana peel, John Paul II is certainly making history in the Holy, Roman, Catholic, Apostolic Church!