The Joyful Mysteries

The Angel Gabriel is sent by God to the Virgin Mary in Nazareth and announces that she has been chosen to conceive and bear the Son of God. Mary’s response — Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum (“Let it be done to me according to your word”) — is the model of humble obedience to God’s will. The fruit of this mystery is humility: the disposition that opens the soul to receive what God offers.

Mary, carrying Jesus in her womb, travels in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, the infant John the Baptist leaps in Elizabeth’s womb and she is filled with the Holy Spirit. Mary then proclaims the Magnificat, praising God who has looked upon the lowliness of his servant. The fruit of this mystery is love of neighbor, shown in Mary’s prompt and generous service.

Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, is born in a stable in Bethlehem because there is no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn. He is laid in a manger; angels proclaim the good news to shepherds in the fields, who come and find the child with Mary and Joseph. The Word became flesh in circumstances of radical poverty and simplicity. The fruit of this mystery is poverty of spirit: detachment from worldly comfort and trust in divine Providence.

Forty days after the Nativity, Mary and Joseph present the infant Jesus in the Temple according to the Law of Moses and offer the sacrifice of the poor: two turtle-doves. The elderly Simeon takes the child in his arms, recognizes him as the long-awaited Messiah, and prophesies that he will be a sign of contradiction and that a sword shall pierce Mary’s soul. The prophetess Anna also gives thanks. The fruit of this mystery is obedience to God’s law and trust in his timing.

When Jesus is twelve years old, he stays behind in Jerusalem during the feast of Passover while his parents begin the journey home. After three days of searching with grief, Mary and Joseph find him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking questions. All who hear him are astonished at his understanding. To his mother’s anxious question, Jesus replies that he must be about his Father’s affairs. The fruit of this mystery is zeal for the things of God over all earthly concerns.