I recently wrote about how I pray the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary and have been asked how I pray the other Mysteries. This all came about with a way that I was learning to keep the stories of the Rosary together. The Joyful Mysteries are an easy set to remember, as they walk through the life of Mary and Jesus in chronological order when Jesus was under Mary’s tutelage. These Mysteries also seem to me, however, to be quite terrifying for Mary. Each story, when I place myself in Mary’s shoes, I feel a sense of fear, uncertainty, and utter lack of understanding or control. I know that this is because I do not know and love God as Mary did, and that she only was left pondering in her heart. Because of this, an underlying theme for me when praying these Mysteries (said on Mondays and Saturdays) is that I trust God more, especially when the situation seems unfit for what I had in mind, or is a total surprise. A theme of surrender, that He makes ALL things good, not just happy things or things that follow a perfect itinerary.
- The Annunciation: I pray for women who desire to conceive. I often have a handful of friends (or strangers) that I pray for by name on these beads. The cross of infertility is especially heavy. This is also a great decade to pray for mothers surprised or overwhelmed by life in their womb, especially those considering abortion.
- The Visitation: I pray for expectant mothers, that they can give help like Mary, and receive help like Elizabeth. If you don’t know of anyone currently expecting, you can meditate on the fierce friendship of Mary to flee to the hill country and serve her cousin while also pregnant and unwed. I also tend to pray for my friends named Liz/Lizzie and Mary during this decade – the correlation is obvious.
- The Nativity: I pray for all mothers giving birth and for their medical team and families, especially those giving birth in poor or unsafe conditions. Another quote I often pray with for this decade is from Dorothy Day: “I’m so glad that Jesus was born in a stable, because my soul is so much like a stable. It is poor and in unsatisfactory condition because of guilt, falsehoods, inadequacies and sin. Yet I believe that if Jesus can be born in a stable, maybe He can also be born in me.” I ask Jesus to be born/come alive in my heart.
- The Presentation: I meditate on Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus with only two turtle doves; the smallest offering allowed. I pray for God to make the things that seem like the bare minimum, to be enough. I also pray for my friends that have not baptized their children.
- The Finding of Jesus in the Temple: I ask that I find God in the Temple, and that my children find Him too. I know that’s not really what this story is about, but there is something about the relief I feel of my kids knowing the Lord with great understanding that puts my heart at rest. Another thing I sometimes do is pray for parents with teens, and I pray for my children as future teenagers. I ask God to help teens and parents find each other and listen, even if they do not understand each other.